Winning On Aggregate By Oliver Niner, Head Of B2B Sales At PandaScore

Winning On Aggregate By Oliver Niner, Head Of B2B Sales At PandaScore

Oliver Niner, Head of B2B Sales at PandaScore, on why aggregators are so important for suppliers when it comes to getting their products and solutions in front of operators.

Why have aggregators become so important for content and service providers?

Because they provide access to operators and jurisdictions at scale. They are especially important for suppliers with innovative or niche products as they are the fastest and most effective route to market.

Innovation always exists in the fringes but for the majority of operators, they simply lack the resources required to undertake direct integrations with the suppliers of these products – in most cases, they focus their resources on proven revenue generators.

But with aggregators, they can quickly and easily access these challenger products and solutions and use them to elevate their proposition, push into new verticals and engage a wider player audience.

This makes aggregators a win for operators but also a win for content and service providers as without them, we would not be able to strike partnerships with these operators in the first place.

What are the main upsides/opportunities they offer to suppliers?  

It’s the access to operators and markets they provide. Operators often spend around 90% of their total resource allocation on regulations and compliance and ensuring players can access the content and experiences they offer.

This leaves a very small segment of resources for adding new games, products and experiences and even within that, priority will always be given to something that makes money – it could be that an innovative football product gets the green light, but a similar product innovation for basketball does not.

But this means operators risk throwing money at things that will ultimately plateau rather than embracing innovation to drive growth.

If you are a supplier of an innovative or niche product, you’re unlikely to strike direct partnerships and integrations with operators but if you are available through an aggregator, the door is very much open to working with them. This means that the aggregator can differentiate with operators also able to benefit from the cutting-edge products these suppliers offer.

What challenges do aggregators present and how can they be overcome?

Striking partnerships with aggregators can be just as challenging as forging direct relationships with operators. Aggregators tend to make decisions based on what their customers are demanding and always apply a commercial lens to onboarding new supplier partners.

It goes without saying that this is a competitive space, and aggregators will often avoid adding more than one supplier of the same product – if they already have an esports data and odds provider, they can be reluctant to add another one even if that supplier is better or brings more to the table. This is why operators need to be vocal and tell their aggregator partners what they want, even down to specific suppliers.

Then there are concerns about the end game of all aggregators having all content, and to what extent suppliers are willing to offer exclusivity to their distribution partners.

Even when you have an aggregator deal agreed upon, the integration process can be long – sometimes longer than going directly with an operator.

What does a good aggregator/supplier partnership look like?

It’s important for the aggregator to have a strong belief in the supplier’s products. I always like to see aggregators with a smaller number of products they truly support rather than onboarding as many suppliers as possible just to offer their operator partners a choice.

It also raises a red flag in that it can suggest the aggregator is more focused on flatly taking every product they can to push the price down and then add their margin as an aggregator.

For me, the aggregator should be passionate about the products it stocks and that’s because it’s important for them to support operators and guide them through the solutions within the platform.

What do you look for in an aggregator partner?

In addition to being passionate about our products and solutions, we look at the aggregator’s reach and in particular the markets in which it specialises. Aggregators that span a large number of markets can often be a Jack of all trades and a master of none, so we prefer to work with those who focus on specific regions or markets.

This is because these aggregators have a deep understanding of what operators in those markets are looking for so if the aggregator is keen to work with us, we have a much higher degree of confidence that its operator partners will want to integrate our esports data, odds and betting products into their offerings.

Did you expect aggregators to account for such a decent percentage of your business?

Yes, we knew from day one that aggregators would be a major part of the business, but they have become more powerful with more than 50% of our operator partners working with us through an aggregator.

Online gambling operators are increasingly leaving the tech part of their operation to the experts, and this is why we are seeing a surge in demand for aggregators.

I expect this will only continue moving forward, especially as suppliers bring more innovative and niche products and solutions to the market.

How will the supplier/aggregator relationship evolve in the months and years ahead?

The majority of operators will turn to aggregators to access content, products, solutions and services. There will always be some who want absolute independence but for most, aggregators and resellers will be the most effective option.

For that reason, aggregators are very much here to stay, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they claim an even bigger chunk of the market in the months and years ahead, especially as direct integrations are only becoming more complex and technical.

I think we will also see the emergence of B2B2B with data providers integrating with feed aggregators which in turn integrate with platform aggregators, so we will have to evolve our business and commercial models to fit that.