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Affiliate Monitor Executive summary
Executive summary
WELCOME
THE PIVOT BEING undertaken by sector leader Better Collective has implications not only for that business but also for the rest of the sector . By pronouncing itself to be a digital sports media entity – rather than just an affiliate – Better Collective is setting itself on a path where it likely believes it will outgrow the sector from which it was born .
Even if , as sector watchers and participants believe , this is more about what the company is saying to its own shareholders , the germ of truth is that the affiliate sector is continually evolving and for some of the participants , the potential for diversifying revenues is definitely an avenue to explore .
One theme running through the company-by-company reviews contained later on in this report amplifies that idea . Whether it is Better Collective , rival Catena Media , Gambling . com Group or GiG Media , there are now many examples of media partnerships between affiliate providers and mainstream media outlets .
This also points to the evolution of a sector which might – kindly – have been called a backwater in the media world , albeit a particularly lucrative one .
The foregrounding of sports betting and igaming in the US in recent years has pulled the affiliate sector more clearly into the spotlight and provided partnership opportunities that might never have been apparent previously .
But never far from the minds of those involved in the sector is the old mantra of ‘ stick to the knitting ’. It is clear from the numbers that were reported in the first quarter that it remains the case that affiliation is what brings in the revenues and profits .
Better Collective may well have its sights on the kind of multiples that can be achieved by digital media entities but affiliate revenues remain its bread and butter , and as was shown by its most recent forecast upgrade , that business remains as buoyant as ever .
The rest of the sector will be watching what the company says in the months and years to come but will be paying even greater attention to what it does with its burgeoning free cash flow . The financial backdrop at present for any M & A remains clouded but given the money being made at the top of the tree , the potential for more corporate activity is almost a given in a space which has seen more than its fair share of deals in the past . iGB Affiliate Monitor