🎤 Bookie Q&A with Midnite

We speak to Ryan Murton, Vice President, Commercial at Midnite about their position in the industry. 

As a relative newcomer, Midnite is establishing itself as a key player in the sports betting and casino industry. OLBG spoke to Ryan about how he sees their role in the market, the relationships that they have with industry stakeholders and the current issue with iGaming SEO and Google search.

OLBG: What are the most important parts of what you do at Midnite?

RM: My main responsibility is to look after our relationships with key partners and affiliates that help Midnite grow. As a challenger brand in a mature, saturated market, it's key for us to have good relationships with our partners. It's down to myself, my team, and the company as a whole, to ensure that all our partners are happy with every aspect of Midnite.

OLBG: Where do you see Midnite positioned within the betting industry and other bookmakers?

RM: We're a challenger brand – we haven’t been around for 30 years – but what we do have is serious backers and a robust roster of experienced staff. Our ambitions have always been, and remain to this day going forward, to be a true Tier 1 global operator. That mission is aligned across the company, from the top to the bottom.

OLBG: Midnite underwent a new design a few months ago, what's been the response from your users?

RM: Great so far. We regularly talk to our users and bettors and look for feedback, and through these conversations we know that our recent redesign is one of our best scoring metrics in terms of our product. We can always improve though, and we have a long way to go. In addition to our users, I’m told by industry peers that they think highly of Midnite in this regard as well.

OLBG: Midnite seem to have upped their commercial presence recently (on Fotmob, radio, sporting events etc.) – is that something we should expect to see more of? Is it a particular focus in the short/mid-term future?

RM: I was talking earlier about our plan to be a true Tier 1 operator, and this is a big part of that, so we want to work with every partner that can help make that happen. As a challenger brand with our proprietary technology, it takes time to build. And we want to ensure that we build properly. It's a continuous evolution, and we build incrementally every day. It's a case of being smart about where we spend our marketing capital, and being tactical with opportunities. We don't have unlimited budgets like some other betting sites.

OLBG: What do you think are the key parts of the relationship between bookmakers and affiliates?

RM: Ensure they're paid on time. Be transparent about everything that's going on with marketing campaigns, offers and the likes. It’s important to build actual relationships – you're dealing with humans, so don't just be transactional. I see this way too many times in this industry. Be clear with your goals as well, so many marketing and affiliate teams don't have plans or clear ambitions. You have to be clear.

OLBG: What can we do as affiliates to improve things for your side?

RM: Truly understand what you offer. If you have high player volumes but they're low quality, accept that. If you have low player volumes, but they're high quality, accept that. I find too many affiliates think either too much of themselves or too little of themselves, whether that be in terms of traffic sources, community, their website, a variety of things. Once you have that acceptance, strike a long term partnership and deal that suffices those goals along with the deliverables.

OLBG: How do you see affiliate sites, and their relationship with bookies, changing over the next five years?

RM: I don't think that much will change in all honesty. We've said it'll change every year for the last two decades and it never actually works out like that. I'd just like to see affiliate teams in other operators treat affiliates like long term partners and human beings as they are, rather than just transactional like some can do.

OLBG: There's been a real issue with non-GAMSTOP operators appearing in organic SERPs recently – do you think it's an issue for Google to address, or the responsibility of the Gambling Commission and other parties in our own industry?

RM: Don't get me started on this - I am so fed up with it. It's on Google mostly in my view. On the organic side, the organic SERPs are a mess generally even outside of this and they're a mess in iGaming generally. But that’s not a specific problem to us in iGaming, because they're also a mess in other industries. On the Google Ads/paid side, they could stop it overnight if they wanted to.

OLBG: Do you think it's something that may pass, or is it something affiliates need to workaround and get used to?

RM: I do think it will stop eventually, I have no doubts about that. When? That's another story. My heart bleeds for the genuine affiliates and operators that it's impacting though. It’s a little depressing, but I think it’s just a case of buckling up for now I'm afraid. It will get resolved though, that I’m sure of.

OLBG: Does it make you wary about the industry and how it operates, or how it feels it has to operate as a result?

RM: I think it shows what's possible and consequential of regulation and this will get worse as regulation tightens. I think all regulated operators and affiliates have a duty to fight against it together. We all stick to the same strict regulations and rules, and because of that it's a level playing field for all operators, which is how it should be to have a properly functioning, fair system. So why shouldn't it be the same for them? It's also down to Meta, Google and others to stamp out the facilitation. 

OLBG: On a brighter note, what are you looking forward to with Midnite, or in the industry in general, in the near future?

RM: Every single day is a new challenge here because we're working on something new all the time. We've just gone live with our first major sponsorship, as well as launching TV campaigns and radio. There's much more to come, we haven't scratched the surface yet. I personally won't lie down until we're bigger than bet365 or Flutter.