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Affiliate Monitor Company-by-company Q2 results analysis
variations over time , depending on the strategy and seasonality .
Still , during Q2 , Catena said it saw a good improvement as the average ranking score across the top keywords improved from an average position 5 to below position 4 , where position 1 is the best .
“ This KPI only measures Catena ’ s owned and operated products ,” he added . “ The positive trend in rankings has continued into the third quarter .”
It was down to new CFO Gerrow to explain the lacklustre second quarter performance , which he blamed on increased competition alongside the Google effect . Revenue was down 14 % to € 12.8m while adjusted EBITDA is now down to less than € 1m at € 700k .
But Gerrow was able to inject some good news for Catena , or at least what might be considered green shoots , pointing out that the North American casino business increased by 13 % year-on-year and by 4 % on Q1 2024 .
“ We are pleased with this growth rate considering the period of search engine fluctuations following the main policy update ,” Gerrow added . “ This year-on-year and quarteron-quarter casino growth is a reflection of our aggressive programme of measures , including the soft launch of our sub affiliation platform , expansion of social sweepstakes
Chart 7 : Catena Media NDCs Q322-Q224 (€ m )
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0
116,748
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Q322 Q422 Q123 Q223 Q323 Q423 Q124 Q224
and recovery of our owned and “ But also , we position ourselves operated sites following the May for post-regulation in the bigger Google update policy .” states in the US , where we will be able to have built our databases
SWEPT AWAY
In fact , Catena Media has long been a key affiliate supplier in the sweepstakes market with a long-standing relationship with leading sweeps operator Chumba Casino . One analyst noted that sweepstakes accounted for around a third of total Q2 revenue and asked Stan about the trajectory going forward .
“ We see this as the fastestgrowing vertical for us , and we expect it to continue growing ,” he said . “ We are very well positioned to capitalise on that growth . Our products are focused on growing the sweeps vertical .”
He said that growth would be twofold . “ Right now , we see that generally overall in the industry being one of the fastest-growing verticals and we capitalise on it ,” he said . around our brands to capitalise when the likes of California and Texas will be regulating .”
He added that from a product perspective the whole company was now focused on a number of key products with more than a hint of a culling of websites along the way .
“ We are reducing our website portfolio massively in the next few periods to reduce it to a number of properties , a number of products that we can manage well ,” he said . “ And even within those , we have clear priority # 1 , priority # 2 , priority # 3 to allow the entire organisation to focus behind that .
“ And lastly , from a product perspective , as we said , we ’ re turning all stones , trying to understand where the inefficiencies are and trying to capitalise on the opportunities .”
Source : company reports iGB Affiliate Monitor