On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams chat with Jo Lambert, president and general manager of consumer at Yahoo, about the company’s reach, its sports content business, and its expansion into daily fantasy and sports betting.
For years, Yahoo has been a primarily ad-supported business. Lambert explains how the company, now majority owned by Apollo Global Management, is starting to diversify its revenue streams, including the creation of subscription products and a growing content-to-commerce business. In its sports vertical, there’s a new fantasy subscription product and gaming platforms.
Lambert oversees Yahoo’s portfolio of consumer properties (Yahoo mail, sports, finance, etc.), and she discusses how the company uses data collected from its users across multiple verticals. Yahoo has 900 million monthly users, a wide global base that offers a myriad of avenues for monetization.
The trio discusses the opportunity that Yahoo sees in fantasy and sports betting. When daily fantasy exploded in popularity around five years ago, Yahoo stood up its own paid daily fantasy product. As legal sports betting grows in the U.S., the company has taken a different approach—partnering with BetMGM to integrate Yahoo Sports and BetMGM odds.
Lastly, they discuss the company’s interest in live sports rights, and how its new ownership (Apollo bought a majority of the company from Verizon) will change its long-term goals and direction.
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