Yahoo, Cameo Bet Fantasy Football Players Will Pay For More Than Teams

Turning Draft Day Into A Shared Experience

Yahoo introduced the Cameo integration Aug. 12 as Day 3 of its “29 Days of Fantasy” campaign, which marked the company’s 29th fantasy football season with a new feature each day.

Yahoo declined to disclose the financial terms of the agreement, with Yahoo Sports general manager Jarrod Schwarz describing the deal only as a “sponsorship integration.”

Schwarz said fantasy football has become part of the fabric of how people connect, and the draft is a strong shared social experience. Cameo makes that experience even more special.

“We saw our fantasy football players doing this already,” Schwarz said. “We listened to their feedback, but we realized not everyone was aware or had recognition that this was a possibility.”

Schwarz said the integration is designed to simplify the booking process and requires just a single tap to book a celebrity. Once the video is ready, league members can watch it within Yahoo Fantasy.

“It takes something that can feel routine, like setting a draft order, and turns it into a core memory,” he said.

Access Can Lead to Complications

That increased access to athletes, however, can create complications.

Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper became part of a controversy after a FanDuel VIP host used Cameo to request what Harper understood to be a personal Thanksgiving greeting for a customer. FanDuel later used the video as part of a VIP promotion, and the customer subsequently sued the sportsbook, alleging it had exploited his gambling addiction.

Galanis said the booking did not violate Cameo’s rules because the request itself appeared to be a routine holiday greeting, with nothing to alert Harper or Cameo to how the video might ultimately be used.

He said Cameo restricts certain users and requests and prohibits content including nudity, violence and hate speech. Galanis said Cameo has facilitated nearly 10 million videos through the platform.

Protecting the people making those videos, he said, remains critical to the business.

“We want to make sure that our fans have an amazing experience, and we want to make sure that our talent feel very safe on the platform,” Galanis said.

Beyond The Draft

For Yahoo Fantasy and Cameo, the draft-order integration is just the beginning.

Galanis said he used Cameo to revisit a game that eliminated his own fantasy team from the playoffs, after a disputed touchdown by Colby Parkinson of the Los Angeles Rams.

“That night, we booked Colby Parkinson for our league group chat to explain what happened on that touchdown,” he said. “…We were able to book the Cameo that night and get the answer from him that night.”

Both companies see opportunities throughout a fantasy season, including start-or-sit decisions, reactions to big performances, trash talk between league members, messages congratulating champions and, perhaps most naturally, celebrities roasting whoever finishes last.