888 To Benefit From SI’s Appeal To Women & Older Consumers

888 Holdings, the parent company of 888poker, recently inked a deal with Authentic Brands Group (ABG), owner of the American media company Sports Illustrated (SI). Both companies have embarked on a joint venture to launch SI-branded online sports betting and iGaming products which will be made available to the US market very soon.

There’s a good reason why 888 has chosen ABG and SI as its newest partners. Senior Vice President for 888 Holdings, Yaniv Sherman, said SI has a unique selling point – it is popular with female and older consumers.

According to Sherman, this is quite untypical nowadays, with most brands more focused on the younger demographic.

SI’s appeal with women and older customers partly influenced 888’s decision to form a new partnership with ABG and subsequently launch online gaming products under the SI brand.

Based on user demographic data for the period June 2020 – June 2021, a significant portion of SI’s customers belong to the 25-34 age group (23.2 percent), while 20.2 percent were aged 35-44.

But when all figures are taken into account, majority of SI customers are actually older people aged 45 and above. They account for nearly 45.2 percent of SI’s consumers: 18.2 percent were 45-54, 15.9 percent were 55-64, and 11.1% were aged 65 and beyond. Sherman, who is in his 40s and an avid SI consumer himself, said SI personally strikes the right chord.

SI’s popularity with female consumers is also an intriguing fact. Women account for 23.2 percent of SI users for the same period. This is a great figure especially for sports betting which is generally dominated by male users. This means that the SI-branded sportsbook shows great potential to attract the female audience.

New Partnership, New Possibilities

Sherman emphasized that brands nowadays should strive to turn awareness into actual conversion, and that’s what 888 is looking to achieve through its partnership with ABG and SI. Taking into account the latest user demographic data for SI, and looking at FoxBet as benchmark, Sherman said they’d focus more on the “sentimental nostalgia” aspect in promoting a brand-new iGaming platform under the SI brand.

The new partnership with ABG is another feather in the cap of 888, whose relationship with Caesars Interactive Entertainment and the WSOP.com is also going strong. Just a few days ago, WSOP.com launched in Pennsylvania featuring 888poker’s latest software Poker 8. The site will also go live in Michigan this year and is also eyeing to expand in West Virginia and Connecticut.