GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 31 - February 2015

RotoGrinders is setting the standard for daily fantasy affiliates By Dan Podheiser S uccessful online gaming affiliates all have, at the very least, one thing in common: a strong commitment to the content on their websites. Poker affiliate sites are often filled with archives of strategy articles and can also feature player rankings or a forum com- ponent. Casino affiliates focus on review- ing every new site or game on the market. And sports betting affiliates always have an upcoming sporting event to preview. Developing new content is important for all online gaming affiliates, but even more- so for daily fantasy sports (DFS) affiliates. DFS is still in its relative infancy compared to the rest of the online gaming industry, but it is growing quickly. Players are pas- sionate about sports and are constantly looking for ways to improve their strategy and increase their profitability. RotoGrinders is one of the largest DFS affil- iate sites, boasting more than 30,000 mem- bers. The site brands itself as "The Daily Fantasy Authority," featuring a robust forum with sub-forums for every sport, as well as a proprietary player rankings system. Any DFS player can sign up for RotoGrinders and can see how their results fare among their peers in the community. But where RotoGrinders excels is in its strategy articles, written daily by the top players in the industry. On a typical day in December, the site features several ar- ticles pertaining to that night's NBA and NHL action and previews for the upcom- ing football weekend. Because scoring can be different across DFS sites like FanDuel and DraftKings, RotoGrinders publishes strategy articles specifically tailored for those sites. There are also articles focusing on different types of games, such as head- to-head, 50/50 games, guaranteed prize pool tournaments and more. If it sounds like a lot of work, that's be- cause it is. "In our business, content and develop- ment are where we put most of our re- sources," says Cal Spears, who co-found- ed RotoGrinders in 2010 and was one of the co-founders of PocketFives, an online poker affiliate, forum and rankings site. Spears's background in the industry and experience running PocketFives helped shape the direction of RotoGrinders, spe- cifically in the way it focuses on deliver- ing new players to operators. "At PocketFives, we initially didn't concentrate on click-throughs, and we missed a lot of referrals because of that," Spears said. "[With RotoGrinders], our business model all along was to create really great premium content from top players in the industry." And in daily fantasy, unlike poker or oth- er casino games, the demand from players for new content is constant. "I think the number-one thing is daily content," Spears says. "It's completely dif- ferent in poker, where almost every piece of content is evergreen. Those involved, in-depth strategy articles will last for a few years. It's a lot easier to put out fresh, daily content in daily fantasy because it's a new game every day. So as long as you're focused on creating daily content, you'll do well." When RotoGrinders launched, it was well ahead of the daily fantasy sports in- dustry as a whole. As Spears notes, the site actually predates almost all of the major operators in the industry, not in- cluding FanDuel. SPOTLIGHT ON DAILY FANTASY SPORTS RotoGrinders is setting the standard for daily fantasy affiliates