Paddy Power executives were in bullish mood today regarding the launch of the operator’s real-money sports betting app in beta on Facebook this week, proclaiming the bookmaker as the sector’s social media leader.
According to the London-listed company’s H1 results presentation this morning, 1.4 million Facebook fans for its Paddy Power and Sportsbet brands placed it well ahead of the William Hill Group’s 650,000, while its 300,000 Twitter followers also left it well clear of Betfair’s 175,000, also being responsible for five times as many retweets as its nearest competitor.
“Now every man over the age of 18 on Facebook is connected to at least one Paddy Power fan. So we have the capacity to target those 15 million men through a friend of theirs. We also have strong reach in Australia and already in Italy”, CEO Patrick Kennedy told analysts today.
Online head Peter Donovan said that the company was confident having “the only real-money sports betting application available through the Facebook platform” would play to the company’s twin strengths in mobile and social media.
“The Facebook platform I’ve heard is predominantly mobile, so we feel having that exposed to every male over 18 in the UK, who we know some of better than other online providers, although we ask them not to, that the product will allow to us to grow their share of wallet through betting through the [Paddy Power In-Play!] platform. “
On the success of the company’s social media strategy, Kennedy said: “It’s said that selling in Google is like selling in a department store, but selling on Facebook is like trying to sell at a drinks party, so you need fans to be much more engaged, and I think that’s a key point of distinction for Paddy Power”.
The company got payback from this “in many ways”, claimed Kennedy, both in terms of spontaneous brand awareness which rose from 29% to 47% between March 2012 and March 2013 according to Kantar Media figures, and on marketing budgets.
“Half our fans in the UK are Paddy Power online customers, and that contributes to our industry leading marketing efficiency. Online marketing spend represents 20% of online revenues for Paddy Power, as compared to an average of 29% for our major UK competitors.”
The boss of the Irish bookie also claimed bragging rights over its rivals with respect to the two major non sports-betting opportunities during the period:
“Our odds and our offers on the election of the new Pope, coupled with our presence in St Peter’s Square, generated over 8,000 articles worldwide, reaching over 170 countries. Our marketing team also owned the chat around the Royal baby [among betting operators] with over 80 TV interviews and over 1,900 global TV hits.”
Article written by Stephen Carter
