iGB Affiliate 72 Dec/Jan 2019 | Page 12

WEBMASTER NEWS ONLINE DOMINATES UK GAMBLING MARKETING SPEND Nearly half of the £1.56bn spent on marketing by gambling companies in Great Britain last year was invested online, with television advertising accounting for just 15% of the total. According to Regulus Partners’ Gambling Advertising and Marketing Spend in Great Britain 2014-17 report, overall marketing expenditure has increased by 56% since 2014. Direct online marketing in 2017, including banner ads and paid search, amounted to £747m, nearly double the £400m that was spent in 2014. The amount invested in other forms of online marketing also grew, with social media spend rising from £42m in 2014 to £149m in 2017, while affiliate marketing climbed from £282m to £301m. Although TV advertising investment increased from £155m to £234m over the three-year period, this is some way behind direct online marketing. Sponsorship, which covers football shirts, horse racing and other events, doubled from £30m to £60m. Regulus also said that other offline advertising such as print newspaper ads and billboards fell from £94m in 2014 to £70m in 2017, as companies focused on online channels. Between 2014 and 2017, spending on lottery advertising dropped, falling £3m to £88m, as a result of a decline in spending across all channels with the exception of social media, which jumped from £2m to £9m. PUNTERS PARADISE DEAL GREEN LIT Punters Paradise has completed its acquisition of Racing Internet Services for AU$17m (£9.7m), bringing together two of Australia’s leading horse racing news and affiliate sites. Confirmation of the deal comes after the Australian Competition and Consumer 8 Commission (ACCC) gave its approval to the merger last week, amid concerns that it would hand too much power to Punters Paradise owner, News Corp. However, an ACCC review declared that as readers are not required to pay for content on iGB Affiliate Issue 72 DEC 2018 / JAN 2019 either of the services, it would not impact their access to information, according to the website HorseBetting.com.au. In addition, the ACCC said it is unlikely other news services and affiliates active in the Australian market would suffer as a result of the merger. In a statement ACCC commissioner Roger Featherston said, “The ACCC found that there are numerous alternative sources of online racing news and information for consumers other than Punters and Racenet.”