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Affiliate Monitor Company-by-company Q2 results analysis
Gambling . com Group Growing market share
The challenge brought about by Google on the media partnerships front was foregrounded by GDC chief executive Charles Gillespie . He said that “ stepping back from ” the company ’ s “ phenomenal ” quarterly results , it was clear that the bigger picture showed why his business displayed such strengths in the market .
“ Our team is exceptional at addressing in real time any changes in the operating environment to optimise our performance ,” he told the analysts on the call .
The Google “ deprioritising ” of Gambling . com Group ’ s content on behalf of its media partners “ had an immediate impact on contributions ,” he said .
It led to the Nasdaq-listed group offering “ conservative ” guidance revisions to its earnings for this quarter and the rest of the year . But these revisions did , indeed , turn out to be conservative , as GDC enjoyed an 18 % year-on-year increase in revenues while adjusted EBITDA was also up by the same percentage .
The difference in the Q2 performance compared to the expectations provided in May is “ primarily due to the fact that our team was able to respond immediately to the changes and recalibrate our portfolio of owned and operated sites faster than had been initially expected ,” said Gillespie .
He added that the effects of the Google changes were also , to date , “ less pronounced ” than was feared at the time of the introduction of the changes .
A WIDER LENS
But taking a longer-term view , Gillespie said the second quarter performance also demonstrated the ongoing resilience of performance marketing . “ We estimate that about 40 % of the igaming and 30 % of the sports betting customers within operators ’ databases in established markets were delivered by the performance marketing channel ,” he said .
It bodes well for the future of the North American market , he added . “ While these percentages are lower so far in North America , we expect that they will continue to trend toward the established market levels as players continue to mature and certainly as igaming expansion eventually takes hold .”
Gillespie said that “ most importantly ”, GDC was growing its market share . “ We are better positioned than ever before with the right assets , technology and teams to further this growth ,” he boasted .
Such is the company ’ s confidence in its prospects that it raised guidance for the full year , with revenue now expected to come in at between $ 123m- $ 127m with adjusted EBITDA at between $ 44m- $ 47m . The midpoints for revenue and adjusted EBITDA respectively represent year-on-year growth of 15 % and 24 %.
While North American revenue was down 8 % year-on-year – a disappointment attributed to the atypically strong online sports betting performance in the same period last year – there was better news from the UK and Ireland , up 18 % year-on- iGB Affiliate Monitor