SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
After Sky’s controversial decision to terminate its affiliate programme, it’s unsurprising that the subject of affiliates was discussed in great depth at this year’s Betting on Sports conference.
Jesper Soegaard, CEO, Better Collective described Sky Bet’s decision as a ‘big move, that they could have handled better.’
Soegaard added that: “Cooperation between operators and affiliates is something we need to tie in, the most important thing is we are in this together, otherwise it will hurt our industry.”
Mark McGuinness, chief marketing officer at BetOlimp also stated that the industry: “Needs much more dialogue between affiliates, super affiliates, operators and regulators, who don’t understand.”
Disappointment with the sporadic nature of Sky Bet’s decision was recurring theme amongst those in the industry, with the chief affiliate officer at Clever Advertising Group, Marcos Oliveira stating that his ‘hope is for regulators to set out clearly how to comply and give affiliates due time to comply, before shutting them down.’
Furthermore, Oliveira said: “What makes a good affiliate is the delivery of the promise, in the end it comes down to we make money after you make money.”
Affiliates were in the news again yesterday after a ruling by The ASA caused the CEO of XL Media, Ory Weihs, to state the need ‘to rid shady marketing campaigns from the world of affiliates.’
Weihs also pointed to the importance of affiliates ‘negotiating their own contracts’ with the overall goal of becoming a long term partner to betting operators.
