How online casinos can unlock the power of programmatic

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” can be a tempting approach to online casino marketing. And why not? Legacy marketing strategies have driven amazing growth over the past few decades. TV, print, radio and affiliates have worked well. But even as the igaming market matures, competition within it is increasing, meaning the need to innovate has never been more urgent.

The success of programmatic, in particular, has meant that historically, those early adopters have been happy to outsource their entire programmatic ads operation, so long as they keep getting good returns and feel their brand isn’t at risk. This has given operators reduced incentive to develop skills in-house.

The problem is, programmatic is where marketing innovation lies. And in the absence of experience, it is perceived by many to be overly complex, ineffective and, to those yet to embrace it, often just plain dangerous.

We believe the time has come for online casinos to truly value and invest in programmatic and – more specifically – their own understanding of it.

Ignorance isn’t bliss

With heightened competition, an industry seeking consolidation and shrinking budgets, casino operators must accelerate the evolution of their marketing tool kit. They need to gain more understanding of where their advertising money is most effective. More importantly, they need to move beyond the legacy models based on arbitrage and target rating points.

Programmatic improves audience profiling, provides greater personalisation and precise targeting, which not only creates better customer journeys but reduces customer acquisition costs. The benefits are obvious, yet the apparent complexity still holds many back from making the jump.

Admittedly, the technical intricacy can be daunting and even when you think you’ve cracked programmatic, a new regulation rears its head and the goal posts move once again. It would seem simply outsourcing it entirely to a dedicated service is the right direction to take.

However, blindly handing over such an integral part of your acquisition and retention strategies begs the question; if you never truly understand something, how will you ever value it?

Is taking back control the only option?

Recently,  headlines have been created by operators making significant changes to their affiliate strategies. We’ve seen some programmes closed and others reduced, with the moves undertaken to gain more control of marketing outputs and keep tighter controls on regulatory compliance.

In many cases, in-house expertise was waiting on the other side to continue the work. However, not all brands have skilled programmatic veterans on-hand, especially with a scarcity of programmatic talent available.

A good alternative is to seek out sector-specific partners and services that are solely dedicated to iGaming. Poorly optimised ads could simply be a symptom of a generalised ‘one-size-fits-all’ media buying service, which fails to create the right conditions to drive meaningful conversions.

Conclusion

The solution is to enlist quality partners who treat a casino operator’s budget with the same care as if it was their own, and offer industry-tailored products, services and solutions. These are usually committed to shutting down outdated practices, focusing on seeking quality audiences rather than a cheap CPM (cost per thousand), educating clients and raising standards.

You should have someone on board who is looking out for you and your interests, exclusively. Appoint in-house programmatic media buying experts to ensure true partnerships are established with agencies and consultants, and to guarantee spend isn’t squandered on the wrong audience.

It is time to cut through the confusion around programmatic marketing. Take control and dial-up your efforts to stay ahead of the ever-increasing competition.

NetEnt and Ve partnered in October 2017 to offer operators targeted, big data media buying services that provide access to unrivalled online casino audience intelligence and behavioural insights.

Per Eriksson, CEO at NetEnt

Morten Tonnesen, CEO at Ve Global