Earlier this month Catena Media celebrated at Battersea Evolution after picking up the Casino Affiliate of the Year award, continuing where they left off in 2018 at The Artillery Garden at the HAC where the firm scooped Affiliate of the Year.
Coming amid sustained global expansion, Catena beat off competition from Better Collective, Blexr, Gambling.com Group, Matching Visions, Natural Intelligence, Raketech and XLMedia to secure the award.
“Few things are more pleasing than being publicly recognised and awarded for doing something really good. The only thing that triumphs that is being recognised for the second year in a row.” Johannes Bergh, deputy CEO of Catena Media, said of following up 2018’s win.
Adding on what he believes stood the company out from significant competition: “At Catena Media, we focus on quality, both in our product portfolio and the relationships with our operators. At the end of the day our success is only happening if we make our customers successful. I think this award is solid evidence that the teams’ hard work on setting high standards and creating sustainable business relationships pays off.”
With much change coming industry wide throughout the past year, Bergh stresses that it’s regulatory developments that has occupied a significant chunk of Catena’s attention as well as looking ahead to what 2020 could have in story for the sector.
“As a whole, 2019 has been a year of change. The entire industry has seen regulatory changes in Italy, Sweden and France to mention a few. We have been working very hard to meet all regulatory requirements and we are doing our utmost to understand the implications of regulatory market changes and develop our products accordingly.
“We prefer to go in with a clear goal in mind to achieve success”
“Hopefully, 2020 will be a year where the European market stabilises a bit. In the European market, there will be more consolidation, meaning supply and variety will decrease and players will have fewer options.
“That does not have to be bad for players, because with an increase in competition, operators need to improve their offerings to stay competitive. In the US market, there will be more states legalising online gambling, and that is where we expect to see the majority of growth in the sector.”
One the most recent developments rolled-out by Catena saw an expansion of AskGamblers ensue into Japan, Spain and Portugal, following the same spirit of growth to the German and Italian markets in 2017.
The online portal aims to provide unbiased information about hundreds of online casinos worldwide, with a purpose to guide players to a safe gambling experience.
Implementing new languages into the site, the growth sees an increasing volume of users access the site’s numerous functionalities which include creating an account, writing player reviews, leaving comments on the forum and so on, in all their native tongues.
“We have very ambitious plans for AskGamblers,” Bergh emphasises. “A global brand with a local approach is the way to stay relevant to the audience, but still get the benefits of scale.
“We decide on which markets we want to enter based on several different criteria, such as regulations, market size and market growth. But we also value access to local talent and other more soft business factors.
“Going forward, we are constantly reviewing our alternatives and when we see a opportunity, we will launch new language versions and customised local content. I think it’s important not to rush into a new market, we prefer to go in with a clear goal in mind to achieve success.”
