Sweden

Better Collective Spotlight – Speltips.se first in mind and first in search for Sweden

For this month’s Better Collective Spotlight, SBC News took a closer look at Speltips.se, the flagship brand for Better Collective in Sweden.

We asked Jesper Ribacka, Director of Better Collective Stockholm, about the history of tipster sites in Sweden, why the opportunity is greater for affiliates than operators and what the future might hold for the country’s affiliate market. 

SBC: Can you tell us more about the makeup of Speltips.se?

JR: Speltips.se has always been about creating value for the visitor. Our main objective is to provide services to the users that benefit them more than going directly to the operator. 

The core of the site is the expert tipsters that offer free betting tips for all visitors every day. We also offer unique promotions that we negotiate with the operators. Some of these promotions can be extremely beneficial and are greatly appreciated by the community. 

Speltips.se is connected to Sweden’s biggest betting community on Facebook that currently has over 38,000 members. The Facebook group is a great tool to get closer to the users and understanding what the players want.

Our goal with Speltips.se is to be first in mind and first in search. This means that we want Speltips.se to be the first thing that a Swedish player thinks about when they decide to place a bet. It also means that we want to be number one on the biggest search terms in Google within betting in Sweden. 

We firmly believe that we have come a long way in reaching our goal, but there is still a lot of work to do. Speltips.se will always be an ongoing project that never stops growing and we proudly see it as our flagship brand in Better Collective Sweden.  

SBC: What is the history of players in Sweden engaging with this sort of tipster site? 

SBC News Better Collective Spotlight - Speltips.se first in mind and first in search for Sweden
Jesper Ribacka, Better Collective

JR: Speltips.se was launched in 2016 and in only three years we can see a change in what players expect from a tipster site.

In the early days, players were satisfied if they just got a brief tip on where to stake their money on tonight’s game. However, with a growing web and a growing number of affiliate sites serving betting tips in Sweden, the players are naturally becoming more critical towards which media they get the information from.

We made an early decision about making Speltips.se more personalised and trustworthy. Today, all our expert tipsters have personalised author profiles, and in each tip, players have the chance to comment and ask questions to the expert tipster and the Speltips.se community. 

In addition, since Ribacka Group joined Better Collective in December 2018, we have been working hard on giving the players even more betting tip information by implementing in-depth statistics and odds comparison features.

SBC: Is there a bigger pressure on tipster win rates to draw in customers now that so many relevant stats can be found on social media?

JR: With the total transparency that you can find today in the betting scene, we would definitely say that the pressure is getting bigger and bigger. Speltips.se has a great team of expert tipsters, and we can proudly state that they really are the core of the website. 

The tipster win rates are important, but we also put great emphasis on how the tips are presented and the logic behind them. Players do not only follow tipsters because of their win rates – personality and trustworthiness is important too.

SBC: Do you think, at least in the short term, the opportunity is greater for affiliates than operators who are trying to get to grips with the new regulations? Particularly around the interpretation of ‘moderate’ advertising and the ban on reactivation bonuses?

JR: From what we have seen in the past few months after the re-regulation, we can surely say that the opportunity is greater for affiliates. Affiliates are free to pick and choose the operators that are the best on the Swedish market, and that is exactly what we have done. 

Today, we work more closely with the operators that are doing well. The challenges that operators face with traditional advertising benefits affiliates, since operators will have to allocate more of their budget towards other marketing methods.

SBC: Have you been forced to get more creative with your advertising as the influence of the acquisition through bonus model wanes?

JR: We have always strived to offer more in our advertisements than just bonus codes and offers. The core acquisition method of Better Collective is to create actual value for players with transparency and fairness in mind. 

There have not been any major changes in how we do our marketing since the re-regulation, and we are committed to continuing the path that we are on right now. We always look for a more creative way of advertising the operators, and the right way to do it is to always prioritise the players’ needs. 

SBC: What have you seen in terms of how Swedish operators are selecting commission models? Has this changed at all since re-regulation of the market?

JR: Operators that are struggling with cash flow usually tend to shift over to the revenue share model, since CPA means an upfront payment that could take time to see a positive ROI from. 

The key for affiliates is to deliver high-quality traffic to partners as this creates the best value value for all actors. If an operator is making money on your commission model, there is no reason for them to change it, even after the re-regulation. 

SBC: Finally, what does the future hold for the affiliate market in Sweden? Can you see a time where affiliates in Sweden are forced to engage with a licensing process?

JR: The Swedish market is going through a transition period now as re-regulations becomes implemented. We see all challenges as opportunities here at Better Collective. 

Our competitors are faced with the same challenges as us, and the companies that are able to push through and comply will end up as winners in the end. A forced license for affiliates could happen in Sweden, and we would happily apply if it did. Sweden is a great market for us today, and we are very optimistic about the years to come.

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