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Better Collective said that it has executed peak H1 trading, driven by record US results combined with a breakthrough period for its media partnerships.
Publishing its 2021 interim results (period ending 30 June), Better Collective registered record Q2 revenues of €40 million, up 162% on corresponding Q2 2020 results of €15.2 million.
Period growth was maintained by Better Collective’s publishing network registering Q2 revenues of €26 million (+79%) and period EBITDA outcome of $11.2 million (+68%) – as proprietary platforms and media partnerships benefited from a strong Euro 2020 performance.
Of significance, Better Collective underlined the fast growth profile of its US publishing segment, which registered a 5X jump in Q2 revenues to €7 million – with the unit set to be further enlarged by the inclusion of The Action Network.
Elsewhere, Better Collective provided an initial performance breakdown of its newly established Atemi Paid Media unit (PPC, lead generation and social media assets) – which generated Q2 revenues of €13.9 million and EBITDA of €1.3 million.
Publishing and Paid Media units registered a 197% increase in new depositing customers (NDC) to 197,000, with Better Collective highlighting breakthrough media partnership contributions of 38,000 NDCs.
The group’s record NDC growth was achieved despite its publishing unit having to undertake adjustments to comply with new advertising rules in the European markets of Germany and Spain.
Jesper Søgaard, Co-founder & CEO of Better Collective, said: “Q2 marks yet a record quarter in terms of revenue and NDCs deliveredto our partners. At the same time, we continue to record strong profitability and cash flows. The strong performance is especially driven by the US business, and by our media partnerships that saw breakthrough performance during Q2.
“The peak of the quarter was the closing of our largest acquisition to date, Action Network, which is a game-changer and consolidates our leading sports betting media position in the US.”
Providing a year-to-date overview, group targets remain unchanged as Better Collective registered an H1 revenue growth of 118% to €79 million (YTD2020: €36m).
Better Collective underscored the diversified make-up of its commercial assets, in which revenue-share accounted for 47% of the YTD revenues (51% of player-related revenue) with 40% coming from CPA, 5% from subscription sales and 8% from other income streams.
M&A expansions saw Better Collective increase its YTD costs base to €53 million (YTD2020: €21m) – with expenses attributed to the back-to-back acquired assets of HLTV (esports) and Atemi (Paid Media), Mindway AI (Safer Gambling) and The Action Network (US publishing).
Entering H2 trading, Better Collective YTD EBITDA stands at €25.8 million, up 64% on corresponding YTD results of €15.7 million.
“For the remainder of 2021 we will continue pursuing our strategy to become the leading sports betting media group in the world,” Søgaard concluded. “We have are well prepared for an exciting and profitable future for Better Collective, and I look forward to further knowledge sharing and joint effort with our new colleagues from Action Network.”
