The leadership of digital sports media group Better Collective believes that the operating benefits of its strategic transformation are becoming visible following end-of-year trading for 2025.

Q4 trading provided a return to growth for Better Collective. Revenue stood at €94m, down 2% year-on-year compared to €96m in Q4 2024, but increased 7% on an underlying basis when adjusting for FX impacts and negating tough comparative sports win margins.

The return to growth is underlined by EBITDA (before special items) reaching €37m, 10% above €34m recorded in Q4 2024. The earnings result marked “the highest quarterly EBITDA before special items in the company’s history,”  and lifted the earnings margin to 39% (Q4 2024: 35%).

Switching to a new operating model, Better Collective underscored the new KPI of Value of Deposits (VoD), which achieved a record €820m in Q4 (+13% quarter-on-quarter), reflecting  an  “improved quality of customer value prioritising revenue share deals.”

The emphasis on higher quality traffic saw media activities generate 305,000 new depositing customers (NDCs), down 25% year-on-year. Yet 73% of NDCs were registered on revenue-share agreements, signalling “continued maturation of recurring income streams.”

The slowdown in customer sign-ups reflects continued adjustments within Brazilian media operations (BOLA and Apuesta Legal), where onboarding of customers to partners has been impacted by promotional restrictions on welcome bonuses under the Bets regulatory regime.

Commenting on the close of 2025, Co-CEO Jesper Søgaard stated that Q4 demonstrated “the resilience and scalability of our model,” adding: “Despite external headwinds from currency and sports results, we delivered record quarterly EBITDA and an all-time high in deposits. This confirms the strength of our revenue share database and the improving quality of earnings as we transition toward a more recurring and predictable revenue base.”

For the full year, revenue declined 9% to €337m (2024: €371m), while EBITDA before special items stood at €102m (2024: €113m), representing a 30% margin.

In North America, Better Collective reported improving results as its transition toward clean revenue share continued to mature. Clean revenue share reached €17m for 2025, exceeding prior guidance of €10–15m, with regional margins improving to 28%, reflecting a higher-quality earnings base.

Publishing leads media transformation

Better Collective’s media network is increasingly weighted toward its higher-margin Publishing division, as management prioritises revenue-share growth over lower-margin paid acquisition channels.

Representing roughly 63% of total revenue and generating approximately €212m in income. Publishing units are viewed as the “core earnings engine of media”. 

The unit houses flagship US sports assets such as Action Network, Playmaker, VegasInsider and Yardbarker, alongside heritage European domains including BettingExpert.com. Delivering a 32% EBITDA margin before special items.

Publishing anchors the group’s recurring revenue-share model through high-intent organic traffic and owned audience scale. Paid Media, accounting for around 31% of revenue or approximately €105m, operates as a performance-driven acquisition arm across search, social and display channels.  

The Unit maintains structurally lower margin at 24% EBITDA, yet leadership views the division as vital for market entry, engagement and scale particularly in North America and developing markets.

As of 2025 Esports is considered a new unit of Better Collective, contributing roughly 6% of revenue or circa €20m, remaining the highest-margin segment at 53% EBITDA before special items. The unit is led by “community-driven platforms” such as HLTV and FUTBIN, generating diversified income through sponsorship, advertising and direct engagement.

“Our portfolio of premium sports and esports brands continues to demonstrate both resilience and scalability.” Søgaard remarked.

Assets like Action Network, Playmaker, HLTV and FUTBIN are not just traffic engines, they are community platforms with strong engagement and monetisation depth. 

The strength of our owned audiences allows us to drive higher-quality revenue share, scale Paid Media efficiently and expand new initiatives like Playbook and FanReach on a solid foundation of first-party data.”

Cautious 2026 guidance

Closing 2025 accounts, net profit after tax reached €24m, down from €40m in 2024. 

Net debt to EBITDA closed at the expected range of X2.5 as group debt stands at €260 as of December 2025. Better Collective’s group-wide transformation is  supported by a new €319m financing facility secured during the year.

Looking ahead, the group guides for 7–12% organic revenue growth in 2026 and EBITDA growth of 8–18%, alongside €40m in annual share buybacks.

Søgaard concluded: “2025 was a rebasing year. We now enter 2026 with a leaner cost base, a stronger recurring revenue mix and significant tailwinds from the World Cup. Our ambition remains clear — to scale as the leading global digital sports media group with improved margin quality and disciplined capital allocation.”