Catena Media in the US: why a top casino affiliate shrank
Catena Media bet on North America and search. Revenue fell from €110.1m in 2022 to €46.6m in 2025. What it bought, sold and cut, and what affiliates can learn.
Catena Media plc, a Malta-based casino and sports betting affiliate listed in Stockholm, reported €110.1 million in revenue for 2022 and €46.6 million for 2025. Part of the drop came from selling assets. On a like-for-like basis revenue fell 39% from 2023, and the company's reports point to Google search changes, ended media partnerships and softer US sports revenue.
Results at a glance
| Metric | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue, as first reported | €110.1m (2022) to €46.6m (2025) | Down 58%. Mixes perimeters: later reports exclude divested assets |
| Revenue, like-for-like | €76.7m (2023) to €46.6m (2025) | Down 39%. 2023 as restated in the 2024 report |
| Adjusted EBITDA | €50.1m (46% margin) to €9.9m (21% margin) | Company's adjusted measure, 2022 vs 2025 |
| North America share of revenue | 66% (2021), 77% (2022), 94% (2025) | €43.8m of €46.6m in 2025 |
| Impairments | €40.0m (October 2024), €16.5m (Q3 2025) | Non-cash write-downs of sports and casino assets |
| Headcount | Over 450 (February 2023) to over 150 (February 2026) | Company "About" figures; the earlier one includes staff of units later sold |
All figures are from Catena Media's year-end reports for 2022, 2024 and 2025 unless noted. Percentages are our arithmetic.
Context
Catena Media plc is headquartered in Malta and describes itself as a business that generates high-value leads for online casino and sports betting operators. Its shares trade on Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker CTM. They moved to the main market from Nasdaq First North Premier in September 2017.
The model is classic affiliate publishing. The group owns a portfolio of comparison, review and betting-tips sites. They rank in search, send readers to licensed operators and earn either a one-off fee per depositing player or a share of that player's revenue. Our guide to CPA vs RevShare vs hybrid deals covers how each pays.
When US states began to legalise online sports betting and, in a few cases, online casino, North America looked like the market that could carry the next decade of growth. The company shifted its weight there. State-by-state rules are summarised in our guide to whether online gambling is legal in the US.
What Catena Media did
Catena Media in the US: buying a sports position
In May 2021 Catena Media bought Lineups.com, a US sports betting affiliate, for $39.6 million in cash paid in three instalments over two years. Lineups had about $7.5 million of sales in the twelve months before the deal. Michael Daly, then CEO, presented it as a way to strengthen the group's position in US betting.
North America grew quickly. Regional revenue rose from €67.9 million in 2021 to €84.5 million in 2022, taking its share of group revenue from 66% to 77%.
Selling non-US assets and doubling down
A strategic review announced in May 2022 ended with two exits, both completed at the end of January 2023:
AskGamblers and associated global casino brands, sold to Gaming Innovation Group for €45 million on a cash- and debt-free basis.
The Financial Trading segment, sold to its management.
The company said it would concentrate on regulated North American markets. It also appointed Carnegie Investment Bank to look at further options for the remaining assets. By June 2024 it was referring to "proceeds from our recent divestments" that would help it repay a senior bond due in 2025.
Media partnerships
Alongside its own sites, the group ran what it called strategic media partnerships: deals with publishers whose sites carried betting and casino content. Some of these deals included minimum guarantees, which the company booked as direct costs.
A new operating model
In 2024 a new board and management team moved the group to a "product-focused operating model". By early 2025 Manuel Stan was CEO. The 2024 year-end report said the company had spread resources too thinly and would now concentrate on its best-performing sites and products. It also closed an AI content joint venture and wrote off €1.2 million on it.
Results
Revenue fell in each year from 2023 to 2025, though only by 6% in 2025. Adjusted EBITDA fell until 2024 and recovered in 2025:
| Year | Revenue | Adjusted EBITDA | North America revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | €110.1m | €50.1m | €84.5m (77%) |
| 2023 | €76.7m | €25.4m | €67.1m (87%) |
| 2024 | €49.6m | €5.4m | €43.9m (88%) |
| 2025 | €46.6m | €9.9m | €43.8m (94%) |
The 2022 row is as first reported. The 2023 row is restated in the 2024 report, so the step from 2022 to 2023 is not like-for-like. We did not find a company-stated cause for that step in the reports used here, and it came before Google's 2024 update. From 2023 to 2025, on the same perimeter, revenue fell 39%. New depositing customers fell from 354,050 in 2022 to 106,510 in 2025.
In June 2024 the company still forecast a return to revenue growth in the second half of the year. Full-year 2024 revenue then fell 35%, and reported EBITDA turned slightly negative at minus €0.3 million. Cash dropped from €38.5 million to €8.5 million over the year, and the €10 million revolving credit facility was repaid in full in the fourth quarter.
The cost work then showed up in margins. In 2025 revenue fell another 6%, yet adjusted EBITDA rose 84% to €9.9 million. In the fourth quarter revenue rose 53% to €15.6 million. Adjusted EBITDA of €4.7 million was the highest since the first quarter of 2023, at a 30% margin (15% a year earlier). The company said its subaffiliation platform, MRKTPLAYS, contributed significantly to subaffiliation growth. Management also said it did not expect a material upturn in sports in the short term.
What did not work
Search concentration. On March 5, 2024, Google announced a site reputation abuse policy, in force from May 5, 2024. On June 20, 2024, the company said the update hurt the rankings of betting and casino content on many major news sites, reducing the effectiveness of some of its media partnerships. It guided second-quarter revenue to €12.5 million to €13.5 million. Citing the update and its own move to a new operating model, it withdrew its full-year adjusted EBITDA forecast. The same release noted that some owned brands gained traffic. In its 2024 year-end report the group also blamed two Google updates in the fourth quarter for "high volatility" in its casino-facing organic search. Our iGaming SEO guide covers how those updates are read.
Partnership costs. The partnerships the company chose not to renew contained more than €1.4 million per quarter in minimum guarantees, booked as direct costs. It said the update would reduce both revenue and direct costs from these deals, and that exiting the guarantees was one part of its plan to improve margins. Ending them was also expected to cut content costs by €0.7 million to €1.0 million a year.
Write-downs. In October 2024 the company booked a €40.0 million non-cash impairment on specific sports and casino assets after changing its operating model. A further €16.5 million followed in the third quarter of 2025, covering North American sports and Asia-Pacific casino assets. The reports do not name the assets or say which acquisitions they came from.
One region, one engine. Selling AskGamblers and the other global casino brands made the group simpler, but by 2025 North America was 94% of revenue. With that share, there was little revenue elsewhere to offset a weaker sports quarter. Sports revenue fell slightly in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with the third.
Headcount. In late 2024 the group cut headcount by more than 10%, and streamlined content production and marketing teams for an expected saving of €2.2 million a year from 1 November 2024. It "rightsized" again in the first half of 2025.
Takeaways for affiliates
Treat organic rankings as rented, not owned. The company withdrew its full-year forecast in June 2024, citing a Google policy change and its own reorganisation. Build email, app, community or sub-affiliate income that does not depend on a single algorithm; by late 2025 subaffiliation was one of its growth lines.
Be careful with minimum guarantees on traffic you do not control. Catena exited partnership deals carrying more than €1.4 million a quarter of them.
Watch geographic concentration as closely as channel concentration. Selling the global casino brands sharpened the US focus but left 94% of revenue in one region.
Value your assets on durable traffic. Catena wrote down €56.5 million of sports and casino assets within a year (October 2024 to Q3 2025), not counting the €1.2 million AI joint venture write-off.
Compare with peers that diversified. Better Collective leaned into subscriptions and media, and Gambling.com Group into data products.
FAQ
What does Catena Media do?
Catena Media runs affiliate websites that compare and review online casinos and sportsbooks. It sends readers to licensed operators and is paid per depositing player or through a share of revenue. It is headquartered in Malta.
Is Catena Media a public company?
Yes. Catena Media plc shares trade on Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker CTM, on the main market since September 2017. Check the exchange for the current share price.
Why did Catena Media's revenue fall?
Part of the fall reflects divestments. The company also cites the May 2024 Google site reputation abuse update hitting its media partnerships, Google updates in late 2024 and softer sports revenue. Like-for-like revenue fell from €76.7 million in 2023 to €46.6 million in 2025.
Who runs Catena Media?
As of February 2026, Manuel Stan is CEO and Michael Gerrow is CFO, according to the company's 2025 year-end report. Michael Daly was CEO during the 2021 US expansion.
