Better Collective releases its 2023 Annual Report diving into the 2023 performance, tech deep dives, sustainability, and more

Regulatory Release no. 16/2024

Today Better Collective publish its Annual Report including the integrated sustainability report.

A WORD TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS

Becoming the leading digital sports media group
In 2023, we continued our journey towards realizing our vision of becoming the leading digital sports media group. In doing so we led continuous development and innovation of our business and acquired seven additional businesses to further our position. We also increased our sports audience significantly from 180 million to more than 400 million monthly visits. We initiated the development of our own in-house advertising technology platform, AdVantage. With this development we can cater to the demand from advertisers wanting to reach our large audience. We have seen proof of concept and look forward to scale this during 2024.

Further, through the acquisitions we built out our knowledge on global display advertising, exclusive content creation, social media content, while acquiring several strong sports media brands. All of which builds on top of our core competencies of maximizing the value of large audiences by utilizing our unique skills and diversified business models. Remarkably, all of this was done while still growing our business organically by 13% and we have seen great leverage in our operational earnings.

Strong growth in recurring revenues
Worth highlighting in the 2023 performance is the 50% growth in recurring revenues reaching 191m EUR. This not only marked 2023 as a record-breaking revenue year but also distinguished it as the highest-quality performance to date, attributable to the recurring revenue component. Recurring revenues consist of revenue share income, subscription revenues, and advertising revenues. Throughout 2022 and 2023, we successfully referred over 3 million new depositing customers (NDCs) on revenue-share agreements which have yet to start generating revenue. This is more NDCs than we
have delivered since the foundation of the group and up until 2021 – also coupled with our ongoing transition to revenue share income in North America. Furthermore, the demand to connect with our expansive sports audience has driven the development of AdVantage. Success in this endeavor holds promising prospects for revenue derived from advertising sales. Therefore, looking ahead we anticipate this positive trend to continue accelerated by our unwavering focus.

Diving into our markets
We are currently in the midst of a revenue transition, shifting towards recurring revenue share income in the North American market. This strategic change involves forgoing immediate revenue to establish a more sustainable and higher value proposition for the future, akin to a license to SaaS transition. In Q1 of 2023, we achieved our highest quarterly revenue, driven by North America, especially the launch of sports betting in Ohio. However, this launch was influenced by CPA (upfront payments), making it a one-off event in terms of revenue growth. With our focus on recurring revenue, we anticipate that future launches, like the upcoming sports betting launch in North Carolina during Q1, 2024, will have a smaller upfront impact while still attracting a substantial number of NDCs. These NDCs are likely to be a combination of revenue share and CPA, minimizing the short-term impact on revenues while building for the future. Despite the ongoing North American transition, we take pride in our organic business growth during 2023, with 2024 serving as another transition year before revenue share cohorts kick in during 2025.

In Q1, a member of our management relocated to Rio de Janeiro, assembling a regional team, proving beneficial with two offices now established in Brazil — Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Stronger efforts in South America have enhanced our capability to integrate Playmaker Capital’s South American business, "Futbol Sites," with its massive regional audience and organization in Buenos Aires, positioning us in a market-leading role as Brazilian iGaming regulation approaches. European markets demonstrated robust growth throughout the year in both owned and operated sports brands and media partnerships. We made successful acquisitions of national sports media of which some have already been seamlessly integrated onto our tech platforms, resulting in improved Google rankings and significant audience growth, details of which are explored further in this report. For more information on our technological developments see our Tech Deep Dives on pages 13 - 17.

Cementing our position in the Americas
During 2023 we announced the acquisition of Playmaker Capital, which closed in February 2024. This strategic move, with a total consideration of 176 million EUR, cements our position as a market leader in South America while reinforcing our North American market presence. Playmaker Capital aligns seamlessly with our strategy, offering significant synergies that will bring the upfront 11,7x EV/EBITDA below 5x by 2026, expecting margins in line with Better Collective's publishing business. Playmaker Capital's portfolio of digital sports media brands, garnering over 200 million monthly visits and a social media following of over 180 million, positions us to elevate our media capabilities and expand our audience across the Americas. Futbol Sites, Yardbarker, and The Nation Network are among the distinguished sports media brands now under our umbrella, contributing to our diverse and engaged audience. Coupled with the content and social media competences acquired through the acquisition of Playmaker HQ (though similar in name Playmaker HQ and Playmaker Capital are not
linked), we increase our presence significantly across the Americas. We are new to podcasts, however in recent podcast rankings in the US we have taken several top positions within the “US Sports”-category, and this has made us more confident in our ability to expand our presence and diversify our offering.

The acquisition of Playmaker Capital presents a clear path to operational efficiency, as we will unlock new monetization opportunities through performance-based marketing. We extend our sincere appreciation to the Playmaker Capital team for their outstanding contributions, and we welcome all employees as we are excited about the collective success that lies ahead. Following the seven acquisitions during 2023, we decided to go to the market during Q1 of 2024 to raise 10% of the capital or more than 1 bnDKK. Our focus remains on consolidation and integration during 2024, however this has prepared us should any M&A opportunities arise.

Thanking our colleagues
Reflecting on the remarkable performance of the past year fills us with immense pride and gratitude. Our collective efforts at Better Collective have once again proven that we are a force to be reckoned with in the industry. Everything we do is with a sustainable mindset; we are headquartered in our home market, pay our taxes accordingly, solely work with licensed sportsbook partners in regulated markets, bring efforts to educate our audiences, have a highly professional and experienced Board of Directors, work with our partners to promote safer gambling practices, take pride in our SEO and SEM academies, focus on diversity with more than 45 nationalities present across the group and so much more. This wholesome approach is part of our DNA and has become a competitive advantage for us. We extend our sincere thanks to every one of our colleagues for your dedication, hard work, and unwavering commitment to excellence. It is your "can-do" attitude that has propelled us to new heights. Our success is a testament to the strength of our team, and we are privileged to lead such an outstanding group of professionals. Let us carry this momentum forward into the coming year, continuing to innovate, collaborate, and achieve greatness together.

Jens Bager
Chair of the Board

Jesper Søgaard
Co-founder & CEO