bwise Media continues its strong performance in LATAM and pushes for rapid expansion

In this interview, COO and partner of bwise Media, Sebastian Paris shares the results of their efforts to gain market share in LATAM with record breaking FTD numbers.

As the COO and partner at bwise Media, what is your role with the company and what does bwise Media do in the iGaming industry?

bwise Media is a top-tier media agency in the iGaming industry. Since it’s inception at the end of 2018, we have established ourselves as a trusted partner of the highest recognised iGaming brands and sports publishers. bwise is known for it’s exclusive partnerships with the biggest sports publishers in global live scores, such as 365Scores, BeSoccer and CREX.

Our portfolio ranges from brand marketing and media services for iGaming brands, such as sponsorships, media buying and performance marketing, to PPC & Paid Social, Social Media Content and affiliate marketing partnerships.

bwise has set out to become a major player in the adtech space for iGaming. We recognise the need for better technology and conversion-driven solutions in the industry, whether thats in digital media or affiliation. Through our fully in-house built adtech solutions, we will be able to change the game for all bwise partners, whether thats operators, publishers or affiliates. More to come and to be announced later this year.

As COO and partner I am working very closely along the CEO to define the long-term strategy and vision of the business. On a daily basis I am responsible for overseeing our different departments which are currently threefold, split into Sales (all marketing and media), Affiliate and Adtech. Together with the department heads and regional directors, we aim to create the best performing teams and create a company culture based on trust, transparency, safety and ambition.

bwise Media is a fairly new company, do you think you’ll crack the top 25 EGR Power Affiliates list in 2024?

We started our affiliation plans about three years ago, recognising its potential for the business as a complementary part to our media partnerships and improving our igaming knowledge through in-house content, whether its operators reviews, market insights or betting tips. The first two years were very challenging and we had a lot of learnings through repeated trial and error. We found our success formula and created the right team to drive significant numbers and prospects into the business.

We are now seeing exponential growth not only in LATAM, but also in other emerging markets. Through in-house tech we are opening new doors for rapid development on products and partnerships.

We have a strong roadmap on new sites and projects to launch in the coming months, as well as looking actively to acquire suitable projects that will fit and elevate our existing portfolio.

In order to further accelerate the affiliate business we focus on three main components:

1. Underlying tech and conversion tools,
2. Paid traffic through Google and Social Media and
3. Stronger investment into backlinks and affiliate partnerships.

I am very confident we’ll be among the Top 25 Affiliates by the end of 2024.

You recently shared a post that achieved a staggering amount of nearly 4500 FTDs for April 2023 through primarily organic SEO, was this global growth and how much was LATAM part of this?

These numbers are only from LATAM and do not include other regions where we operate. We share these numbers to show whats possible to achieve in LATAM with pure organic SEO, as I know many affiliates are struggling to get some good numbers in the region. We are still far away from our set goals, but with every step forward and a clear vision we see the path to success and achieving the numbers we have set for ourselves.

What is your secret to success for iGaming affiliation in LATAM?

There is no secret plan or secret sauce to be honest. So far, I would also call it a partial success, as we are quite happy with the current numbers but still far away from our long-term targets. It is important to appreciate milestones and be aware of what you are achieving with the team. It keeps everyone motivated and thriving for more. But you cannot rest on it and need to keep going and pushing every day.

For us, the key was building a strong team based on trust, transparency and supporting one another. Secondly you need to set a clear goal of what you want to achieve and how you will get there. This sounds quite easy but is actually the most difficult part of the journey and has taken us some time to get right. Lastly, consistency is key. Many affiliates struggle because they do not have patience and consistency in their work. You need to trust your content strategy and quality, sometimes it takes time to build traffic and gain traction, until you see exponential growth.

As for LATAM, localisation of your content strategy is really important. There are many mistakes being made by treating the LATAM market as one, whether that includes Brazil or not. Every country is different, with a unique audience, level on education for sports betting and with different interests, especially in betting types and sports. If you fail to recognise the individual characteristics of every market, then you are going to have a hard time convincing users through your products and driving conversions for your brands. 

For example Mexico is a very interesting market. On the one side it has been dominated for years by one brand, which also does not rely on affiliates to drive its traffic, while many other brands have entered and severely struggled to make an impact. This means that it’s difficult for affiliates to have success, as the main brand does not rely on affiliates and new brands show little prospect in driving customer value. On the other hand, Mexico is also a prime example for the need of localisation and content focus. Within Mexico, there are major differences between the North and the South, which show in terms of content need and sports interest, as well as which betting types and odds are preferred. This stems from the North of Mexico being strongly influenced by North America, and hence dominating interests in American sports rather than football. Just to name one example.

Do you think we are approaching a point of saturation in SEO for driving FTDs in terms of the whole market share?

Not at all, I think we are still just getting started and there is still so much more potential in the LATAM market, especially as Brazil keeps on getting bigger and bigger every month. But it’s not only the behemoth Brazil that is driving big numbers, also in the Spanish-speaking markets is potential for significant FTDs to achieve as an affiliate. Over time, markets like Colombia, Mexico and Argentina will become much bigger as well. Whether thats driven through new market entrants or an overall increase in player value that is attracting more brands and hence gives incentives for affiliates to increase their investments into these GEOs.

SEO as a whole is also majorly dependent on brand searches, which itself depends on brands investing into marketing and media partnerships. At bwise, we recognise this interplay of brand marketing, media buying and affiliation, and therefor aim to provide the full package to our partners. A brand, in any market, is only as successful in affiliation as is its brand marketing and media buying strategy. It comes at no surprise that the leading affiliate brands in every market, are those brands that also understand the need for investment into brand building and media buying. A strong brand recognition and targeted marketing & media buying strategy will not only drive significant conversions itself, but it also has a major impact on brand searches which will define a brands attractiveness for affiliates and how much traffic can be driving through these partnerships.

With your ambitious plans and growth, do you think you’ll be acquired in the near future or have intentions to be on the other side of the M&A fence in acquiring companies?

We have very ambitious plans and are definitely on the side of active M&A. Once you have created a proof of concept for your affiliate business, then you have to weigh all opportunities on internal organic growth as well as inorganic growth through acquisitions. We are constantly weighing both options and are actively looking for suitable affiliate businesses to acquire. We are particularly interested in small to medium sized affiliate businesses across Asia, Africa, North America and of course LATAM.

We have also developed an in-house affiliate CRM platform, that allows us to manage as many sites as possible through one single platform and automate tasks that would otherwise require manual changes. This includes content publishing, reviews, promotions, bonus conditions, odds, language and much more. 

For example you create an operator profile, with all information included and for every language. If there are any changes, you simply update in the central CRM and all sites connected are automatically connected with the right language, payments, promotions, odds etc. This helps immensely to scale operations and eliminate unnecessary manual input.