In this episode, Lee-Ann Johnstone interviews Richard Dennys, CEO of Game Lounge, about his experience in the affiliate marketing industry. They discuss the differences between iGaming and eCommerce marketing strategies, the challenges and opportunities in the iGaming industry, and the importance of collaboration between operators and affiliates. Richard also shares his insights on emerging trends and shifts in affiliate marketing, emphasising the need for diversification and simplicity in affiliate strategies. The episode provides valuable insights for both newcomers and experienced professionals in the affiliate marketing space.
Listen in here for all the insights.
Comparing iGaming to eCommerce
Lee-Ann says to Richard: “A lot of experience, both in iGaming and eCommerce, a little bit like me, which is what I would say to get you onto the podcast because you see things very differently to how people that are only in one track business see things. If you’re only working in eCommerce or you’re only working in AI gaming.”
She goes on to ask, “What are some of the things that you’ve initially observed coming new into this industry?”
Richard says: “The first thing I’ve noticed is that most of the people I’ve met have only worked in iGaming, they haven’t switched out and you think why is that? And it’s probably because there’s a demand for talent, much, much more so than because the salaries are pretty high and on an island like this, where the demand is higher than the talent supply, the salaries are good. Why would you drop a 50% drop in income? And also with Webgains and any affiliate network, you’re dealing with multiple verticals, you have multiple affiliate types, the complexity and also, in terms of tracking, there’s all the issues that are going on with ITP and GDPR.”
Challenges of shifting from corporate network to publisher
Lee-Ann asks Richard, “You must have had a mind shift change from the corporate network side to becoming the publisher. What are some of the big challenges that you think we don’t hear and see because we miss it?”
Richard responds, “So the profitability is a completely different thing as an affiliate. It’s a media business. It’s just like running any magazine publisher. You’ve got a publisher, you’ve got an editor, you’ve got writers and the idea is that you can be as efficient as you possibly can. The really interesting thing over the period I’ve been here is we’ve gone through a Google update, this latest HCU and the core update and the spam update, blah, blah, blah, and it’s been murderous for a lot of businesses who have just tried to shortcut with AI content.”
Collaboration is king
Lee-Ann says “So collaboration with affiliates is essential for success and affiliate marketing, whether you’re an advertiser network, whatever it is. Have you noticed any differences in the way that partnerships are formed between operators and affiliates versus e-commerce brands and affiliates that they work with? And how do these collaborations define the execution of objectives?”
Richard answers: “eCommerce is 10 years ahead. Whatever we used to do in before you joined here will come eventually. We were in a single product type in a single vertical. Everyone’s the same. So there’s no real reason to change it. And therefore, it’s a bit like that where there’s friction, you the power grows, we don’t have a lot of friction. So there’s no reason to change, but that’s a problem because at some point it’s going to get disrupted.”
Listen to find out more about:
- Richard’s Experience in the Affiliate Industry
- Challenges and Opportunities in iGaming
- Emerging Trends and Shifts in Affiliate Marketing
Key segments of this podcast and where you can tune in to go direct:
[10:47] Transition from corporate network to publisher
[16:53] Differences between iGaming and eCommerce execution of objectives
[28:43] Consolidation in iGaming
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