• by Wayne Friedman , January 22, 2016

DraftKings and FanDuel, as new advertisers, were the darlings of TV sports programmers for most of the fall. Yet in recent weeks they have dramatically decreased their national TV advertising spend. 

From December 21 through January 21, DraftKings spent just $1.6 million -- much of it with the NFL Network, according to iSpot.tv. By contrast, for a period of nearly five months beginning in September 2014, DraftKings spent some $95.3 million.

Likewise, competitor FanDuel has slowed spending down dramatically to just $994,970 dollars from December 21 through January 21. Much of its national TV spending went to cable networks TNT and NBA TV.

These totals for ad spend are in sharp contrast to the fall monthly periods: From the beginning of September through January 21, FanDuel spent $132 million.

Media spending for daily fantasy sports marketers in the fourth quarter focused around NFL programming on the big NFL networks: CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN.

FanDuel spent $70.1 million on NFL football programming and $7.7 million on college football. DraftKings spent $37.3 million on NFL football, and $9.2 million on college football.

Daily fantasy sports leagues have been hit with a number of restrictions and changes concerning legitimacy of their operations and classifying businesses as gambling. Since November, attorneys general in three states have declared daily fantasy sports to be illegal under existing state laws.

In response, reports say the daily fantasy sports industry now has about 75 lobbyists in more than 30 states, with goals of possibly changing existing state laws concerning these businesses.