Better Collective posts positive Q1 with 5% organic growth

EBITDA before special items climbed 14% to €25 million, reflecting a margin of 29%. Net profit after tax totalled €7 million, almost doubling from the prior year period.

The number of new depositing customers (NDCs) was 308,000 during Q1, broadly flat year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, with 77% on revenue share contracts, compared to 73% in Q4 2025. Activity levels were held back by regulatory changes in Brazil, including the ban on welcome bonuses, which redirected some users toward unlicensed operators and weighed on volumes. Value of deposits, however, rose 15% year-on-year to €799 million, indicating an improvement in traffic quality. 

Growth was mainly supported by paid media, talent-led media and North American revenue share agreements. Recurring revenue reached €50 million, representing a 2% increase, while North American revenue share income surged 46% to €6 million as the company continues its transition toward a more stable and higher-quality income stream. 

Summarising the results, Better Collective co-CEO Jesper Søgaard said Q1 was “a quarter of stable growth execution and continued strategic progress”. 

“We delivered as we expected, with some underlying elements performing better than headline numbers suggest,” he said. “We continue to navigate short-term external headwinds in selected markets, while investing in and advancing the initiatives that we believe will drive meaningful long-term value creation.”

Segment performance

The group’s publishing revenue grew 1% to €54 million, accounting for 63% of group revenue. Growth was driven by a 19% rise in sponsorship income, supported by talent-led sports media brands and spearheaded by Playmaker HQ. However, CPA revenue declined 25% year-on-year and CPM income fell 11%, partly due to advertisers delaying spend ahead of the FIFA World Cup.

Paid media delivered the strongest growth among the core segments, with revenue increasing 12% to €28 million or 17% in constant currencies. EBITDA for the division rose 25% to €7 million as the company scaled investments in marketing supported by proprietary AI models. Management continued to increase investments in this sector during Q1, with spending up 10%. 

Esports returned to growth with revenue up 8% to €5 million. Sponsorship income rose 29%, driven by strong demand for the HLTV platform, while cost reductions of 29% boosted EBITDA to €3 million, corresponding to a margin of 62%. In contrast, CPM revenue declined 31% due to a weaker performance of the latest EA FC title. Projects such as FanReach have been initiated to mitigate this development and support future growth. 

Strategic priorities: prediction markets and Playbook

Better Collective previously vowed to “significantly scale” into prediction markets, having secured partnerships with leading operators and launched related offerings across key brands. Søgaard noted that the category has been performing ahead of expectations on both user interest and commercial traction, highlighting the intensifying competition among prediction market platforms to attract users as an expansion opportunity for the company. 

“We expect additional players to enter the field throughout the year, and we view this as further evidence of the size and relevance of the opportunity,” the CEO said. 

“Better Collective is well-positioned to benefit from this development through our strong sports audience reach, our commercial capabilities and our ability to connect users with relevant and trusted offerings across fast-evolving sports and sports-related categories.”

Another strategic priority is the affiliate’s AI-driven betting tool Playbook. During Q1, Better Collective extended its partnership with X to include a new global agreement and enhanced product features, including the introduction of the tool into direct messaging. 

Søgaard positioned Playbook as central to the group’s long-term value generation, sitting at the intersection of media, product and monetisation. “Over time, we believe Playbook can become a core platform for sports bettors worldwide: one that streamlines the path from intent to action, reduces friction in the user journey and improves discovery,” he said. “The future winners in our industry will not only be those with reach, but those who can create better user journeys.”

Gearing up for the World Cup 

Looking at Q2, Søgaard expects the upcoming FIFA World Cup to be “one of the largest business catalysts” in the industry. He revealed that the team has been preparing for the tournament for over a year, anticipating increased user acquisition, reactivation and engagement. At the same time, tax increases in the UK and Brazil are forecast to negatively impact EBITDA by around €8 million.

Better Collective  maintained its full-year 2026 guidance, targeting organic revenue growth of 7 to 12%, EBITDA growth of 8 to 18%, with net debt to EBITDA below 3x and €40 million in annual share buybacks.