THE NORDICS
ROUND TABLE: CATENA, RAKETECH, XLMEDIA
Ahead of our Nordic Affi liate Conference, we rounded up top management from three of the biggest affi liate networks and consolidators in the region, Erik Bergman, Chief Strategy Offi cer of Catena Media, Michael Holmberg, CEO of Raketech and Ory Weihs, CEO of XLMedia, to gauge their reaction to the proposed Swedish opening and get their views on the current state of play in the Nordic affi liate space.
The Swedish government review has now recommended the opening of the online market to non-monopoly operators with a tax rate of 18 % on GGR. What is your initial reaction to this news, and how do you see this scenario affecting affiliate activities and business models in the country? Erik Bergman( EB): I’ m positive towards the 18 % GGR tax rate. The talk beforehand was of it falling in the range of 15-20 %, but in my opinion the most likely scenario was 20 %, since that’ s how it is in Denmark. However, this is still a long way from being signed off by the politicians, so we will see where things end up. relations with the operators will provide us with an exceptionally solid base for further successful business development in Sweden going forward. We are also expecting PPC advertising through Google to really take off. Ory Weihs( OW): My initial thoughts on this are very positive, as we have seen this to be a very workable tax rate in other countries. As we have always said, a regulated environment is the correct one in the end, creating a larger addressable market with more marketing methods available( paid search, video, social etc.). We believe e affiliates with a strong tech foundation and multi methodology approach will benefit from this regulation.
MH: We have no experience from the Danish market but regarding player value, Norwegian players are worth most, then Swedish and lastly Finnish. OW: We see many countries as high value, from the Nordics to the UK, as well as a few other European ones. The Danish regulation as a whole was a very positive development, as following an initial dip the market picked up and now allows for a wide variety of user acquisition methods to be used.
Erik Bergman
“ We have seen the 18 % GGR tax recommended ended in Sweden to be very workable in other countries. As we have always said, a regulated environment nt is the correct one in the end” Ory Weihs, XLMedia
With regards to effect on the affiliate activities or business models, I don’ t think much will change. This is in line with our expectations and in line with the UK and Denmark, which are markets that have a lot of similarities to Sweden. Michael Holmberg( MH): We think it will be business as usual. The difference will be the tax, which we believe the operators will try to pass on to the affiliates. However, this will mostly impact the smaller affiliates and not us to such a large extent. We feel confident that our position as one of Sweden’ s biggest affiliates in combination with our very good
What are the most valuable countries in the region for affiliates in terms of average player values, and what impact did Denmark licensing online casino and betting have on player values and profits there? EB: With regards to player values Norway is and has for a long time been the country with by far the highest average player values. Sweden is second and Finland comes in as the third. When it comes to Denmark, I unfortunately have very limited experience since it has never been a focus market for us.
36 iGB Affiliate Issue 62 APR / MAY 2017
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