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Affiliate Monitor Company by company Q1 results analysis
Bookies . com , which he described as “ unique assets which will forever be at the heart of online gambling .”
It is the strength of these brands that , as noted in the main feature of this report , leads the company to believe it will benefit from the traffic lost via the media partnerships .
“ The strength of our owned and operated assets and the resiliency of our business enable us to continue to expect healthy year-on-year growth in adjusted EBITDA despite this major and unexpected shift in the digital media landscape ,” he said .
The growth in revenue was spread across the group . North America enjoyed a 5 % uplift while the UK and Ireland matched that level . But it was other Europe , up 39 %, and the rest of the world segment , up 29 %, that were the standouts . Notably , none of this growth comes from the recent Freebets acquisition which only closed after quarter end in April .
PROSPECTING
Gillespie made an interesting point about how the lack of state launches was affecting the other side of the affiliate coin . With the operators themselves now having more bandwidth , they are “ drilling into their businesses more deeply than they did before ,” he said .
“ This means that they ’ re reviewing marketing performance more scientifically . And we expect that will continue to show that the affiliate channel delivers some of the most consistent and straightforward ROI in the industry .”
Notably , he said that with the big money sports sponsorship deals signed in the first rush of OSB excitement now rolling off , “ substantial budget will be freed up , and that will come our way .”
“ There ’ s hundreds of millions that ’ s going to free up . And I think that that ’ s going to ultimately result in a much more aggressive posture from some of the operators in time .”
TARGET PRACTICE
Gillespie said the company ’ s long-term target was now to reach $ 100m in adjusted EBITDA . Asked about the pathway to that goal , Gillespie noted the group generated $ 42m in 2024 .
“ According to the midpoint of our updated guidance , we would only need to continue to grow organically at a low-ish CAGR in the mid-teens for a few years and add on a bit of extra scale through additional M & A to get there in the midterm ,” he suggested .
On the latter point , he noted the company had “ widened the aperture in terms of what we are considering from an M & A perspective ”.
As a result , he said , Gambling . com is no longer only looking at SEO-driven gambling affiliate businesses .
“[ Operators are ] reviewing marketing performance more scientifically . We expect that to continue to show that the affiliate channel delivers some of the most consistent and straightforward ROI ”
CHARLES GILLESPIE , GAMBLING . COM GROUP
“ There ’ s a wide universe of technology for companies in the online gambling ecosystem , companies which are serving our same clients and end users that fit into our culture of driving high growth with high margins ,” he added .
As an example , he said Gambling . com was “ considering ” businesses which drive traffic and value for the B2B online gambling operator clients with channels other than SEO .
“ And we are increasingly considering businesses which have highly predictable subscription revenue like the RotoWire acquisition , where we have grown revenue by over 50 % since buying the company .”
“ Our heads are in a different place ,” he said . “ We want to iGB Affiliate Monitor