Flutter CEO: Super Sub is the “best-ever product launch” in the UK
Peter Jackson heaps praise on Paddy Power feature as 80% of customers engage with product since launch date
Flutter CEO Peter Jackson has praised the addition of Paddy Power’s Super Sub promotion as the most successful UK and Ireland product launch for operator in its history.
The dual-listed firm launched Super Sub on the Paddy Power brand during Q1, combined with an ad campaign featuring former Barcelona and Inter Milan forward Ronaldo, with more than 80% of football customers engaging with the promotion since.
The premise of Super Sub is that should a customer have backed a player, for example Erling Haaland to score, and he is substituted for Manchester City teammate Julian Alvarez, the goalscorer selection will carry over to the newly introduced player.
The product was borne out of the group’s International arm where developers had launched the Duo feature.
Speaking on the analyst call following the publication of Flutter’s Q1 report, Jackson was effusive in his praise for the product as he also pointed to gains around Cheltenham and online casino.
UK and Ireland revenue for the first three months of the year shot up 17% on a reported basis to $861m (£683m), while adjusted EBITDA rose 30% to $268m.
Sports betting revenue increased 9% to $411m compared to Q1 2023 while igaming revenue was up 27% to $406m.
The CEO said: “In the UK and Ireland we continue to deliver strong growth, taking significant market share in March driven by Cheltenham, and with our igaming business in particular seeing a continuation of the excellent momentum we had during 2023.
“We leveraged the power of the Flutter Edge, launching Super Sub on the Paddy Power sportsbook app, a product that was developed in our International division. It’s proven incredibly popular, with more than 80% of our sportsbook customers using the product since launch. [It] has become the best-ever product launch campaign to date for our UK and Ireland division.
“In igaming, we further expanded our content with the launch of over 100 new titles driving a step up in cross-sell rates,” he added.
Elsewhere, Jackson was also bullish on Flutter’s efforts in Italy via the Sisal brand after a strong quarter in the market.
The business reported a 22% increase in average monthly players for March 2024 compared to March 2023 alongside a 24% spike in igaming revenue.
However, sports betting revenue declined 1% during the quarter, which bosses said was due to unfavourable sports results which had led to a 12 percentage point impact on total Sisal revenue growth.
Despite the sports betting impact, Jackson noted the group was continuing to take market share in Italy and that its customer acquisition funnel had put it in good stead.
He said: “We’re taking market share. The team is performing very well. A lot of it is driven by getting the core things right, so we’ve made some significant product improvements. We launched a new sports betting app in Q3 2023, which is helping the business.
“Obviously, there’s no advertising but I think we’ve got a very good product. We can drive cross-sell from our lottery operations. It’s a great top-of-the-funnel product for us into casino and then into sports.”