The missing piece in live betting: retaining the audience

Retention remains the persistent problem in live betting: operators report that the customer places a bet, the whistle blows and the user leaves, a dynamic that has repeated for years. The industry acknowledges that acquisition is expensive and that the moment sport goes live often coincides with the biggest drop in engagement.

By Emilio Navarro, Industry technology correspondent.

## The critical point: the live moment and player drop-off

Operators identify the same abandonment point: the customer places a bet, the match starts and they leave the app or website. Often the user follows the event on another screen, chats or browses social media; that second screen does not belong to the operator. The direct consequence is that the moment that matters most to generate activity and cross-sell is also the one that loses the most players.

Operational and organisational reasons contribute. Ideas usually start in marketing or product, but they meet multiple stakeholders — compliance, trading, technology, operations — and the initiative loses momentum. That cultural explanation is true, but it does not fully explain the failure.

## Why it isn't fixed: lack of skill more than lack of intent

The industry understands the problem; what is missing is the ability to execute an effective solution. Specific combinations of talent are needed: broadcasting skills, mastery of modern digital content, on-air confidence and deep understanding of betting. Many teams have experience in marketing, social media or trading, but few combine those competencies in a person or team that can produce live content and keep the audience.

My professional background is in radio, and that school leaves two practical lessons: you learn to keep an audience hour after hour and to design hooks that drive retention. Radio does not seek attention once; it seeks to retain it. That discipline is applicable to live betting.

## What works outside the sector and a proof of concept

Formats outside gaming show the way. e-commerce platforms have moved value to time spent: eBay and Whatnot offer experiences where the user spends hours watching and participating in live sales, chatting and bidding. The transaction remains the objective, but the experience is the product.

On sports television, shows such as Soccer Saturday have spent years entertaining audiences who cannot watch every match: reaction, personality, information and entertainment delivered live. That mix shows the format exists and works; in betting the ingredients have existed, but never a consistent recipe.

## The role of people versus automation and AI

The current conversation includes AI, and the technology has clear uses. I use AI in my work and I recognise valuable capabilities. However, artificial intelligence does not reproduce the real-time reaction to a goal nor the atmosphere when a long-priced bet becomes a winner. The value of live is in the simultaneous experience: a person living the moment at the same second as the audience.

The more AI-generated content appears, the more valuable real voices and personalities will be. The industry can use AI for support — segmentation, timing optimisation, insights extraction — but not as a substitute for live talent.

"You cannot manufacture the genuine reaction to a goal that has just gone in," says a presenter with radio experience who moved into betting content.

## What the industry needs to close the gap

Closing the gap requires hiring or training hybrid profiles: presenters with a broadcasting background who understand trading and product, digital production teams that manage real-time interaction and technical flows that support low latency and synchrony between content and betting. This is not an exclusive requirement for large operators; any company with vision can build the experience.

### Practical elements to consider:

• - hiring talent with experience in radio or television to lead live broadcasts;

• - investing in digital production and chat moderation to sustain live communities;

• - technical integration between the betting platform and the live video feed to minimise friction in conversion;

• - using data and AI as support tools, not as a presenter replacement.

## How this affects operators and suppliers

For operators, the challenge is productive and commercial. Treating the transaction as the product remains the dominant practice; changing that requires redesigning the experience so content is the product and the bet the natural consequence. Platforms and technology suppliers will see demand for solutions that integrate live broadcasting, interaction and conversion mechanics.

Suppliers that want to get ahead should offer capabilities combining live content production with operational dashboards for trading and moderation, plus metrics that measure retention during events. The objective is not only to capture minutes of attention; it is to convert that time into responsible, repeatable betting activity.

## A replicable challenge open to competition

None of this is protected by patents nor is it corporate secret: any operator can build a live-broadcast offering with the right talent and existing tools. If an initiative shows traction, I expect competitors to copy the idea. Better to see several companies validating the concept than the industry repeating the same unresolved conversations.

The human factor will be decisive. The opportunity has been visible for years: the audience exists, the technology exists and content can be produced. The real question is whether there are enough people capable of sustaining, entertaining and retaining an audience for 90 or 120 minutes live.

"The audience quickly detects if the person on screen does not understand betting," concludes the presenter with live-betting experience.