Affiliate intelligence platform DeepCI was a double winner at the 19th edition of the iGB Affiliate Awards, held on the final night of iGB Affiliate London
The EveryMatrix-owned business walked away with the Best Tech for Affiliate Programmes and Rising Star awards at the event held on 8 February at London’s Troxy, the latter recognising high-growth companies founded between two and five years ago. It also received a ‘highly commended’ nod from the judges in the Innovator of the Year category.
“Proven to be able to do something for programmes that they haven’t been able to do before”, said one judge of DeepCI’s winning submission in the best programme tech category.
Igaming affiliate agency TAG Media also showed it hadn’t rested on its laurels following its double-winning performance last year, edging out Blexr to retain its Best Affiliate Employer crown, with one judge likening it to the “best pound-for-pound fighter in a tough division”.
In the headline awards for affiliates, Better Collective remained the one to beat in the Best Sports Betting Affiliate category, one judge praising the “[A]mazing growth and diversification from this powerhouse”. In the Best Casino Affiliate category, Gambling.com Group’s marginally superior growth in the assessment period helped it secure a narrow victory over GiG Media in this year’s battle of the listed behemoths.
NoviAffiliates also sprung a surprise in the highly competitive Best Affiliate Programme category, ending Bet365 Partners' unbeaten run going back to 2021 when the separate vertical awards for programmes were unified into one category.
“What they have achieved for affiliates within their company is enormous” said one judge of NoviAffiliates’ leveraging of the latest tools to support across-the-board KPI growth and geo expansion. Another praised “the quality of the interaction, conversations and work they put in.”
Bet365's affiliate team did not go home empty handed from the Troxy however, Abi Williamson landing one of the big two individual Awards as Best Affiliate Manager.
The loudest cheer of the ceremony though was reserved for the recipient of the other individual award, Richard Moffat of OLBG (pictured below), a hugely popular and humble winner of iGBA's Affiliate Idol aka Lifetime Achievement Award.
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In a video screened on the night, peers Anthony Hodgetts, Shona ODonnell, Tom Galanis and Guy Harding paid tribute to his achievements, including leadership in creating “the leading horse racing community in the UK...and a platform that affiliate managers have queued up to do deals with", and “bossing share-of-voice metrics, beating even accomplished brands such as Paddy Power”.
Clarion Gaming MD Alex Pratt, a member of the internal panel that selected Moffat as the iGB Affiliate Idol for 2024, also highlighted Moffat’s personal qualities. “I feel like you have been as much a part of our journey as much as we have been part of yours over the past 15-20 years.
“You are one of the kindest people, personally to me, but also to our business for years, always helping me at the start when I didn’t know what was going on.”
The full list of iGB Affiliate Award winners for 2024 is as follows:
Affiliate categories
Safer Gambling Initiative of the Year: Casino Guru
Best Sports Betting Affiliate: Better Collective
Best Bingo Affiliate: BingoPort
Best Poker Affiliate: Onlinepoker.se (Highly commended: PokerNews)
Best Casino Affiliate: Gambling.com Group (Highly commended: GiG Media)
Best Streaming Affiliate: Kingbet Media
Affiliate Employer of the Year: TAG Media (Highly commended: Blexr Limited)
Best Crypto Affiliate: Gamblineers
Marketing Campaign of the year : Checkd Group and William Hill
Individual categories
Best Affiliate Manager: Abi Williamson - Bet365 Partners
Affiliate Idol aka Lifetime Achievement Award: Richard Moffat - OLBG
Programme and network categories
Best Affiliate Network: CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com (Highly commended: Matching Visions)
Best Affiliate Programme: NoviAffiliates by Novibet (Highly commended: Bet365 Partners)
Service provider categories
Best Digital Agency: Revpanda (Highly commended: TAG Media)
Best Tech for Affiliate Programmes: DeepCI from EveryMatrix (Highly commended: Rightlander Ltd)
Game of the Year: Pragmatic Play - Big Bass Bonanza Keeping It Reel
Best Tech for Affiliates: Statsdrone
Open to all
Best Newcomer: Media 24 (Highly commended: 2rbo Affiliates and Affiliate Roulette)
Innovator of the Year: Oddsium (Highly commended: DeepCI from EveryMatrix)
Rising Star: DeepCI from EveryMatrix