There’s been a lot of discussion around advertisers withdrawing from Twitter/X around owner Elon Musk’s changes to the platform and the bad placements that has sometimes led to. Many of the biggest media brands paused their advertising on the platform this fall after a Media Matters for America investigation showing those ads appearing next to racist and antisemitic posts.
The exits this fall included ABC/ESPN parent Disney, NBC parent Comcast, CBS parent Paramount Global, Fox Sports, Warner Bros. Discovery, and more. And the ads on the platform have seen a notable downturn in quality since then.
But there are still people willing to work with Musk’s X. Kylie Robison of Fortune reported Friday that the company has now struck a gambling deal with a new advertiser, BetMGM. And that will reportedly include both a showcase of odds and an option to place bets while on X:
MGM Resorts International’s online gambling subsidiary BetMGM is partnering with X, formerly Twitter, to bring sports gambling stats to the social media platform, Fortune has learned.
…While the specific financial terms of the collaboration could not be learned, the intention is to introduce a feature for X soon that will showcase betting odds and provide a direct link to BetMGM, allowing users to place bets.
BetMGM had a market share of 17 percent in U.S. online sports betting in December. That was up from 11 percent last summer, and was third behind DraftKings and FanDuel. They have already had prominent partnerships, including ones with Yahoo, Foul Territory, and Kevin Garnett. But a Twitter/X one is notable considering how much sports discourse still happens there, including around betting. But it is interesting to see a prominent company coming in to work with X right now, as the trend in recent months has been about those companies leaving.
[Fortune]
