• by Erik Sass , September 29, 2015

Fantasy sports have become big business and two rival companies, FanDuel and DraftKings, are duking it out for control of this multibillion-dollar industry. Their marketing strategies include special promotional offers and advertising campaigns highlighting the sometimes eye-watering payouts that expert sports fantasists can win with their bets.

To help FanDuel raise awareness and win market share in this fiercely competitive arena, Posterscope USA has created a digital out-of-home campaign in key markets, including New York, Philadelphia and Chicago.

It uses dynamic displays in its Liveposter network to show a countdown clock for each week’s virtual games, encouraging new users to download Fan Duel’s app and remind existing users to make their NFL player selections by game time.

The campaign, which is appearing on over 200 high-profile digital screens, also showcases the previous week’s big winners in each market, and offers promotional codes for freebies including coupons for starting bets.

Posterscope CEO Helma Larkin explained the thinking behind the live countdown approach: “The target for the campaign is the passionate sports gamer, and what we learned through our research is he has FOMO [fear of missing out], so we took that concept of FOMO and really built that into the creative.”

Larkin added that the ads are appearing on signs in major transit hubs to target commuters, as well as near stadiums to reach sports fans on their way to NFL games. The latter strategy includes a large digital display in Penn Station to reach fans on their way to Met Life Stadium.

In addition to lining the pockets of players, the FanDuel-Draft Kings rivalry is proving to be a bonanza for media companies. Previously The Wall Street Journal reported that from August to mid-September, DraftKings had splashed out $81 million -- much of it on TV ads -- while FanDuel spent $20 million.