Playing the field with Stefano Vaccarino

But before entering the sports betting field, he worked in a completely different field.

“I worked as a medical biller and programmer,” says Vaccarino. “It’s a pretty boring 9 to 5. I’ve always loved sports. I studied sports management in college.”

While Vaccarino was in college, Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) was becoming mainstream.

“I decided to create a Twitter account and start posting NBA picks and plays during my lunch break or whenever I have free time.”

The Twitter account was anonymous, but it quickly gained a small following. “Nothing big,” he says. “Probably thousands of followers.”

Then a former classmate started following anonymous accounts. Vaccarino messaged the friend and reconnected. The rekindling of this connection has created new job opportunities in the field of sports betting.

What happened next was a real roller coaster. Vaccarino was not given the part. They gave it to others. However, the candidate declined and received a phone call. The company went bankrupt in February 2020 and he started looking elsewhere.

He then connected with Kevin Adams, CEO of FTN Network, to join the team. Today, Vaccarino applies his skills digitally to his marketing and running his FTN network.

“Our goal with FTN is to build a sports betting and fantasy conglomerate,” he explains.

The company currently operates four websites. FTNFfantasy, FTNDaily and FTNBets are B2C sites. Meanwhile, FTNData covers his B2B division of the business.

Get data all day, every day

Vaccarino praises FTN as a “data company.”

“We collect our own NFL data. We chart every snap of every NFL game,” he explains. “It may sound cliche, but we literally have all the stats and points you can get from an NFL game.”

FTN then cleans and polishes the data to make it easier to digest. “Our charter then tracks the data, puts it into a CSV, and hands it off to the master administrator.”

B2B customers can pay for their data through APIs. B2C site end-users can access some data for free, but a paid membership gives them access to more data and benefits.

“On the B2C side, this is a ‘freemium’ model subscription. FTNBets, FTNDaily and FTNFantasy have tons of free content. ”

By paying for the service, bettors and fantasy players gain access to tools, projected models and other content. For now, each site’s subscriptions are separate, but Vaccarino has hinted at future plans to combine them into one of his networks called FTN+.

Overall, businesses can benefit greatly from the data side of the FTN network.

“Clients connect to our API and receive raw data that updates in real time,” he says. “On the B2B side, there is absolutely no work for the end client to do.”

You can also fine-tune the service to suit your customer’s needs. “Essentially, if someone wants to get the same game parlay calculator from his FTNBets, they can put it on the client’s site. will pay the

catering for everyone

Vaccarino emphasizes flexibility as one of the reasons for FTN’s success.

“There is a huge gap in the market. Businesses need affordable and reliable data.”

Company size doesn’t matter. It’s a simple necessity.

“Not every startup wants to spend $20,000, $30,000 on an advanced NFL data package,” says Vaccarino. “Our goal is to cater to these small businesses and meet their data needs.”

However, that doesn’t stop FTN from working with big companies. “For example, Caesars is our customer. Our customers range from Caesars to his IDP Guy, a defense-focused fantasy sports site, and we love them both.”

FTN aims to make data available to everyone. And it’s not limited to business clients.

in the same team

But FTN is more than just B2B play. Individual users can benefit from his B2C site, and Mr. Vaccarino noted some interesting findings about his typical sports bettors and fantasy players.

“They are basically the same person,” he says. “And we try to cater to all kinds of fantasy sports players and their bettors.”

This means that FTN’s tools should run the gamut from basic tools to help casual bettors to detailed data that will interest stats buffs.

“Maybe you have a fantasy football player who is busy with work and home…they can connect their league directly to our website and get our predictions and what Should, who to pick up, who to play with and more, ”says Vaccarino. “We also have trade analysts, for people who don’t want the data to be too complicated, but rather want to make informed decisions.”

Other models are similarly flexible, allowing you to decide on your own or let the data decide.

“If you just want a pick, you can simply use our model,” says Vaccarino. “If you want to use our data to make your own choices, you can do that too.”

Feeding fantasy and DFS can do wonders in terms of channel crossover. “We are educating a fantasy football player on sports his betting and DFS, so when they are ready to jump into a different kind of game, we expect them to do it with us. .”

cut out the noise

Vaccarino comes from the world of marketing. That anonymous Twitter account sparked a fire that eventually evolved into his career. His background has informed his FTN strategy, which is important in such a saturated and rapidly growing field.

“The image of sports betting in particular has changed,” he says. “I’m not a guy sitting in a bar smoking a cigar at 4 in the morning in Las Vegas.”

“It’s clean, tech-focused and fun. We want to debunk prejudices and show that sports betting can be fun and responsibly. Using it increases your chances of winning.”

To drive organic traffic, Vaccarino and FTN focus on SEO and advertising campaigns. “And when we had users on our site, we saw great conversions. Our site is so sticky that we can retarget people.”

A paid membership to the FTN site also includes access to the Discord community, which is great for maintenance.

“People can talk to our experts, and our experts enjoy conversations,” he pleads. “It’s a paid community, so it’s going to be very focused and intentional. The goal is to make us all feel together. We can all win.”

Vaccarino says he sometimes sees the Discord community rally behind the bets and win or lose, it’s a team spirit.

on the rise

When it comes to social media marketing, Vaccarino said it has really changed. “It evolves every few months. Algorithms change. You have to create content that people pay attention to for more than a second.”

“Literally, it takes less than a second to get someone’s attention and you just scroll past without reading or looking. If you’re looking for someone who likes sports betting around the NBA Finals, I We want to create content that instantly captivates those fans and bettors, and if we can keep someone in the post for even 10 seconds, that’s a big win.”

Looking ahead, Vaccarino hopes FTN will continue on a steady growth trajectory.

“The number of subscriptions is up about 280% year-over-year,” he says. “The numbers for all B2C sites are right around the corner. We want to expand to multiple sports by 2025.”

NBA, PGA and NCAA basketball and football top the FTN list.

“We are about to become a complete data shop, offsetting advanced charting data for every sport.”