Lottoland: Profitable Launch, Saturated Market
Context
Lottoland Casino, a brand traditionally known for its digital-first affiliate strategy, sought to break into the UK television market in 2023. While the casino sector is notoriously cluttered—with 26 active brands spending approximately £41 million on TV that year—Lottoland aimed to enter the space with a modest budget of £350,000 to prove that TV could drive brand growth and a positive return on investment.
Connection
Leveraging IMA’s deep industry and TV expertise, the team crafted a hyper-efficient media strategy. We profiled TV stations against a specific target of ABC1 men aged 25–54, building a mix of Sky and smaller sales houses like Media 15 and 360 Media. To navigate gambling regulations, all spots were scheduled post-9pm.
Central to the approach was the use of Adalyser for granular attribution. While initial results were slow to bed in, IMA used this data to pivot and optimise. We introduced a 10-second cut-down of the original "direct response" 30-second ad to maximise impacts and stretch the budget. Furthermore, we refined the schedule by focusing spend around paydays and strategically adding Channel 4 stations to the mix to build incremental reach.
IMA acted as a key strategic partner throughout, providing the reassurance and data-led insights needed to stay the course during the initial six-month "bedding-in" period.
Impact
- 30% The campaign achieved an impressive 3.93 ROI in 2023, which climbed to 5.11 by the end of 2024.
- X3 Lottoland’s share of search more than tripled, rising from 4% in 2023 to 13% by the end of 2024.
- 3% Across 2024, the campaign saw a consistent 3% monthly improvement in Cost Per First Time Deposit (CPFTD).
Strategic Expansion
The success of the TV campaign has led to a sustained partnership into 2025 and 2026, with increased budgets and expansion into new channels, including Sponsorship, VOD and YouTube.
