Increasingly mature markets are faced with tougher regulations and stiffer competition. In these regions, leveraging incremental products is key to unlocking the next 1%, according to Zoe Ebling, VP of Interactive at AGS.
Speaking to CasinoBeats, Ebling explained that incremental products are defined as niche features designed to gain a small segment of the market. For example, when the video streaming service Netflix launched anime on its platform.
Ebling said: “Netflix launched anime and it attracted a unique type of visitor. Because they were one of the few, it grew a really healthy base, [especially] in Asian markets. That led to Netflix producing their own anime content and growing the segment and attracting new users.
“When we look at markets like the UK that are very mature and have been well established and are loaded with content and options, we need to think about how we leverage incremental products to make that 1% gain quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year.”
Ebling also pointed to the more casual player as an example of a market that could be targeted by incremental products.
She said: “Look at crash games and tap games, for example. These are products that have come out in recent years to engage the segment of players that don’t want to spend two hours on their phones. Maybe it is someone who wants to put £20 in on their way on the tube and wants to have a bit of a faster experience or wants to have a different type of experience.
“They don’t necessarily want to watch reel spins. They want to have a different type of feeling about gambling with watching the plane and trying to bet and have it be more engaging and tying in with some of these other social aspects that we see that are prevalent in everyday life.”
Ebling added that although she believes that increasing regulations is important to protect players, the engagement and entertainment aspect of play “suffers”. As a result, incremental products can be used to “allow players to enjoy the experience that they have and not feel like they are losing that piece of entertainment”.
Many mature markets are located in Europe, and Ebling also spoke about the stagnation of ideas in the region.
She stated that most operators in the sector are “very happy to take the game that’s been skinned multiple times and throw it on the homepage”, rather than being creative.
“Igaming’s been around for 30 years but that doesn’t mean that we have to keep the homepage the same,” she explained. “There’s this assumption that if I don’t put this game on the homepage that my site’s going to crash and no one’s going to play.
“Actually what we see is that people really like things that are different. You should have a wide funnel of different products with a really strict way to analyse and look at data to understand what’s working.
“Nowadays, we have AI so you can change the homepage so it’s personalised to the player and you can leverage some of these tools to build a really comprehensive product offering so that a player wants to come to your site and only your site. They don’t need to play across multiple sites because they’re able to find what they want and find something new.”
To hear more about how incremental products can unlock the next 1%, as well as the success of the recent release of AGS’ mechanical stepper in North America, click HERE to watch the full video.
