Younger audiences increasingly favour short-form content over full-match viewing and the way people engage with sports and betting is evolving rapidly. At SiGMA Euro-Med 2025 on the SiGMA Stage 03 September, in the fireside chat titled Betting for the TikTok Generation: Designing Wagering Experiences for Short-Form Sports Consumption, Moritz Maurer, Co-Founder and CEO of GRID, explored how this shift is driving innovation in micro-betting, odds and ultra-fast in-play markets tailored for bite-sized highlights.
The talk highlighted strategies for designing wagering experiences that resonate with the TikTok generation, offering insights into how operators can capture attention, boost engagement and meet the expectations of a new era of sports fans.
From data challenges to new opportunities
Reflecting on his journey in digital sports, Moritz Maurer recalled how the idea for GRID emerged from the gaps he observed in the market. Building reliable infrastructure for esports, he explained, meant overcoming regulatory hurdles, defining new markets and creating systems that could keep pace with the speed of play. “Ultimately, I wanted to tackle all the data challenges in digital sports I was seeing in the market.”
That effort has paid off. Market growth has been steady, with wager volumes surpassing 50 million and year-on-year growth of around 15%. While just a handful of game titles dominate betting activity, accounting for nearly 80% of action across the top four, adoption has expanded rapidly.
Today, esports is firmly embedded in the wider betting ecosystem. As Maurer noted, “Every company now has some sort of esports offering in their catalogue.” The real shift, he added, is that the industry has moved from being experimental and fragmented to becoming more structured and data-driven, with rights holders and developers now leading the way.
Who is betting today?
According to Maurer, the demographics of wagering are shifting in step with entertainment habits. “There are two large categories: one is the part of the audience that is watching and likes to bet. About 40% in the US don’t actively play the game anymore, but they will bet on it. The other group is the new generation that is tapping into esports, gaming and wagering.”
He highlighted how central gaming has become for Gen Z and millennials, “90% engage with gaming in these age groups, it’s a core part of entertainment. But only 37% are still watching live sporting events. It’s a generational shift, and if you want to attract that audience you need to pay attention to how people are engaging. Being here representing esports and gaming, we are partially to blame for the shortening of attention spans, but it’s a real thing.”
Micro-markets and ultra-fast betting
So how do operators meet this demand? Maurer pointed to the natural pace of esports. “In sports, there have been a lot of technical advancements that have allowed micromarkets to grow and create opportunities. In esports, I don’t have to do that at all, there is always something going on, always something meaningful contributing to the outcome. The pace of the games is just higher than in sports. Esports is good for digital natives.”
GRID’s partnership with Riot Games was also highlighted as a step forward. “In general we work with a lot of rights holders in esports. There is a large piece around getting the alignment right.” He further emphasised how this shows progress in the industry, “I feel quite good about what we’ve been able to show in terms of progress in the industry and enhancing experiences by making data available for players. At the back of this, as an engagement channel, it’s raising this category more, this is achieved by data.”
Applying esports innovation to traditional sports
When asked whether esports models can be applied to traditional sports, Maurer was cautiously optimistic. “I think we are seeing attempts of that already, but unless you’re willing to change the underlying things. I hope that now with esports data available there will be more ways of innovating on that front to create new products for the markets.”
He ended the session looking at the industry needs today, “When I left Genius, I said I was going to solve data challenges in esports, making data more available. It needs to be in alignment with the rights holders. Now is a very good time to get in with it as you know you have a reliable foundation. Fragmentation of data and lack of planning security, we think we have solved this now.”
Keep following SiGMA Euro-Med 2025 for the final conference day filled with live updates, exclusive interviews and behind the scene insights.
