Independent bets on ecommerce deal with gambling company

The Independent has linked up with Gambling.com Group for a multi-year ecommerce partnership.

In contrast, rival publisher Guardian Media Group recently banned gambling ads across all platforms, including its flagship Guardian and Observer brands. The ban spanned sports betting, online casinos and scratch cards but did not cover lottery ads.

It is the first deal Gambling.com has entered into outside the US and follows The Independent recording a pretax profit of $2.5 million for the financial year to 2 October 2022.

Its sixth year of profit, the digital news platform invested heavily in its US operations last year and also diversified its revenue sources in 2021 into ecommerce, licensing, syndication and reader revenues.

Gambling.com has previously partnered newspaper groups The McClatchy Company and Gannett in the US. 

Christian Broughton, managing director of The Independent, said that being chosen as Gambling.com Group’s first non-US media partner was demonstrative of The Independent’s scale and presence.

He added: “Our most recent annual results showed that the majority of our revenue is now no longer dependent on traditional advertising. The expansion of ecommerce partnerships is crucial in creating a regular, reliable revenue base on which to build the future of our thriving media brand.”

Its recent $2.5 million profit fell short of its previous financial year, which recorded $7.2 million in operating profits, but the publisher ascribed this to its US and UK editorial investment, as well as the decline in digital ad revenue.

Charles Gillespie, chief executive officer of Gambling.com, said: "Combining our proprietary data science platform and award-winning content team with leading media brands like The Independent is a proven recipe for success, as our existing media partnerships demonstrate."