CPA 73 % |
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XLMEDIA BACK IN THE GAME
XLMedia has recovered its footing after being severely affected in the early part of last year by changes to the Google algorithm ( read about its efforts to change tack on page 4 ). Revenues for the year were down 31 % to $ 54.8m and gross profit fell 36 % to $ 34.3m . Adjusted EBITDA , meanwhile , was down by two-thirds to $ 12.2m .
ACROSS THE POND
The most significant move for XLMedia came earlier this year when it announced it was buying the Sports Betting Dime business . That deal was funded by a £ 27m rights issue . This was in addition to
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the CBWG business in December last year . Stuart Simms , chief executive , said on the earnings call that CBWG was outperforming in terms of traffic , hitting more than 550,000 in monthly visits . Meanwhile , he said Sports Betting Dime was also doing well trafficwise and “ our challenge is to monetise that ”.
MONEY IN THE BANK
Asked whether there was room for further acquisitions , CFO Iain Balchin pointed out that the cash raised for the SBD deal was heavily oversubscribed and that as of now the company has about $ 38m sitting on the balance
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sheet . “ That gives us a reasonable pot of money to look at tuck-in acquisitions ,” he said .
CPA MODELLING
Related to the US push , the presentation showed that CPAs now represented 73 % of ‘ performance model conversions ’.
In comparison , in total revenue terms CPA was worth only 20 %. The differential would suggest that the revenue split between revenue share and CPAs will change dramatically in 2021 . Meanwhile , in product terms casino was worth 61 % of total revenues , sports 22 % and bingo 2 %. Finance contributed 15 % of the total .
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Source : Company reports |
Chart 32 : XLMedia revenue by product FY20 (%)
Finance 15 %
Bingo 2 %
FY2020
Sports 22 % Casino 61 %
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FUTURE CASTING
Burned by the experience at the hands of Google last year , Simms said that as part of his strategic turnaround plans he “ wanted to make sure we were operating a very clear and transparent white [ hat ] environment ”, adding , “ We feel very confident in the cleanliness of the traffic from [ Sports Betting Dime ].” Asked about what changes regarding Apple tracking transparency changes – and other questions around GDPR and Google – might mean for XL and the affiliate sector , Simms was similarly upbeat . “ The short answer is that some of the changes Apple is making could be a benefit to our business ,” he said .
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