2025-01-23 19:17:06

How and why would an old brand launch a new affiliate program?

Tags: BaltBet,


BaltBet.png

How and why would an old brand launch a new affiliate program?

Interview with Anton Ilyin, Head of Affiliates of BaltBet

 
 

 

There are so many affiliates on the market that all more or less well-known (and not so well-known) brands have long ago launched their affiliate program. And this year, one of the oldest bookmakers in Russia, Baltbet, joined Alanbase.

Shortly about Alanbase: 

  • Turnkey solution for creating an affiliate program

  • Cohort analysis and real-time statistics

  • Custom NGR and Revenue Share formulas

  • Multi-currency

  • Modern, user-friendly interface

 

Shortly about Baltbet: 

 
  • licensed bookmaker;

  • since 2003;

  • geo – Russia; 

  • Started to work with PPC, nowadays Baltbet has the biggest PPC network among bookmakers;

  • More than 2.000 employees.  

 

The team has been in the market for 21 years, but they launched a full-fledged affiliate program only six months ago. We met Anton Ilyin, Head of Affiliates at Baltbet, and found out from him: 

 
  • how a new affiliate program can stand out in a highly competitive market; 

  • why many products have not yet launched their affiliate program; 

  • how advertising and the audience of bookmakers have changed; 

  • the platform for creating an affiliate program - what to choose, self-made or ready-made software. 

 

Alanbase: Your brand has been in the market for a long time. Tell us what you are particularly strong in and known for among players and webmasters.

 

Anton Ilyin: Our brand is well known to players first of all due to our reliability and long history in the market. It is also important to note our extensive PPC network, which is one of the legal and affordable ways of outdoor advertising for us in the conditions of strict restrictions on the promotion of betting companies in Russia.

 

In advertising campaigns, we emphasize working with the client base and launching interesting promotions. For example, two to three times a year, we launch " Predikazarium.” This action allows the casual client to enter the world of betting. A person makes free predictions on events and gets bonuses for them, which can be converted into bonuses on our site. So we raffled off cars, apartments, and many others. 

 

We just recently launched the affiliate program. It was fully launched six months ago, and now there are only about 150 webmasters. But it is easy for us to find partners, and we are growing very fast. We are breaking through banner blindness because we have an “old-new” brand: old on the market, but the affiliate program is new. This means that we have a brand that is not flooded at all and converts much better than others. 

 

Alanbase: The affiliate program trend is far from fresh, why did you launch it only now? 

 

Anton Ilyin: We used to be confused by the market's immaturity —flashy demonstrations of luxury looked suspicious and resembled fraud. The situation has changed: over the last 3-4 years, the market has become more stable and mature, so we decided to launch a partnership program now.

 

Alanbase: It is too early to draw conclusions now, but would you share how you see the results of the affiliate program's launch? 

 

 

Alanbase: You have been in the market for more than twenty years. Tell us how the betting market in Russia has changed during this time and especially after 2022.   

 

Anton Ilyin: In the last 2-3 years, we have seen a tendency to increase the volume of bets. In general, periods of economic instability affect the user's behavior and how much he is willing to spend on gambling and getting quick pleasure. Plus, let's not forget about inflation. There has been a big increase in roubles, but it doesn't take it into account. 

 

Overall, the market has not reached a plateau in 2022-2024, and we can expect more and more growth. It (growth) also affects the media, not only we but also competitors invest in marketing, and bookmakers' advertising affects the growth of the industry as a whole. 

 

If you look at the market's behavior, advertising is no longer aggressive, and the audience is becoming more aware. More casual players are now coming in, who see betting on sports as an added interest in watching events.  

 

Alanbase: Regarding competitors, I'd like to get some insights. How does an affiliate program stay competitive against industry giants with huge budgets?

 

Anton Ilyin: As mentioned above, competitors don't just do PR. We are not fighting for leadership but for market share, and in this case, there is nothing better than doing our job well: 

 

 

Regarding finding affiliates, our advantage is that we have an old brand and a new affiliate program. Partners know our name but have never met our affiliate program, it is not flooded and generates interest. Now, when our manager goes to a confab, he collects dozens of times more contacts than the manager of other industry giants. 

 

Alanbase: You are now looking for webmasters for your affiliate program. If your potential aff reads this now and wants to come to you, what are the “Green flags” and “Red flags” for them?  

 

Anton Ilyin: A lot depends on the sources. When I hear SEO, 99% of cases are immediately “yes.” If it's capers or TG channels, most likely no. And, of course, we look at the webmaster's experience. 

 

Alanbase: For those who have never worked in the Russian market, tell us about the peculiarities of working there. What do you encounter in the context of legislation, because we know that in some cases, quick adaptation is required?  

 

Anton Ilyin: 

 

1. The main feature is regulation and licensing. A webmaster should pay attention to whether the company they will promote in the offer has a license or not (there are large companies that work in the market without any license ).

 

2. Familiarize yourself with the regulatory restrictions in betting to know if the source is suitable in general. 

 

Alanbase: Recently, the information that P2P crypto trading in Russia will die by the end of this year has been forced through the chats. Does this sound like the truth? If this method goes out of the market, what methods will the Russian market switch to, should we expect a shakeup?

 

Anton Ilyin: In Russia, nothing can die before the end of the year. They will always come up with escape schemes here. Regarding business, people in Russia are flexible and will find a way out. As a legal company, it sounds good for us, as clients will flow to us. 

 

Alanbase: Let's move on to our topic of affiliate programs. Why did you decide to look for a new software?

 

Anton Ilyin: We had our own software, but it is hard to call it a full-fledged affiliate. To bring it to your level, we had to invest a lot of hours and money. If 2 developers do only this, then after a year of work, we would get some minimal results, according to the price, it is about $100,000 for an average result. We should also take into account that in the process, additional requirements will come from partners, and the partnership will need to be finalized and invested again.   

 

Alanbase: What features, modules, etc., do you think an ideal affiliate program should have? 

 

Evgeny, Affiliate Manager of Baltbet: The main thing is access to detailed and accurate reporting. Affiliates need to see what actions lead to conversions, how effective they are, and what commissions they receive. By giving affiliates advanced and detailed analytics tools, an affiliate program simplifies the process of optimizing campaigns and increasing revenue.

 

Secondly, an affiliate program should combine an attractive and transparent reward system. For example, the Alanbase account has a live balance display, so you can see at a glance what payment came for what conversion. It is important to set clear conditions for payments: minimum amount for withdrawal, frequency of payments, and available methods of receiving funds. Affiliates will be more motivated to work with the program if they are sure of receiving their rewards in a timely manner.

 

Of course, timely partner support, assistance in interacting with the system, and the ability to customize working conditions, including individual rates or special offers for high-performing partners, are important.

 

Alanbase: How long have you been looking at software and/or options for your own development? What features did you pay attention to, and what is important for you in general?

 

Anton Ilyin: We actively looked for 1.5 months, went to demos, and compared all possible options. 

 

The following were important for us: 

 
  • Cohort analysis;

  • statistics per partner; 

  • Visualization;

  • ease of integration with new partners, and intuitiveness of the resource.  

 

Alanbase had everything you needed, and we chose you. 

 

Alanbase: Tell us about the connection process: did it go smoothly, or were there any difficulties? 

 

Anton Ilyin: The whole process went smoothly and quickly. With respect to the team, I have never worked with Alanbase before, but I had no questions about the processes and interface. 

 

Alanbase: Is it better for large products with a history like Baltbet to create a self-made affiliate program, or is it easier to move to ready-made software? 

 

Anton Ilyin: The question is individual. There are guys who like to make fun of themselves and developers and spend time and huge budgets, but we are not like that. We came straight to a ready-made solution that has everything we need and even more. 

 

Alanbase: It was fascinating! Thank you for the interview, Anton!

 

If you want to see Alanbase from the inside, sign up for a demo call with our manager. During the demo, we will review your affiliate requirements and help you create the right dashboards and statistics! Grab access for a period of 14 days free with no credit card tied to it.