igbaffiliate . com
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referred players , revenue and profit margin .
“ However , it can take some time to see these KPIs grow , so we also look at metrics such as website visits and search engine visibility . If these trends are good , we know we ’ re on the right track .”
Offering an insight into the processes any acquirer goes through once a deal is wrapped up , Matejic said that when GiG acquired AskGamblers the company “ took stock of the potential for synergies between our assets and teams .”
“ At the same time , we identified gaps between our assets that we could quickly fill , such as content coverage , up-to-date offers and partner mix . This gave the sites an almost instantaneous boost , making winning over the hearts and minds of the teams we had acquired easier ,” he said .
“ We knew from the beginning that we would have to migrate the websites to our in-house platform to improve performance and allow them to grow . We also knew that this process would take some time , so we implemented interim solutions to improve crawling , geotargeting , conversions and other impactful aspects of the websites .”
Matejic pointed out that AskGamblers . com is one of the industry ’ s “ most iconic ” sites , one which “ genuinely helps its users .”
“ For us , it was of paramount importance to unleash its full potential by improving its visibility in search engines so that more people would visit it ,” he said .
“ We ’ re happy with how that has played out as traffic to the website has grown exponentially , and there is still so much room for improvement , which we expect to see in the coming months and years .”
GiG followed the AskGamblers purchase with a second major acquisition when it bought KaFe Rocks for € 35m last November . Matejic suggested the lessons learnt from AskGamblers and other M & A deals means the integration of another set of affiliate brands holds no fear for the business .
“ With AskGamblers , and now also with Kafe Rocks , we ’ ve identified significant potential for growth of those assets and the organisation in general through the application of our processes and technological solutions , ranging from the website platform to our BI system and SEO know-how ,” he said .
“ In my estimation , it ’ s important to leave room for the integration process to develop organically and let the synergies play out in a controlled manner . You can ’ t apply the same template on everything , especially in this dynamic environment .”
RUNNING ON EMPTY
Industry figures doubt whether Catena Media went to such lengths during its time on the acquisition trail in the last decade when it racked up 30-plus acquisitions between 2014 and 2020 .
“ I don ’ t think Catena was ever built to integrate and realise synergies ,” says Ben Robinson , principal at RB Capital . “ It rolled up at such a rapid pace that it didn ’ t allow for this .”
Similar sentiments come from another industry source who preferred to stay anonymous . “ It is not that the danger is growing too fast , it is doing bad deals or too many small deals ,” they suggested .
February May 2024 2022