“Big marketing budgets are no longer enough,” says iGaming Expert Editor Joe Streeter as he kicked off SBC Insights’ latest webinar, Beyond Acquisition: Winning on Product, Not Budget – but is he correct?
As the industry adapts to smaller marketing budgets, product innovation has emerged as one of the main ways brands are driving growth and standing out as they move away from acquisition-led strategies.
In the webinar, Streeter was joined by Hari Kizhuveettil, Director of Studio Content at Oddin.gg, Ivan Gojić, Chief Sportsbook Officer at Entain, Cristhian Gómez, Managing Director for Emerging Markets at Betsson Group and Tamazi Gambashidze, Head of Sports Brand Experience at Flutter.
Streeter asked Gambashidze whether his assessment of current day marketing budgets was accurate.
Gambashidze said: “Yes, in my opinion, to acquire new users it’s not all about budget, it’s about what you offer, what you represent”.
Gambashidze pointed especially to the next generation of users, of whom he said, “the importance for them is not the promos and marketing that you do, the importance is what products you offer”.
Round-the-clock content was one product the panel agreed worked well to improve growth as it always gives players something to engage with when playing on the app, or on the site.
Kizhuveettil said: “If you have a great sportsbook, but you lack in content and there are gaps in the offer, players will vanish”, pointing to round-the-clock content as one way brands can ensure they avoid those gaps.
Streeter turned the panel’s attention onto prediction markets, emphasising how they have been extremely successful in keeping players engaged with its product. Asked about the lessons the regulated gambling sector could take from predictions, Gojić said:
“People like betting in a crowd and this [prediction markets] is betting in a crowd. I think it also helps to have very powerful people to make your business run, that’s one lesson to be learned as well”.
Streeter made a comparison between the betting sector and recent comments made by Matt Brittin, Director General of the BBC, regarding personalisation and how best to keep users engaged with your platform.
Streeter said: “They [the BBC] need to shift how they engage users to a YouTube style, UGC algorithm, where it is catered to specific users as soon as they get on the platform. Is that how betting platforms need to be looking at this?”
For Gómez, it isn’t necessarily about overhauling the entire system.
“Sometimes you can do small changes that make the customer feel like they are having a highly personalised experience,” he said. “Like putting their name in the corner, or allowing customers to save certain games to their favourites.”
Watch the full webinar here.
