Sports betting affiliate programs can be extremely profitable, especially when a major event is being celebrated. As you already know, the World Cup 2018 is upon us (just a few days left), and many affiliates are wondering what they have to do to find an attractive betting offer that can help them make money on football’s biggest celebration.
In this article, we’ll explain the basics of sports betting affiliate marketing and the advantages of promoting a betting offer for the World Cup, as well as give you tips on finding the best programs for your case.
We’ll focus on Betting offers specifically, but World Cup hype encompasses much more verticals, be it eCommerce, Nutrition, apps or even dating!
Why it’s time to focus on betting?
Large events like the upcoming World Cup tend to boost the whole industry’s performance. This means that publishers and marketers alike have a great chance to profit from this year’s most awaited sporting event. Even organic search traffic grows: have a look at 2014 (previous World Cup) incredible stats, when Spain was playing against the Netherlands:
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Taking advantage of the World Cup
Because of the sheer nature and magnitude of the competition, the World Cup attracts billions of followers from all corners of the world. Here are some reasons why the World Cup is a great chance to take advantage of sports betting affiliate marketing programs.
It happens every 4 years – Rare opportunity
The World Cup sets the bar very high when it comes to building up momentum and creating positive expectations. The competition happens every four years, and there is a series of smaller tournaments and qualifying games leading up to the World Cup Finals. This sends fan engagement levels through the roof, which can boost the performance of any sports betting marketing campaign.
Consumer interest is very high
The World Cup combines the love for football with the emotional connection many people have with a particular country. For this reason, consumer interest is very high, which means people are willing to spend more money on purchases or activities they would normally abstain fulfill. Simply look at all those pizza and beer offers around, and you’ll get an idea of HOW crazy people are about Mundial.
Previous World Cup ticket stats:
Ideal for themed pages, newsletters, and more
Humans are visual creatures, and the World Cup is the perfect opportunity to customize your contact points and show consumers that you care about their passions. Whenever possible, you should create themed pages and other customized content that reflect the spirit of the tournament.
Works well with real-time campaigns
Sporting events, in general, offer a great chance to prepare real-time campaigns. By offering real-time content, like live commentary or game updates, you can skyrocket engagement during certain times of the day and establish your site as a valuable source of information.
Increased mobile engagement
People often use mobile devices to catch up with the games they missed or to see additional information about the tournament. Optimizing your website or offering a mobile app can help you stay relevant and even achieve cross-device success.
How to Choose the Best Betting Offers for Affiliates
OfferVault betting offers
There are dozens of different betting offers for affiliates, so it’s important to identify which ones will be profitable for you. Because profitability is why we are here, right?
1. Assess the product
Before choosing an offer, think of how attractive the product is for a customer? Will this product convert?
You might have seen dozens of revshare offers on forums, promising 60-80% profit. Wow. Sounds too good to be true, right?
Well, your gut feeling is something you should trust as very often the programs that offer sky-high payouts are actually the hardest to profit from. The reasons may vary, but most common one is that the product is not converting. Why aren’t customers happy with the betting website?
- Doesn’t look trustworthy – doesn’t have a license, etc.
- The odds are not competitive – that’s pretty self-explanatory.
- Poor selection of markets and sports. Even though we are talking about cashing on football here, you should think long-term: the more customer bets, the more profit you can potentially get.
- Poor functionality: no live betting or live streaming.
- The betting site doesn’t offer the cash-out function (for example, a bettor can close a bet before the end of the match, in order to secure a win or cut the losses).
- Narrow selection of funding methods.
2. Assess the partner program
Once you are confident that the product is something that will work (you can tick all the boxes above), let’s have a look at the partner program. Here’s your quick checklist:
World Cup Specials
Verify that the betting offer will include a World Cup promotion, either in the form of a discount or additional features to take advantage of the festivity. If the website doesn’t have specials for the World Cup, do you really need such a partner?
Customer Promotions
Discounts, sweepstakes, and free playing tokens will help improve the profitability of the entire affiliate system. What kind of promos should you look for?
- Welcome bonus – free bets, risk-free bets, no deposit free bets. Check the requirements, if there are any.
- Deposit bonus – usually a percentage of the customer’s first deposit. Can be from 25% up to 500% in some cases. A 100% bonus is called a “matched bonus.”
- Mobile bonuses – for players that register or place their bets via mobile devices.
Another important aspect of analyzing the partner program is the Bonus requirements/conditions:
- Bonus amount (If the Bonus amount is too high and way too attractive – have a look at conditions a customer has to fulfil to unlock the bonus).
- Wagering requirement aka turnover requirement. “The turnover requirement is the number of times you have to stake your bonus before you can withdraw it as cash.”
- Minimum odds (or the lowest accepted odds you can bet on for the customer’s bet to be count towards the turnover requirement).
- Bonus validity period.
Payouts and Other Benefits
Also look at the financial side of things, like the revenue share you’ll receive, price per lead, and other benefits.
| Revshare |
Payout per deposit |
CPA basis |
|---|---|---|
| One of the most profitable options aka lifetime income, yet, keep in mind that many betting programs pay revshare for (!) lost bets. | In this case, you don’t really care if the customer is losing or winning, you are still getting your money. Usually, the percentage ranges from 15% up to 50%. You can get higher payouts if you deliver quality traffic. | You are getting paid for each lead you bring. That model works for you if you have a lot of customers with small deposits. The payout can be as high as $250 per lead. |
Don’t forget that finance is the cornerstone, so check also these aspects:
- Commissions on withdrawal (Savage thing that very few websites do, but a must point to check: better safe than sorry).
- Minimum withdrawal amount (Shouldn’t be too high, otherwise you will wait for your money for too long).
- Holding period (Payout can be processed upon request or take up to 1 month)
Identify Offers and Compare Them Head-to-Head
You can use online tools to help you identify the best betting offers and compare these head to head to make the right choice.
You can use Offervault to find the best opportunity for betting affiliates, while platforms like Gaming Affiliates Guide and Casino Affiliates Programs allow you to compare these head-to-head.
Here are some of the top affiliate programs you should take a look at:
We hope we managed to make the selection of betting offers easier. Meanwhile, we have BIG loads of traffic that work perfectly with betting offers, you’re welcome to test it!
- Test Push Notifications for timely delivery and event targeting (send your messages before the crucial games).
- Go all in with OnClick – promote your offers to the worldwide audience and use Retargeting to create your own custom audience (for example, “people who clicked on CTA of pre-lander” !
- Start Retargeting campaign for your custom audience and spend less on OnClick by getting only the users who are genuinely interested in the product.
