How affiliates can capitalise on the World Cup

When you work in the gaming industry, you get used to hearing that something is a ‘safe bet’ or a ‘sure thing’, and you are generally so inured to that kind of phraseology that you tune out. However, let me tell you a few absolute NAPs for the World Cup, some of which will have already landed.

There will be countries that threaten to withdraw. This has happened in each of the last few years with question marks over human rights issues in South Africa and Brazil raising huge ethical questions about the staging of the tournament. Russia will be the same.

There will be question marks over the host nation’s abilities to cater for the demand on its infrastructure. Hotels and worries over how tourists will be met by locals have plagued World Cups since their inception in 1930. This year will be no different; it’s just a case of waiting to see the first photos hit the newspapers.

England fans will switch from depressed apathy to blind optimism after one or two positive friendly results against lacklustre opponents. “If we can keep it tight at the back, get a stroke of luck or a generous refereeing decision and if our star man recovers from his metatarsal injury in time, then football really could come home.”

And finally, we’ll be told that this is the biggest betting event of all time and we should be ready for it. It’s yet another truism, though, as every year, just like England fans’ optimism, the interest in football and betting on football grows and this year it’s going to peak for the 2018 World Cup.

World Cup fever

I’ve written on these pages before about the need to be ready for a major international tournament, but that goes without saying now and there will be very few operators or affiliates who are not World Cup ready by the start of Q2. The URLs have been bought years ago, the apps have been commissioned and the marketing spend allocated. It’s simply a case of waiting for the hype machine to go into overdrive and ensuring that you are at the forefront of those leading the cheerleading.

This year, those dominating the conversation, however, will not be the PR men but the customers. We’ve seen a sea-change in recent seasons with football fans, particularly younger ones, ignoring the traditional marketing methods and instead concentrating on their own metrics. Talking about social media marketing is no longer even valid as we’ve moved passed that and into content creation. The current customer is now making his or her own videos or blogs, distributing them amongst their peers and then using that network to come back and talk to the marketers.

We have seen this in sports broadcasting this season with Match of the Day bringing ‘expected goals’ (xG) into their analysis and we’re now seeing it more and more with sports betting as the traditional markets are eschewed for more statistical-based bets.

Opta, the biggest football stats database in the world, has long worked with bookmakers, but now is helping Sky Bet to create specific betting markets with player props on ‘shots on target’, ‘tackles completed’ and ‘pass percentage’ all now viable betting options. This is going to grow and expand in the lead up to Russia 2018, and it is now going to be possible to place more prop bets on a standard group match at the World Cup than it would be at the Super Bowl with Las Vegas’ biggest bookmaker.

And it’s not just Sky Bet. In the last few months, we have seen WhoScored partner with Betfair for man of the match betting markets and one of our Catena Media properties, Squawka.com, join forces with Smarkets. These partnerships are going to continue to grow and we will very soon be seeing markets powered by these statistical providers and the community behind them will be the ones placing the bets.

The affiliate opportunity

All this is great news if you are a stats provider, but what if you aren’t? Will there still be a place for you at the 2018 World Cup top table? The answer is, of course, yes. This is a feast of football in Russia and everyone’s invited – it’s just about who you bring with you. There has always been a place for high-traffic websites but now, due to GDPR, which I am not going to even touch on here, things have changed.

It was previously acceptable to simply bounce players from an ad to an operator and they were glad to catch them. However, the bonus restrictions, the player values and the general media portrayal of the gaming industry now dictates that you must do more, and so it’s all about community. For World Cup 2018 don’t ask about what you can sell, but instead what you can build. There’s massive scope for those product designers and owners to exploit their niches and give some really fantastic value to players, which can then be passed on to operators.

At Catena Media we have a mantra of ‘kick-ass products and outstanding relationships’ and those who came up with the line could very well have done so with a specific World Cup strategy in mind. If you build something fantastic ahead of June’s kick-off, be it a stats service, an app, a game, a social media community or (as we are seeing more of as well) a TV show, then you’re halfway there. If you now use the time ahead of the tournament to work on your relationships, ensuring that you have your #RequestABet, #YourOdds or #PriceItUp picks ready for your punters, then you’re going to have a great summer.

But remember, just as no-one wants to hear any more clichés in the pub about England’s new “golden generation”, no-one wants to hear that your bets are a “No lose! 100% diamond tip”. Let’s not forget that everyone is providing a service and hopefully the gaming industry, unlike so many others involved in Russia 2018, can leave the tournament with its head held high.

Neil Roarty is the editor of Bettingpro.com and head of betting publishing at Catena Media. He has almost a decade of experience in the gaming industry and in addition to writing for Bettingpro.com, has also featured in several other industry publications.