AFFILIATES CROSSING THE ATLANTIC

Philip

Bell of affiliate QIH Group talks Gaming

America through the latest trends in the US affiliate market, as well as the company’s strategy in key states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Can you walk us through what QIH Group does?

QIH Group is headquartered in London and has been operating in the iGaming space for 10 years; we operate three verticals within the group.

Firstly, there is our iGaming affiliate business, which delivers 5,000+ new customers per month to our iGaming operators in the UK and US. Secondly, we operate a number of white-label Casino and Bingo brands within the UK. Thirdly, we recently launched our affiliate network

Offer Tonic, which connects publishers with advertisers. Operating three separate business units with the group allows us access to huge amounts of data, and data is at the core of everything we do to ensure we’re always delivering value across the group to our partners.

Personally, it’s a great time to have joined the group, with record growth; a new office opened in Skopje, North Macedonia and the expansion of our London, UK HQ, combined with our recent launch in the US, means we’re really positive about the future.

Which states are you live in and why did you choose them?

We’re currently live as an affiliate in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan with our brands BonusesUSA.com focusing on Casino and PodiumBets.com with a sportsbook focus. We picked these states as the majority of our partners in

PHILIP BELL QIH Group Head of Partnerships

the UK had a presence here, so naturally promoting them was a smoother process given the existing partnerships.

Which states are you targeting and, again, why those in particular?

We’re going live very soon in New York, Nevada and Iowa; these states were selected based on our research and demand for us to deliver customers from our existing partners within these states.

How difficult has the registration process been, and has this varied across states?

Like with any newly regulated states and markets, there are nuances we had to become aware of at state level but generally the process as an affiliate to register has been relatively smooth. We’ve also been assisted by operators, which certainly helped speed up the process.

What are your main strategies for standing out, given the competitive nature of the market in the US?

Without giving too much away, our focus is applying all of our learnings within the UK to our US-facing sites. The one thing with data is that it doesn’t lie and our approach is and will always be led by the data. Our partners in the UK told us they wanted US traffic, we listened and launched our US-focused sites and things have started really well. Our in-house traffic management algorithm has ensured not only new customer delivery but most importantly delivering value to our partners stateside. This is something we know is key to longevity as an affiliate with iGaming.The US affiliate landscape is not as competitive as other markets due to a higher barrier to entry; having to create a US company and register as a vendor is enough to put some smaller affiliates off entering the market.

How do you see the landscape of the US affiliate market changing in 2023, if at all?

As operators take a closer look at their bottom line, a big focus will be on the value of customers acquired. The days of huge CPAs without demonstrating value will disappear and operators will be more selective with which affiliates they work. We’re also expecting to see a few operators exit states due to high operating costs. For an affiliate operating in the US, it’ll be working more closely with operators to help them improve their product offering and promotions. Another area is better understanding player values as we gather more data to give a better idea of life time values within each state.

Finally, does QIH Group have any M&A plans, and how do you assess the wider trend of affiliate M&A within North America?

It’s not something on QIH Group’s radar at this point in time. However, the wider trend of affiliate M&A, I’d certainly expect to see plenty of activity over the next 12 months. Demand for affiliate traffic is high and there are many sites primed to capitalize on this. The more established iGaming affiliates will look to add more US sites to their network and M&A is their best route to fast track US growth.