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“ With such scale , the ship will become slower to turn and opportunities will be either missed or slow to be executed in the years ahead ”
WILL ARMITAGE , BESTODDS
“ This [ sports ] industry is proving to be more resilient than others . Franchise values are rising , media rights are rising , and 80 % of the top 2022 US TV broadcasts were NFL games ”
JORDAN GNAT , PLAYMAKER betting and gaming space that is trumpeting sports digital media credentials .
At the start of April , Entain announced it was buying livescore app 365scores for $ 150m .
Intriguing as it is that Entain should have effectively bought an affiliate , it is the language used in explaining the acquisition that arguably has a greater resonance .
365scores is a “ leading sports media business ”, Entain said in its press release announcing the deal . In a subsequent market communication , the company added that the buyout was “ fully aligned ” with the company ’ s strategy of expansion through “ superior sports content ”.
The talk of digital sports media might well be , to an extent , window dressing . But if it is , then Better Collective isn ’ t the only shop on the high street that sees advantage in advertising its wares in just such a fashion .
Moreover , by hewing closely to the strategic direction outlined by its customers , as our industry insider suggested , Better Collective may also reap the reward of tapping into the bigger brand-building budgets of operators and thus growing the addressable spend from each .
In which case , while affiliate revenue will remain important for Better Collective , it will by design become a smaller piece of a much bigger pie .
July 2023