iGB Affiliate 72 Dec/Jan 2019 | Page 34

LET THE NUMBERS DO THE TALKING By concentrating squarely on hard data, Malta-based SlotCatalog is aiming to be anything but just another affiliate site. Joanne Christie speaks to co-founder Johannes Klasson about his focus on the figures IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, the igaming affiliate industry has been through an enormous amount of change. The pick-up in M&A activity, increasing compliance demands from operators and the shift away from free bets and sign-up offers in the UK have all contributed to the emergence of a very different landscape to that of just a few years ago. It’s no longer enough for affiliates to throw up a few links and sign up with as many operators as possible – the latter have become choosier and are looking to work with affiliates that are not only compliant but also provide something more in terms of products. 30 iGB Affiliate Issue 72 DEC 2018 / JAN 2019 Thus far, it’s largely sports betting sites that have innovated in this area – unsurprising news, perhaps, given the vertical lends itself easily to data-driven analysis. But while casino affiliates might not have as much obvious material to work with, some are now focusing on building data-driven products to differentiate themselves from their competitors. SlotCatalog is one such example. The Malta-based affiliate is on a mission to become the App Annie of  the casino market, according to co-founder Johannes Klasson. “Just like you know Angry Birds is the best on iPhone because you can see it on App Annie,” says Klasson. “Well, our site is like a small version of App Annie for the casino market. For each market and country we are aiming to provide a hotlist of the most popular games in real time, that is our mission. “I definitely think that this type of product was missing from the market. It’s easy to say you can’t really build that much for the casino, you can only review slot games and there is not so much other content you can do, but there is definitely room for more in slot games and casino games.” So far the site features data on more than 8,000 games and Klasson says adding games as soon as they are