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Affiliate Monitor Company-by-company Q3 results analysis
Gambling . com Group
Partnering up
Media partnerships took centre stage on Gambling . com Group ’ s earnings call , with CEO Charles Gillespie saying that September was the “ coming out party ” for the company ’ s strategic media partnerships .
“ Both Gannett and McClatchy performed ahead of our already high expectations ,” he added . “ We have purposely focused on fewer , bigger partners , which can give us access at scale to each market ’ s premium digital media properties . This relatively new , high-performance model will help drive continued market share gains that enhance top line and overall cash flow growth .”
Hitting a similar note as Better Collective , Gillespie said the thirdquarter earnings demonstrated the company ’ s ability to “ drive growth in existing regulated markets without the significant benefit of a new market launch .”
Moreover , where there was a launch – in Kentucky – Gambling . com Group believes the media partnerships helped it win the affiliate battle in the state . Gillespie was keen to stress that the company now had a playbook which it had refined over time and which now included the properties from the media partnerships .
Chart 4 : Gambling . com Group revenue Q421-Q323 ($ m )
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Q421 Q122 Q222 Q322 Q422 Q123 Q223 Q323
Source : company reports
“ Several of our partners told us we were their largest affiliate in Kentucky by some measure ,” he told the analysts . “ We really had all angles covered in Kentucky ,”
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he added , pointing to McClatchy ’ s Kentucky . com as well as USAToday . com .
The only slight negative from the media partnership successes are that , with more mouths to feed in the value chain , it means that Gambling . com Group ’ s EBITDA margins are slightly slimmer .
Meanwhile , Gillespie also noted how the partnerships were likely to be as seasonal as the rest of the sports-led business in North America .
“ At the beginning of the NFL , the engine ’ s firing on all cylinders . We ’ re going to do well ; they ’ re
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going to do very well . But deeper into the kind of slow months of the summer , no one in the industry will be doing as well , and they will be doing less well as well .”
Strength came from US sports betting and igaming , with the first more predominant than the latter , which is the reverse of the situation with Gambling . com Group ’ s European business . The company launched its Casinos . com offering during the quarter , the latest of what the company terms its “ category defining ” offerings .
“ While it is still early in its evolution , our vision for Casinos . com as a premier brand for everything casino-related is taking hold ,” Gillespie said .
“ In our view , we have developed the best technology platform iGB Affiliate Monitor