In the Q1 2015 results Yahoo! took the unusual step of announcing some future product changes. It looks like Yahoo have recognised the increasing value associated with fantasy sports, as it’s claimed that Yahoo users spend nearly 30Bn minutes a year in this area.
Note that the 30Bn has been obtained through the traditional (and some might argue arduous) season long games. Other fantasy sports game have introduced daily or weekend long games, but it will be interesting to see how Yahoo address the daily fantasy format this summer.
There is also the opportunity to expand from Fantasy into eSports. It’s already recognised that the eSports tournaments increase the level of engagement and the lifetime of the underlying game franchise. Which in turn explains why the likes of Activision can hand out $1M prizes.
For Yahoo! you can envisage a future where they orchestrate a large number of fantasy/eSports players into profitable sponsored tournaments.
Image courtesy of Photopin.
