As new markets start to open up around the world, more brands are looking toward these opportunities and expanding their business. Of course, each new territory comes with new restrictions, fees and much more.
We recently spoke with Maxim Makovetskyi – Head of affiliates at Parimatch to hear his thoughts on expanding into new markets. Maxim is responsible for the overall development of the Parimatch affiliate program, focusing on brand promotion, development and attracting new affiliates on CPA/RevShare.
Read our Q+A below to hear what Maxim had to say.
Affiverse: Hi Maxim – Can you tell us a bit more about your role as Head of Affiliates at Parimatch Tech?
Maxim: “The Parimatch affiliate program is aimed at attracting traffic to our product by using CPA, Hybrid, and Revshare models. My team is responsible for the full path of the partner, starting from what information the partner can obtain about our affiliate program and our offers, the purchase of traffic itself, the entire cycle associated with this, and, most importantly, we put efforts into ensuring the long-term cooperation with our partners and maintaining both personal and business relations with them.”
AI: What kind of experience do you have in expanding into new markets?
Maxim: “Parimatch is becoming a global brand with high-profile advertising contracts with the UFC, Juventus, Everton, Leicester City, and many others. Such an advertising campaign increases global brand awareness and allows us to buy traffic from new geolocations. At the moment, we have a number of countries where we have already started buying traffic through affiliates and a number of countries where launches are being planned.
We used to be focused on the CIS region, but new contracts have raised the stakes in the game and we are expanding globally now. When launching in new markets in terms of an affiliate program, it is extremely important to maintain constant syncing with the product team to ensure a positive performance for both the advertiser and partners.”
AI: What advice would you give to affiliates who might be cautious about expanding into new markets?
Maxim: “Affiliates are the best marketers, but if they still need my advice, then I will recommend focusing on one, at most two geolocations, and not to enter the regions where there is a subtle local specificity that differs from that of the country of the affiliate. For example, it will be difficult for a partner from Europe to enter the Japanese market without knowing the local specificity.
Of course, the main weapon of an affiliate in any market is tests and tests again. Only with the help of split tests will affiliates be able to conduct profitable advertising campaigns, and this rule applies to any market.”
AI: Now that all major verticals are legal in Ukraine, what opportunities do you think this brings for operators and affiliates in this space?
Maxim: “Legalization provides all market participants with clear and understandable rules of the game, and only this fact is already attracting many new players to the market, I am talking about both advertisers and affiliates. The market starts to fill up with the money, competition, and traffic costs begin to grow. Affiliates involved in media buying will notice auction overheating, but this may be offset by higher bids from affiliate programs.”
AI: What challenges do you think brands will face when expanding into Ukraine? How can they tackle these challenges?
Maxim: “There are two main brands in the field of gambling in Ukraine, the loyalty of the players to them is quite strong and time-proven, but at the same time, the players are always open to the global proven brands, so everyone has a chance.
In addition, as I already said, due to legalization, the cost of traffic will grow, which is why a significant marketing budget will be needed for both online and offline promotion segments for a new brand to enter the market.”
AI: Which other markets do you think will be big for the industry in 2021/22?
Maxim: “All main tier 1 countries fall into the zone of increased regulation by the state, so I would recommend focusing on tier 2 countries. Regarding the regions, these are Asia, Africa, and South America.”
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