DraftKings’ multi-year exclusive advertising agreement with NBCUniversal portends to thrust more sports betting content onto the network’s array of programming including Super Bowl 60, the NBA, and the PGA TOUR.
Announced on Monday, the deal between the broadcasting giant and one of the United States’ sports betting market share leaders foresees “exclusive integrations and digital sponsorships across NBCUniversal’s top-tier sports properties, including premier national coverage,” according to a release.
Coming off a banner 2024, NBC Universal claims to reach 286 million sports viewers per month.
Said DraftKings Chief Marketing Officer Stephanie Sherman in a release: “Our presence throughout NBCUniversal’s sports ecosystem will not only engage fans in powerful new ways but also augment our industry-leading live betting capabilities. Together, we will deliver a customer experience that moves at the speed of sports, bringing the thrill of NBA and other top action to life while staying true to our shared passion for innovation, excitement, and the unforgettable experiences that live sports inspire.”
NBCUniversal’s sports lineup currently includes the NFL, PGA TOUR, Ryder Cup, Premier League, NCAA football and basketball, NBA, and WNBA. The deal also provides access to NBA All-Star Weekend and the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup on Telemundo.
DraftKings will also have the right to leverage NBCUniversal on-air talent.
“For over a decade DraftKings has dominated the sports betting market, serving as an industry leader and marketplace innovator,” Peter Lazarus, NBC Sports, Sports & Olympics, Advertising and Partnerships executive vice president, said in a release. “There is no better company to integrate into our unrivaled portfolio of sports properties. Combining our excellence in sports entertainment with DraftKings’ industry leading capabilities will transform the viewer experience just as NBCUniversal prepares to bring an unprecedented slate of sports programming to fans everywhere.”
In 2020, NBCUniversal announced a $500-million marketing deal with the now-defunct U.S. arm of PointsBet, but that deal, which was later renegotiated, didn’t grant exclusivity.
Not new, but newsy partnership
The DraftKings-NBCUniversal deal is notable because of the reach of the companies. It could also change how broadcasters and gambling companies use each other to grow business.
Sports betting companies and media platforms in the U.S. have been attempting to leverage each other as engagement-boosters since legal wagering became a state’s right after the fall of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018.
Several previous attempts have involved intertwined business partnerships. They’ve not been very successful. But the NBCUniversal deal matches massive, thriving brands in an exclusive arrangement.
“It feels much more like the way most large consumer brands have always gone to market with media, to both build brand through the media properties assets, and leverage for hospitality, local events and I’m sure some performance marketing,” Ed Moed, CEO of the Hot Paper Lantern branding and communications agency told InGame. “So, it appears that DraftKings is helping to mature the sports bettor market, with sophisticated marketing partnerships. This is the way a Coke, J.P. Morgan Chase, Procter & Gamble or McDonald’s have always partnered with major media companies.”
Penn Entertainment commenced a $551 million purchase of Barstool Sports in 2020, but sold the company back to founder Dave Portnoy for $1 in 2023 when the branded bro-centric Barstool Sportsbook failed to generate business.
Penn then pivoted to a 10-year, $2 billion branding and licensing pact with ESPN to launch ESPN Bet two years ago. Despite ESPN’s heft with 175 million unique users, the betting app has yet to reach projections nationally and Penn could trigger an opt-out clause in 2026. Penn CEO Jay Snowden had originally predicted that ESPN Bet would achieve a 20% market share by 2027, but that figure stands at around 5%.
In the 13 states that publish handle and revenue figures by operator, ESPN Bet is exceeding a 4% market share this year only in Michigan (4.7%) and Pennsylvania (4.4%). Its largest handle in any state is New York with $384.6 million, but that represents only a 2.4% share of the $16.36 billion wagered digitally in the first eight months of 2025.
Penn also purchased Canadian digital platform theScore, which had launched TheScore Bet in the U.S. in 2019. Penn completed the $2 billion deal in 2021.
FanDuel parent company Flutter Entertainment joined with FOX Corporation to launch FOX Bet in 2019, but shuttered the app in 2023 after years of heavy shilling from its studio talent that did not translate to top-tier sportsbook revenue.
In 2024, FanDuel purchased the branding rights to a serious of foundering regional sports networks as Diamond Sports Group entered bankruptcy.
