Genius Sports Adds Digital Advertising to NFL Partnership
Posted on: June 11, 2025, 03:48h.
Last updated on: June 11, 2025, 03:48h.
- New deal runs through 2029
- Expanded partnership includes advertising on BetVision as well as NFL-owned digital platforms
Shares of Genius Sports (NYSE: GENI) gained 3% Wednesday after the sports betting data provided announced an expanded, extended agreement with the NFL.
Genius paid the league $1 billion in 2021 for an initial four-year data agreement, which has been extended through 2029, keeping Genius as the NFL’s exclusive data provider. Under the terms of the new accord, Genius “will now exclusively represent the in-game advertising inventory,” according to a statement. That implies the technology company is forging deeper into live betting as it relates to the most popular America sports league.
Genius Sports continues to be an official reseller of the NFL’s international owned and operated advertising inventory and the NFL’s legalized sports betting advertising inventory in the US, all leveraging Genius Sports’ proprietary FANHub platform,” according to the statement. “As part of the agreement, Genius Sports and the NFL will also collaborate on further activation opportunities with FANHub.”
Financial terms of the revised agreement weren’t disclosed.
Expanded NFL In-Game Betting Access Could Be Boon for Genius
In-game, or live betting is rooted in technology with Genius being leaders when it comes to providing the services and tech sportsbook operators need to offer an increasing menus of live wagers to their clients.
Alone, that makes the company’s exclusivity with the NFL important. Not only is the NFL the most watched league in the US, football is conducive to in-game betting due to its many breaks in action that provide sportsbooks numerous operators to post fresh bets.
Neither Genius nor the NFL got into specifics regarding which digital media properties on which Genius will control advertising inventory for in-game purposes, but the NFL Media umbrella covers NFL Network, NFL RedZone, NFL Films, NFL.com, the NFL app, NFL+, and the NFL Channel streaming service. It’s clear that Genius is growing its total addressable market (TAM) and that impresses some analysts.
“We believe GENI has created moated sports technology with profitable tentacles positioned throughout several growing Total Addressable Markets (TAMs) totaling hundreds of billions of dollars. GENI’s revenue could grow at least ~20% for the next several years, and margins should expand each year, staging conservative consensus estimates and an undemanding valuation, in our view,” wrote Texas Capital analyst David Bain in a note to clients today.
He rates the stock a “buy” with a $14 price target, implying upside of more than 40% from today’s close at $9.66.
NFL Levered to Genius Success
Regarding Genius stock, the NFL has a vested interest in seeing the shares, which are up 11.68% year-to-date, appreciate further. In April 2022, 4.25 million of the NFL’s warrants on Genius stock vested, elevating the league’s stake in the technology company to 7.7%. The NFL’s investment in Genius dates back about a year after the company inked the aforementioned four-year agreement. In total, the NFL was granted 22.5 million Genius warrants as part of the data accord.
By extending its deal with Genius, the NFL removes a potential overhang on the stock while perhaps acknowledging that replacing the data provider with a rival isn’t appealing.
“GENI’s cornerstone league data rights, 400+ sports league relationships, and fan engagement technology fuel existing sports betting TAM growth which, in turn, drives a multi-year pricing augmentation opportunity with GENI’s customer sportsbooks,” adds Bain.
No comments yet