Weekly news round-up 19 June 2015
This weekâs news in brief includes another XLMedia mobile acquisition and NetEnt proving the big winners on mobile at the eGR B2B Awards
XLMedia has announced the purchase of a majority stake in web and mobile marketing company Marmar Media in a deal worth up to $7.36m (£4.72m), as the acquisitive performance marketer continues its aggressive expansion. The acquisition of the Tel Aviv-based Marmar will be be immediately earnings enhancing and the firm said Marmar generated revenues of $11 million and EBITDA of $2.2 million in FY 2014. XLMedia said the deal would broaden its mobile capabilities, as well as give the firm market and product diversification with Marmar Media focused on verticals outside the gambling sector.
NetEnt were the big mobile winners at the eGR B2B Awards, picking up the âMobile supplierâ and âInnovation in mobileâ gongs. Element Wave was named best âMobile services supplierâ, while Odobo won the âMobile gaming softwareâ award. Meanwhile at eGRâs Operator Marketing and Innovation Awards, LeoVegas won best âMobile marketing campaignâ, Sky Betting and Gaming picked up the award for âInnovation in mobile and tabletâ and William Hill won âInnovation in sports bettingâ for its mobile darts app.
Italian-facing operator Sisal launched “Virtual Race”, a dedicated virtual sports app provided by Inspired and available across iOS, Android and Windows devices. âSisal is pioneering the next era of Italian gaming with the launch of this dedicated virtual sports mobile app. There is a huge player demand in Italy for our virtual sports â as is evidenced by the growing market and phenomenal player feedback,” Vitaliano Casalone, President of Inspired Italia, said.
BetVictorâs CEO Andreas Meinrad outlined plans to pivot the operatorâs marketing strategy towards digital, with a particular focus on mobile. âTV will continue to play a key part in our communications strategy but we must be smarter and more digitally orientated,â he told eGaming Review. âWe must improve our SEO strategy, mobile marketing and there will be a shift in emphasis away from majority TV spend to a more digital marketing spend that will allow us to take more control of our ROI,â he added.
Mobile was the driver behind this weekâs impressive Betfair results, with revenues from the platform almost doubling year-on-year and showing strong growth in all verticals. Total mobile revenue was £157.4m, up 97% year-on-year, and it accounted for 71% of total sportsbook revenues and 33% of gaming revenues with 69% of UK casino customer using mobile in May. CEO Breon Corcoran added that 93% of the firmâs revenue growth was generated on smartphones and tablets, with 80% of new customers in the UK now coming through mobile and just over 1m mobile actives in total.