Q1 2026: €347M Revenue, 108% Retention – Sportradar Expands Its Data Empire Under Carsten Koerl
Sportradar opened 2026 with stronger operating momentum, reporting first-quarter revenue of €346.5 million, up 11% year-on-year, while adjusted EBITDA increased 12% to €66 million, lifting margin to 19.0%. Despite that operating growth, the company posted a €6.3 million net loss, largely due to foreign exchange swings tied to US dollar-denominated sports rights exposure.
The underlying picture is stronger than headline profit suggests.
Financial Performance and Cash Flow Strength
Free cash flow rose 38% to €44.0 million, operating cash flow reached €109.2 million, and customer net retention hit 108% excluding IMG contributions, indicating continued expansion within existing accounts.
Management also accelerated capital returns, repurchasing roughly $90 million of stock in the quarter before launching a further $250 million enhanced open-market buyback programme.
IMG Acquisition and Revenue Mix Transformation
Impact on Core Betting and Gaming Content
The clearest operational takeaway is the immediate impact of acquired IMG ARENA rights inventory.
Betting & Gaming Content – Sportradar’s core monetisation engine – grew 20% to €232.2 million, driving a 15% increase in Betting Technology & Solutions revenue to €287.6 million.
Strategically, IMG is doing far more than adding revenue. It expands Sportradar’s premium rights inventory, strengthens content bundling, improves upsell economics and increases operator switching costs, while deepening the company’s competitive infrastructure advantage. This is platform scaling, not simply acquisition contribution.
Segment Performance and Growth Imbalance
Declining and Growing Segments
Not all segments are moving in the same direction, which highlights where Sportradar’s momentum is strongest.
Managed Betting Services declined 2%, Marketing & Media Services fell 9%, and Sports Performance dropped 6% during the quarter. Integrity Services surged 81%, though from a smaller revenue base.
Taken together, the mix suggests Sportradar’s strongest momentum remains concentrated in core sportsbook data, live content and rights monetisation, while marketing-linked revenues remain softer and trading services remain exposed to sporting-result volatility.
Regional Performance and US Growth Gap
International Markets vs United States
A notable data point in the quarter was the widening geographic growth gap.
Rest of World revenue increased 14%, while US revenue rose only 4%, reducing the US contribution to 26% of group revenue from 28% a year earlier.
For a supplier heavily exposed to North American betting expansion, this suggests international markets are currently carrying more of the growth burden, while US operator spending is normalising. It also indicates overseas rights monetisation may now offer stronger near-term returns than US market expansion alone.
Strategic Expansion Beyond Sportsbook Data
New Products, Partnerships and Market Expansion
Commercially, Sportradar is steadily widening its addressable market beyond traditional sportsbook data services.
The launch of Playradar as a regulated-market iGaming content brand, an expanded partnership with Hard Rock Bet, a five-year integrity renewal with FIFA through 2031, and a new Brazilian basketball rights distribution agreement all reinforce that strategy.
Together, these moves show Sportradar increasingly monetising sports rights across data, audiovisual, betting markets, integrity services and gaming content – a model that expands operator wallet share and increases cross-sell potential.
Source: Sportradar
