How to make money with eSports and gambling affiliate marketing offers

Esports and gambling – “golden” niches for affiliate marketing, in which there are tons of traffic and affiliate programs. Despite the huge potential, not every marketer succeeds in creating truly successful offers. Let’s take a look at practical tips and concepts that will help you make money on offers in these popular industries.

What are gaming and esports verticals?

In order to come up with your own affiliate marketing strategy, you first need to figure out the verticals. Gaming affiliate marketing involves working with the following verticals:

•         installs. Special offers with payouts or bonuses for installing an app;
•         sweepstakes. Quizzes and contests in games;
•         adult. For adult category games.

If earlier, the lion’s share in offers belonged to installs, they are now gradually being replaced by sweepstakes. Traffic is becoming in-game; creativity is important here. The more creative the offer is, the more it will be possible to attract people to the advertiser’s products.

Esports is mostly connected with betting and sweepstakes. Electronic competitions have become a true revelation in the betting world – every bookmaker now has a separate section dedicated to video game contests. Creating offers to attract clients to betting shops is one of the most profitable ways to earn money in modern affiliate marketing.

 

The rise in popularity of eSports during the pandemic

Esports is one of the few industries that made huge profits during the pandemic. Gaming among the population of not only the CIS countries, but also the rest of the world, increased by significant numbers. For example, in the US alone, during lockdown, the number of gamers increased by 45%. The rise in the number of players was followed by esports.

During the pandemic, eSports turned from a nondescript industry into a full-fledged industry that regularly breaks records in revenue and popularity. In 2019, the global audience of esports grew by 22% – to 450 million people, and the turnover – almost a billion dollars. The number of esports lovers in Russia alone by the end of 2020 amounted to 15.4 million people, which is 28% more than in the previous period. 

ESports as an industry has become a serious competitor for traditional sports, such as basketball, hockey or even football. Its huge popularity is one of the key reasons to not count esports affiliate program out.

Sports betting & e-sports tournaments

The following are the most common payout models in betting:

•         CPA. For registering and making a deposit;
•         RevShare. Getting a percentage of what the bookmaker earns;
•         hybrid. Receiving fixed amounts for registering or making a deposit, as well as adding interest from the bookmaker’s profit.

For the most part, payouts for offers are tied to qualifications. Normally, the advertiser does not pay for a simple registration (but it all depends on the specific affiliate program). To receive payouts, you need to not only attract a player to the site, but also convince him to top up his account and then bet. 

Promotion in ESports and gaming verticals has its own specifics. Offers that contain the following do particularly well:

•         colorful images with popular athletes and game characters (very relevant for UFC and esports);
•         buttons on the banner;
•         information about bonuses in the form of money.

Characteristic features of sports affiliate marketing:

•         main audience – men over 30 years old;
•         most popular betting line – the outcome of the match;
•         main payout model – RevShare;
•         a lot of affiliate programs from bookmakers.

Meanwhile, the situation is somewhat different for esports betting:

•         main audience – men from 20 to 30 years old;
•         hybrid payout model is popular;
•         focus is on promo codes and mobile apps instead of the usual bonus accruals.

Before making money on esports through betting, it is necessary to understand the specifics of this industry. Not all bookmakers engage in legitimate activities. There is a large number of duplicate sites so as to avoid getting blocked. For this reason, you should not use contextual advertising and inform the general public about the benefits of a particular bookmaker.

Tournaments deserve special attention. The reason Esports attracts millions of viewers is for arranging major competitions. For example, the grand final of The International 2021 was watched by over 2.7 million people. In this regard, timings are very important. Potential betting sites’ customers know when the tournament or match they are interested in will start. It is recommended to prepare an offer in a timely manner, but also not to offer bettors an offer too early.

What can you promote?

The successful promotion of esports offers is based on the use of:

•         banners;
•         landing pages;
•         widgets;
•         review articles.

Advertising should be served in a modern manner. Streaming platforms, especially Twitch, are extremely effective. The target audience of esports is the younger generation, who are expecting creativity and technological ideas, not the regular offers. 

For traffic sources, interesting sites and Telegram channels are the most relevant. More recently, the social media app Tik-Tok became very popular — by the end of 2021, it even overtook Google in terms of the number of visitors. 

 Esports Offers expect that the affiliate marketer should know the most popular games in a particular region. For example, it is CS:GO and Dota 2 in the CIS, while League of Legends and other games that players from the CIS are not really familiar with are in great demand abroad.

       There are many ways to earn money from gambling:

•         affiliate programs of bookmakers. The main source of making money;
•         arranging collaborations with brands. For example, during esports tournaments, ads for third-party products are frequently shown;
•         working with forecasters. The influx of customers to the betting company due to the compilation of forecasts and promoting them;
•         offers for in-game items. Various keys, skins, weapons and other accessories;
•         ability to take the audience from streaming services directly to social media.

Traffic affiliate marketing promotes goods or services – in terms of betting, it means betting on matches of interest, while for gaming, it means the direct promotion of a game. You can attract potential customers for a bookmaker in various ways – through bonuses, participation in tournaments, high-quality live broadcast, loyalty program and other features.

Remarkably, some fans of esports are not indifferent to online gambling. Besides, a large number of streamers broadcast not only tournaments, but also gaming slots. An affiliate marketer can try to find a casino affiliate program and combine the two named industries to maximize profits. 

Why Affter Affiliates is the best gambling affiliate program for promotion?

Affter Affiliates offers the best esports affiliate program in the market. The benefits of this affiliate program:

•         the direct advertiser Affter is in gambling and betting;
•         all payout models are available – hybrid, CPA or RevShare;
•         official partnership with the UFC;
•         big payouts at the start;
•         extensive GEO, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and other countries.

       For partners — there are ready-made apps with which you can prepare exclusive offers. The exceptional software deserves special attention, as it provides:

•         multilingual feature;
•         round-the-clock support;
•         promo materials.

       The close connection with the Affter brand guarantees the loyalty of hundreds of thousands of customers. Representing a popular bookmaker is already a guarantee of making good money in affiliate marketing. Also, the marketer kills two birds with one stone, since Affter Affiliates — is both a gambling affiliate program and a betting affiliate program.

 

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing in esports opens up truly huge opportunities to earn money. You just need to understand the specifics of the industry, its connection with popular verticals, and apply effective promotion tools. If the affiliate marketer has not yet figured out his lane or is at a crossroads, then ESports and gaming can be a huge blessing.