20
Affiliate Monitor Company by company Q4 results analysis
GiG Media All cylinders firing
GiG ’ s media division can ’ t help but be pleased with its progress as it moves inexorably towards its split from the platform business , on its way to becoming a standalone gaming affiliate provider .
The for-now chairman of GiG , Petter Nylander , laid out on the call with the analysts just how progressive the unit has become .
“ GiG Media achieved record high revenue and high employer intake and EBITDA growth ,” he said .
“ AskGamblers as we acquired earlier in 2023 , sees 93 % revenue boost from the takeover run rate , and the strategic acquisition of KaFe Rocks that we did at the end of the last year is now completed .”
Jonas Warrer , currently acting chief executive of GiG as a whole and the man in charge of the media division , said he had been “ looking forward ” to presenting the numbers for the quarter because the media division was presenting a “ hat trick ” of all-time high revenue , all-time high player intake and all-time high EBITDA . “ Our publishing business is in very good shape , especially if we look at player intake ,” he added .
Warrer noted that FTDs ended at an all-time high at 138,000 , growing 19 % year-over-year and 21 % quarter-on-quarter . “ Similar to many previous quarters , the main bulk of players that we generate are on a deal with a revenue share component to secure future recurring revenues ,” he added .
Excluding AskGamblers , player intake in the publishing side grew by 100 % year-over-year and 80 % quarter-on-quarter , reaching a record level , while Warrer said that at AskGamblers , player intake grew 12 % quarter-overquarter . He said the fourth quarter run rate is up 62 % from taking the business over . Meanwhile , the FTDs in paid increased 24 % sequentially but declined 28 % year-over-year .
Warrer did note , however , that the EBITDA margin of 44 % was “ a little bit lower ” than GiG would expect but said this was down to one-off costs associated in part with the upcoming split . He noted that adjusting for these one-offs , the EBITDA margin was actually about 47 %.
But drilling down into the splits between publishing – which is inherently more profitable – over paid , he said there was also a change in the channel mix at play . “ More of the players are coming from publishing and less of the players are coming from paid ,” he added .
The net effect , as Warrer pointed out on the call , is that GiG Media is now producing “ more and more cash flow ”, rising 29 % year-on-year and up 13 % sequentially . He noted that it was the company ’ s intention to maintain this rate of progress .
KAFE CULTURE
Warrer went through the reasoning behind the recent € 35m acquisition of KaFe Rocks in November last year , saying it was about growing GiG ’ s presence in North America and LatAm . “ KaFe Rocks was the perfect sort of candidate for satisfying both of these criteria ,” he said . “ We know that the acquisition will bring additional markets , websites and customers aligning with our core diversity strategy in GiG Media ,” he added .
Warrer noted that last year , particularly after the World Cup in the fourth quarter of 2022 , Latin America was a “ very attractive market to make players in , iGB Affiliate Monitor