Over the past few decades fantasy sports has grown from a hobby exclusively for fanatics to a multimillion-user industry with games in nearly every category imaginable.

That growth spurt has encouraged papers such as the Standard-Examiner in Ogden, Utah, to upgrade the fantasy sports sections on their Web pages.

 

Last year, the paper added Fan Frenzy software from MediaSpan Media Software to bolster its pro football contest and the Standard-Examiner this year launched sites devoted to the NCAA basketball tournament and auto-racing as well, said Mark Shenefelt, online manager.

The Standard-Examiner’s auto racing page lets readers compete
with thousands of racing fans nationwide.

“Fan Frenzy added fan forums, which are trash-talking boards. Users can also upload an avatar and MediaSpan made an effort to make the contests more of a community experience for people,” he said. “Another thing I like about Fan Frenzy is that they integrated the contests together so if you play the auto racing contest then you are signed up for the next contest.”

The paper (Monday-Friday, 60,345; Saturday, 61,095; Sunday, 64,375) offers a combined print and Web package for advertisers interested in the auto racing game, adding several new clients this season.

MediaSpan tweaked Fan Frenzy by adding social networking features that enable fans to create user profiles, write blogs and post videos and photos.

Fan Frenzy games are a series of “u-pickem”-style sports challenges for college basketball, auto racing and pro football. Users compete against a national audience of thousands of players in a bid to win prizes.

“What we are trying to drive forward is adding more of a local element to Fan Frenzy,” said Tobey Van Santvoord, senior manager of network development at MediaSpan Network. Van Santvoord said additional capabilities will be engineered into the app and are scheduled for release by year-end.

Room for casual fans

Vendors are also rolling out apps that target casual sports fans who still want to participate in contests.

Dell Sports Inc., for example, hosts fantasy games aimed at users who may not be fanatics but are still interested in having a chance to win at the end of the season, said Terry Dell, president.

This approach gives advertisers a wider audience to target, he said, and keeps interest among participants higher for a much longer period of time.

“In an ideal world, savvy advertisers want the exact opposite of a marathon,” he said, citing what happens to fan interest when one racer is leading by a big margin while others are lagging behind.

Instead, advertisers want services that capture the enthusiasm and interest of consumers for the longest period of time, “until there is a winner at the very last moment,” he said.

Dell hosts games for a number of newspapers, including the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Roanoke (Va.) Times.