Sportradar has struck a deal to acquire marketing personalisation platform Fresh Eight, through which it aims to enhance its digital marketing services offering for betting and gaming clients.
The acquisition will allow Sportradar to offer dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) personalisation in display and paid social. This technology shows a user content based on their website browsing, such as pages viewed, and is commonly used for retargeting.
Fresh Eight’s platform also helps sports publishers manage the integration of native and personalised sports betting content onto their platforms.
The deal, which completed on 2 March, complements Sportradar’s existing ad:s programmatic advertising solution, which launched in January 2019.
It will broaden ad:s’ marketing channel access and optimise its performance, helping reduce cost per acquisition and increase return on advertising investment.
This could be used for paid social in particular, Sportradar said, a current focus for media spend.
“We have developed ad:s into a substantial business for Sportradar with its platform offering and a significant portfolio of sportsbook clients,” Sportradar chief executive Carsten Koerl said. “But the market doesn’t stand still, and we must continually innovate and grow.
“The acquisition of Fresh Eight will accelerate that growth, as we add this personalisation technology to our marketing services offering.”
Founded in 2014, Fresh Eight has grown significantly in the US in recent years, working with operators such as Flutter’s FanDuel, Entain, William Hill and LeoVegas, and publishers including ESPN, CBS, Viacom, NBC Sports and News UK.
“We founded the business with the ambition to substantially improve advertising efficiency and returns for the world’s leading gambling operators and media groups,” its founder and CEO Andrew Sharland said. “Today we partner with some of the industry’s biggest brands in Europe and the US.
“Data is the core DNA of both companies with a shared vision of how intelligence and automation can transform marketing efforts in the betting and gaming vertical,” he continued. “The combination of Fresh Eight’s machine decisioned personalisation tools and Sportradar’s proprietary marketing technology and access to real time sports and pricing data presents customers with a compelling digital marketing offering.
“I’m looking forward to working with Sportradar.”
