“ We have almost tripled our revenues and that ’ s the aim for the end of 2023 compared to 2018 ”
to implement and act fast on ,” he notes ruefully . “ Recently the HGC published a study where it said more than 600,000 people bet at least once in 2022 on unlicensed operators .
“[ This means that ] they should consider some measures in order to avoid this and make players think again before betting on a VPN .”
EVOLUTION NOT DIVERSION
It ’ s no secret that Better Collective ’ s aim is to become the world ’ s largest sports media group . But Fourniadis is adamant it still has its sights set on the affiliate market too .
“ People should not be saying that we will not be an affiliate in 10 years ,” he says . “ That can ’ t happen because it ’ s one of the main pillars of our business , it ’ s more about how we merge these two and become a bigger group .”
The strategy shift has already had critical knock-on effects for Fourniadis in his role . This is visible most notably in the stakeholder processes and the recruitment of key talent .
“ You have to work with more stakeholders when you ’ re in the media compared to just affiliation ,” he explains . “ There ’ s journalists , athletes , coaches , talent , broadcasting people to consider when you ’ re creating this kind of content .
“ We ’ ve onboarded a lot of famous journalists and we ’ d like to increase this media approach in the next few years , having more ambassadors and media on our plate with the new strategy .”
LOOKING AHEAD
In terms of what ’ s next for Fourniadis and his teams , they are keeping a closer eye on new regions like Bulgaria and the Balkans that could be set to introduce a licensing system in the future . More immediately his focus is on continuing to create content for the Betarades YouTube channel as it expands to daily shows .
Fourniadis is expanding the quantity from one live show on a Sunday to 36 hours of content each week with daily shows . It ’ s a move he hopes will make it the “ number one YouTube channel in Greece for live broadcasting ”.
So much for revolving doors . Fourniadis feels well and truly part of the group leading the sports media revolution at the Copenhagen-based affiliate .
iGB AFFILIATE LONDON 2024 • ISSUE 94 • 75