Better Collective revenue soars 32% in Q3 2022 as Europe and RoW flourish
Better Collective has reported a 32% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its revenue for Q3 2022. The affiliate posted quarterly revenue of €59.7m (£52.03m), up from the €45.4m posted in Q3 2021. Breaking down the firm’s revenue by its two segments, publishing returned €41.3m, which is a 32% YoY increase from the €31.3m recorded last year. Paid media posted revenue of €18.4m, up 31% YoY from €14.1m in Q3 2021. When looking at the revenue generated per region, US revenue rose 17%, which shows a major slowdown from the 90% growth in Q2, which could be down to the move to revenue share and a decreasing ad spend from sportsbooks. Better Collective also recently cut 10% of its US workforce as part of cost-saving measures. Despite this, Better Collective still maintains that it will reach the estimated revenue in the US of more than $100m in 2022. The firm signed three new media partnerships in the quarter with the Chicago Tribune, Boston.com and SPORT1. Better Collective also initiated a share buyback programme for up to €5m, with the purpose of the buyback to cover future payments to completed acquisitions and LTI programmes. The Rest of the World and Europe segment grew 38% to €42.9m, driven by Latam and media partnerships. In its latest financial period, the affiliate revealed group EBITDA before special items was €14.6m, a 7% YoY increase, with a margin of 24%. Better Collective also reported a surge in new depositing customers for Q3 2022, recording a growth of 73% to over 354,000, with more than 282,000 new depositing customers being on revenue share contracts. The Stockholm-listed business noted that after the quarter, the share buyback program was completed, with 386,145 shares accumulated. The firm also signed a new financing agreement with Nordea, Nykredit Bank and CitiBank, which builds on the agreement with Nordea from 2018. Speaking on the results, CEO Jesper Søgaard stated that he is still confident the firm can achieve its goals and is pleased with the company’s growth despite the mitigating circumstances. Søgaard said: “Q3 delivered strong growth for the group, where we continued our good developments despite the turbulent macroeconomic environment. The most exciting trends for the quarter were the move to revenue share in the US, which has been fast-forwarded, and the group revenue share income continuing to break all-time highs.” Alongside Q3 results, Better Collective reported its financial results for the first nine months of 2022, with revenue reaching €183.2m, which is a 47% rise YoY, and EBITDA rose 27% to €49.9m. New depositing customers reached 1.1million, which is a 90% YoY growth. As a result, cashflow operations increased 30% YoY to €48.8m. Søgaard added: “We continue our efforts in building strong sports media brands and communities with reliable and cutting-edge content. Monthly, our sports media and communities are visited by 130 million users and, when including our media partnerships, we reach 260 million sports fans monthly. “As such we funnel an extensive number of returning sport fans who rely on our news, content, data insights, betting tips and educational tools to place more enlightened bets and enhance their igaming experience.”