Few companies can do everything alone. Some sports companies run their own sportsbooks but contract out to content creators. Others focus on content and partner with sportsbooks to give readers access to sports betting. But theScore is trying something ambitious. It’s creating its own in-house player account management and its own ad management system. It’ll recommend content for theScore Bet bettors and show ads that are more carefully tailored to bettors. That’s something that’s often outsourced to an advertising agency or a big data company. But theScore’s new technology will give it control of its product from top to bottom.
However, internal control isn’t the only benefit from controlling all the technology that goes into theScore’s products. It’ll also improve operational and cost-efficiency. Instead of having to work with contractors to fix technical issues, theScore can solve problems in-house. Instead of paying someone else to consolidate and leverage customer data, theScore can accomplish both tasks themselves. That takes a large investment. However, theScore has already made it and is ready to deploy its new technology later this year.
Who’s In Charge Of This New Technological Push?
Patrick Jay is joining theScore’s team, and he’ll begin his formal role at theScore in the fall of 2021. He’ll work on the new in-house risk and trading service and make sure it fits into theScore. He’ll be the man making sure theScore’s technological changes function properly and improve theScore’s customer experiences.
Executives like these take months to not only select but also hire. They must fit into a company’s culture, which at theScore’s stage is well established. However, executives must also be hired for specific purposes. Some executives excel at launching products. Others are good for maintaining stability in already well-established systems. They take a long time to vet, but getting the right person in this position is worth the effort.
How theScore Could Compare To Other Sportsbook Companies Now
Once it deploys its new technology, theScore could earn higher profit margins than its competitors. However, profit margins aren’t the reason theScore invested its time, money, and resources into creating in-house software. This has been theScore’s goal since its founding.
“We’re not doing it for the margins,” says Score Media CFO, Alvin Lobo. “But this is a really nice side benefit of it…We do think that this is one of the components along with just the overall philosophy of having an integrated media and betting approach. But the ownership of the tech stack is really important to what that whole experience looks like from the consumer’s perspective in terms of not just acquisition but retention and engagement and sort of the frequency in which that user participates in the ecosystem.”
theScore’s goal has always been to achieve full control over its digital ecosystem. Its sports content and its sportsbook work together, and it’s easier for theScore to make them work together when one company controls everything. theScore has been working towards this goal since its founding in the 1990s. This latest technological push is a major step toward achieving that goal.
About the Author
