Kalshi has penned a deal with CNN to become the network’s official prediction market partner.
The Tarek Mansour-led prediction market – which helped create the regulatory framework for the vertical through lawsuits in the lead up to the 2024 Presidential Election – announced yesterday (December 2) a data integration with CNN.
It follows Kalshi’s official confirmation of a previous Techcrunch report that it has raised $1bn in a new Sequoia and CapitalG-led investment round, culminating in an $11bn valuation of the company.
A press release announcing the move said: “Kalshi is the world’s largest federally regulated exchange, having created and established the predictions market category as a financial asset class. Users can trade on real-world events to predict the outcomes of elections, weather, cultural moments, and more.
“It’s because of this accuracy that Kalshi’s data will serve as a powerful complement to CNN’s reporting. Journalists can more easily surface credible information to their audiences about the real-time probabilities of future cultural and political events.”
This puts the business in the same market capitalisation league as major US online sports betting operators as DraftKings and FanDuel-parent Flutter, making it among the largest sports betting businesses in country.
According to prior analyses of Kalshi’s markets, the majority of activity on its site is sports event contracts, which has been highlighted by its critics who have argued it should be regulated like a traditional sports gaming company.
The roll-out of Kalshi’s data across CNN programming will be led by the network’s chief data analyst Harry Enten, who will be able to tap into the real-time prediction market data as part of his reporting.
The partnership will also include a new Kalshi-powered real-time news ticker that will run during segments’ that feature the company’s data.
Meanwhile, the CNN newsroom, data and production team will have access to its real-time political, news, and cultural data for developing key storylines and visuals.