Better Collective: North American arm has "never been in a better position"
The dual-listed affiliate failed to match the heights of Q1 2023 in the opening three months of 2024 but CEO Jesper Søgaard remains confident on US and Canada
Better Collective CEO Jesper Søgaard has claimed that the affiliate has “never been in a better position” when it comes to the North American market.
The group posted Q1 2024 results yesterday, May 21, that showed an 8% year-on-year (YOY) rise to €95m from Q1 2023’s return of €87.9m.
However, when it came to the affiliate’s performance in North America, revenue decreased 8% YOY, posting €34m, after recording €37.1m 12 months prior.
At the time of writing, Better Collective’s share price is down almost 15%.
North American revenue made up 36% of the group’s top-line figure for the quarter, decreasing six percentage points from last year’s total of 42%.
EBITDA before special items for the division declined 37% to €9.1m, bringing its share of group EBITDA to 31%, falling short of Q1 2023’s total of 44%.
Currently, the firm is in the midst of transitioning from a CPA-based model to a revenue share structure in the region.
That aforementioned decline in revenue has been put down to the affiliate’s ongoing transition between the two models, as well as two state launches in Ohio and Massachusetts in Q1 of last year being hard to follow 12 months on.
This year’s launch in North Carolina was based on a combination of CPA and revenue share, which delayed the upfront element of the former but is beneficial for future growth, according to management.
Søgaard was pressed for comment on CPA levels in the North Carolina launch, to which he replied: “Well, what we see in North America is a different agreement and deals with different partners.
“What we are truly excited about is that we feel we’ve never been as strong commercially as we are right now. And I think that’s a natural development of the position we now have in North America with a lot of different strong brands in various formats, both the written and audio, strong on social media.”
The CEO continued: “We really sense that on the partner side, it’s being acknowledged, this position. Therefore, we commercially have never been in a better position than we are right now in North America.”
Better Collective completed the acquisition of Playmaker Capital during Q1, which is set to expand its presence across the Americas, while the not-to-be-confused Playmaker HQ has also been embedded.
Søgaard discussed the group’s new additions and how they are currently faring.
“Overall, the integration of Playmaker Capital has progressed as planned and we have already observed encouraging early performance marketing results during the quarter stemming from affiliation revenue,” he remarked. “I’m very excited to welcome the full Playmaker Capital team to the Better Collective Group.”
The CEO of the Copenhagen-headquartered group also lauded Better Collective’s presence in “high-level media” stateside, insisting it be viewed as a success that has in turn strengthened the firm’s position.
Søgaard said: “Additionally, our expansion into high-level media; ie, podcast, YouTube shows, and social media content, has proven successful following last year’s acquisition of Playmaker HQ.
“At one point, three out of the top five sports podcasts in the US belonged to Better Collective. This strategic move has enriched out product offerings and amplified our reach within the North American audience, cementing our leading position.”