Affilinet, one half of Sedo Holding, has released a set of financial results for the first half of this year that are at odds with many other industry competitors, suggesting the company’s main rivals may have lost ground.
Sedo Holding’s affiliate marketing segment, which consists entirely of affilinet, has boasted revenue growth of 13.4% during the first six months of 2013 (H1). In terms of monetary figures, it has risen from €50 million to €57 million.
Revenues will have been spurred on by the volume of new partner programmes that have increased by 5% to 3,023. The number of publishers were also up by 2% to 571,000 in the H1 period.
The Long Tail Effect
Dorothea von Wichert-Nick, chief executive officer, opined that the network’s focus on the smaller revenue-driving affiliate category has helped too. “In addition to successfully winning new clients, we’ve been able to increase our presence in the long tail segment,” she said.
“Combined, these factors have resulted in a very positive first half of the year. In the last six months we’ve really honed our strategy and it’s good to see that it is resonating well with the marketplace.”
Much of the improvement is being put down to business expansion, internationalisation and the addition of major customers. Although affilinet UK managing director, Helen Southgate, believes the network is winning clients because of its unique product.
“These results clearly show that by working with advertisers to adopt a more strategic approach that drives sustainable growth by taking into consideration key elements such as a customer’s’ lifetime value and focusing on quality, we are delivering something different in the marketplace,” Southgate said.
A Victory For Automation?
Other reasons for affilinet’s marked revenue progress included the ‘greater automation of processes, the optimisation of sales and the expansion of service quality’, none of which are overly revealing.
Of the networks that release revenue details, affilinet seems to be making the best progress. Unfortunately the picture is not a completely clear one as Sedo chooses not to reveal profits or losses for its affiliate segment, just sales. Its other domains-related part of the business is proving a real headache for Sedo, which saw its EBITDA drop 12% from approximately three million Euros to two.
As for the rest of the year, Sedo Holding expects its own revenue to grow by around 10%, which it predicts will be driven by the affiliate marketing business.