Q&A: Genius Sports CMO Tony Marlow talks the ‘moment economy’ and the future of sport streaming monetisation
If the ad break was once the be- and and end-all of sport broadcast monetisation, with the annual Super Bowl ad bonanza universally regarded as the apotheosis of the form, sitting through ads during media timeouts built into broadcasts no longer aligns with sport fans’ expectations of their viewing experiences, particularly on streaming. What’s more, brands increasingly understand that buying time during breaks in the action is no longer as reliable a strategy for capturing fans’ attention, particularly in sports like soccer that don’t lend themselves as well to scheduled interruptions.
Real-time, in-game moments offer engagement opportunities that ad breaks simply can match, when fans’ attention is fully focused on the action unfolding on the screen, and viewers could be much more accurately described as “captive audiences” than during commercial breaks. Leveraging emerging ad formats and insertion technologies to deliver in-game messages when fans are at peak engagement changes the game for sport advertisers. It requires new strategies but also creates room for more precise targeting and personalisation than the traditional ad-break advertising,
Genius Sports CMO Tony Marlow describes this new sport monetisation landscape as the “live moment economy.” In this Q&A, Marlow and I discussed how brands are approaching and increasingly embracing these opportunities, how emerging technologies like Genius Sports’ GeniusIQ for analyzing game moments make it possible to optimise and seize these moments with targeted ad and branding placement, and how to measure the effectiveness of deploying these strategies in premium sport streams.
Tony Marlow, CMO, Genius Sports
When you joined Genius Sports, you talked about the arrival of the “live moment economy.” What does that mean for brands investing in sport media sponsorships, and how does monetising “live moments” differ from buying traditional ad breaks?
Because it’s live, dramatic and unpredictable, sports are based on game-defining moments that capture the attention and imagination like nothing else. When I joined Genius Sports earlier this year, I wasn’t kidding when I said the live moment economy is driving new value across the sports ecosystem. It’s about fundamentally changing the way brands think about sports advertising.
Live sports are one of the last entertainment formats with large-scale live audiences, but that kind of scale still doesn’t make every impression equally valuable. We have a new opportunity to move beyond buying a regular spot during a game and into a future where brands show up at the perfect moments when something is actually happening that fans care about. That can be a key turnover, a game-winning three or a goalkeeper save.
Those are the moments when emotion and attention are at their peak, and it’s our job to bring that to market and help brands capture that value in real time rather than interrupt it with just another traditional ad break.
Genius Sports’ approach to analyzing in-game moments and tying them to monetisation opportunities seems a bit like sentiment analysis for M&E contextual advertising. Can you explain a bit about how that works, what sort of data informs it, and how that translates to brand placement decisions?
We’re analyzing what happens in the game in real time. It’s constantly changing with every touchdown against a rival team or record-breaking goal, heartbreaking upset or unprecedented comeback. Any of those can change the emotional context of the game, so the opportunity is to act on official game data and real-time signals to identify and activate around high-impact moments as they occur.
I mentioned before that recall is concentrated around those peak emotions, so the message needs to move with the moment. We give marketers a framework to adapt automatically, so creative strategically responds to the pace of the game.
When it comes to sponsoring or monetising key moments in games, what is actually happening in those moments that ties them to the brand?
Our proprietary systems, installed in stadiums around the world, can automatically detect, read and interpret live gameplay. For example, because our technology can detect a shot in basketball or soccer, it knows when to serve relevant metrics such as shot probability or distance. Or maybe a fan is more or less inclined to celebrate a big victory or a crushing defeat by getting food or alcohol delivered after an ad linked to a score graphic. That unique insight creates a valuable new engagement opportunity for sponsors, instead of cutting away from the action for just another sporadic ad break.
The live game itself becomes the advertising canvas, which creates value for brands without taking fans out of the moment.
How can brands measure the engagement they get when their sponsorships are tied to those moments in Premier League or NFL or NBA games, and how does that translate to pricing them?
Guesswork is expensive. If we measure the moment, we can measure its value.
Earlier this year, we partnered with WPP Media to help brands make smarter decisions about where to invest in sports. That partnership brings together Genius Sports’ Fan Graph and FANHub to give brands the clearest picture possible about which sports, audiences, and moments have the most potential to drive fan engagement and business value.
Over time, that gives the market a much more informed way to move from pricing audience size to pricing the value of sports opportunities.
The advantages of leveraging the “live moment economy” seem obvious for something like the Premier League, where the ad breaks are few and far between. But for NFL and NBA games where broadcasts have been built around stopping for ad breaks for years, what is the unique selling proposition for this approach to sponsorship besides additional inventory?
The fact that we still think about sports advertising in fixed ad-break blocks like halftime or TV timeouts shows how ingrained that thinking is, but the data points to something different.
The emotional intensity of a moment from the game immediately before an ad can significantly increase memory and recall, and the minute after a high-impact moment is the peak window for an ad to be most effective. We won’t be able to just replace the regular ad breaks of a football or basketball game, but we do want to make the advertising within the game more intelligent.
If a fan just experienced the game-winning interception as the regulation clock ran out, we can use that unique emotional context to make a brand relevant in the moment, right alongside them. That’s much more than just another piece of inventory.
And following on that, does that approach risk undermining the value of traditional ad breaks? Is it realistic to think that American sports leagues and broadcasters would actually reduce the number of ad breaks that they’ve already trained fans to tolerate?
Broadcasters, leagues, and brands don’t need to choose between the ad break and the live moment. Half-time slots during the Super Bowl are still the most iconic and premium advertising spots in global entertainment, and we fully expect major sports leagues to continue to use ad breaks when they make sense and because they already make money. But we want to make the advertising around those traditional breaks work harder.
The average fan has spent decades being trained when to expect them, but they don’t experience the game as a series of commercial breaks. The more authentic fan experience is pre-game, in-game, and post-game, and we give brands more opportunities to be part of that full fan journey.
Which of the various real-time analytics and data signals that Genius Sports captures are most valuable to brands? How quickly can they trigger a bid or creative placement?
I remember Argentina's incredible comeback against Egypt in the Round of 16 at the World Cup, which was a knockout match. Argentina was down two goals in the second half, then Messi had the assist to Cristian Romero to cut the deficit before scoring the equaliser himself. Argentina eventually headed home the winner. It was the first comeback in World Cup history from a two-goal deficit after the 75th minute.
The emotional roller coaster of that match changed with every play, and each of those moments for brands wasn’t in isolation. Yes, we look at the score, but we also evaluate and act on the context surrounding every pivotal analytic, like timing, scoreline, match situation, and the potential win probability on the result, all in real time.
The Genius Sports Moment Engine makes that possible. It’s what helps those analytics translate into a campaign-triggering event within seconds of the moment happening on the field. It can also increase media attention when attention is high or pull back, like when it looked over for Argentina and the game supposedly lost momentum.
That’s how we identify the moments that actually change the game and give brands a way to act on them.
Which types of dynamic placements (shoppable overlays, second-screen experiences, sponsored graphics) are currently the most effective? Does that effectiveness vary by sport or region?
Mobile is indispensable now. It’s not even a second screen anymore. It’s a constant companion to the sports experience, especially for younger viewers. You message friends, check your fantasy lineup or prediction markets, look up stats and other scores, browse socials for new conversations and insights about what’s going on, and more.
It’s also an opportunity for advertisers to think beyond reaching fans across a bunch of different devices and instead connect with the experience across those screens. Fans want every interaction to be relevant to who they are and what’s happening in the game.
Are there certain types of overlay, squeezeback, or other non-ad-break ads that viewers tend to find more intrusive than others? As with ad breaks, do you find there’s a saturation point for these kinds of ad or branding moments in a game?
They can’t oversaturate if they’re always relevant. More than a quarter of consumers say they won’t make a purchase if they’re just seeing generic brand messaging compared to more personalised communications. Because fans are now such active participants in the live sports experience, especially Gen Z and millennial fans, they want deeper insight. If branded graphics and dynamic ads help them follow the action, that utility is a powerful driver of sponsorship performance.
Can you describe a specific instance (and possibly even name names) where activation around live moments yielded a measurable boost for a brand in terms of sales, brand awareness, or direct engagement with an app?
We’ve been the official data partner of the NFL since 2021, and we’ve worked closely to power immersive and personalised fan experiences across the entire NFL ecosystem. Since then, we’ve delivered bespoke data offerings for teams like the Colts and Broncos, and helped brands like Crown Royal, Nickelodeon, and Captain Morgan use official NFL data to activate campaigns and reach highly engaged audiences.
A favorite recent example for Genius Sports is when the Los Angeles Rams looked to grow engagement and increase sponsorship revenue at the team’s iconic SoFi Stadium. The team wanted to give fans a data-rich experience but also provide greater value for Verizon, a key sponsor, by driving reach to thousands of fans at the game.
We helped the team leverage our GeniusIQ data and AI platform to deliver immersive, data-driven augmented highlights on the stadium’s massive Infinity Screen for every home game, and seamlessly integrated Verizon into graphic overlays for fans inside the stadium. It was a great example of a dynamic new platform that helped the brand strengthen affinity with Rams fans all season long.
How different do you expect the sport streaming sponsorship landscape to look in 3 years, and what will be the biggest change for brands and viewers?
Over the next three years, brands will have more opportunities to move beyond fixed ad placements and activate around the plays, players, and moments that matter most. Streaming is accelerating this shift, creating more dynamic, relevant experiences that feel like a natural extension of the game rather than an interruption. For brands, that means deeper engagement and a clearer connection to business outcomes.
At Genius Sports, we're helping power this future by bringing together the intelligence behind the game and the intelligence behind the audience. The convergence of real-time sports data, AI, and audience intelligence will enable brands to engage fans in the moments that capture their attention, shifting from simply buying a piece of the broadcast to becoming an integral part of the sports experience.