Andre Machado, Head of Publisher Relations and Affiliation at Sportradar, sat down with EEGS for an exclusive interview before taking the stage at EEGS' upcoming free webinar, “The Relevance of Media Buying Activities in the Affiliate Space.'' In this in-depth conversation, Andre shares his expertise on media buying, affiliate marketing, and the importance of navigating complex compliance situations. Get a sneak peek at his insights and expert advice before he shares his knowledge with attendees in a free webinar.
Can you share some key insights about the evolution of digital marketing in the iGaming industry over the past decade and how it has impacted affiliate marketing strategies?
Carriers are then turning to automation technology to scale their campaigns and streamline their marketing processes. Automation is key and is being used within programmatic advertising technology to efficiently acquire new bettors at this critical time. Programmatic automates online ad buying in real-time and delivers targeted ads to the most relevant audiences, making it highly efficient and limiting ad waste. In fact, with our unique advertising programmatic marketing services, our global operator client was able to increase click-through rates by up to 60% and increase his online gaming revenue by as much as 110%. We estimate that by reducing manual input in this process, customers can save up to two months of productivity per year.
Automation is likewise improving ad performance for operators across publisher sites and sponsorships, including high-profile sports and media news websites. By using data to understand the online content that fans consume most, Sportradar's engagement tools, the ad technology we use in our affiliate projects, use automation to help our premium publishers Displays contextual betting ads on both of the rights holder's websites. The reach and delivery speed of these ads can increase click-through rates by up to 2.2x. This is impossible to reproduce manually. The affiliate industry is following these macro trends, and we're seeing a smarter vision from operators for new ways to collaborate, and media buying is one of them.
From your extensive experience in digital marketing, what do you think are the most important factors for successful affiliate media buying, especially in the iGaming space?
When operators can better understand their fans' interests and browsing habits, they can more effectively target and engage fans with personalized content. This is key to attracting new customers, re-engaging existing players and building brand awareness. A marketing solution that gives you a complete understanding of where and how bettors are engaging with your brand. These customer insights power our digital marketing technology to determine the most relevant bets to offer to players at the right time and on the right platform. This personalized approach limits ad waste and rewards the right partners/affiliates while engaging fans more deeply, resulting in greater conversions, customer loyalty, and increased revenue.
How do you see the role of data analytics in shaping the future of affiliate marketing, and what tools and methodologies do you think are most effective for optimizing media buying campaigns?
The role of AI cannot be underestimated, but you need data to make your marketing more efficient. Similarly, data is a resource that is only useful if you use it effectively. So the real game changer is when the two are combined. The operator owns a deep pool of anonymized customer data, which provides valuable insights into fan behavior and interests, such as the teams they have bet on previously and the digital channels they visit most often. Masu. AI algorithms within our digital marketing technology process this data to create personalized, dynamic soccer ads that can be delivered on fan-favorite channels. For example, his FC Porto fans who regularly use Instagram are likely to receive dynamic ads with odds for their team's next match across the platform's Stories feature. With this data readily available, his AI capabilities within marketing services allow operators to truly create targeted and customized fan experiences, resulting in increased acquisition and brand awareness.
Given the dynamic regulatory environment surrounding iGaming advertising, how would you advise affiliates to effectively avoid compliance risks while maximizing their efforts?
AI-powered personalization tools increase efficiency by focusing on the content your fans are most interested in, limit ad waste, and ensure everything is in line with current local regulations. This is essential at a time when, for example, operators need to provide advertising creative for the hundreds of matches that take place each week in soccer's biggest competitions. Previously, this was a time-consuming manual process for creative teams, but AI and automation technologies are now powering dynamic creative optimization (DCO) solutions to address this operational challenge quickly and at scale. became. We use his DCO in our industry-specific Dynamic Display His solution to supply an unlimited supply of personalized betting advertising creatives based on the fan's content preferences and the most popular pages on the operator's website. Design it so that you can. Customized content within these creatives engages end users more deeply and increases click-through rates. Automation also saves valuable time and money, resulting in more effective budget spending and higher ROI.
Given the ever-changing landscape of digital advertising, what emerging trends do you foresee shaping the future of affiliate media buying, and how should marketers adapt to stay ahead? ?
Just as a football club effectively allocates its transfer budget to achieve maximum performance on the pitch, operators who implement an efficient marketing strategy are most likely to succeed in the market. By leveraging data and AI within modern advertising technology, carriers can better understand their customers, find audiences faster, and serve the most relevant content. Similar to player scouting, finding hidden gems often requires looking where others aren't looking. Similarly, in betting customer acquisition, it is beneficial to have exclusive access to your audience. Using our engagement tools, we work with a single operator in each local market to increase visibility for premium publishers in that region, while delivering automated, contextually relevant ads using proprietary ad technology. and then deliver strong acquisition performance. This may be a trend. It will help balance the competitive forces within the market.
