FanDuel’s Next Gamble

**John Aranda** (0:00)
I see you.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:02)
Avatar Fire and Ash is now streaming on Disney+. It's the film critics are calling the best Avatar yet.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:09)
Go, go, go, go!

**SPEAKER_2** (0:09)
A true epic and completely jaw-dropping.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:12)
This is the only pure thing in this world.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:15)
Return to Pandora on Disney+.

**Bill Simmons** (0:17)
It will be an adventure for the whole family.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:19)
And watch the Oscar-winning phenomenon at home.

**SPEAKER_5** (0:22)
This is sick!

**SPEAKER_2** (0:26)
Avatar Fire and Ash, now streaming on Disney+. Rated PG-13.

**John Aranda** (0:30)
And we're live on Match Day, as Doug reaches for a Buffalo Wing. He's got it! Oh, and he's gone for a can of Pepsi, too!

**SPEAKER_2** (0:37)
What a finish!

**Bill Simmons** (0:39)
There's no doubt about it.

**Christian Genetski** (0:40)
It just tastes better.

**John Aranda** (0:42)
Match Days deserve Pepsi.
Congratulations, you made The Varsity, a podcast. My name is John Aranda, and I am Puck's sports correspondent and the host of this pod. And today, I'm really happy to have Christian Genetski on The Varsity. Now, Christian is the president of FanDuel, and we're gonna talk all about the sports betting scandals, the growth of the prediction market, and the enduring popularity of the World Cup. I really enjoyed this interview, and I think you will too. But before we get to Christian, today is Wednesday, June 24th, and here's what I'm watching. I'm looking at Fox. Now in the four days after Fox announced that it was buying Roku for $22 billion in cash and stock, the company's shares dropped by 24%. 24!
Now, according to Peter Sapino of Wolf Research and a former pod guest on The Varsity, that drop came because investors got queasy about the fact that the Murdoch family, which has always operated with an entrepreneurial spirit, was operating in an entrepreneurial way. Sapino is positive on the move in general, which he said expands Fox's niche and free ad-supported streaming, while putting Roku's data and ad inventory in the hands of Fox's powerful ad sales group. Just how powerful is that ad sales group? Well, Sapino pointed out that coming out of the upfronts, Tubi and Fox News posted double-digit growth in an overall down year. Eight out of Fox's 10 biggest advertiser categories spent more than they spent last year, which is a good sign for near-term results, especially from Fox, which is going to benefit from the World Cup. But back to the Roku deal. Financial analysts really seem to like it, at least in the long run. Moffitt-Nathanson, well, they put out a report saying that the deal is going to ensure Fox's future as streaming overtakes traditional distribution in the coming years. And Guggenheim said that the combination of content and distribution assets is going to raise some questions about the balance of owned media growth. But Guggenheim also emphasized that this type of deal is typical in the media business. Just look at Alphabet and Amazon, which are vertically integrated technology companies. In other words, ignore the negativity. The consensus really seems to be that Fox's Roku purchase is one that will stand the test of time. Okay now, let's get to FanDuel's Christian Genetski.
Christian, thank you very much for joining us. You're just a month and a half into being CEO of FanDuel. So I appreciate you taking the time to stop by here, especially given it's World Cup week, World Cup month.
So, for FanDuel, where does a World Cup fall in terms of just the popularity on your platform in terms of other American sports?

**Christian Genetski** (3:46)
First of all, John, good morning. Great to be here with you. It's interesting.
I think we didn't know. It's been four years obviously since we had a World Cup. It was in the Middle East last time, a lot of time variations. Our business was much smaller then. We had less population reach in the US. So we certainly planned for it to be a much, much bigger event this time, just given that it's being hosted in North America, that the US is involved and some optimism about the US team. I think so we planned for it. We plan to go big. I think we have been very pleasantly surprised even about the level of customer interest pretty much from the first game on. Obviously, a ton of excitement about the US team and its performance through the first two games, but just much heavier user engagement and it's been interesting to see its power as an acquisition tool. This is not, June is not typically a big user acquisition month for our sports book, but we're seeing a lot of people come to the sports book for the first time and a lot of reactivations, people who haven't been around as much or don't typically bet this time of year. So it clearly has captured a ton of interest and we're continuing to lean into it with a bunch of fun promotions and other things. And certainly around our office there, our office is filled with sports fans and people who love sports and the excitement is palpable in the office. The games are on all day, people are, as a conversation piece.