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The Rise of Female Bettors: What Does This Mean for Marketing Campaigns?

Published

1 year ago

February 26, 2024

The Rise of Female Bettors: What Does This Mean for Marketing Campaigns?

With the growth of women’s sports leagues and more media coverage, women have become more invested in sports and more likely to place bets. As a result, marketing strategies are shifting their focus toward engaging female bettors. However unbeknownst to most marketers, the more direct targeting they are doing, the higher the costs to businesses because of returning users.

Returning users are holding marketers back from effectively targeting this wide pool of new customers by driving up Customer Acquisition Costs (CACs). Marketers need the stability and freedom to target accordingly and take advantage of the rise in female bettors.

Managing returning users must be a priority for sportsbooks to fully take advantage of the changing market and ensure the longevity of their campaigns. Without full transparency over the data they’re using to target and big question marks over a lack of tangible results from their spending, sportsbooks risk missing out on a huge opportunity to scale.

The Barriers to Expansion

The percentage of women betting on women’s sports in the US has grown up to 10% annually in recent years according to The IBIA. The targeting pool is growing for marketers as interest rises and the increased ease of online betting makes it simpler for women to place bets – backed by research from The Sports Betting Report, revealing that 26% of American women bet daily.

Marketing efforts are shifting to be more equal in this space as sportsbooks seek to make maximum profits from a new wave of players. However, by pumping more budget into paid ads targeted at women, sportsbooks are compromising the success of their campaigns.

Due to this direct ad targeting, women are more likely to bet by clicking on paid search campaigns. However, by repeatedly using paid ads as a front door to the site, rather than organic search results, returning bettors create inefficiencies in advertising as the Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA) increases. So although these are enthusiastic players returning to place bets, they’re inadvertently driving up costs across the board.

If sportsbooks don’t manage the rise in bettors accessing their sites via paid ads, rather than an app or gateway site, they face losing out on the chance to expand further with new audiences.

Methods of Managing Returning Users

Now the answer isn’t to stop targeting female bettors. The rise in women in the betting scene presents an opportunity for sportsbooks and the challenge of returning users will remain whether marketing strategies shift or not.

To successfully combat returning users from driving up costs and damaging campaign results, sportsbooks should start by setting custom validation rules. Here, operators can cap the number of times a user clicks on a paid ad and once the threshold for clicks is met, the user is prevented from seeing the campaign. This effectively reduces high cost-per-click (CPC) rates by excluding users who are unintentionally driving up costs.

Alongside this, shadow campaigns can be implemented to further the level of success in reducing costs and maximising audiences. These are a duplicate of the sportsbook’s current campaign, but the CPC is reduced meaning that any returning users or excessive clickers can be targeted at lower CPCs. This is a new level of targeting that sportsbooks can harness to elevate their marketing strategies.

With this tactic, advertisers can maintain a level of personalisation in their targeting to make the most of the rise in female bettors without increasing CACs. Budgets are then saved for genuine users with the propensity to convert.

Control Over Campaign Traffic Unlocks True Results

Ultimately, more bettors mean more opportunities. Solidifying campaigns to take advantage of the rise in female bettors is important, but not where sportsbooks should be starting. Without initially protecting campaigns from unknowing returning users, the work to attract those customers causes great losses rather than any gain.

To avoid high costs and take back budget control, marketers need to start by deploying shadow campaigns and custom validation rules. With these tactics in play, businesses will unlock new levels of visibility into campaigns and put themselves in the best position to make the most out of the emerging wave of female bettors.

By: Richard Metcalf, Global VP, Sportsbetting & Online Gaming, TrafficGuard

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CatAffs brands soar following ZingBrain AI integration

Published

3 hours ago

May 13, 2025

George Miller

CatAffs brands soar following ZingBrain AI integration

Partners programme CatAffs has seen its brands dramatically increase revenue and other KPIs following the successful integration of ZingBrain AI.

ZingBrain AI is the artificial intelligence engine for iGaming, which delivers personalised recommendations to create a fully bespoke experience for users.

Since CatAffs integrated the ZingBrain AI platform it has seen impressive results across the board.

This has included:

A 17 percent increase in GGR per player, significantly increasing revenue
A 16 percent increase in turnover per player, driven by an increase in activity
An 11 percent increase in bets per player, boosting engagement
A 30 percent increase in deposits and sessions, improving retention
A one hour per session increase, meaning players are sticking around for longer

Oleg Smolerov, CPO at ZingBrain AI, said: “We couldn’t be happier to see CatAffs already enjoying improved performance via our platform. This kind of success shows how AI isn’t just a buzzword, but rather something that can significantly improve business performance. We’ll continue to work closely with the CatAffs team to help their brands reach even greater heights.”

Oleksii, Head of Technical Product at CatAffs, added: “ZingBrain AI has very quickly become a key part of our growth strategy here at CatAffs, and the improvements in player engagement and revenue have already gone well beyond our expectations. But what we appreciate most is just how willing the ZingBrain AI team has been to adapt and innovate based on our needs. This is just the start of a great partnership.”

ZingBrain AI is redefining personalisation for iGaming operators, giving users the personal experience they’ve become used to when using YouTube, Spotify or Netflix. The insights are drawn from more than 15 billion transactions and 3.5 million users.

To find out more, please visit: https://www.zingbrain.ai/.

Awards

iGB Affiliate Awards: 2025 shortlist revealed

Published

6 hours ago

May 13, 2025

George Miller

iGB Affiliate Awards: 2025 shortlist revealed

Betandeal has achieved the most shortlisted entries heading into this year’s iGB Affiliate Awards in London, making the cut in five categories.

The Madrid-headquartered affiliate agency is closely followed by the listed sector’s star performer of the last 12 months, Gambling.com Group.

GDC has put itself in the running across four categories, for best affiliate in casino, sports and bingo (via its WhichBingo brand) as well as Affiliate Employer of the Year.

Newcomer WagerWire also garnered four shortlist nods from the judges in sports, Safer Gambling Initiative of the Year, Employer of the Year and Best Affiliate Campaign.

While more than half of the casino and sports shortlists consist of familiar names that made the cut last time around, including GDC, Better Collective, Gentoo Media, OLBG, Mr. Gamble and Casino Guru, the picture for the Awards’ most popular and highest-growth categories is more mixed.

For Best Affiliate Programme, only three of the 12 shortlisters featured last year – bet365 Partners, last year’s surprise winner Novi Affiliates and Betsson Group Affiliates. While in Best Affiliate Network, for which judgable submissions grew by nearly 80% YoY, only CasinoAffliatePrograms.com and BetAffiliation are back to do battle again this year.

Both of these categories also include submissions from two businesses in the thick of the year’s most significant regulated market opening, Superbet’s Brazil Affiliate Program and Super Afiliados.

The new Best Affiliate Management Platform shortlist sees established names such as MyAffiliates, Affilka and PartnerMatrix pitched against a raft of fast-growing challengers and disruptors such as ReferOn and Aff.Tech.

The winners of this year’s iGB Affiliate Awards will be revealed at a Cool Britannia-themed night at East London’s Troxy Theatre on 3 July, following the second day of iGB L!VE.

The shortlist for the judged categories at the 2025 iGB Affiliate Awards is as follows:

AFFILIATE CATEGORIES

Best Casino Affiliate: Betandeal, Casino Guru, FTD Digital, Gambling.com Group, Gentoo Media, Mr. Gamble, OLBG.com, Traffic Lab

Best Sports Betting Affiliate: Betandeal, Better Collective, FairPlay Sports Media, Flashscore Network by Livesport, Gambling.com Group, Gentoo Media, Hub Affiliations, OLBG.com, WagerWire

Best Bingo Affiliate: BingoPort, FTD Digital, Little Star Media, WhichBingo

Best Poker Affiliate: GipsyTeam, PokerListings, Worldpokerdeals

Best Streaming Affiliate: 3C Gaming, Basher Agency, Betandeal, Kingbet Media

Affiliate Campaign of the Year: OLBG’s Sponsorship of Harry Derham Racing, PAME STOIXIMA x Kingbet Media, Smart Social for TaDa Gaming Influencer Activation, WagerWire for Anyone Can Be An Influencer

Affiliate Employer of the Year: Gambling.com Group, Hub Affiliations, iGamingAffiliates.io, TAG Media , WagerWire

Safer Gambling Initiative of the Year: Casino Guru, Casino.nl, CasinoNieuws.nl, Gamblers Connect, Gentoo Media for AskGamblers, WagerWire

INDIVIDUAL CATEGORIES

Best Affiliate Manager:
Christoffer Grönlund – Winlandia Partners
George Gerakanakis – Campeon Gaming
Kasper Jensen – Entain
Krishi Jain – Bluefox Affiliates
Laura Darks – bet365
Lena Lapina – iWildPartners
Pablo Saborío – CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com
Rachael Ahern – BetMGM
Radoslaw Baranski – LeoVegas Group
Yuan Wang – Income Access, a Paysafe Company

PROGRAMME/NETWORK CATEGORIES

Best Affiliate Programme: 247Partners, 7StarsPartners, Alpha Affiliates, BetMGM US, bet365 Partners, Betsson Group Affiliates, Novi Affiliates, R2D Partners, Royal Partners, Superbet Brazil, V.Partners, WOWPartners

Best Affiliate Network: AdsEmpire, Alfaleads Network, BetAffiliation, CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com, Click Hunters Tech, LeadHouse Network, Play.Partners, revenuelab., Super Afiliados

Programme/Network Campaign of the Year: BetAffiliation, Betandeal, MelBet Partners & Affiliates, PIN-UP Partners

SERVICE PROVIDER CATEGORIES

Best Tech: BetAffiliation, Blask, Cipher Sports Technology Group for Dimers Platinum, Click Hunters Tech, Routy, Statsdrone

Best Affiliate Management Platform: Aff.Tech, Affiliate Access, Affilka by SOFTSWISS, MAP™, MyAffiliates, PartnerMatrix, RavenTrack, ReferOn

Best Digital Agency: Affiverse Agency, BetAffiliation, Betandeal, HIREQUARTERS, Natural Links, Revpanda, TAG Media, Tappx

OPEN TO ALL SECTOR COMPANIES

Rising Star: Already Media, Hub Affiliations, Immerion Partners, Media 24, PixGaming, Tribuna.com

Best Newcomer: Big Betty Partners, BigDeal Partners, iGamingAffiliates.io, KNG Partners, Rocks Partners, WinWin Partners

Innovator of the Year: BetAffiliation, Click Hunters Tech, Pepper Partners, Stars Partners, Statsdrone

News

RavenTrack signs Flows to accelerate affiliate product innovation

Published

1 day ago

May 12, 2025

George Miller

RavenTrack signs Flows to accelerate affiliate product innovation

Flows, the industry’s leading no-code product delivery platform, is pleased to announce RavenTrack as its latest customer.

RavenTrack will leverage Flows to streamline client onboarding and accelerate the rollout of new affiliate features and tools, setting a new industry benchmark for onboarding speed.

RavenTrack is raising the standard for technology in the industry. Purpose-built by iGaming experts, the platform combines accurate tracking, real-time reporting, smart campaign tools and seamless integrations. Its focus on performance, speed and transparency has earned the trust of leading operators, with clients including Betfred, Bet9ja, Novibet, Powerplay and MrQ.

Flows empowers iGaming operators and platforms to build new products, integrate systems, and launch new features at speed, without writing a single line of code. Trusted by leading brands, Flows drives operational efficiency, enhances player engagement, and accelerates go-to-market strategies across multiple markets.

With Flows, RavenTrack can now launch products and tools faster, automate key processes, and do it at speed. This will initially include quicker onboarding for new operators, easier configuration of custom tracking setups, and faster delivery of the tools the affiliate managers rely on.

Integrating Flows marks a key step in RavenTrack’s strategy to lead the next wave of affiliate innovation, raising the bar for speed, configurability, and service.

Dan de Souza, VP Commercial at Flows, said: “RavenTrack is helping shape the future of affiliate tech. Their platform is built with a clear understanding of what operators and affiliate managers actually need — speed, accuracy, and adaptability. We’re excited to welcome them as a customer and to see how they put Flows to work as they continue to push boundaries in the affiliate space.”

Adam Rowley, Managing Director at RavenTrack, said: “ Integrating Flows into our onboarding process will enable us to tailor workflows to individual client needs, facilitating rapid deployment and ensuring our clients can launch their programs swiftly and confidently. We look forward to working with Flows, as this move sets the stage for a more streamlined and efficient client experience.“