News

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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Affiliate Success

ReferOn Wins Prestigious “Rising Star Provider of the Year” Category at the AffPapa Awards 2025

Published

4 days ago

June 4, 2025

George Miller

ReferOn Wins Prestigious “Rising Star Provider of the Year” Category at the AffPapa Awards 2025

‍ReferOn, a state-of-the-art affiliate management system, has won the “Rising Star Provider of the Year” title at the 2025 AffPapa Awards — a milestone that recognises the platform’s bold innovation and rapid growth in the affiliate tech space.‍

This award reflects ReferOn’s ability to deliver fast, transparent and scalable affiliate solutions that answer key industry demands. The category highlights the best rising companies in the iGaming and affiliate marketing industries, celebrating innovation and problem-solving solutions.

The AffPapa Awards is an annual event that recognises greatness in iGaming. The ceremony celebrates developments and innovations among affiliates, operators and B2B providers who have raised the bar and set new standards.

‍Vladyslav Bondarenko, ReferOn’s Head of Product, commented on the achievement, “ReferOn wasn’t built to impress, it was built to solve. From day one, we challenged how affiliate platforms should work, look and feel — because the existing ones simply didn’t. More than a win, this award highlights the value of asking the right questions and building with purpose.”

2025 has been a crucial year for ReferOn, with the company receiving widespread industry recognition and implementing core product developments. Heading into Q3 and Q4, ReferOn is preparing a range of new features and enhancements focused on elevating the user experience and streamlining affiliate operations. The team will travel to iGB Live in London this July ready to share what’s next, meet with partners and discuss how ReferOn is refining affiliate management.

News

People moves: LiveScore Media MD joins QiH Group as new CMO

Published

5 days ago

June 3, 2025

George Miller

People moves: LiveScore Media MD joins QiH Group as new CMO

The power affiliate welcomes its latest addition to the C-level team, who will begin working on strategy for various geographies and new verticals

QiH Group, the affiliate known throughout the industry for its compliance-focus and creative customer retention strategies, has welcomed its new CMO, James McCarthy.

Joining from LiveScore Media, where he was MD, McCarthy will start officially on 2 June, using his experience at betting and gaming giants Betfair, Betway Group – and of course, LiveScore – to inform his new remit at QiH Group to drive profit across all marketing activities.

Based in QiH Group’s London office, McCarthy will manage the marketing team of 17 – which will expand to 27 in the coming months – overseeing double digit growth through marketing channels and commercial relationships, as well as improving on the current team’s capabilities.

Speaking of the new move, McCarthy said: “It’s such a pleasure to join a company that has grown so thoroughly and organically in licensed markets. QiH Group is a big name in the iGaming affiliate space, and I look forward to managing the continued growth in diversified sectors and locations.”

Jamie Walters, CEO of QiH Group, said: “QiH has moved from strength to strength recently, growing and adapting with the iGaming markets in the UK, Europe and North America. Welcoming someone as experienced and talented as James onto our team is another strong step for us. I welcome his expertise and am delighted to see where his marketing leadership takes us.”

Affiliate Announcements

ReferOn Expands Offering with New Support Packages, “ReferOn Assist”

Published

2 weeks ago

May 27, 2025

George Miller

ReferOn Expands Offering with New Support Packages, “ReferOn Assist”

ReferOn, an innovative affiliate management system, has experienced significant growth in 2024, with multiple technical and quality-of-life improvements to the platform. As a result of an influx of new operators and affiliates, ReferOn has introduced ReferOn Assist.

ReferOn Assist offers tailored support packages in three distinct tiers: ReferOn Assist, ReferOn Assist Plus, and ReferOn Assist Premium. Each tier provides enhanced support, cost-effective hourly support rates and more to help users meet their affiliate marketing strategy goals.

ReferOn Assist, the entry-level subscription package, includes a number of benefits, such as guaranteed support hours, faster response times and a higher resolution priority compared to ReferOn Basic users. All ReferOn Assist subscribers also receive direct channel support for easy access to our agents. Lastly, subscribers to this tier also enjoy more cost-effective out-of-hours support prices and affordable review reports for business analysis purposes.

ReferOn Assist Plus offers a further guaranteed response time, a larger bundle of support hours included and extra training time to help maximise affiliate operation efficiency. This subscription tier includes a quarterly review report packed with valuable insights and dedicated resolution priority for any pressing queries or issues. All subscribers also receive even further reduced out-of-hours support rates.

The last tier, ReferOn Assist Premium, provides operators and affiliates with the most comprehensive dedicated support package. Subscribers receive the highest response time and a large bundle of inclusive support hours at reduced rates. Premium users have access to a dedicated support manager for tailored assistance and the most cost-effective prices for after-hours support.

Each of these support packages are tailored to continue to provide the best possible customer service for Referon clients, whilst also helping reduce costs.

David Harris, ReferOn’s Operation Lead, commented on the new support packages, saying, “ReferOn prides itself on providing top-quality support for all operators and affiliates. The release of the ReferOn Assist packages allows us to prioritise helping our valued partners to ensure that they can make the most of our platform at all times. We look forward to seeing how the ReferOn team can work closely with all our users to achieve their business needs.”