XLMedia ditches personal finance assets as focus firmly on betting & gaming

sold sign
Image: Shutterstock

XLMedia has completed its plans to completely exit the personal finance affiliate marketing space after offloading its MoneyUnder30 web assets.

The sale of the MoneyUnder30 domain and website was worth $675K to the publishing company and will be used to help cover day-to-day operational expenses. 

It follows on from the previously announced sales of Dough Roller, among other websites, as XLMedia seeks to offload all “non-core” operations, ie. anything that does not entail sports betting or online casino publishing. 

This endeavor, the company confirmed, has yielded $2.5m which has been fully earmarked for day-to-day operations. 

XLMedia updated investors, noting: “As previously stated, the Disposals are in line with the company’s strategy to exit non-core activities and focus on the group’s Sports and Gaming divisions. 

“The group continues to drive expansion of its North American Sports footprint, and is refining and developing its EU Sports portfolio and Gaming assets in selected markets, including the US.”

Personal finance publishing was not a particularly lucrative venture for the affiliate, as it revealed 12-month revenues of $1.9m, with an EBITDA loss of $1.3m for the last year. 

Much more fruitful, though, is the sports betting and online casino opportunities in North America, where XLMedia is becoming ever more focused. 

Nevertheless, XLMedia is looking at a slowdown in its revenue growth in the region for H1 of 2023, owing to the tough comparison from New York’s sports betting launch last year. 

While Ohio and Massachusetts launches have been positive for affiliates, the mid-March MA launch was after the NFL season, so aggressive acquisition strategies have not yet been deployed by operators. 

Facing adverse market conditions, XLMedia CEO David King told investors: “In the US, we saw a strong start to Q1 with the launch of online sports betting in Ohio. However, as seen elsewhere in the market, H1 2023 revenues are inevitably going to be below the prior comparator period of H1 2022, which benefited from the much-anticipated launch of online sports betting in New York. 

“The launch of online sports betting in Massachusetts in mid-March, after the NFL season ended, while solid, did not see the spike in revenues normally seen on a state launch.”