Penn National Gaming bought a stake in Barstool worth $163 million — and now it’s about to see if its bet will pay off.
As Barstool’s Dave Portnoy broke it down to Ashley Rodriguez, the idea is to use Barstool to turn its rabid following into bettors rather than spend a lot of money on expensive TV ads.
But the field has gotten very crowded. Barstool is going up against 10 mobile sportsbooks and industry giants like FanDuel and DraftKings.
It's a big "if," but as Chris Grove, gambling-industry analyst and partner at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, told Ashley: "They have this thing that is unique: a community connected via culture. Other sportsbooks really don't have that."
Life is getting more complicated and competitive for traditional PR agencies as clients increasingly demand more accurate measurement and proof that their services lead to actual business results. It's not enough to just get a headline in The New York Times anymore.
That was the driver of a big deal announced by PR industry's biggest firm and biggest software company last year that was touted as game-changing. The deal would let Edelman clients see things like how many actual people read an article and their demographic makeup.
A year later, the deal doesn't seem to be working out as envisioned. From Sean Czarnecki's article:
However, three PR software company executives, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Edelman contacted their companies about hiring them to replace parts of the Cision partnership, one as early as late 2019.
Two of those execs said they thought Edelman's reaching out signaled a lack of faith in the partnership's long-term viability.
It's another wrinkle for Cision, which also has the Justice Department asking questions about whether its plans to merge with its biggest rival will hurt competition, Business Insider reported earlier.
