Fantasy football players gather around laptops during a draft, illustrating the social side of the game that Yahoo and Cameo are trying to deepen through celebrity-driven draft-order reveals.(Photo by Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times)
August used to be a quiet month for Cameo, as people waited to purchase personalized videos from celebrities until the holiday season or special occasions rolled around.
Then came fantasy football.
Hiring celebrities to reveal league draft orders has helped make fantasy football Cameo’s second-busiest seasonal period, behind only the year-end holidays. What started as a niche use of the personalized video platform has developed into one of its fastest-growing businesses.
Now Yahoo Fantasy is getting in on the action.
Yahoo has integrated Cameo directly into Yahoo Fantasy, allowing league members to book celebrities to announce their draft order inside the platform. Cameo is betting the relationship will grow an emerging revenue stream, while Yahoo seeks deeper engagement among fantasy players.
A New Fantasy Football Revenue Stream
Cameo co-founder and CEO said the partnership reflects how fantasy football has evolved from a hobby into a social experience.
CEO and co-founder of Cameo Steven Galanis. (Photo by Anna Webber)
“Fantasy football has become extremely popular, and it’s become something that isn’t just the connoisseurs with the pencils and taking the stats on Monday morning after all the games,” Galanis said. “It’s become something that’s a huge part of your workplace fabric.”
Cameo started noticing in the early 2020s that fantasy players were booking personalities, including former NFL coach Jon Gruden and NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson, to reveal league draft orders. Users supply names, team details and inside jokes to personalize the announcement.
“It becomes a moment to activate the group chat and build hype and FOMO for the league,” Galanis said.
Yahoo’s integration is intended to make the practice even easier.
Fantasy players in private Yahoo leagues can access Cameo directly through Yahoo, with one league member able to purchase a video for the entire league. Once delivered, league members can watch the reveal within Yahoo Fantasy. The commissioner then enters the celebrity’s selections as the league’s custom draft order.
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.
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“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.
Fantasy Football Becomes Big Business For Cameo
Galanis said revenue associated with the fantasy football use case has increased about 300% since Cameo began developing products around the demand several years ago.
“August used to be a very dead time,” Galanis said. “Now we forecast it like it’s Thanksgiving.”
Figures provided by Cameo show the average fantasy football request is $100, surpassing the average price of $79. Cameo has fulfilled tens of thousands of fantasy football requests this season and expects the business to roughly double again.
Among the top 10 most requested Cameos for fantasy football are Gruden ($349+) the Andy Reid impersonator Almost Andy Reid ($39), “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen ($129+) and LaVar Ball, founder of the sports apparel company Big Baller Brand ($133+).
Other available personalities include Nikki Blonsky of “Hairspray” ($55), actor Brian Baumgartner of “The Office” ($195+), WWE personality Mick Foley ($99+) and former LSU coach Ed Orgeron ($175+).
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 Cameo video he recorded as a Thanksgiving greeting was later used by FanDuel as part of a VIP promotion. (Photo by Elsa)
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.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com