GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 31 - February 2015

From the beginning, Spears realized RotoGrinders was part of a niche indus- try, so he focused on creating a quality product for the site's core audience – typi- cally high-volume players. And while the "insider" aspect is still the site's bread and butter, Spears has seen the industry grow by 300-400 percent every year since RotoGrinders launched. At this point, the site's traffic is substan- tial enough that there are several new players every day looking to learn about daily fantasy. "I don't think there are a lot of players in daily fantasy who aren't trying to put a lot of thought into the game," Spears says. That aspect of daily fantasy makes the hard work pay off for affiliates. While FanDuel and DraftKings have invested millions in television and radio adver- tisements and official partnerships with professional sports teams, affiliates like RotoGrinders are able to facilitate the growth of the industry by attracting — and perhaps more importantly, retaining — high-volume players. "There's no doubt that educating players on a day-to-day basis is going to make their lifetime value higher," Spears says. "For an affiliate, that will pay off." Meanwhile, the untapped player pool in the daily fantasy sports industry remains sizable. Spears estimates there are easily 5-10 million people who will become paid, active users during the NFL season down the road. These players are likely to be cur- rent season-long fantasy football players who inevitably make the transition to DFS. Online gaming affiliates experienced in other sectors that are looking to break into the daily fantasy market should strike while the iron is still hot. Following in the spirit of Spears's transition from PocketFives to RotoGrinders, affiliates should be able to leverage their experi- ence building successful casino or poker sites and turn that into a successful daily fantasy sports site. But the key is the content. And if you're a seasoned affiliate — but you don't know very much about fantasy sports — you might want to partner with someone who does before taking the jump into DFS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Podheiser is the as- sociate editor of the GPWA Times Magazine . He has followed the online poker industry closely for the past 10 years, and played consis- tently on U.S.-friendly sites prior to Black Friday. It's (easy) 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 creat- ing daily content, you'll do well." — Cal Spears 19 RotoGrinders is setting the standards for daily fantasy affiliates