DraftKings is the top dog in the daily fantasy sports space, though some research groups worry the new market for the daily fantasy sports player has shrunk to just about nothing. In short: People who are interested in this form of gambling/contest of skill (depending on your point of view) are either already playing DraftKings, or have already tried it and dropped out.
That worry – while it may “feel” right, especially considering the amount of money DraftKings has spent on advertising over the years – might be slightly overblown, as a CivicScience study shows a full 60% of Americans haven’t even heard of the company as of yet.
And despite the flurry of advertising over the last few years, only 5% of Americans – eliminating those who have never played and never plan to play any form of fantasy sports – have actually tried their hands at DraftKings daily fantasy sports, while an additional 3% say they haven’t, but plan to give it a whirl. This following study is going to focus on that 8% slice – those who have tried, and those who plan on trying. Who, in short, plays DraftKings daily fantasy sports?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s overwhelmingly men by a 400% margin. But it’s not an infinite margin, to be clear: Two percent of women have tried the format.
DraftKings, at least so far, is a younger person’s game. Generation Z plays the most, though Millennials and – surprisingly – Generation X play as well.
A lot of DraftKings advertising comes through other sports-related channels. This makes sense, as the following chart demonstrates. Barstool Sports is heavily populated with young men, and as a result, 33% of people who consume content from Barstool have tried DraftKings.
But the following chart below throws a little ice on the “sports fans automatically equate to DraftKings players” idea. Sure, people who have watched sports in the last 30 days are more likely to have played DraftKings than people who haven’t watched sports, but the raw numbers are still relatively low, especially if compared to, for instance …
… Adult Swim viewership. Americans who have watched Adult Swim in the last 30 days are three times as likely than non-Adult Swim viewers to have tried or intend to try DraftKings.
But it’s not just younger generations who show a tilt toward daily fantasy sports; people who own their own businesses are more than twice as likely to have tried or plan to try DraftKings. It makes sense, as playing daily fantasy sports – especially at high stakes – is pretty much a business itself. Decision-making, bankroll management, detailed analysis, etc.
DraftKings has carved out a niche for itself in the daily fantasy sports space, and while growth might not be exactly where the company would like, there is room upward considering there’s still a chunk of the country that is in the dark on the company. And while sports fans are obviously the current driver, it’s clear from some of the study above that branching away from hardcore sports fans might not be the worst advertising idea for the company.