SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Just days before the Tommy Fury vs Jake Paul fight scheduled for 26 February, Entain has revealed that two thirds of Brits have sided patriotically with Fury.
As the worlds of sports and entertainment collide – now being known as ‘sportainment’ – there has been a rise in YouTube stars such as Logan Paul, Jake Paul and KSI entering the boxing realm, introducing new and more diverse audiences.
The sports betting, gaming, and interactive entertainment group’s online data suggests that In the last five years, the top three fights with the highest percentage of new customers came from bouts featuring a YouTube star.
It has also asserted that more than one in four punters who bet on the KSI and Logan Paul fights in 2018 and 2019 respectively were new customers.
Furthermore, the growth of interest in YouTube bouts has continued ‘unabated’, either side of COVID restrictions, data revealed.
The KSI vs Logan Paul fight of 2019 saw a threefold increase in number of bets vs. their first bout in 2018, in addition to over double the number of customers betting on the fight, suggesting a rapid growth of interest on creator boxing.
Dominic Grounsell, Chief Commercial Officer of Entain, said: “The way in which fans engage with sport and entertainment is changing, and the interest in creator boxing is one of the trends that sits at the heart of this convergence.
“We see from our data that these events are injecting new life into the sport, diversifying and bringing in new audiences beyond traditional boxing fans.”
The operator explained that the Paul vs Fury fight is likely to continue this trend and feature in the top 10 biggest fights of the last six months in terms of number of bets placed.
This would surpass the heavyweight bout between New Zealand’s Joseph Parker and Jack Massey from the UK in January.
“As a leader in interactive entertainment, we want to be at the forefront of this by creating moments of excitement for all our customers, all backed up by the world’s most advanced player protection,” Grounsell concluded.
