- Summits
- News
- Foundation
- Training & Advisory
- Poker Tour
- SiGMA Play
- SiGMA Play
- SiGMA Play
- Affiliate Market
- About
Eli Desatnik on winning trends in iGaming
SiGMA Summits kick off the year 2025 – it is the right time to analyse the leading trends that have emerged in the past and will determine the coming year in the gambling industry. Eli Desatnik, founder of Pushub.net and a speaker at SiGMA, shared his insights on the trends in the iGaming industry in 2024 and its direction for 2025, adding perspectives from prominent affiliates.
Evolution in operators’ approaches to traffic
The year 2024 has ended with a bang for iGaming. In particular, there has been a major evolution in operators’ approaches to traffic, user acquisition, and optimisation. Eli says programmatic buying is coming to the fore as it delivers real results.
More brands are moving to CPC and CPM models, optimising like pros and using AI-based automation to scale their campaigns effectively. But Eli believes the real winners are those who are leveraging data sharing and transparency, opening up next-level optimisation opportunities.
Regional trends
Regional markets continue to evolve at their own pace, driving demand for push, in-page, pop and native traffic. Eli explained how key regions are evolving in this direction:
Asia: Countries such as Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Pakistan continue to show high engagement, with mobile traffic playing a major role.
CIS: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine are showing steady growth, with operators increasing their traffic acquisition efforts.
Latin America: Brazil, Mexico and Chile remain priority markets where both volume and quality can be effectively balanced.
Tier-1 markets: Australia, Canada, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal and Germany continue to deliver strong revenues, requiring more nuanced approaches to optimisation.
Africa: Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal and Somalia are showing increased interest, especially in mobile traffic.
EMEA: Egypt and Turkey remain focal points in the region where operators test different approaches to attracting users.
Khawar (Kj Rocker) Jamil Ur Rasool, Master Affiliate, CCO at Affiliate World, notes the positive momentum on global advertising platforms: ‘iGaming will continue to grow as many major advertising platforms are slowly starting to accept it, making it easier for affiliates and media buyers to advertise.’
‘The iGaming industry is directly linked to the economy, and as the world faces growing economic challenges, we are seeing massive growth in iGaming. The Middle East is also gradually opening up to gambling, which will be a game changer,’ – Kj Rocker, CCO at Affiliate World.
According to the expert, the future of the iGaming market looks very promising.
Programmatic buying for retargeting in iGaming
Retargeting using programmatic integrations such as OpenRtb, Xml, and Api has become an important tool for operators looking to re-engage users at different stages of the funnel, says Eli. For active users, it ensures interest is maintained and retention is maximised. For inactive users, it converts registrants into active players. Programmatic integrations also target those who have not yet signed up but have shown interest, i.e. potential users.
Eli also outlined two ways of doing programmatic buying:
First-party data: using the operator’s own user data to refine and personalise campaigns.
Third-party data: using external audience segments to expand reach.
Oleg Martynenko, Founder and CEO of Ubidex, a SaaS for retargeting, adds that with increasing competition, the industry will be more saturated than ever, making customer retention a top priority.
‘The real winners will be those who maximise the lifetime value of users and build brand loyalty. The most effective way to achieve this goal is audience retargeting across the entire Internet,’ – Oleg Martynenko, CEO at Ubidex.
Programmatic technology provides retargeting with the necessary scalability: iGaming brands can instantly reach a vast audience on all types of devices and advertising formats, all from a single point of contact, Oleg concludes.
Paid user acquisition and CPC/CPM models
Elie continued to say that operators and iGaming networks are becoming increasingly open to paid user engagement based on CPC and CPM models using traffic sources such as push, native, in-page and pop. Large and mid-sized gaming companies are increasingly seeing paid media buying departments that in the past were solely focused on affiliate marketing and CPA-based models.
Working directly with paid media resources such as native and push has allowed gaming companies to scale user engagement independently. Elie says that companies are increasingly seeing the need for new expertise, which is critical to success with paid media with CPC and CPM payment models. He believes that user acquisition and targeting strategies need to be adjusted to achieve success.
‘When running iGaming campaigns on traffic sources such as native or push, it’s usually best to keep targeting as broad as possible’, stated native advertising and user engagement expert Haran Rosenzweig, Partner at TrafficIcons.
‘Narrowing your reach may improve conversion rates, but it will also increase your average media cost, limit your ability to reach new potential users and put you in the most competitive ad spots,’ – Haran Rosenzweig, Partner at TrafficIcons.
‘Just because a potential user visits a news site doesn’t mean they won’t also check out the sports section‘, continues Haran. ‘While you may have a clear idea of who your ideal user is, you can never be sure where you will find them until you do some testing and look at the numbers,’ concludes the expert.
Data sharing and transparency: optimisation wins out
According to Eli’s observations, operators are beginning to realise the real benefits of sharing registration and deposit data with paid traffic providers. Many partners who previously didn’t share any information have started sharing registration data, and those who only shared registration data are now willing to share deposit data as well.
This shift has made campaign optimisation much more efficient as it allows the traffic provider to engage in optimisation directly for the buyer. With full visibility into internal traffic, providers can easily identify patterns and make data-driven adjustments.
‘Traffic providers use AI automation to optimise campaigns, saving valuable time for both the buyer and the traffic provider. Sharing data such as subscriptions and deposits is crucial in such cases, as automation is impossible without it,’ – said Eli Desatnik, founder of Pushub.net.
In conclusion
The iGaming industry continues to grow in key regions, with programmatic buying, paid media user acquisition and data-driven optimisation becoming standard practice. Traffic attraction experts expect these trends to gain momentum as 2025 approaches, creating a competitive environment for both operators and providers.
Join the global tech community at the AIBC Eurasia Summit on 23-25 February 2025. Connect with industry leaders and explore opportunities with the world’s largest community of visionaries.
Tags:
