SSG adds Publisher Solutions products to its global proposition to meet the needs of the emerging opportunities within the media landscape

Spotlight Sports Group (SSG), a technology, content and media company specialising in sports betting and fantasy sports, has announced its expanded B2B product portfolio. The addition of Publisher Solutions reflects Spotlight Sports Group’s ongoing work with media owners and aligns with its recently launched US proposition.

The new suite of products ranges from easy-to-integrate betting widgets to fully managed affiliate solutions that are designed to deliver actionable content to drive engagement and incremental revenues. The new solutions utilise state-of-the-art modular affiliate technology and leverage Spotlight Sports Group’s unique heritage in creating industry-leading sports betting media.

The catalyst for new product development follows research from Nielson that 55% of sports fans declare an interest in sports betting. With some traditional digital revenue streams approaching maturity, media companies can use Spotlight Sports Group’s Publisher Solutions as a viable route to accelerate revenue growth.

The suite of products contains a range of services from affiliate management to content creation, to performance tracking and analysis, all of which is managed by Spotlight Sports Group. This allows media companies to simply plug in the unique solutions to their platforms in up to 70 languages.

Discussing the new-look offering and website, Spotlight Sports Group’s Head of Digital B2B Will Fyler said: “We are ready to expand our global value proposition, especially given the recent acquisition of Alarm Sports Network. As well as a global website refresh to reflect our growing proposition, we are delighted to present a range of new products such as our Turnkey Affiliate Solutions, Smart Widgets and Free-To-Play games that cater for media companies globally.”

Fyler added, “Sports fans are interested in sports betting and, given the global growth of betting, there is a significant opportunity for media publishers to provide their sports audiences with great content and products while also increasing revenues.

We also know that providing betting-related content and products effectively is labour intensive and difficult. However, as a media company operating Racing Post among other brands, we are in a fortunate position that over the last 30 years we have built up the range of skills to achieve this and so we can now offer bespoke Publisher Solutions tailored to any media company’s audience.”

Portuguese leading online sportsbook and casino operator, Nossa Aposta, has further enhanced its offering by adding the leading Portuguese certified supplier, Red Rake Gaming.

The recently inked agreement will see Red Rake Gaming deliver a myriad of top performing slots, via their common aggregation partner Pariplay, to the operator owned by the publicly listed company, Cofina.

Since its launch in 2017, Nossa Aposta has experienced major growth, expanding its portfolio to more than 1,000 slots designed for desktop and mobile play. In addition, the Lisbon-headquartered company also offers pre-match and live betting services, with a highly talented and specialized team with years of experience. The company currently owns two gaming licenses, issued by Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) and keeps diversifying its portfolio.

Commenting on the significance of the partnership, Chief Executive Officer for Nossa Aposta, Tiago Almeida, explained: “Portugal has strong indicators that reveal a more interested and informed public that wants to make the most of the fun of online games. We are delighted to sign this agreement with Red Rake Gaming, and offer our players what they would like to find but also to continue our revenue growth with innovative games. For Nossa Aposta players, quality is king, and as well as hand-picking all our titles, we’re strict about ensuring the player protection is always present. That is why we’re also focusing on additional proprietary content, since content exclusivity is the key to achieve a true competitive edge.”

The partnership sees Red Rake Gaming extending its already significant footprint in the growing Portuguese iGaming market by enhancing the casino offering of another major brand with its world-class games.

Commenting on the significance of the new deal, Managing Director for Red Rake Gaming Malta, Nick Barr, explained: “We are delighted to welcome Nossa Aposta as our newest partner. Nossa Aposta has continued to make huge inroads in the .PT market since its inception and has gone from strength to strength to become a dominant force in the Portuguese online gaming market. We are very confident that our high engagement, feature packed games will be a huge hit and resonate well with the Nossa Aposta players and look forward to the upcoming launch”.

• Innovative esports series, to feature competitions across multiple leading titles from Codemasters, looks set to kick off in 2022
• Lando Norris’ Quadrant is the first team confirmed for this unique esports tournament
• ‘Original and engaging format’ to ‘break the mould’ in burgeoning gaming sphere 

In an industry first, Veloce Esports has announced a partnership with leading racing game developer Codemasters to launch a revolutionary, multi-title, global esports racing league – the VERSUS ULTRA Series – with Lando Norris’ Quadrant team revealing itself as the first official entry.

Veloce is well-versed in original and innovative projects in the burgeoning esports sphere, sparked by the success of its immensely popular #NotTheGP series during the lockdowns of 2020. The ever-expanding Veloce Esports ecosystem yields substantial monthly viewership figures in excess of 230 million across its various channels.

Codemasters is a world-leading video games developer specialising in the racing genre. Its portfolio includes DiRT, Project CARS, GRID, and the official series of F1® video games. The VERSUS ULTRA Series will feature an innovative event format with different stages of competition taking place across several Codemasters titles.

Some of the best-known global esports teams will be taking part, comprising world famous streamers, pro gamers, and more, with squads competing for the inaugural VERSUS ULTRA Cup.

The first team to throw its hat into the ring is Quadrant, F1 star Lando Norris’ ever-popular esports squad.

With the likes of F1 YouTube star Aarav Amin (Aarava), leading virtual racer Steve Alvarez Brown (Super GT), Maria Bish (RiaBish) and Niran Yesufu (FNG) on the books, Quadrant will undoubtedly be running at the sharp end during the inaugural season.

More information on the event format, team announcements and the VERSUS ULTRA CUP will be revealed in due course, with racing set to get underway in 2022.

Rupert Svendsen-Cook, CEO, Veloce Esports, commented: 

“We’re delighted and feel very privileged to be partnering with such an established player in the industry as Codemasters, to launch what we know will be the best racing esports league in the world. We have worked closely with Codemasters for some time, as a large part of our media network features their titles, so it made a huge amount of sense to work together on this project.

“For us, the key focus is on entertainment for the gaming community and offering an original and engaging format that breaks the mould of the traditional racing esports leagues currently available. We’re incredibly excited to share further details regarding who and what is to come as we prepare to launch in 2022.”

Toby Evan-Jones, Head of Business Development, commented: 

“The VERSUS Ultra Series is an exciting new format which creates both action-packed content and the opportunity for our players to compete with their heroes from the real and virtual racing worlds. Codemasters’ expertise in delivering world-leading racing titles makes us the perfect partner for Veloce. We hope players of all levels will come together to create a fun competition which redefines the competitive gaming landscape with an innovative and inclusive format.”