Online bookmakers are increasingly becoming sports broadcasters. For example, today many of the top online bookmakers will be streaming the United States versus the Czech Republic. The idea is to facilitate real time betting.
One of the main beneficiaries of this trend is a company called Perform. It does not have a very high profile, but was something of a stock market favourite before the shares slumped from almost 600p in 2013 to around 210p recently.
Online bookmakers are increasingly becoming sports broadcasters. For example, today many of the top online bookmakers will be streaming the United States versus the Czech Republic. The idea is to facilitate real time betting.
One of the main beneficiaries of this trend is a company called Perform. It does not have a very high profile, but was something of a stock market favourite before the shares slumped from almost 600p in 2013 to around 210p recently.
Perform Group is the leading provider of live videos and data to online bookmakers such as William Hill and Bet 365. It also owns the football website Goal.Com and provides content to media groups including the highly successful Mail Online. 118m users visit its sport websites each month, up 40 per cent from the same period last year. These sites make most of their money from advertising.
Broadcasters such as BSkyB and BT fight expensive bidding wars over the rights to such content as Champions League football. Perform is much more below the radar, focusing on third tier tournaments or the rights to show top flight national matches outside the home country.
It’s an attractive model and earlier this week shares in the company increased in value by over a quarter after a bid was made to take the FTSE250 company private at a valuation of £702m. However, it is facing increasing competition for sports rights. Its rivals include Germany’s Sportsman Media and IMG of the US.