2022 is all about maintaining a European legacy while also making leaps forward in the US market. That was the key focus for Alex Kornilov, CEO of Betegy, as he outlined the company’s plans for 2022 and beyond.
In an interview with SBC News, Kornilov discussed the holistic approaches that Betegy has been taking to customers, global markets and case studies, and how this has led to new successes.
SBC: Talk us through Betegy’s past year of success when it comes to customers, global markets and case studies – what’s been key to Betegy’s growth and what’s special about your products?
AK: The beginning of the European soccer season back in autumn made for a perfect start to ramp up our campaigns with our partners – and in just over six months, the results have been fantastic. We’ve taken a new holistic approach to how we work with our customers and we’re really reaping the results.
It all starts with sitting down with our partners and going through their global plans and our previous case studies for success. Our job is then to take that value proposition and work out how we can deploy a tailored strategy to develop that vision together. For me, this was a real turning point in our business in terms of our value proposition, rather than simply offering a product itself to solve a problem, instead we offer our role as the partner that can help take operators through their expansion, step by incremental step. This is in effect allows us to deliver core components of our technology to suit each unique plan.
I see our future as very much integrated – take landing pages, social media content and all other assets – the key is to integrate that together into one coherent system. For me, much of this success is down to having a multi-layered structure of pipelines and projects – and in turn, offering incremental, modular steps customised to their brand journey, which can then then deliver a 5-year transformation together.
Our work with SportsBet.io is a great example. They’re a fantastic group of people, instead of looking at a one-year project, we form a plan for the next half decade. This enables us to pull multiple channels into one place to service their marketing and deliver an incremental plan through steady changes over time. This means that we can actively develop and hone our services in real time in partnership with our clients, which has enabled us to deliver a one-of-a-kind fan experience – as well as ensuring players enjoy every moment of engagement.
SBC: What markets are key for Betegy as you look to expand globally?
AK: For us right now, it’s all about keeping our legacy going in Europe, while striding forward with our fantastic US success. The US domestic market, when it comes to sports, betting and casino, is growing daily – whether that’s gaming itself or engaging digitally with sports – with everything from the World Series of Poker to March Madness.
We have a seriously exciting set of announcements that should take our US plans to the next level in the coming months, but we can’t go public on these just yet. What I can say in the meantime is that looking back at some of our excellent successes over the past 12 months stateside, we’ve certified our position as one of the sports and betting industry’s most innovative platforms for player engagement.
Demand in the US is all powered by streaming and building new heights of engagement. After all, you are quite literally dealing with the world’s most discerning customer when it comes to entertainment. It is of course one of the things America does best, with Vegas quite literally saying it all! Looking at what we’ve done, Betegy has quite literally enabled multiple US broadcast companies to transform the way they engage fans via Fantasy Sports (with FTN, ESPN and Yahoo), as well as live events such as the World Series of Poker, EsportsTV and NCAA Basketball. This is what we’ll be doing to expand globally – and I have no doubt we’ll continue with our excellent momentum.
SBC: On the US – which verticals have been key to powering Betegy’s expansion? Are there any particular areas you see as having the most potential for the year ahead in terms of player engagement?
AK: Media is where it’s at. Of course, this is obvious if we take a step back – TVs and Smartphones are going to be your primary channel of engagement – so everything stems from that. We power engagement across social, broadcast and everything in between, if it comes on a screen, we’re able to help take fan engagement to the next level. As an example, let’s take the major broadcast networks – many are getting more involved in online betting and its integration into sports day by day, as media execs know that online betting is now becoming part of the sporting entertainment mix. The demand will now be to harness the best available out there who can provide the best in generated content that can showcase live statistics, odds, in-game heatmaps, and this is what we’ve done so well, whether that’s for poker tournaments, basketball or Esports.
SBC: What key areas of the company is Betegy looking to showcase at upcoming events this year across Europe and the US?
AK: Our main goal is to do exactly what we talked about in question one! We want to sit down with our clients and help them build up a vision for the next few years, and then establish how we can deliver the future that they see.
It’s all about understanding the challenges they face and their key channels to market. We work with some fantastically innovative companies, but where we really help (and will be certainly doing lots of at upcoming events) is taking that implementation process, which usually numbers in the years, and cutting it down to months. Our skill is coming in and automating everything they’re doing for engagement and marketing – and provide them with the tools and the roadmap they need to align them exactly with what their goals are for the year ahead. In the words of our good friends at Parimatch, we’ve now enabled them to create campaigns in 180 seconds, in what previously used to take six months!
Secondly, but no less importantly – we’re always on the lookout for top talent who can join us on our journey. Given our very exciting (and soon to be announced expansion plans), anyone who wants to have a chat with us is more than welcome to say hello! Without getting too Steve Jobs, we’re on the lookout for passionate people who have ideas, initiative and belief they can really transform things – we’re unique in what we do, and I believe we can offer a really exciting journey to those who really want to challenge the industry and make a difference.
SBC: Last but not least – what can our readers look forward to in the coming months? Any major announcements in the pipeline?
AK: Three yesses! One for company development, where we’ll be rolling out some exciting new products as part of our platform. Two for clients, where we’ll be able to officially talk about some major partnerships, which we’re currently in the process of signing. And last but not least, third for expansion, where we’ll be opening a very exciting new headquarters. Stay tuned!