Let's Rock and Roll

Please introduce yourself, what you do and what GiG does.
My name is Jonas. I’m the CEO. What we do at GiG Media is generate player leads for iGaming operators, be it sportsbooks or online casinos. We call ourselves a multichannel affiliate, meaning that we have our own websites that we try to rank on Google, which we call our publishing business. Then we have our paid channels. So that could be Facebook or Google ads, display advertising and several other formats. Essentially, we work with some of the big tech platforms and use them to generate traffic so we can generate leads for our partners.

I wanted to look into recent takeovers and what goes into making an acquisition. Can you tell us about the KaFe Rocks deal? And what was the strategy behind the decision?
 I think a very important part of that acquisition was that we wanted to maintain our whole position in casino affiliation and remain in the lead there - a very valuable segment of the iGaming industry. We want to continue to be ahead of and drive a value profile for partners and our investors. At the same time KaFe Rocks had a good presence in the US. And with this acquisition, we also wanted to grow our presence in the US market.
 The US market is a very interesting market. One where if we look back at our history, maybe GiG Media has yet to realise the potential of what we could do there. So, with this acquisition we hope to fast-track things beyond getting a very strong publishing website. KaFe Rocks is already established in the US and you can say the acquisition satisfied both those goals.
 Then, we believe in the product. There’s a lot of synergies between the two companies, similar to what happened with our AskGamblers acquisition. We believe that along with the technology and the data, the BI system, we have that we can use that to grow business in KaFe Rocks.

When it comes to acquiring a company, usually it’s done to strengthen a weak point. So if a company, for example, hasn’t got much of a LatAm presence, you might acquire a company in Brazil. What were your main factors of consideration when choosing to acquire KaFe Rocks and are there any factors that go into those considerations that maybe aren’t talked about as much?
 There are two main drivers: our position in casino affiliation and growing our presence in the US. It’s always hard to quantify synergies, but we think there are quite a lot of synergies there. And for us, it means we see quite a good opportunity to grow, starting with the KaFe Rocks business. Then, of course, we hope that there are cities that have a benefit for the old media business where we can grow.
 I think one of the factors that is not talked about much is the ‘fit’ between the seller and the buyer. We had a very pleasant process with the people involved in the sales process at KaFe Rocks which definitely made it much easier to see the opportunities at hand. I think that’s definitely a little bit of a hidden factor that you don’t talk about. If the seller and the buyer can speak the same language and see the same opportunities it just makes the whole process easier.

Before your acquisition, KaFe Rocks was acquired by Glitnor Group, but that acquisition was called off. Did that situation at all affect your decision?
 No. We look at KaFe Rocks now and what the business brings to the table. I would say the prior history was not really something taken into consideration.
 I think if we look at the KaFe Rock history, in the last period there was unseen potential in the business. We have big hopes and aspirations for KaFe Rocks and they are very dedicated. I hope they will unleash potential now that they have joined the GiG family with our proven track record.

Often when it comes to acquisitions the focus is on the acquirer. But when it comes to, for example, GiG and AskGamblers.com or KaFe Rocks, what benefits do you provide to them?
 We provide a centralised media and marketing technology. We hope that we can take all the websites that are in KaFe Rocks and migrate them to our ‘tech stack’ to then improve the product quality. This is similar to what we have been working on and have worked on for AskGamblers. I hope also that we can give them amazing business intelligence and all the support functions we have at GiG Media, like our sales team. We also have a strong human resource team and I think being a bigger company, we can bring a lot to the table there.
 We look at the game acquisition as a blueprint. We see the same story and the same opportunities as we saw when we looked at the games. There’s a lot we can bring to the table there and we hope they can bring something to the table for us.
 In general, we are quite optimistic about growing the KaFe Rocks business. That’s what we did with AskGamblers - we have increased revenue and stakes nearly 50% if we look at the average Q3 and compare it to when we took over. So, we’re quite optimistic.

GiG is a big company and acquisitions are a big investment. How do you assess the value of an acquisition and how do you present that value to others, like investors and C Suite?
 A lot of work goes into understanding the business you’re looking at. From there you make predictions about the cost and earnings and it all ends in a big spreadsheet. So, of course, it focuses on numbers in the beginning. When you’re confident with the numbers, I would say, the real work starts. Putting everything into a storyline and a presentation that people can understand, describing the strategic fit. The board and all other stakeholders need to buy into the idea. The GiG Media organisation needs to buy into the idea. I think on this part you need to be very focused on what each business brings to the table.
 Generally speaking, you can say that good numbers with bad strategic fit will usually not end up well. Both factors need to be present. But you also need a strong storyline. Why are we doing this? Why do we want to do it? It’s as much sales as it is numbers and a story. There’s so much that goes into it.

This year you acquired KaFe Rocks and AskGamblers.com and your Q3 was at an all-time high. Do you think you’ll be able to keep up that level of growth going into next year and do you think your acquisitions this year will help facilitate that?
 We have a strong track record right now. The great part here is that we still have a lot of markets where we are still relatively small in terms of market size. So there’s still a lot of opportunities for us to grow. Beyond that, we have both KaFe Rocks and Ask Gamblers, where we are quite optimistic that we can make plenty of magic happen if I can use that expression. I think that the trade is to have a strong organisation supported by strong technology that is driven by data to maximise the chances of each unit and each market performing well.
 As you grow it’s very important that the structure is there to facilitate and support growth. There’s so many markets we can grow in. There’s a lot of things that can be optimised. For instance, we can add a sportsbook to Ask Gamblers. That’s not there yet, but that’s something we’re working on that will probably double the market. There’s still plenty of room for growing the businesses we had at hand when the year started.

Do you have any New Year’s resolutions? And how do you think those resolutions could help benefit you as a CEO and your position at GiG?
 I think in general it would be to become a better version of myself. Both as a manager and as a colleague, as a friend and to my family. I spend quite a lot of time thinking about where I can become my better version. I think that would also benefit me and the company with the position I have.
 I think you can easily get caught in the hamster wheel. But it’s important sometimes to think about you as a person. How are the dynamics? How do you react to bad news? How do you react to good news? Are you clear enough in your communication and are you stable enough in your emotions when things happen? You know, all of the things that go into being a human being.
 I have a focus on making all of those different aspects better.

Have you got any exciting plans in the works for 2024?
 If we sum it up, it’s to grow all parts of the business. That’s the ambition. Grow the media partnerships we are involved in, continue to develop our marketing technology and make our business intelligence setup even stronger.
 Of course, there are very concrete things, like adding sports to Ask Gamblers. Plus, maybe adding very specific features to our casino site. Maybe build more of a dedicated live casino section. Then, of course, we keep our eyes open on the market so we are able to move when a good opportunity presents itself.
 As you know, it’s a very dynamic industry. A lot of things are happening. If we have the structure in place and we give people the support they need in every format, then we are in a position where we can react quickly and decisively when we see opportunities. I think that’s some of the things we should work on in 2024 - in maintaining that core capability, that we’re able to react to whatever happens.