INSIGHT
ESPORTS FOR AFFILIATES:
WORTH THE HYPE?
The burgeoning popularity of competitive eSports has led to the rapid gestation of a sibling eSports
betting industry. So why aren’t affiliates piling in? Harry Lang of Pinnacle Sports puts the ‘the next big
thing’ in gambling affiliation under the microscope.
THERE ARE SOME truly epic sports out
there, some of which are easier to take part
in than others.
We’ve all seen the news footage of the
Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling event that
takes place annually near the village of
Brockworth in Gloucestershire. An array of
barmy athletes leap, tumble and occasionally
break themselves as they pursue a rolling
cheese down a 45-degree slope. It’s utter
madness, but inspires an enduring affection
as a supremely British sport. It’s not for
everyone through – sometimes even 8lb of
Double Gloucester isn’t worth that kind of
bone shattering pain.
However, no-one actually knew whether
eSports fans would want to bet or if the
model and demographic was for viewing
and playing only. As it happened, it’s
become one of our fastest-growing markets
and is now Pinnacle’s seventh biggest sport
in terms of volume – ahead of established
markets like handball, volleyball or golf.
We have taken more than two million bets
since 2010, with more than one million
coming in 2015.
Blowing smoke in the general direction
of my new employers aside, these numbers
are pretty significant. So, why aren’t
affiliates piling into the eSports betting
“A cursory domain search flags up URLs such as
betdota2.co.uk and csgoodds.co.uk as still available,
and the keyword market remains fairly uncompetitive.”
Then there’s Inuit Mouth Pulling, a
type of wrestling that is exactly as brutal
as its name suggests. Don’t fancy that?
Why not get a team together for a casual
game of Buzkashi. All you need to play
this a Central Asian version of polo is a
team of yaks, some exposed wasteland and
something to chase. A puck? A shuttlecock,
perhaps? No, that’s not the Buzkashi way.
You have to grab a dead goat, and they’re
hard to come by in downtown Clapham.
It’s these barriers to entry that have kept
some excellent sports on the periphery of
popular culture. Conversely the emergence
of eSports and its huge popularity is in part
due to the ease with which anybody can
take part wherever they are in the world.
Unsurprisingly, the burgeoning
popularity of competitive eSports has
led to the rapid gestation of a sibling
eSports betting industry. The first eSports
market was opened by Pinnacle Sports on
StarCraft II in 2010 which quickly gained
traction. In response to player demand
Dota2, League of Legends, Hearthstone,
CS:GO, Heroes of the Storm, FIFA, and
WarCraft 3 have since followed.
world while the iron is hot?
There are a few reasons fortune might
favour the cautious here. eSports bettor
lifetime values are much lower than sports,
casino, in fact any other major betting
vertical. This means you’ll need to acquire
a significant volume of players if you’re
planning on turning a decent profit. Then
there’s the players themselves – how can
you target them? There are some obvious
media partners like Gosu Gamers http://
www.gosugamers.net, the number 1 eSports
community in the world, and Twitch
http://www.twitch.tv, in effect You Tube
for eSports. Beyond these, the standard
digital channels are all relevant, only with
much lower CPA targets than betting
affiliates are used to.
The one thing that is wedded to an
affiliate’s success in eSports is content –
great video of MMPG tournaments, strong
player analysis, reviews of upcoming events
– these are the things that eSports players
are interested in, so it stands to reason
that the betting offering should stand up to
similar scrutiny. It also seems unlikely that
betting brands will be able to parachute into
the eSports world without looking much
like the granddad at the disco, so if you’re
looking to build an affiliate presence, start
with an eSports fan mindset and build
outwards.
In terms of where you can send the
traffic to monetize it once you’ve attracted
your plethora of eSports fans, there are
at present only three serious operators
offering real money esports betting, which
are ourselves; newish entrant Betway,
currently spending extravagant amounts
on marketing; and Unikrn, the name on
everyone’s lips this year, who have built
an exciting platform and brand with
excellent UX .
The good news for affiliates is that the
market is still in its infancy – just a cursory
domain search flags up URLs such as
betdota2.co.uk and csgoodds.co.uk as still
available, and the keyword market remains
fairly uncompetitive. If the current rate of
growth maintains its incremental curve,
there’s a betting market worth more than
$200 million up for grabs come 2018 – and
very few affiliates have so far staked a
speculative claim.
HARRY LANG has worked
in the egaming world for
10 years, recently joining
PinnacleSports.com as
Marketing Director. Pinnacle
is the Number 1 sportsbook
for astute bettors looking for the best
odds, highest stakes and lowest
margins. To work with Pinnacle, you
can register as an affiliate at
www.pinnaclesportsaffiliates.com,
and follow Pinnacle on Twitter @
PinnacleSports and @PinnacleeSports.
iGB Affiliate Issue 55 FEB/MAR 2016
53