GMB - Unlike other kind of companies or clients, what does SofaScore take into account for the specific needs of bookmakers? What is the strategy towards those sites?
Daniel Jurilj - Bookmakers are our #1 advertisers. We approach each new brand not as a potential client, but a potential partner. There are brands we’ve been in business for over 10 years. We try to approach each brand individually and understand their needs. The bottom line is that everyone is looking for performance in terms of new players, but if you are entering a new market that is booming, like Brazil, you cannot underestimate the importance of brand awareness. We always tailor the campaign proposal based on specific client needs as we want to make sure everyone receives the desired results. This way we build trust and foundations for long term deals.
Currently and worldwide, which bookmakers operate with SofaScore?
SofaScore has worked with over 100 bookmakers in 2021, including brands like bet365, 1xbet, Betano and many others. We like to say that we are a global brand, but with a local approach as we align with bookmakers to develop new features that our users will love.
Has this betting segment been growing strongly within your company's portfolio? What percentage does it represent and how far do you think it can reach?
Indeed, it has, and it accounts for a majority of our gross revenue, although we see a big potential in diversifying our revenue streams. SofaScore is not exclusively oriented on betting audience, and we understand that people who use SofaScore have various interests, and this is becoming more and more recognized by various streaming platforms or sports brands. We are also thinking of ways to further engage our audience to offer them sports-related games outside of the gambling world. Of course, for those who enjoy sports betting SofaScore will always look for ways to empower them in making informed bets.
Recently, part of SofaScore team from Zagreb visited the company's offices in Latin America. What idea did they take from the Brazilian market? What kind of clients do you have here?
I had the pleasure of coming with the rest of the team to beautiful Rio de Janeiro where our office is based. We’ve been growing our LATAM team remotely for the past two years, but due to pandemic delayed an official visit until recently. Having been in Brazil we once again got the confirmation that there is no substitute for a live workshop or team building activities. You can do a lot of work online, but when it comes to marketing and bringing the project to another level you need to talk to people in person, meet them on their ground. We have brought back so many impressions, and so many ideas that will be translated into exciting new features in the coming months and years. As for clients, we are dealing mostly with betting brands, but we are also focusing on brand building activities by providing SofaScore graphics to influential media, or to social media channels of Brasileirao Serie A and lower leagues.
The company has met in Brazil with several betting sites. What type of SofaScore services are the most suitable for this type of client in Brazil according to the impression you got from those talks?
We met with several companies in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo and it was great hearing first-hand about the brand value SofaScore has in Brazil. In this sense we are an interesting platform for all betting brands to display their offers, but it also bears a big responsibility in a sense that we must provide the expected value. Brazil is still booming as a market and all brands must have a balance between brand building activities and performance. In this sense standard display formats might serve better for brand activities, while things like odds integration and various tipster-like projects that SofaScore has will be focused more on targeted performance.
What is the differential that SofaScore has to gain a large share of the Market? How important is the "localization" of your services, especially for a market as particular as the Brazilian one that has more than 210 million inhabitants and a different language from the rest of Latin America?
We are aware that there is still a huge potential for SofaScore in Brazil and considering the strength of our product and feedback from our users we have the confidence SofaScore will become the #1 brand in Brazil in the coming years. Our focus is never a single one, and we are undertaking several directions, from brand building activities (raising awareness to audiences that are looking for SofaScore-like projects), creating strong local partnerships across all levels of sports, preparing community-oriented campaigns, focusing on UA in paid advertising and developing special gamification projects. Having a local team in Brazil to support all these thing is a major step forward for our ambitions.
What role do content and social networks play in the portfolio of services that SofaScore plans for this year?
Social networks have played an integral part in growing the SofaScore brand over the years. Our twitter and Instagram communities are very engaged and include sports fans and professionals alike. It’s extremely satisfying when a player like Dani Alves shares our post on Twitter. It is a strong recognition of our product and the work our team is doing. Maybe even more important is our close-knit relationship with media publishers across the world where media outlets like Daily Mail, Mundo Deportivo, As, La Gazzeta dello Sport use our infographics in their articles. It is a huge responsibility to produce high quality infographics that shape the opinions of millions of sports fans across the world. World Cup 2022 will be a highlight of our work thus far. We are aiming to expand our features with specifically WC related content, including games like World Cup Brackets where users will be able to predict the winners, and media to use it in their articles.
Does the firm project 2022 as a year of strong expansion in Latin America? Are new products coming to the region?
We see a huge potential for the LATAM region, as we know the fans are as passionate about football as we are. In this sense there is no obstacle for SofaScore to grow in markets like Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Chile and so on. I list these few as these are the ones where the sports betting market has been in rapid expansion in recent years.
How many people make up the SofaScore South America team and what kind of tasks do they generate here? Are there growth plans in Brazil such as more staff or new offices in other cities?
We have six people helping bring the SofaScore brand to another level in South America, and we will definitely expand our operations. The central office is in Rio, but we will likely open one in Buenos Aires. Our local team is responsible for generating content in local languages, so, running separate social accounts from our international pages while also servicing many media publishers in South America. For now, we maintain relationships with our sportsbook partners from HQ in Zagreb, Croatia, but we will be looking for someone to be based in Brazil, preferably Sao Paulo.
For the World Cup in Qatar, do you prepare any type of special service? Will there be innovations for the most important event of the year?
Most definitely. For an event of this magnitude SofaScore always has something up its sleeve. I already mentioned the brackets game, but there will be other features focused on engaging the users. On the other side, we’ll add new placements for advertisers to showcase their message even more prominently. All in all, we expect big things from this WC, but more importantly it remains to be seen how the global audience will respond to a World Cup in November and December.
Source: Exclusive GMB
