Seven West Media Invests in Fantasy Sports Start-Up Draftstars

SYDNEY: Seven West Media has secured a 33-percent stake in Draftstars, Australia’s leading daily fantasy sports start-up.

Draftstars is a joint venture between Seven West Media, CrownBet and Fox Sports, and is the official daily fantasy sports partner of the Australian Football League. Through its investment, Seven West Media will provide media support, product development and investment to further drive brand awareness and usage in an integrated media campaign across all of Seven’s content brands.

Tim Worner, the managing director and CEO of Seven West Media, said: “We are delighted to partner with CrownBet and Fox Sports in Draftstars. Our investment builds on our strategy of leveraging the power of our media assets to scale early-stage businesses. Draftstars is an exciting investment for our company and we look forward to working with them and our investment partners in driving brand awareness and engagement.”

Clive Dickens, Seven West Media’s chief digital officer, said: “Seven West Media is constantly looking at ways in which we can engage our large sports audiences on mobile. Draftstars will soon launch EPL and Cricket to complement its existing range of highly engaging contests across AFL, NRL, NFL and NBA. It is a highly scalable, mobile product and platform that is backed by powerful partners, each of which provides strong competitive advantages.”

Draftstars’ CEO, Matt Sanders, commented: “We’re thrilled to have Seven West Media come on board in time for the AFL finals and add their experience and audience to our engaging digital product.

“The partnership of Seven West Media, Fox Sports and CrownBet boasts the strongest possible set of assets to bring this exciting new, simpler, quicker and more engaging form of entertainment to Australian sports fans.”