ANNUAL REPORT 2024
In 2024, Catena Media implemented a transformational change to a product-driven organisation that prioritises our strongest core brands. Under a new management team and Board of Directors, we focused on operational excellence, defended core revenue streams and significantly improved margins while delivering high value players to our operator partners in North America and selected niche markets.
Comments from the CEO
"For Catena Media, 2024 was a year of challenge and profound change as we implemented the transition to a new product-driven organisation that prioritises the development of our strongest core brands. Significant efforts were made to modernise and right-size the organisation to enable us to deliver the revenue and profit growth that our shareholders demand. From the low point in the second quarter, we achieved a significant improvement in our profit margins by the end of the year, reflecting the strength of our strategic initiatives and the resilience of our business model. With our new structure in place, we are better positioned to return to organic growth in 2025.
Manuel Stan, CEO
OUR NEW STRATEGY
We build our strategy on three foundational pillars that the new management team introduced in late 2024: People, Product and Profit. These interconnected areas provide the framework for our ability to grow, adapt and succeed in our space.
PEOPLE
As an affiliate marketing company, we rely on our people and their talents to drive business success. Our employees are the creative source for delivering high quality user experiences. In 2024, we appointed a brand new executive team and a largely new senior leadership team, while streamlining the organisation to ensure we have the agility to maximise the potential of our brands. We have created an energetic, performance-driven culture that is focused on excellence at every link in the chain. The introduction of product squads using agile methodologies has empowered employees to take ownership of their roles and actively contribute to our strategic goals.
PRODUCT
Our branded products are our key differentiator and unique selling point. We have moved to a product-driven organisational structure that keeps the business focused on our key products at all times. Each product has a clear ownership model with dedicated cross-functional teams responsible for its success. We optimised our core North American casino offering and launched a Spanish-language version of Bonus.com in North America, while launching the brand in Mexico and Brazil. Enhanced tracking and performance measurement frameworks ensure that every initiative is linked to tangible business results.
PROFIT
Profitability is our oxygen, fueling our ability to differentiate and scale. We implemented a more disciplined approach to resource allocation, reducing debt while achieving cost efficiencies by terminating underperforming partnerships and embedding a leaner organisation. The streamlining of our content production and marketing teams, announced in October 2024, will save EUR 2.2 million annually. At the end of the year, these efforts resulted in a significant improvement in our profit margin. For 2025, we will continue to prioritise high-return opportunities to deliver sustainable revenue growth.
Addressing our challenges and transforming the business
The implementation of our strategic transformation in 2024 under an entirely new leadership team marks a pivotal moment in our development. The new leadership quickly identified key challenges, including declining revenues, lower CPA rates, high operating costs and challenging organic search conditions. These challenges have been addressed through decisive action: terminating underperforming media partnerships, streamlining headcount and developing a product-led organisational structure focused on our strongest core brands. We used the proceeds from previous asset sales to significantly reduce debt and improve our financial flexibility. Our technology infrastructure was overhauled with the launch of a new platform to support agile brand and data management. We also implemented comprehensive data collection processes and expanded into new revenue streams including sub-affiliation, CRM and paid media. These strategic changes have already delivered improved margins by year-end, strengthening our ability to drive sustainable growth across multiple channels and positioning us for a return to organic growth in 2025.
Our priorities for 2025
- Diversify revenue streams by building first-party customer data, subaffiliation capability and a richer product customer experience
- Strengthen our market position in North America by launching innovative strategies and partnerships in regulated regions
- Develop and drive our key products forward to create a solid platform for sustainable revenue growth
- Maintain a close focus on financial health and use the proceeds from prior divestments for continued debt reduction
- Further embed the new operating model to deepen the focus on core products and drive growth while promoting operational alignment
2024 in numbers*
50
Revenue (EURm)
5
Adjusted EBITDA (EURm)
11%
Adjusted EBITDA margin
129
New depositing customers (thousands)
QUARTERLY HIGHLIGHTS 2024
US MARKET*
North America
North America is Catena Media's primary market, accounting for 88 percent of group revenue in 2024. The year was challenging at an operational level, with group revenue in the region decreasing 35 percent to EUR 43.9m (67.1). Multiple factors contributed to this performance, including a lack of new state launches creating difficult comparables versus 2023, continued lower spending by operators, and reduced cost-per-acquisition rates. A significant Google policy update in May 2024 impacted the effectiveness of some strategic media partnerships, leading us to terminate underperforming collaborations and establish new parameters for future partnerships. Our two largest brands are the casino-oriented Bonus.com and the sports-focused LegalSportsReport.com, supported by a cluster of top-tier brands including PlayUSA.com, Lineups.com, GamingToday.com and TheLines.com. Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey remain our largest state markets by revenue, with a significant footprint also in Ontario, Canada. Looking ahead to 2025, we are diversifying beyond search engine optimization through our newly launched subaffiliation platform and expanding our offering to brand users, with a strong emphasis on driving organic revenue growth in established markets.
OUR BRAND PORTFOLIO LEADERS
Untapped potential in North America's online betting and gaming industry
In 2024, we launched online sports betting affiliation in North Carolina and Vermont, with a combined adult population of 9 million. Despite fewer state launches compared to previous years, the North American market continues to present substantial growth opportunities. Currently, 31 US states and jurisdictions allow regulated online sportsbooks, while online casino gaming is permitted in a smaller number of states. In addition, the Canadian province of Ontario offers both regulated online sports betting and casino gaming. Looking ahead to 2025, Missouri is expected to launch online sports betting in the second half of the year, and the Canadian province of Alberta may regulate both online sports betting and casino gaming. The three most populous US states – California, Texas and Florida – have yet to approve online sports betting or casino gaming legislation, representing significant future potential.
Market penetration¹
The charts display the current percentages of the adult population¹ in the US with access to legal online sports betting (50%) or casino (16%). These figures highlight the market's substantial untapped potential, as many states have yet to regulate these activities, indicating significant long-term growth opportunities.
¹Total adult population based on management's assessment.
¹Total adult population based on management’s assessment.
Rest of World
Our presence outside North America includes operations in Japan through two main local brands - CasinoOnline.jp and Slotsia - and a small but growing presence in Latin America. In 2024, we expanded our Latin American operations by launching Bonus.com in Mexico and Brazil, the latter coinciding with Brazil's transition to a regulated online casino market in January 2025. This strategic expansion leverages our experience from the successful Spanish-language version of Bonus.com in North America. In addition, esports has become a revenue driver for the Group over the past two years. Our premium brands in this vertical, Esports.net and Esportsbets.com, operate internationally and continued to gain traction in 2024. Esports.net, in particular, expanded its organic reach and consolidated its position as one of the top media sources for esports players. These diversified operations outside our core North American market represent targeted growth opportunities that are in line with our product-led organisational strategy and commitment to regulated markets.
We believe all companies share an obligation to conduct themselves as good corporate citizens.
For us, this involves going beyond ensuring the sustainability of our own business model. It also means addressing the wider operating environment – the sector we operate in, our key stakeholders such as our employees, and the natural environment and its resources.
Our sustainability areas
Catena Media sustainability strategy is based on three pillars: responsible business, responsible employer and environmental responsibility.