Yahoo’s fantasy football site (http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com) is arguably one of the best advertised supported leagues on the net – which is also free for the basic package. The user interface is easy to find, easy to navigate, and easy for execution. With over a million people playing – one could say it is the most successful fantasy sports website around.
For those of you that have been living under a rock for the past two years, fantasy football is an interactive database in which the user will anticipate player performance for each week – scoring points, and of course talking “smack” to your opponents. I personally have been playing for four years and no end in site. All in all, it seems to me as an advertising e-business model based on community.
Sponsors frequent the site – banner ads from Coke, Toyota, and the NFL itself all in the mix. And with thousands of hits per day, Yahoo seems to be doing very well. There are many other sites one can go to play fantasy sports. ESPN.com, and NFL.com are Yahoo’s biggest competitors. I personally have tried all three and Yahoo is hands-down the best. It is so much easier on the eyes and navigation-friendly compared to the others which gives Yahoo a competitive advantage based on the service they provide.
As a veteran player – my league (10 of my friends) has opted to purchase “stat-tracker,” an optional benefit that allows the user real-time stats of the players you have selected for that specific week. This also leads me to believe that Yahoo could be considered an subscription/membership model because they provide a service at a fee. I am not sure really how many people actually buy this option because the free league is still very good, but this is obviously another way Yahoo generates revenue.
So all in all, this fantasy sports site is a combination of several e-business models. It is advertising based – we know this because of all the sponsors. It is community based because of the intense social network of your friends and teammates. And finally, though completely optional, you can purchase a better service for a fee which could possibly set this up as a subscription model.
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3 comments:
You ripped this site to shreds. You have a great handle on understanding e business models and potential for creating other opportunities for a site to enhance profit. Fantasy football is really quite lame but you talked it up nicely. While visiting the site I nearly had a seizure. The graphics were beyond great and it made me want to go outside and try to play football. I do understand it has quite the following and the way the site was set up shows just how popular it is.
Great site! This is the first year I didn't do a Yahoo fantasy league and I miss it. I did an nfl.com one and while it does have some good features, I don't think it's as good as Yahoo.
Everything you said was completely true!
This is a great site Matt! I'm also playing a online soccer manager game. It is funny, as it is set up in a similar way. Fantasy Football only is more interactive, by offering stuff like videos.
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