INSIGHT
terms of gender, the demographical reality
of sports-betting is that it’s overwhelmingly
male. Affiliates who focus solely on
promoting betting on football, rugby league,
snooker and the like are therefore missing
out on high volumes of convertible traffic.
A solution for affiliates is to focus
on promoting sportsbooks that offer
other iGaming verticals with more of a
demographic balance. The core of such
a strategy could be promoting brands’
online casino products. More than 20%
of casino players are women, according
to ApolloBet’s data. When table games
are excluded to focus purely on slots, the
percentage of female players exceeds 30%.
Another female-friendly product
increasingly offered by sportsbooks is the
lottery vertical, which has huge potential in
the UK market. According to Camelot, 31
million National Lottery tickets are bought
every week. Sportsbooks are today offering
an array of international lotteries as well
as the UK version. Whichever country’s
lottery an affiliate promotes, women
players are more common – around 32%,
according to our data.
By diversifying to promote sportsbooks’
products in other verticals, affiliates will
do more than just add additional revenue
streams for their offering and extend their
reach. Given sportsbooks’ own focus on
converting players in one vertical to players
of another through email marketing and
accompanying promotions, affiliates’
efforts will strengthen their relationships
with operators.
Platform diversity
Diversifying the brands, verticals and
sporting markets they promote allows
affiliates to remain competitive. However,
to give their offering a true edge in today’s
marketplace, they also need to ensure their
platform focus is as broad as possible.
The days when sportsbooks’ focus was
exclusively on desktop are long gone. Today
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iGB Affiliate Issue 51 JUNE/JULY 2015
“More than 20% of casino players are women,
according to ApolloBet’s data. When table
games are excluded to focus purely on slots,
the percentage of female players exceeds 30%.”
71% of UK phone users in the country
own a smart phone, according to Kantar
ComTech. Meanwhile, tablet usage has also
risen exponentially in the country over the
last few years. eMarketer reports that 41.1%
of adults regularly used one in 2014.
Unsurprisingly, the mobile revolution
has seen online sportsbooks develop a
cross-platform approach that allows players
to play on smart phones and tablets as well
as desktop. According to ApolloBet’s data,
more than 40% of players access the brand
via their mobile devices. If mobile growth
continues at the same rate, the total would
likely be in excess of 60% by 2018. This
trend suggests a mobile-first strategy is the
only rational path for sportsbooks to follow
in future.
A mobile-first strategy involves
developing a mobile web product and,
above all, iOS and android apps as well.
If mobile is starting to dominate desktop,
apps are already dominating the mobile
web. According to comTech, 88% of smart
phone users’ time is spent in-app, while
with tablets, app usage has reached an
overwhelming 82%.
If developing iOS and Android apps
has become a necessity for sportsbooks,
the same is also starting to be true for the
affiliates promoting them. The Google
Mobilegeddon update in April proved
to affiliates the importance of a mobileoptimised site, but true mobile friendliness
requires an app.
Apps open up a new channel for
affiliates to target players. The core of app
store optimization (ASO) involves using
extensive keyword research to make apps
rank highly in app store searches. Given
that this is the main way a majority of
mobile users find new apps – 63% of
iOS owners and 58% of Android users,
according to Apptentive – affiliates can use
ASO to cost-effectively acquire players for
the brands they promote.
However, ASO is just the beginning.
In-app advertising allows affiliates to
promote operators’ brands within their
apps. Arguably, over the next few years
these ads could replace affiliates’ desktop
banners as the main way they drive players
to sportsbooks.
The next few years look set to be a
period of great change and innovation for
the sports-betting vertical and the affiliates
promoting it. The affiliates that play to win
in 2015 will adopt a diverse approach. By
focusing on apps and the mobile web as
well as desktop, and promoting a diverse
array of brands, sporting markets and
verticals, these affiliates will take the field –
and triumph.
LEON HOSKING is
Director of Sportsbook
& Online Gaming at
ApolloBet. With more than
15 years’ experience in the
iGaming industry, Leon has worked for
many of the leading operators in the
online sportsbook vertical, including
Coral, Sky Bet, and Tote. In his current
position, he oversees ApolloBet’s
acquisition strategy, where the affiliate
channel plays a major role following
the expansion of the brand’s affiliate
programme in Q4 2014.