The affiliate market is one that is constantly changing and evolving, even if the industry as a whole has been argued not to change that much in this issue. It is a sector that offers open doors to anyone brave enough to give it a go, but immense challenges to anyone seeking success.
As such, standing out is key. This is true of all verticals in the market, be it operators, suppliers or affiliates, and knowing when to adjust strategy is critical for survival. This was the case for B90, who we spoke with earlier this issue, with Executive Chairman Ronny Breivik explaining in our April issue that, in order to survive in a market, “we have to re-invent the wheel and come up with a plan that allows us to go to where we want to be.” As its H1 results showed, this seems to have been successful so far – but what else goes into standing out?
For Riddick’s Partners, who we speak to later this issue, it is banking on connections and industry experience to push it into public consciousness. Of course, in the affiliate market, who you know is almost more important than what you know, which provides a good leg to stand on. Meanwhile, Casumo is hoping a rebrand, with the integration of a new visual identity and branding language, will play an important role in future success. As Brand and Communications Director Elmira Majerić says later this issue: “The rebranding process for Casumo was sparked by a crucial realisation - our brand had lost its distinct identity in the market.”
All the above tactics are viable routes to generating brand interest and cutting through the noise. When online gaming offers such lucrative financial opportunities, it is worth trying a range of methods to get a seat at the table. But is decline from several sizeable affiliates an indication that, now more than ever, there is space at the table to fight for? Or should the wider affiliate market be concerned?
Catena, Better Collective and challenges at the top
In October, both Catena and Better Collective reported they would be restructuring in order to account for changing (reduced) financial results and expectations. This resulted in redundancies from both affiliates, with Better Collective Co-Founder and CEO Jesper Søgaard writing on LinkedIn that it had been “emotional days” for the affiliate on 30 October.
For Catena, the move was put in place to ‘streamline the company’s content production and content marketing teams.’ This has been the plan of CEO Manuel Stan from the start, who took on the role in March this year. In Huddle interview with us in September, he explained: “Catena has thousands of websites of products at the moment. We’re a team of just over 200 people. We cannot properly manage thousands of sites. So one of the big exercises we’re doing right now is trying to clean and figuring out what we’re focusing on.”
Better Collective, meanwhile, cited shifts in the US market and Brazil – the latter due to its upcoming regulation – as reasons for its underperformance. These are not the only markets where regulation is causing strain for affiliates; as Game Lounge CEO Richard Dennys noted earlier this issue: “Finland is still in the regulation discussion stage, and they’ve effectively said no affiliation. They don’t think affiliation is a good idea.”
Verdict
While we intend to explore the above issue further, a note to affiliates is this: Standing out in the market is important, but keeping an ear to the ground as regulation and the landscape of the affiliate vertical changes may be something worth prioritising. The situation is clear, if even Better Collective is feeling the heat.
