Sports affiliate marketing is not only about promoting major sporting events 2024. Advertising during top tournaments and matches is a proven way to drum up conversions for iGaming, VPN, Utility, E-commerce, or Subscription offers.
I you’re a media buyer or affiliate searching for multiplying your marketing output, check this post. We’ll share a sports calendar for affiliate marketers and list pro tips for acquiring traffic.
Why advertise during major sporting events in 2024?
There are at least 5 reasons why iGaming operators and affiliates increase conversions on the eve of the major tournaments:
- You know almost precisely when traffic will soar
- Millions of users are in high feather
- Relevant traffic: online users consume goods online and play games like no other
- Streaming websites and other sports-related platforms invest in driving more target traffic (organic, PPC, social)
- You can win quality clicks and conversions outside the mainstream competitive channels
Platforms for sports affiliate marketing
When looking for advertising sporting or iGaming offers, you must observe the market in 2 dimensions:
- best platforms for sports affiliate marketing offers
- best traffic sources for your offers
Speaking of traffic sources, we can recommend Adsterra as one of the most reliable networks for iGaming and Sports verticals. For over a decade, Adsterra publishers have been attracting massive audiences, boosting traffic on sporting, streaming, movies, and gaming sites. Users tend to engage with all content appearing on these sites on the eve and within the best tournament dates.
As for the best sporting affiliate programs, you need to consider the following criteria:
- Easy access to all features
- Transparent payment terms
- No hidden fees
- Various monetization options: CPA, CPL, RevShare, Hybrid
- 24/7 support
- Personal managers (usually available for top-performing partners)
- Minimum payouts and payment frequency
- Postback and backlink options
- Stats transparency
Sporting events in June 2024 | Monthly calendar for affiliates
This calendar of sporting events will be updated every month with a sharp focus on matches and fixtures that attract enormous traffic from publishers. Save the post to keep track of the primary traffic sources for your campaigns.
HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series
The World Rugby Championship embraced three continents from January to May. The Grand Final is set to be hosted in Spain in June 2024. Fans from around the world will be watching as the top eight men’s and women’s teams from the HSBC SVNS Series compete for the title of Series champions.
- Location: Grand Final in Madrid, Spain
- Dates in June: 31/05/2024 – 02/06/2024
- Countries participating: New Zealand, USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Fiji, France, Ireland, Japan, Spain, China, Poland, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, Belgium.
Brazil Championship Serie A
The Brazilian professional league (also known as the Campeonato Brasileiro) is the premier football competition in Brazil. The Brazil Championship 2024 is the most-watched football league in the Americas and one of the most widely broadcasted worldwide, being shown in 155 nations.
- Location: Brazil
- Dates in June: 02/06-29/06
| Brazil Championship Serie A | ||
| Flamengo – Paranaense | 02/06/2024 | |
| Atlético MG – Palmeiras | 02/06/2024 | |
| Flamengo – Bahía | 12/06/2024 | |
| Bragantino – Palmeiras | 12/06/2024 | |
| Atlético MG – Vitoria | 12/06/2024 | |
| Atlético MG – Fortaleza | 15/06/2024 | |
| Palmeiras – Juventude | 15/06/2024 | |
| Flamengo – Fluminense | 15/06/2024 | |
| Palmeiras – Fortaleza | 19/06/2024 | |
| Atlético MG – Internacional | 19/06/2024 | |
| Flamengo – Juventude | 19/06/2024 | |
| Palmeiras – Corinthians | 22/06/2024 | |
| Atlético MG – Atlético Gor. | 22/06/2024 | |
| Flamengo – Cruzeiro | 22/06/2024 | |
| Gremio – Palmeiras | 26/06/2024 | |
| Atlético MG – Flamengo | 26/06/2024 | |
| Flamengo – Cuiabá | 29/06/2024 | |
| Palmeiras – Bahía | 29/06/2024 | |
| Atlético MG – Botafogo | 29/06/2024 | |
Liga Profesional de Fútbol
The Primera División (also Liga Profesional de Fútbol or Torneo Sur Finanzas) is a professional football league in Argentina. The 2024 season will feature 28 teams and conclude on December 15th. The league draws audiences from beyond South America, including Europe, Africa, and the MENA region, with matches broadcast in over 80 countries.
- Location: Argentina
- Dates in June: 2/05 – 14/06
| Liga Profesional de Fútbol (Argentina) | |
| Platense – Boca Juniors | 02/06/2024 |
| River Plate – Tigre | 02/06/2024 |
| Godoy Cruz – Estudiantes | 03/06/2024 |
| Deportivo Riestra – River Plate | 13/06/2024 |
| Sarmiento – Estudiantes | 13/06/2024 |
| Boca Juniors – Veléz | 14/06/2024 |
Pan American Esports Games Rio-2024
The Rio 2024 Pan American Esports Games is more than just a tournament; it is a social and inclusive event that celebrates the passion for esports and provides opportunities for a vast community of gamers across Brazil. Top gamers from over 20 countries are expected to participate, competing for spots at the World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 4 to August 25, 2024.
- Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Dates in June: 01/06 – 09/06
- Countries participating: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, United States, Chile, Venezuela, Bahamas, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay will participate in the tournament.
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
The ninth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, hosted by the West Indies and USA, will take place this June. Twenty teams will compete in 55 matches for the title of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 champions. The tournament will be broadcast globally.
- Location: USA/Carribean
- Dates in June: 03/06 – 29/06
| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup | |
| LKA – ZAF | 03/06/2024 |
| ENG – SCT | 04/06/2024 |
| IND – IRL | 05/06/2024 |
| AUS – OMN | 05/06/2024 |
| NZL – AFG | 07/06/2024 |
| LKA – BGD | 07/06/2024 |
| NLD – ZAF | 08/06/2024 |
| AUS – ENG | 08/06/2024 |
| IND – PAK | 09/06/2024 |
| ZAF – BGD | 10/06/2024 |
| AUS – NAM | 11/06/2024 |
| USA – IND | 12/06/2024 |
| WIND – NZL | 12/06/2024 |
| BGD – NLD | 13/06/2024 |
| ENG – OMN | 13/06/2024 |
| ZAF – NPL | 14/06/2024 |
| NZL – UGA | 14/06/2024 |
| IND – CAN | 15/06/2024 |
| NAM – ENG | 15/06/2024 |
| AUS – SCT | 15/06/2024 |
| BGD – NPL | 16/06/2024 |
| NZL – PNG | 17/06/2024 |
| SUPER EIGHT STAGE | |
| SEMIFINALS | |
| to be announced soon | 26/06/2024 |
| to be announced soon | 27/06/2024 |
| FINAL | |
| to be announced soon | 29/06/2024 |
NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 2024 NBA Finals will be presented by YouTube TV, with ABC as the exclusive broadcaster.
- Location: USA
- Dates in June: 06/06 – 23/06
| NBA Finals | |
| Game 1 | 06/06/2024 |
| Game 2 | 09/06/2024 |
| Game 3 | 12/06/2024 |
| Game 4 | 14/06/2024 |
| Game 5 | 17/06/2024 |
| Game 6 | 20/06/2024 |
| Game 7 | 23/06/2024 |
UEFA EURO 2024
The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as UEFA Euro 2024, is the second-most watched football tournament globally, following the FIFA World Cup. Featuring 24 men’s national teams, UEFA Euro 2024 will be officially broadcasted worldwide via television and radio.
- Location: Germany
- Dates in June: 14/06 – 30/06
| UEFA EURO 2024 | |
| DEU – SCT | 14/06/2024 |
| ENG – SER | 16/06/2024 |
| AUT – FRA | 17/06/2024 |
| DEU – HUN | 19/06/2024 |
| DNK – ENG | 20/06/2024 |
| ESP – ITA | 20/06/2024 |
| NDL – FRA | 21/06/2024 |
| CHE – DEU | 23/06/2024 |
| FRA – POL | 25/06/2024 |
| ENG – SVN | 25/06/2024 |
| 1/8 FINALS | |
| 1st & 2nd match | 29/06/2024 |
| 3rd & 4th match | 30/06/2024 |
Copa América
The premier men’s football tournament is contested among national teams from South America. The Copa America is the oldest and still the most-running continental football competition and ranks as the third most-watched tournament globally. Matches will be officially broadcasted via TV in 26 countries.
- Location: the USA
- Dates: 20/06 – 02/07
| Copa América | |
| ARG – CAN | 20/06/2024 |
| URY – PAN | 23/06/2024 |
| BRA – CRI | 24/06/2024 |
| CHL – ARG | 25/06/2024 |
| BOL – URY | 27/06/2024 |
| PRY – BRA | 28/06/2024 |
| ARG – PER | 29/06/2024 |
| USA – URY | 01/07/2024 |
| BRA – COL | 02/07/2024 |
Tour de France
A prestigious annual men’s multi-stage bicycle race, predominantly held in France. In 2009, its most-watched stage garnered a global audience of 44 million, earning it the distinction of being the 12th most-watched sporting event worldwide that year.
- Location: Italy
- Dates: 29/06 – 30/06
| Tour de France | |
| Stage 1 (Rimini, Florence, 206 km) | 29/06/2024 |
| Stage 2 (Cesenatico, Bologne, 200 km) | 30/06/2024 |
UFC 302, UFC 303
The largest MMA promotion fights in the world.
| UFC | ||
| UFC 302 | 02/06/2024 | Location: Newark, USA |
| Fight Night Louisville | 09/06/2024 | |
| Fight Night Las Vegas | 16/06/2024 | |
| Fight Night Saudi Arabia | 22/06/2024 | |
| UFC 303 | 29/06/2024 | Location: Las Vegas, USA |
Formula 1
Formula One, or F1, is the most prestigious international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula cars. Having started in March, F1 will wrap up in December. Renowned for its massive global following, the races draw millions of watchers and fans.
| Formula 1 | ||
| Formula 1 AWS Grand Prix du Canada 2024 | 07/06/2024 – 09/06/2024 | Montreal, Canada |
| Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2024 | 21/06/2024 – 23/06/2024 | Barcelona, Spain |
| Formula 1 Qatar Airways Austrian Grand Prix 2024 | 28/06/2024 – 30/06/2024 | Spielberg, Austria |
French Open
The French Open, also known as Roland-Garros, is a prestigious tennis tournament held over two weeks at the iconic Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France.
- Location: Paris, France
- Dates: 01/06 – 09/06
| French Open | |
| 3rd-4th Rounds: Men&Women Singles; Men, Women & Mixed Doubles | 01/06/2024 – 04/06/2024 |
| 1/4 Finals: Men & Women Doubles; Men & Women Singles | 03/06/2024 – 05/06/2024 |
| 1/2 Finals: Men, Women, Mixed Doubles; Men & Women Singles | 05/06/2024 – 07/06/2024 |
| Finals: Men, Women, Mixed Doubles; Men & Women Singles | 06/06/2024; 08/06/2024 – 09/06/2024 |
Full calendar of sporting events 2024 for affiliate marketers
Users get highly engaged during the biggest world sporting events and willingly pay attention…and money if you offer something in their interest zone. Adsterra has built a sports schedule that embraces matches and championships taking place in 25+ countries. You will undoubtedly find a fresh source of high-intent audience for your offer.
List of top sporting events
- ⚽ Football
- 🎾 Tennis
- 🏅 Olympics
- 🏏 Cricket
- 🚗 Motor Sports
- 🏋️ Weightlifting
- ⛳ Golf
- 🚴 Cycling
- 🏀 Basketball
- 🥊 Boxing
- 💪 MMA/UFC
- 🏉 Rugby
- 🏈 American Football
- 🥋 Judo
- ⚫ Biathlon
- 🏒 Ice Hockey
- 🎮 Esports
Best ad formats for promoting sporting events & iGaming
Popunders
Popunders are winners when it comes to testing traffic or embracing massive audiences from any location of the globe. Adsterra sends 11.9B+ average monthly ad views from Pops (desktop and mobile devices.) Sports-related websites from Gaming, Streaming, and Entertainment niches widely use Popunders.
Social Bar
Social Bar is Adsterra’s proprietary ad format that also includes In-Page Pusn and Interstitials. When advertising at major sporting events, resort to this format after achieving stable output with Pounders. Why so? Mainly because Pops are more friendly for beginners and don’t require designing creatives.
Social Bar, with its 9.9B+ monthly ad impressions, is the best for scaling marketing campaigns. It allows for including up to 15 creatives per test, enhancing the impact of your message.
Adsterra gives free access to over 20 template creatives for Social Bar. Need a push-like message for your VPN/App campaign? Select In-Page Push skins. Want to draw full attention to your e-shop’s sale? Use Interstitials templates. In search of an alternative way to display your iGaming offer? Select Custom Widget + Interstitial + In-Page Push. It’s all up to your fantasy.
Top tips for running sports affiliate marketing campaigns
Let’s focus on how to buy traffic outside the main competitive channels. So, how can you cash in on this traffic?
Ensuring your offer is neat and relevant
Whether advertising an in-house offer or taking it from an affiliate network, testing the promoted product as a potential user is highly recommended. What to check:
- Landing page load speed and lead forms. If the page you lead all your traffic loads slowly, you will lose potential leads and deposits. The signup process must be smooth and easy to complete.
- Payment systems: players will deposit more often if you offer convenient payment options. Therefore, check if your local audience uses specific payment systems.
- Conversion flow: if you’re an agency or an affiliate, checking what you will be paid for is a must. Ensure you’re able to drive enough traffic to deliver such conversions. Installs and trials are easy-flow conversions that require little effort or payment. Deposits and credit card submissions are hard-flow conversions, as they demand entering payment data.
Final arrangements
Be on the alert for a selected match or tournament before 1 or 2 weeks.
- Design several ad creatives to start a test campaign without delays,
- Ensure you have enough money for the test ($100 will be enough in most cases for the test, except for big sports events like SuperBowl). And stay prepared to increase your bid when entering the most competitive
- Ensure your advertising network supports integration with your tracking system or allows adding third-party trackers.
Running a test campaign
- Start with Popunder ads, as they serve the most abundant traffic and allow you to land users directly on your landing page without extra steps.
- If you run an iGaming campaign in a big country, make sure you don’t target cities or regions that prohibit such ads within your geo. If there are some, apply for city targeting and exclude the unwanted cities.
- Set up one campaign per geo in your list; avoid adding multiple countries to one campaign even if the rest of the settings don’t change.
- In the same way, create one campaign for mobile and desktop traffic, one for iOS and one for Android devices.
- Avoid using too many traffic filters during testing to ensure maximum user coverage.
- Add daily spending limits to control your ad budgets.
- Match the offer’s conversion flow with a pricing model. With hard-flow conversions like deposits start with CPM pricing. Easy-flow conversions (software trials, app installs) are better to test with CPA pricing.
Pro tip: when you target a massive segment of traffic with conversions as your KPIs, apply intelligent tools like CPA Goal. CPA Goal will optimize the traffic you acquire for conversions while you will be paying for impressions (CPM) or clicks (CPC.)
Campaign optimization
Optimization is about repurposing your budgets to the best-performing traffic while eliminating the low-performing. Here are some basic steps to follow:
- Ensure you have enough data for optimization. With CPM campaigns and hard-flow conversions, you’ll need at least 5 to 7 days for a test. Fast conversions will come in the first hours after you launch a test.
- Avoid making global changes or altering several settings at once. Otherwise, you will get confused by the results and unable to check which move was successful and which yielded.
- Add a time range to your targeting to exclude dull hours when users may view ads but not take any actions.
- Scan through all ad placements and pick those with the highest results (clicks, conversions, deposits, etc). Apply Custom Bid to increase payouts only for these placements. In the same way, you can minimize bids for the lower-performing traffic sources.
- The optimization stage is perfect for forming blocklists and whitelists, adding the latter to a separate campaign with bumped-up payouts.
- Refresh creatives and pre-landing pages if you notice a drop in clicks and conversions.
- Finally, drop a line to Adsterra managers in the chat to unlock more tricks you can apply within your campaign to save money.
Bidding tactics
Despite we don’t recommend overbidding at the start, to win the best traffic in the event’s eve, you will have to compete. The amount of traffic usually soars one week before the match or tournament. You can multiply ad views and conversions, as well.
Here’s how ad views grow when one of the major cricket and football events is approaching:
Which bidding tactic to try, taking into account the increasing competition? Two bidding strategies are possible for your sports affiliate marketing campaign or alternative campaigns (e.g., VPN, E-commerce, iGaming):
- Smart CPM bidding. This tactic turns on right after you launch the campaign. You will need to enter a maximum bid for 1,000 of ad impressions. Smart CPM will pay higher than the next highest bidders to win auctions and acquire ads at the lowest possible cost.
- Manual bid adjustments. After testing traffic for a while, you will have a list of ad placements that perform nicely and those with insufficient results (it’s only possible when you enable conversion tracking). You can increase payouts only for those traffic sources that deliver maximum output. This is called Custom Bidding, and Adsterra provides a tool to apply this tactic.
Remember to reassess your bids, especially when the event is about 5 to 6 days away.
To Contents ↑What’s the best platform for sports affiliate marketing?
For a smoother start, we’ve prepared this updated list of high-profile affiliate programs with iGaming and sporting offers on board:
1. PlayCash
PlayCash collaborates with affiliate teams and offers 24/7 support from a personal manager. Their profile is iGaming and Sports only, providing selected offers from direct advertisers.
- Payouts: $200+ CPA, CPL up to $20, RevShare up to 65%
- Minimum payouts start with $100
- Traffic accepted: Europe, Latin America, CIS countries, Oceania
Advantages:
- Special payment conditions for top partners sending 20+ deposits per day
- Minimum payment hold or no hold
- Quality support for all partners
2. Pin-Up Partners
One of the most recognized sports affiliate marketing platforms, Pin-Up Partners focuses on serving loads of trending events every minute, including eSports (or cybersports). The platform is easy to use for both newbies and pros.
- Payouts: $25-50 CPA, RevShare up to 50%, RevShare+, Hybrid
- Minimum payouts start with: $50
- Traffic accepted: the US, Latin America, CIS Countries, India, Bangladesh, and others
Advantages:
- Payouts every 2 weeks (CPA) or upon request (RevShare)
- Lots of exclusive promo assets for affiliates
- Increased bonuses for top affiliates
- User-friendly workspace for desktop and mobile users
3. Entain Partners
Entain Partners hosts offers from multiple well-known sports brands like BWIN, Coral, Ladbrokes, Neds International, and Sportingbet and iGaming brands like Foxy Bingo, Gioco Digitaleas, Gala, and many others. They put partner loyalty first, developing lucrative conditions for affiliates and providing exclusive gaming experiences to players. Some 10K+ affiliates have joined Entain Partners, so far.
- Payouts: RevShare up to 35%
- Minimum payouts: your RevShare should exceed $100 in a calendar month so you get paid on time; if the amount is less than $100 the platform may withhold the payout till next calendar month.
- Traffic accepted: worldwide with focus on strategic markets: Italy, Greece, the UK, Spain, Canada, Brazil
Advantages:
- Premium brands and exclusive offers
- Multiple options for payout withdrawal
- CPA options available on request
- Multiple tools and helpful assets for affiliates, including trackers, banners, and a rich selection of creatives localized in multiple languages
4. GG Affiliates
world-renowned advertiser. This sports affiliate marketing program embraces over 50 countries and provides beneficial partnership terms for those who attract referrals (you will earn 5% on all income of attracted affiliates).
- Payouts: CPA, Hybrid, 40% to 60% RevShare for Sports/Esports offers and up to 55% for iGaming
- Minimum payouts start with: $20
- Traffic accepted: worldwide; Germany, Poland, and Switzerland for its main direct GG.BET offer
Advantages:
- A direct advertiser with lots of promo assets at your service
- Almost lo limits to geos and traffic sources
- Weekly payments
- 24/7 partner support
- Increased RevShare earnings for best-performing partners depending on the FTD number
5. 1WIN Partners
Another widely used sports affiliate marketing platform is 1WIN Partners. The platform strongly emphasizes communication with partners, offering local call centers, VIP and support hubs, welcome bonuses, and loyalty programs. With over 10,000 sporting events per day, it has already attracted over 100K affiliates.
- Payouts: CPA up to $250, RevShare from 50%
- Minimum payouts starts with: $100 with RevShare or a payouts per 10 qualified CPA players
- Traffic accepted: India, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Turkey, Azerbaijan are top-converting geos
Advantages:
- Payouts every 2 weeks (CPA) or upon request (RevShare)
- Lots of exclusive promo assets for affiliates
- Increased bonuses for top affiliates
- User-friendly workspace for desktop and mobile users
FAQ about sports affiliate marketing
Sports is an evergreen niche for affiliate marketing. Millions of fans are waiting for the upcoming sporting events to support their favorite teams and players. But that’s only one side of the story. Millions of users are in their highest mood waiting for a tournament to start, and you can benefit from this. Run VPN, E-commerce, Utility, and Subscription campaigns on the eve of and during the major sports events in 2024.
If you plan a sports-related campaign, start preparing at least 2 weeks before. Ensure you address the right audience, including the local nuances of running such campaigns, such as language, fan slang, and local star champions. Depending on an offer, you may or may not include event dates in your campaign, but anyway, leave time for the test, at least 5-7 days.
Your strategy will vary depending on the conversion flow. Prefer CPM pricing for complex conversions like players’ deposits and CPA for fast actions like app installs.
– Use pre-landing pages to filter out unwanted users (lead prequalifying)
– Offer valuable freebies and bonuses right in your creatives
– Add more traffic trying alternative OS and browsers
– Add mobile traffic
– Prefer high-quality images and icons but focus on the main message, stating real benefits
