Moloco Helps Fanatics Betting and Gaming Scale in Complex Online Sports Betting Market
About
Fanatics Betting and Gaming
Launched in 2021, Fanatics Betting and Gaming is the online and retail sports betting subsidiary of Fanatics, a global digital sports platform. The Fanatics Sportsbook, now the fastest-growing sportsbook in America, is available to 95% of the addressable online sports bettor market in the U.S. Fanatics Casino is currently available online in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Fanatics Betting and Gaming operates 22 retail sports betting locations, including the only sportsbook inside an NFL stadium at Northwest Stadium. Fanatics Betting and Gaming is headquartered in New York with offices in Denver, Leeds, and Dublin.
Challenges
When it came to choosing an advertising platform to grow Fanatics Sportsbook in the legally complex online sports betting industry, Fanatics Betting and Gaming (FBG) wanted to partner with an advertising platform that would deliver more than just volume. Fanatics Betting and Gaming prioritized measurable performance and visibility—qualities that aligned closely with the capabilities of Moloco's platform.
There were three core requirements that the Fanatics Betting and Gaming team needed. A partner that could:
- Scale campaigns across multiple states in the U.S. and meet the strict online sports betting compliance requirements of each state.
- Efficiently create fresh ad creative.
- Provide full transparency into where its ads were running to verify quality and ensure brand safety.
FBG began its partnership with Moloco by running CPA campaigns optimized for its two key in-app events. The early results of the CPA campaigns showed promise, but Fanatics Betting and Gaming was focused on optimizing and growing further.
Solution
Building on early campaign success, Moloco and Fanatics Betting and Gaming explored ROAS-optimized strategies centered on a different in-app event to further refine performance.
A comprehensive, structured testing framework was established to compare CPA and ROAS campaigns. The framework examined every aspect of campaign setup and performance:
- Ad creatives from prior campaigns were benchmarked against newly developed assets.
- A/B tests ran across geos, formats, and user segments to identify top-performing combinations.
- Performance was continuously measured by not only installs, but by Fanatics Betting and Gaming’s key in-app event metric.
Transparency was a requirement from FBG. From day one, FBG sought complete visibility into where and how their ads were being delivered. Moloco’s analytics dashboard, offering detailed publisher-level reporting, met that requirement. FBG verified that the inventory aligned with their brand safety standards, and Moloco’s AI-native ad engine helped identify high-quality ad impressions with low competition.
Results
Following the collaboration, Fanatics Betting and Gaming expanded its campaign footprint with Moloco. Highlights of this expanded collaboration include:
- Ran campaigns in new states that have legalized online sports betting, like North Carolina, New York, and New Jersey.
- Launched the new Fanatics Casino app by balancing brand awareness and user acquisition goals. Moloco Ads and CTV proved key during a busy sports season, driving brand visibility and acquiring quality users.
- Expanded into new inventory types, including CTV, to reach high-value users in premium environments like Tubi. CTV campaigns contributed to increased reach during key sporting events, with early signs pointing to strong user engagement.
Both Moloco Ads and CTV campaigns were carefully executed with strict adherence to state-level regulations governing online sports betting. By implementing precise state-level campaign targeting across channels, Moloco helped Fanatics Betting and Gaming achieve strong performance results, which made the campaigns even more compelling given that they were running in a few legally approved states. Together, FBG and Moloco are proving that transparent, legally-compliant, and brand-safe user acquisition of high-quality users isn’t just a possibility—it’s a reality.
“Legal compliance was a top priority when we started scaling Fanatics Sportsbook, especially with different online sports betting compliance requirements in every state. We needed an ad partner that could navigate those complexities and still help us grow. Moloco delivered. Their reporting tools gave us clear visibility into where our ads were running, which helped us verify brand safety and quality. That level of transparency gave us the confidence to expand our relationship with Moloco and launch campaigns in more states.”
“CTV was a key component of our March Madness strategy for Fanatics Sportsbook. It played a central role in delivering strong campaign delivery and user growth—performance exceeded expectations and enabled us to reach a broader audience efficiently.”
—Blair Hilton, Director, Performance Marketing, Fanatics Betting and Gaming
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