FEATURE
IGB AFFILIATE
SURVEY:
A CHALLENGING
12 MONTHS
The findings from this year’s iGB Affiliate and Operator Survey reflect the toughening regulatory
environment for affiliates and the igaming sector over the past 12 months, writes Joanne Christie
Figure 1: Confidence about affiliate industry
Key
THE PAST YEAR has been a tough
one for igaming affiliates, with increasing
regulatory scrutiny leading to closures
and overhauls of a number of operators’
affiliate programs. The result has been
a drop in confidence among operators
and affiliates about the future of
igaming affiliation, as shown by the
results of an exclusive survey of 160
affiliates and 97 operators carried out
for iGaming Business.
Asked how confident they felt about
the affiliate industry over the next five
years, just 65% of affiliates said they were
confident, while on the operator side the
figure was even lower at 64%. This year’s
responses show a drop from the results
of the same survey published last year,
when confidence was at 71% and 75%,
respectively (see Figure 1).
While both groups put regulation as
the leading industry trend affecting their
business in both years, for affiliates and
operators this year’s new options of
Confidence in affiliate industry (%)
advertising compliance, affiliate program
closures and operators’ increased liability
for affiliates’ activity all featured in their
top four, ranking far higher than last year’s
second tier issues of ad-blocking and
mergers and acquisitions.
With operators recently having been
hit with large fines by the UK regulator
for the activities of their affiliates, their
increasing focus on compliance from
those carrying out marketing activities on
their behalf is perhaps understandable.
This result of this, however, has been that
many operators have culled the number
of affiliates they are working with and
decreased their reliance on affiliates
iGB Affiliate Issue 68 APR/MAY 2018
37