Genius Sports unveils free-to-play games for the NFL

One of the largest and fastest-growing sports technology companies globally, Genius Sports, announced it expanded its existing collaboration with the National Football League (NFL). On Tuesday, the company revealed it has taken its partnership with the NFL to a new level by introducing new free-to-play games seeking to boost fan engagement across international markets.

Per the extended deal, Genius will leverage its invaluable experience and exclusive distribution of official NFL league data to deliver bracket, personality and knowledge-based predictor quiz-style games. Ultimately, the new free-to-play games will seek to engage with NFL's international fan base in the UK, Germany, France, as well as other strategic jurisdictions such as Mexico, Brazil and even Australia.

In a statement released on February 7, 2023, Genius' Chief Revenue Officer, Josh Linforth, said: "Extending our partnership to deliver immersive free-to-play games is the latest example of Genius Sports expanding our role at the heart of the NFL ecosystem."

Additionally, he explained: "The NFL's global audience is growing rapidly and our bespoke games including the highly popular NFL Super Bowl Challenge, will be central to the league’s strategy to capture new audiences from around the world."

The new free-to-play games will deliver engaging experiences for international NFL fans and allow them to test their knowledge. The online players will be able to participate in gameday score forecasts, Super Bowl and Playoff bracket selections and draft pick predictor games. The new products, according to Genius will "gamify the entire NFL fan experience and drive repeated engagement with year-round multilingual content."

For NFL fans, the new games will allow them to compete against other fans around the world via a direct platform. At the same time, Genius explained, the new games will enable the NFL to better understand its growing fan base. This, in turn, is expected to help the League deliver personalized experiences for its fans in the future.

The latest announcement comes as no surprise, considering the strong bond between Genius and the NFL. Back in April 2021, the company was selected by the League as its exclusive distributor of official data globally. What's more, Genius has already introduced predictor content for multiple NFL teams such as the Colts, Raiders, Broncos and Rams this season.

The details regarding the company's extended deal with the NFL coincided with another announcement. Again on Tuesday, Genius unveiled the launch of a new fan engagement engine that seeks to "transform how a range of partners identify, engage and retain sports fans." The new engine, called Genius Marketing Suite, delivers a new way for sports leagues and teams, sportsbooks and brands to engage with their target audiences.

Image credit: Genius Sports