How low can they go: daily fantasy sports activity levels plumbing new depths

Daily fantasy sports activity fell in Week 14 of the NFL season, the eighth straight week of declines and the worst performance to date for the headline operators.

According to figures compiled by DFS stats masters SuperLobby.com, both DraftKings and FanDuel managed to stay in positive revenue territory for the week, reporting effective margins of 10.8% and 11% respectively. However, the profits are largely a reflection of the drastic cuts made to the guaranteed payouts at the operators’ marquee contests, as activity level fell at both operators and across the entire industry.

FanDuel’s combined guaranteed prize pool (GPP) and cash-game fees totaled nearly $18.8m, down 11% from the previous week and 53% less than the site enjoyed in its Week 6 peak. SuperLobby doesn’t yet track DraftKings cash games, but the site’s GPP fees were down 11% to $17.1m, a decline of 32% from their Week 5 peak.

In fact, every operator reported its lowest fees to date in the current NFL season. Third-place site Yahoo retreated 10% from the previous week to just under $780k, which represents a 40% fall from its Week 5 peak. Despite the decline, Yahoo posted a 6.5% margin, its second best showing to date and the third week of positive revenue in the past month.