A Year in Review with AffPapa's CEO Levon Nikoghosyan

AffPapa, the leading iGaming directory that bridges the gap between affiliates and operators, has evolved far beyond its foundational role as a directory. The company now extends its influence globally by hosting events that bring together key iGaming representatives. In an exclusive Mr.Gamble Q&A, AffPapa’s CEO, Levon Nikoghosyan, delves into a review of 2023, the newly introduced affiliate management services, their decision to add B2B providers to the AffPapa directory, and the exciting prospects awaiting in the iGaming Club calendar for 2024.

It has been almost a year since you have officially joined AffPapa and taken over the CEO role. What was 2023 like with your new challenges?

2023 was a rollercoaster for AffPapa. We have experimented a lot throughout the year, expanded variations of our services, added new locations in the portfolio of iGaming Club events. This year helped us shape the ecosystem we are going to build for the next couple of years. AffPapa has started as a connecting platform for iGaming affiliates and operators and our long-term strategy is built and aimed towards this simple mission.

Certainly, there has been a lot going on inside AffPapa. Let’s start with the newly launched management services. Can you tell a bit more about affiliate seeker, associate, and management?

AffPapa is a home for different types of operators—newly launched, top-tier, crypto-oriented, and licensed in different jurisdictions. Some of those operators were struggling with the performance of their affiliate departments. They were either lacking proper personnel or lacking experience in managing the team. Hence, we decided to help them with corresponding services. For those operators who have already established teams and require only an introduction to affiliates, we offer our affiliate seeker service. For operators without affiliate managers, we offer full management services with dedicated professionals integrated into their teams.

It goes without saying that our managers are backed up with the entire network of AffPapa; we have no issues finding new traffic sources for our operators. It is hard to imagine any other affiliate management service provider with a better network than ours. We can confidently state that we provide the best service for our customers.

iGaming Club has conducted 4 networking events during 2023. Every following event seemed to be more successful than the previous one. What does the iGC calendar look like for 2024?

iGaming.Club has been a very successful project, which I insisted on pushing hard for in 2023. The demand and pressure from our network to keep organizing those events were staggering. We were cornered to keep conducting iGC, and that's basically what we did throughout the year. We were lucky to partner up with NEXT.io and organize a joint conference-type event in Malta. Another collaboration with SBC allowed us to be one of the official opening events of SBC Barcelona.

Our 2024 calendar has a more ambitious outline, however. We're starting the year with iGaming Club London on February 6th, a special VIP dinner with limited seats to offer. It's a great opportunity for anyone looking to make stronger industry connections in a more exclusive setting. Even though we just announced it, almost half of the seats are already taken, so we're confident it's going to be another success.

Alongside our regular events, we will be hosting private events for some of our partners. Nonetheless, our largest project for 2024 would be the iGC Conference in Malaga, our new flagship conference-type event dedicated to affiliates, operators, and B2B providers.

Your flagship event in Malaga seems to be a major deal. Can you tell us a bit more about iGC Conference Malaga 2024? What are the dates and why Malaga?

As I already mentioned, demand creates supply, and after a successful 2023, we realized we must come up with a dedicated event for iGaming Club members. 2 days of intensive networking, the AffPapa Awards ceremony, speed dating, industry-leading speakers, booth zones, and much more.

We had a tough call choosing between Malaga and Marbella, which were two of the most voted locations in the survey for iGaming Club members. Eventually we went with Malaga due to a couple of logistical reasons: it has an airport with over 130 direct flights in Europe, better infrastructure, and more options for entertainment with local vibes.

We are expecting over 800 guests from across the world. The majority is from Europe, of course. I’m confident that our Club Members will obtain results beyond their expectations.

How does AffPapa contribute to iGaming Club’s industry growth? How do you ensure effective connections throughout the events?

Simply put, the events serve as a physical extension of the connections made on AffPapa and beyond. AffPapa is all about connecting industry members online, while iGaming Club focuses on fostering those connections offline. The synergy between the two has been instrumental in their growth. The strong network we’ve built over the years with AffPapa has also transferred in every project we do, including iGaming Club.

When it comes to ensuring effective connections, we meticulously curate the events to maintain the right balance, making sure we have a mix of attendees. In 2023, for example, the events successfully attracted over 1200 participants, with 45% representing operators, 40% affiliates, and 15% B2B providers. It's important for us to keep that balance and stay as the go-to platform connecting affiliates and operators, before anything else.

What are the strategic plans for AffPapa in the coming year, considering the directory’s current strong position?

AffPapa is gearing up for an exciting expansion in 2024. We’re building on our solid foundation of 1500+ affiliates and 250+ operators, with a primary focus on enhancing our affiliate management services to cater to a bigger audience of operators. After dedicating significant months to training our affiliate managers, we'll be onboarding new team members to ensure we remain in sync with the operators we have lined up to kickstart with the services.

Beyond growing our affiliate and operator network, we’ll also soon be introducing B2B providers to the AffPapa directory. There’s a growing demand from various providers in the industry looking to access our extensive operator directory, and just like everything, when we see demand we jump right in. Soon, we'll be facilitating connections between B2B providers and operators, building on our successful track record of connecting affiliates and operators since 2020. Stay tuned for more details on this, as well as other exciting announcements that will be unveiled as the year unfolds.

If you're looking to expand your network in the industry, check out AffPapa and iGaming Club to discover more about their offerings.