NORTH AMERICA
offering rev share , but things are changing as time has gone on and operators are beginning to adapt to the affiliate market .
“ We work in both models ,” explains Segal . “ Our preferred model is the one that works for the operators because we came to realise that the player value of the users we generate are very strong , so we ’ re flexible on the finance model side of things .”
The company has learned a lot of lessons since acquiring its first licence in New Jersey , but the CEO is adamant that the main one was understanding that the approach to new markets can ’ t be a purely financial decision .
“ We have decided that we are focusing on the US market ,” he says . “ We don ’ t look closely at the numbers and set hard ROI predictions when we come to a new state opening .
“ It ’ s not as transactional as asking whether we are going to make money in a new market or not , we have to be in the US market .” Segal stresses the need to be everywhere the US is open and regulated , which despite differences in the licence applications has formed a process in the company .
“ When a new state is open , we already know what we need to do . For example , when Illinois , Ohio and Michigan opened we already had everything we needed prepared before the process even opened to get the licence .
“ We are aiming to be there on day one of any new state opening .”
Expansion
Now in its fifth year in the US market , MediaTroopers has grown in size since Segal and Truman got things started . The affiliate ’ s CEO admits to having brought about several team changes .
“ The number of advertisers available grew along with the audience and to be able to apply the same effort and requirement in the different states you need to have more people , bigger budgets and places to generate this activity .
When it comes to hiring practices , MediaTroopers looks within the gaming industry for experience but outside the US due to the market ’ s infancy . “ One thing that we ’ ve learned is that there is no real talent in terms of experience yet due to the US being pretty much closed from 2006 , so we mainly hire from the gaming pool .”
One thing that has helped the company in its recruitment drive is its relocation from Tel Aviv to open an office in Malta , where there are plenty of experienced gaming personnel about .
“ Even if we hire people that are just starting their journey in gaming , they ’ re starting off in a place where there is a gaming atmosphere so it ’ s a great location for us .”
The off-season
Compared to European sporting leagues the US poses a problem for affiliates and operators in scheduling . Simply put , the US sporting calendars are shorter , with the NFL for example starting in September and ending in January for those who don ’ t make the playoffs . The NBA season runs from October to April with MLB following a similar schedule .
Segal highlights that the European market is much more well-rounded in the scheduling sense . “ The Premier League runs from August to May and every
Paid media was our strength , so we took all our knowledge that we learnt in the UK and translated them to US markets – from one regulated market to another
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