Playing the long game: Should we dream big for domain names?

It happens from time to time. The opportunity to purchase a domain which may, or may not, shape the future direction of your business.

Of course there will usually be a premium price to play for sought after names, but are we too quick to write off such opportunities on costs alone?

At SBC, we are well aware of the value attached to the right domain. Developing our events portfolio and websites to support the best interests of the Sports Betting Community (our original pre-shortened name) continues to be the driving force behind the business.

And as part of the wider SBC group, we also have high hopes for the success of our latest media venture in the new year. If you haven’t already, it’s well worth checking out Gambling TV – a new ‘broadcast hub’ for the gambling industry delivering the best podcasts, videos, live streams, adverts and webinars. 

We’ve all seen the marked media shift from offline to online over recent years, but this year has been all about video content and, more specifically, the podcast.

Lockdown has played its part in this but now the wheels are turning – and even as the world returns to some semblance of normality – our approach to publishing content looks like changing forever.

When our CEO Rasmus Sojmark found that the GamblingTV.com domain was available to purchase, it fast-tracked SBC plans for a video-led news site. It may have had an opportunistic start, but isn’t that always the way?

In the latest edition of SBC Leaders, formerly SBC Magazine, we learned all about another situation where a company believed it had just “gotta jump” at the opportunity on the table.

The story of the WSN brand is a familiar tale of evaluating ‘cost vs opportunity’. On this occasion, an overlooked but potentially lucrative three letter domain – which GiG borrowed money for back in 2013 – has, seven years later, become its rising star.

Described as one of the operational highlights within GIG Media’s recent analysis of its Q3 2020 results, it has taken a few years for the site to find its feet. And of course, its success was pretty much linked to the falling of PASPA – which had to wait until May 2018.

Another familiar part in this ‘dreaming big for domains’ story is, therefore, the patience to wait for success when the time is right. The neglected WSN brand, said GiG, had not been worked on for years before the arrival of SEO specialist Milorad Matejic.

Yet his 2016 move to Copenhagen-based affiliate business Rebel Penguin ApS, acquired by GIG in October of the following year, saw the stars align for WSN’s US market move.

“When I first joined, WSN had not been worked on for years,” said Matejic. “The site wasn’t even indexed in Google. It was like winning a major jackpot when I first discovered it. 

“At the time, we considered developing it into a global sports site such as ESPN, due to it having ‘World’ in its name. We were busy with other pressing issues and the project never got off the ground, but it was a nice dream and remained a topic of conversation between us. 

“Together, Jonas Warrer (GiG Media MD) and I worked on a strategy for WSN and had somewhat of a eureka moment when we decided to pivot it to the US market, at the time when regulation was about to take place in New Jersey. It made perfect sense. 

“WSN sounded like an American news network and we were confident the brand would resonate with the American public. However, we had no idea that it would become what it is today within such a short timeframe.” 

You can read the full version of the WSN story in SBC Leaders HERE, taking you right up to the present day and a most recent affiliate licence in Michigan, which means the daily picks, predictions, odds and other betting related content is now available in 10 states.

Of course not all investments in your brand will lead to such success, but we can all dream big when it comes to domain names.