Catena Media records flat Q1 revenue despite weaker sports environment
Malta-based affiliate continues mitigation strategy to drive player traffic from sports towards casino
Catena Media recorded flat Q1 2020 revenue of €26.7m after a year-on-year rise of 2% as the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact operations.
The affiliate giant is doubling down on its decision to convert traffic from its portfolio of sports betting brands to casino, with the latter vertical accounting for 61% of Q1 revenue.
Sports made up 33% of revenue for the period, with the remaining 6% derived from Catena’s financial services segment.
In a statement, Catena noted that they had “experienced limited negative operational effects” as a result of the pandemic.
Catena also pointed out that while sports has been greatly impacted, it continues to promote existing sporting events while holding back on marketing spend and driving traffic towards casino.
EBITDA for Q1 2020 amounted to €12.5m, up from €11.2m in Q1 2019, while Catena detailed the company had cash and cash equivalents of €19.3m as of 31 March.
Catena Media CEO Per Hellberg said: “Our business remains strong and I am happy to see that revenues in the first quarter increased compared to last year and that April has continued to develop well, despite weaker performance from the sports segment.
“Our measures to improve cost-efficiency, especially during these difficult times, allowed us to increase profitability by 15% compared to last year. Further, it makes me proud to see that our employees continue to achieve great things while working remotely.”
Catena Media finished second in this month’s EGR Power Affiliates rankings for 2020.