What Gambling Firms Can Take Away From CES
Quick Summary:
Double down on smart watches and postpone any Virtual Reality plans
Why So Negative on Virtual Reality?
The key VR announcement during CES was from Oculus Rift, who admitted they mis-managed expectations on pricing and surprised everyone with a whopping $600 + Tax and Shipping. On top of this you will also need an Xbox or high-end gaming PC.
While you get a lot of kit for your $600+ we see this right now as a specialist product for hardcore gamers and early adopters.
We estimate it will take at least 3 years before the technology improves and price drops enough for it to become even close to mass market.
Impact on the Gambling Industry?
As there will not be a “Big Bang” on VR this year, the companies and start-ups targeting VR gambling will be in for a few lean years.
Why so positive on Smart Watches?
According to Juniper Research Apple are reportedly already 50%+ of all smart watch shipments. With a version 2 of the iWatch due out in early 2016 we are expecting to see sales go from strength to strength.
Android is not being left behind and some very nice watches where launched by Tag Heuer and others.
Impact on Gambling Industry?
The smart watch second (or third or fourth) screen is only going to get better and more popular this year and is ideally placed for a quick gamble and betting notifications.
What About Drones?
Drones where the other big topic at CES and we are counting down the days when someone launches a beer and betting delivery drone for Race Courses.
Google SEO Core Algo Changes
What Happened?
There was a confirmed “Core” algo change on the Google search engine rankings this week
What’s Changed?
It’s still too early to tell with speculation that it was related to better results around “brand” queries.
Impact on Gambling?
Our monitoring has not revealed any major changes for operators.
Anything Else?
A “Penguin” update from Google is also due soon, so keep an eye out.
Google Analytics CPA & ROI Metrics
What Happened?
Google Analytics has released a beta called “Calculated Metrics” which allows you to build custom calculations into your Google Analytics reporting.
How Could I Use it?
We have tested it with a client where we combine cost data with acquisition data and can display a CPA and ROI on all acquisition channels.
Benefits to Client
For day to day marketing activity all the data they need is in one place.
Allows them to take advantage of attribution data in Google Analytics and build up much more accurate marketing budget allocation.
Client Happy?
Direct quote – “You’ve saved me 10 hours a week on reporting, this is brilliant”.
Banner of the Month
What Happened?
Even though it was actually a landing page the Revenue Engineers team has won the prestigious “Banner of the Month” from Bannrflow.com
Why Should I Care?
We’ve built on top of the basic functionality in the bannerflow system and created a dynamic landing page with
Christmas themed game where you win a sign-up offer
Dynamically changing promotion widget driven by our “Promotions Engine” that was automatically changing each day over December
Impact on Client?
No need to make daily changes to creative and promotions saving valuable resources for the entire month
Improved campaign metrics
A Word from Rogier our Head of Creative:
In the spirit of Christmas, we wanted to go for the holy trinity with this one, i.e. make it engaging, make it smart, make it look good. Which resulted in a smashing looking landing page with two clever widgets. One for the Xmas Slot Machine and one dynamically generating the content of NordicBet’s Advent Calendar for 24 consecutive days.
In short: set it up once, enjoy it for a month
Hiring and ICE/LAC
We are hiring a Senior Display Media Manager to work with our award winning team (ok that’s enough Rogier). So if you are interested or know anyone please let us know.
Our diaries for ICE/LAC are nearly full, so if you would like to meet for a chat please let us know as soon as you can.
Would you like to ask a question or continue the discussion? Please feel to contact me directly using any of your preferred methods below and I will put you in touch with the relevant team member: