Catena Media CEO confirms shift to rev share and highlights concerns over US igaming legislation
Michael Daly lifts the lid on US operations at the affiliate while noting he doesn’t expect 2023 to bring about an online casino explosion stateside
Catena Media CEO Michael Daly has confirmed the operator has diversified its US approach after inking some revenue share deals in the market.
During an analysis call on the affiliate’s Q4 results, Daly touched on the strategy for driving future US growth after the market returned €21.5m in revenue during the quarter, accounting for 78% of total group revenue.
He said Catena Media was looking to transition to revenue share deals that would provide lifetime value for the firm, and that a mix of revenue share and CPA was needed to deliver growth.
Daly explained: “We’ve started to do some revenue share in North America. It’s just getting off the ground. We’ve signed some significant revenue share with operators that we expect to see the fruits of over the coming months and years as the rev share works that way.
“We are [starting] to look at transitioning [to] revenue share deals that we find acceptable, which for us are truly lifetime revenue share. There’ve been other things put to market that are shorter term and don’t make sense, given the value of the CPA versus the net present value of a revenue stream from a rev share.
“We have started to do some, and we expect that to continue. And I expect the operator desire for profitability will continue to forward those discussions,” he added.
When questioned on the viability of online casino regulation in the US in 2023, the CEO noted he does not expect to see the vertical catch up with sports betting legislation.
Daly continued: “I don’t see [online casino] catching up during 2023. Online casino in North America is a more contentious thing. It is less acceptable right now than sports betting. Sports betting has had an easy go essentially, being regulated across the states.
“Online casino will continue to go across the markets, and that will happen over the next number of years. Catena Media is exceptionally well positioned to take advantage of that, and we’ll continue to hold that positioning,” he concluded.