eGR Power Affiliates 2012 - Poker
Welcome to the third edition of the Power Affiliates 50. Here we profile the industry's most influential and successful poker affiliates.
The past 12 months have been some of the most challenging in gaming with Black Friday topping the list of hurdles affiliates have had to overcome.
Not only that, revenue share deals are constantly being squeezed while uncertainty surrounding who will win out and how newly regulated markets, such as Spain, will perform are putting affiliates under more pressure than ever before. However, many have invested in other niches or diversified in order to find more traffic.
It is these that have made the grade in this year’s eGaming Review Power Affiliates.
Yesterday we brought you the top casino affiliates and next week we will bring you the leading affiliates for sports betting, but today it is the turn of poker.
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Stamen Gorchev (pictured), founder, Igrach.com
eGR: How did Black Friday impact the poker affiliate industry in 2011?
SG: We lost a lot of income and around 50% of our traffic after Black Friday as a lot of that came from Full Tilt. Since then many people here have switched to Pokerstars after their aggressive marketing campaign and Stars have taken advantage of having a near-monopoly in Bulgaria. On top of that we have seen people turning away from poker and thinking they’re not good enough to live off it.
eGR: What kinds of player do you feel an affiliate needs to be targeting at the moment?
SG: At Igrach we’re about strategy, and aim to bringing in the casual players more than the professional players. We include poker blogs from bigger players but not a big library of poker theory – we just want to get people to enjoy the game and that’s it. From my experience when they get to a certain level poker players are getting tired and don’t have as much to discuss – it’s interesting for the first couple of months or the first couple of years, but then people already stop sharing thoughts and strategies as the game is so competitive and you don’t want to give away too much of what you have learned.
eGR: What do affiliates need to do to ensure longevity?
SG: We will stick around because as well as having our Bulgarian-speaking community we still have plenty of players who aren’t that bothered about community and just want to play. They come here because Igrach to them is like Coca Cola – when they hear poker they know Igrach. As markets begin to regulate the high taxes might not leave enough room for poker rooms to pay affiliate commission. I think that’s becoming the case in places like France and Italy, and even in Bulgaria if new regulation is passed they might not need us.
eGR: How valuable a tool is social media in the affiliate space?
SG: We have a Facebook page with close to 3,000 ‘likes’, and we’ve found that Facebook is so much more effective than email and possibly even Google searches in attracting players – I think it’s a very good marketing tool nowadays. It might not be something that can make a huge difference in overall terms, but it’s probably the best of what’s available. Many of the people who look for poker-related things on Google are already poker players, and already play somewhere – they’re just on the lookout for some article or information about some player. From Facebook you get new people who have heard about poker but maybe spend more time on our site and are more likely to get hooked.
Poker affiliates:
DonkR
Founder/Principal: Robin Eirik Reed
Domains: Donkr.com
Among the first to properly appreciate the value of social media, with number of visitors rising 25% in the last year. More investments from Reed and management team expected in coming months.
EducaPoker (NEW ENTRY)
Founder/Principal: Raul Mestre
Domains: EducaPoker.com; Poker-Red.com
Leading Spanish affiliate site set up by pro player Raul Mestre three years ago, community-focused with forums and video content. Sister-site Poker-Red.com provides industry news stories on a regular basis. Entered Portugal through JV with PokerPT and looking for more local partners elsewhere.
Igrach.com
Founder/Principal: Stamen Gorchev, founder
Domains: Igrach.com
Largest affiliate in Bulgaria, dominating home market after launching in 2006. Gaming Media Group purchased a 49% stake in 2009.
InternetPoker.com (NEW ENTRY)
Founder/Principal: Andreas Emmanuel
Domains: InternetPoker.co.uk; Onlinepoker.net
Part of slots.org owner Emmanuel’s portfolio, the two sites have replaced internet-poker.co.uk as his focal point, boasting 100,000 monthly visitors between them and a real-money conversion rate approaching 25%.
Poker.org
Founder/Principal: Markus Sonermo
Domains: Poker.org; Everypoker.com; Rakeback.org; Insidebet. com; Loyalty.net; Blackjack.org; Craps.net
Sonermo purchased the poker.org domain for US$1m in 2010, the highest sum ever paid for a dot.org site. Relaunched its new flagship site in October 2011 adding private messaging and friend list features.
Pokerisivut
Founder/Principal: Mikko Hirvonen
Domains: Pokerisivut.com; Coinflip.cz; TexasPoker.dk
Launched a Czech version of its Coinflip brand in 2011 but the dot.nl version has been put on hold. Already in Denmark but looking at local partners for sites in other regulated markets.
PokerListings
Founder/Principal: n/a
Domains: PokerListings.com; PokerRoomsOnline.com; Rakebrain.com; ItaliaPoker.it; PokerJunkie.com
Owned by Rock Intention Malta Ltd, strength in poker and casino means it can stake a claim to being the largest single gambling affiliate business in the sector. Entered into strategic partnership with Cake Network in March 2011, and launched Italian-facing site when that market opened.
Pokernews
Founder/Principal: Damon Rasheed/Tony G
Domains: PokerNews.com; PokerWorks.com; PokerAffiliateWorld.com; NeverWinPoker.com
Comparable to Listings and Strategy in scope, sites and content are localised for 25 different countries. Has a number of staff dedicated to live text coverage of tournaments including WSOP and EPT.
PokerPT.com
Founder/Principal: Joao Manuel Nunes
Domains: PokerPT.com; Americanflop.com; Pokerdobrasil.com; Poker10.com
Leading Portuguese-language affiliate has 37 sites in seven languages across Iberia and South America. Founder Nunes is a former professional basketball player.
PokerStrategy.com
Founder/Principal: Dominik Kofert, CEO
Domains: PokerStrategy.com, with sub-domains for 19 other language sites.
Affiliate giant with 5.5million members and 1.1billion page views in 2011. Has members from 221 different countries and launched its Czech community last May. One of its members won the 2011 WSOP Main Event.
Rakeback.com
Founder/Principal: Mika Ollila, founder
Domains: Rakeback.com; Pokerbonus.com; PokerVIP.com
One of the top three results in Google searches for rakeback, the Antigua-based business has made an effort to increase its original news and interview content in the last 12 months, while also buying two new domains.
RakeTheRake.com
Founder/Principal: Karim Wilkins
Domains: RakeTheRake.com; Rakeback.co.uk; PokerLoyaltyPrograms.com; EnglishPokerOpen.com
Generates around US$50m in annual after Black Friday hit its numbers, and has a network of 700-800 domains. Sponsored the English Poker Open, a live event with a prizepool of £679,000 in 2010.