NORTH AMERICA
from hosting third-party content. Since then, numerous listed affiliates have ended their media deals with news publishers. Betting pages from CNN and Forbes have vanished from SERPs, seemingly leaving gaps for smaller affiliates.
Yet, in the long run, the reality may be more complex than it appears. Windsor points out that Google’ s preference for established sites makes it difficult for smaller affiliates to compete and launch new sites in the US. Although Pilkington acknowledges that media relationships are diminishing, he believes they“ will remain in some form” if the betting content satisfies the publisher’ s editorial standards.
“ For example, if you look at Better Collective’ s deal with Goal. com, yes, they are leveraging the domain rating, but Goal. com has always been a football website with betting content. So for me, that isn’ t a parasite SEO strategy or piggybacking; that’ s just a partnership, a joint venture,” he explains.“ Then there’ s also the middle ground. Take major media publications like The New York Times. They are not betting companies, but they do cover sports and entertainment, so there’ s a loose connection.”
From 2022 to 2023, Better Collective and its rival Catena Media were on a media deal spree, forming partnerships with leading US publishers, including Lee Enterprises, the New York Post and Boston. com. However, these activities slowed down last year, with Better Collective experiencing“ lower-than-expected partner activity” in the US and Catena terminating media deals to reduce costs.
Dan Gallagher, head of client success at TBD. Media and former client partner at Sportradar, argues that the SRA policy is making the right media partnerships even more valuable.
“ Partnerships have always been the backbone, but now even more so given the challenges from Google. For affiliates, working with partners who have existing established relationships with publishers fosters credibility and also ensures compliance with the likes of Google,” he explains.“ In a heavily regulated industry like iGaming, such partnerships also enhance transparency and trust, which of course, is critical for sustaining long-term growth in the US.”
Diversification versus niche power
Last December, super affiliate Gambling. com Group acquired Odds Holdings, the parent company of US betting tool subscription site OddsJam for a potential $ 160 million. Earlier in the year, Better Collective bought AceOdds for € 42 million to provide additional reach for its partners with the sports affiliate’ s bet calculator app. While diversification is now the go-to strategy for bigger affiliates, is it viable for smaller players?
In a complex market where policies vary between states, Pilkington believes that geotargeting white-regulated markets is the best option for smaller affiliates:“ We are very niche. Our Michigan site is focused solely on Michigan, and our New Jersey site is entirely tailored to New Jersey. In the long run, I believe this strategy is
I don’ t think
I’ ve ever seen a tougher market to work on in my 17 years of iGaming experience
Simon Pilkington
You’ ve got to think outside the box. You can’ t just look for traditional strategies that have worked in the past, especially in organic SEO
Alex Windsor
50 • iGBAFFILIATE. COM