The Olympics is one of the biggest sports events, and we can harp on about its cultural and political benefits.
However, the Olympics for us is first and foremost — betting, bookies, winnings, and tempers running high all over the world.
So, how does one run campaigns during such events? What do you take into account? Whose advice should you take? To answer these questions, we have interviewed owners of media buying teams and representatives of affiliate networks that work with betting offers.
What are the top popular sports? Can you link sports to specific GEOs, for example, Russians love betting on figure skating, Canadians prefer hockey?
The most popular sports of the Winter Olympics: hockey, biathlon, curling, ski jumping, figure skating. In general, bets don’t show strong correlations with GEOs, but we can see that biathlon, for instance, is popular in France, Italy, Austria, and Norway. Hockey — in Russia, Canada, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.
These are Winter Olympics, and there is a strong correlation between popular winter sports and popular winter Olympic sports. For example, hockey is popular in general, so it’s popular during the Olympics too. To decide on the creative approach, simply check out the popular winter sports without searching specifically for the Olympics.
Also, there will be a World Cup in Qatar, pay attention to this event. It will be at the end of November.
One of the upcoming events is the IPL Cricket Championship in India, this is an extremely underestimated event. Its advantage lies in the timing — this is the time when you can gather a betting audience for the whole year.
These Winter Olympics will see 15 disciplines, the most popular are ice hockey, figure skating, biathlon, snowboarding, short track, ski jumping, and bobsleigh.
Every GEO has its own favorite sport, for example figure skating and ski jumping are more popular in the USA, while ski jumping and bobsleigh are more popular in the UK.
What kind of campaign flow performs best during the Olympics?
Themed, as always 🙂 Approaches and funnels work best when they suit the event: figure skating/hockey/biathlon finals. You simply need to choose the sport depending on the GEO. For example: for Russia it should be a hockey match Russia VS Czech Republic (or some other couple old nemeses), and it is also good to indicate the maximum rate for the event.
An event-specific lander is always good for the conversion rate. We provide our affiliates with themed landing pages for the Olympics and other big events.
PM Affiliates Team
One of the main trends is shorter funnels. For example, we at PIN-UP have simplified the registration form, now it’s only a couple of fields. This is convenient for users and profitable for affiliates because it improves the conversion rate.
And the approaches: announcing matches and predicting the results, also giving out bonuses in tune with the Olympics style.
Stase Blitz, PIN-UP Partners
Some advertisers will offer free bets and many betting shops will also have interesting themed landers. Your affiliate manager will help you navigate a sea of such event-specific promotional materials.
If we talk about approaches, in general, they are similar to how affiliate marketers work during the World Cup or the UEFA.
Konstantin Guberkan, Alfaleads
Nothing special, the same themed creatives in tune with the big event.
The campaign funnel with messengers performs very well, which is predictable.
What GEOs advertisers want more: solvent Tier-1 or massive and a bit naive Tiers 2–3?
Which is more profitable, to earn $1 000 in Australia or India? There is no difference. 🙂
Alexey Gryzunov, PIN-UP PARTNERS
I suppose every advertiser has their own preferences. But I believe, and my colleagues will agree on this, that the best traffic is the one that pays off in the long run. And, of course, the GEOs with minimum risk for a given advertiser. No one in their right mind would invest in something that may fall apart any minute. 🙂
Roman Ostrovsky, 1win Partners
Are there “dead zones” for betting, i.e. GEOs with scarce traffic?
The USA is a very tough and regulated market, it is really a “dead zone” in this regard. Betting/gambling are on the way to being legalized, but only in some states. For this reason, most casinos and betting shops simply don’t want to get involved with this GEO due to high regulatory risks. Building a business close to a ticking bomb is not the best idea.
China — every affiliate who has ever tried working with this GEO knows what I’m talking about. Facebook and Google are banned, you can only find traffic in local networks, so it’s quite hard to drive decent volumes. By the way, the situation is no better with audience reach: there is no guarantee that a player will be able to load your lander even if you work with the right creative.
Countries with high respect for brands and white-hat approaches. For example, it is difficult to start driving iGaming traffic from the UK.
Countries with a weak Internet connection. It’s important to find a local (light) product) to avoid issues with site loading (relevant for most African countries).
Countries where casino/betting is a punishable offense: UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, etc. Social casino (playing for tokens) is popular in such GEOs. Social casinos are also popular in the USA.
Roman Sadov, Mostbet Partners
Nigeria, Iran, Kenya, Azerbaijan — these GEOs show the lowest number of bets. I believe that they simply have different sports preferences. At the same time, casinos are very popular in Kenya and Nigeria.
PM Affiliates Team
If we talk specifically about the Olympics, these are countries where winter sports are not popular or practically non-existent. This includes Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America.
Konstantin Guberkan, Alfaleads
Is it possible for a beginner to enter the betting vertical during a big event like the Olympics?
I think I will give two answers in one. First, it’s a great idea to enter betting during big events. I believe many of you have seen cases from top affiliates where they make a year’s worth of profit during a single sports event. It’s absolutely true, we see huge ROI during such periods. And it beats me that many affiliates are still in the dark when it comes to big sports.
Secondly, are the Olympics, especially the winter games, really an important event in terms of betting? I want to be honest with you, although it goes against my interest as an advertiser. Among you and your friends, how many people are really following the games? It’s usually the opening ceremony and maybe hockey. Earlier I said the same about the Summer Olympics, and my opinion has not changed: the Olympics are not a really big event for betting. Yes, we see more bets, but it’s nothing in comparison with top football and hockey matches or such big events as IPL in India or a huge boxing match.
So, if you run themed campaigns for the Olympics, be sure to choose the GEO and sport really carefully to get that X-something profit. May the green be with you!
Yes, major tournaments are the best time to join betting. We welcome new affiliates to PIN-UP Partners, and our expert team will help you launch successfully even during such major events as the Olympics. 🙂
Yes, of course! Any sporting event of such a scale is a great opportunity to try your hand at a new vertical. Especially considering a huge selection of legal products with excellent CR that we have on the market nowadays. Personally, we always strive to share our expertise with affiliates and provide them with the best terms right from the start. We are sure that you will love betting!
Sure, it’s possible. But the Olympics are less popular than, for example, football. And I would advise joining the vertical before the upcoming Champions League, which will have more traffic because the final games of a major tournament attract a bigger audience than the Olympics.
All major sporting events are a great time to get started with betting, as there is simply more traffic during such events. Sites with sports analytics or forecasts for the upcoming games/matches perform especially well. After all, this is the information that users often search for before making a bet.
The Olympics attract not only those who accept traffic, but also for those who drive it. To find out about the best affiliate practices for the upcoming Olympic Games, we have interviewed Vlad Marlon (Marlerino Group) and Igor Alekseev (Private Team).
What kind of funnels and approaches show the best results during such big events as the Winter Olympics?
Usually, we don’t come up with anything new for the Olympics, an event-centered approach is the main idea of any betting campaign. We use a themed creative to drive users to an application and warm them up with push notifications based on the specifics of the event and the audience.
Vlad Marlon, Marlerino Group
The same event-specific funnels, and stress the victory of the target GEO in your creatives. 🙂
Igor Alekseev, Private Team
What approaches do you use for creatives? Do you adapt it to a specific sport, do you use photos of famous athletes? Which are better: sleek creatives or “ugly works”?
The best approach for such creatives is to capture the attention with well-known athletes and make the users want to support their country or team with all their heart. For motion creatives, we use emotional moments with local sports stars or show them in opposition to their opponents.
Vlad Marlon, Marlerino Group
Yes, absolutely. Actors, going to matches, interviews, etc., in this case the actor portrays a betting connoisseur.
Igor Alekseev, Private Team
What is more profitable during big events: quality traffic with interested users (Tier–1) or a bigger audience (Asia, Latam)?
We always lean towards the quality of traffic, and (in our experience) big volume ≠ bad traffic. During such big events, it is much easier and more logical to drive bigger volumes, this allows you to cover your share of the market despite high competition and without spending too much.
Vlad Marlon, Marlerino Group
We like quality more, therefore we choose Tier–1, but we work with Tier–3 as well.
Igor Alekseev, Private Team
Is it more profitable and easier to work with an affiliate network or directly with betting shops?
It depends on your connections. Always work with trusted partners who will help you out in sticky situations. It can be either a direct advertiser or a reseller, all have their advantages, but the most important thing is your level of trust.
Both of them can (provided you are close enough) take on some risks to keep your partnership going.
Vlad Marlon, Marlerino Group
What do you think about influencer campaigns in betting (Twitch, Instagram, TikTok)?
Fake gurus are always a good shot, the main thing is to avoid scams with deposits. We haven’t worked with influencers in betting yet, and we don’t really want to. In our experience, working with a third-party production and influencers is more often a problem than an advantage.
Vlad Marlon, Marlerino Group
I think these are solid approaches. Influencers have always been good at driving big audiences, but these approaches no longer work for some GEOs.
Igor Alekseev, Private Team
As you can see, the Olympics is still “an event” for traffic enthusiasts. Both affiliate networks and marketers agree that it is necessary to work with bigger volumes, adjust creatives to the specific event, and keep your eyes peeled for new developments. When choosing a GEO to work with, make sure that people there have a general idea of what winter sports are, can afford a decent Internet connection, and have a couple of dollars to bet on their favorite athlete.
If you want to reach new GEOs and audiences, maybe it is all waiting for you on Telegram? We’ve prepared some material about Telegram audiences. What are the messenger’s users like this year? How old they are, what they do, and what they are interested in!
