Better Collective Q2 2026: Revenue Up 9% To €89m As North America Margin Rises From 5% To 26%
On 20 August 2026, Better Collective reported its Q2 2026 results. Revenue rose 9% to 89 mEUR, and EBITDA before special items rose 20% to 27 mEUR. The margin before special items went up two percentage points to 30%. It was a solid quarter, but the clearest story sits in one region.
North America led the way. The regional EBITDA margin before special items climbed from 5% in Q2 2025 to 26% in Q2 2026, a big move in a single year that shapes how the whole result should be read. The quarter also builds on the AI-led growth strategy set out in the group’s 2025 annual report.
North America Turns From 5% To 26% Margin For Better Collective
Better Collective has been shifting its North American business toward revenue share income for some time, and in Q2 2026 that shift showed up clearly. Revenue share income in the region rose 49% to 6 mEUR, and North American EBITDA before special items grew from 1 mEUR to 6 mEUR. Growth was driven by revenue share, talent-led media and prediction markets, with regional revenue rising to 24 mEUR from 18 mEUR a year earlier.
Inside Better Collective’s Q2 Revenue And Cash Flow
Group revenue reached 89 mEUR, up from 82 mEUR. By type, revenue share made up 49% of the total, CPA 22%, sponsorships 18%, CPM 6% and subscriptions 5%. Recurring revenue rose 2% to 53 mEUR and accounted for 60% of the total. Sponsorship revenue rose 39%, supported by Playmaker HQ and HLTV. CPA revenue increased 11% to 19 mEUR, with North American CPA up 50% to 5 mEUR, mainly from prediction markets. CPM revenue was the one declining line, down 16%, as advertiser budgets shifted toward sponsorship activations around the NBA Finals and the FIFA World Cup.
Costs increased 5% to 62 mEUR, below the 9% revenue growth, which is what allowed the margin to expand. Direct costs rose to 27 mEUR, while staff costs fell 2% to 26 mEUR on a lower average headcount. Cash flow from operations before special items rose 59% to 30 mEUR, a cash conversion of 111%. Profit after tax increased to 8 mEUR from 5 mEUR, earnings per share rose to EUR 0.15 from EUR 0.09, and diluted earnings per share rose to EUR 0.14 from EUR 0.08.
How Better Collective’s Three Segments Performed
Publishing, the largest segment, grew revenue 11% to 58 mEUR, with EBITDA before special items up 26% to 17 mEUR and the margin improving from 26% to 29%. Paid Media revenue rose 6% to 27 mEUR, led by a 10% rise in revenue share income, with EBITDA before special items up 6% to 7 mEUR at a margin of around 26%. Esports revenue rose 9% to 5 mEUR on a 24% increase in sponsorship, and its EBITDA before special items grew 23% to 3 mEUR as the margin improved from 56% to 63%.
FIFA World Cup 2026 Lifts Deposits To A Record
The FIFA World Cup 2026 gave the business the boost it expected. New Depositing Customers grew 24% to 373,000, of which 70% came through revenue share agreements. Value of Deposits reached an all-time high of 836 mEUR, up 17% year on year and 5% quarter on quarter. Better Collective also launched its AI-powered betting product Playbook in Brazil ahead of the tournament, first through X, Telegram and Discord. Within Publishing, it scaled an agentic content tool and its Better SAID tipster tool to lift page views and efficiency during the tournament.
What Better Collective’s Q2 Means For Sportsbook Partners
The North American margin jump is the first clear evidence that the revenue share build-up is paying off at scale. Value of Deposits hitting a record, along with NDC growth, points to a deposit base that can feed future revenue share income rather than a one-off World Cup spike. For sportsbook partners weighing affiliate models, that change in the margin profile is the signal worth tracking.
UK And Brazil Regulation Bite Into Better Collective’s Year
The quarter had headwinds too. Better Collective flagged an approximately 2 mEUR negative impact from the UK Remote Gaming Duty rising from 21% to 40%, effective 1 April, and a further approximately 2 mEUR hit from regulatory changes in Brazil. Across 2026, the company expects these to reduce EBITDA before special items by around 8 mEUR.
Better Collective Holds Its Full-Year Guidance
Better Collective kept its full-year guidance unchanged: organic revenue growth of 7–12%, EBITDA before special items growth of 8–18%, 40 mEUR in share buybacks, and net debt to EBITDA below 3x. It completed 8 mEUR of buybacks in Q2 and 14 mEUR across the first half, with leverage at 2.31x. Equity stood at 645 mEUR and the group held 80 mEUR in capital reserves against 319 mEUR of credit facilities. Its 2027–2028 targets include an EBITDA margin before special items of 35–40%. After the quarter closed, the group also launched in Alberta, Canada, taking its North American revenue share model into a newly regulated market.
In the results announcement, Co-founder and Co-CEO Jesper Søgaard commented: “Q2 was a strong quarter for Better Collective, with organic revenue growth of 9% translating into 20% growth in EBITDA before special items to 27 mEUR. We are particularly encouraged by the progress in North America, where growth was driven by revenue share income, talent-led media and prediction markets, while the EBITDA margin before special items improved significantly from 5% to 26%. The FIFA World Cup provided the expected boost to the quarter. With full-year guidance maintained, we remain focused on profitable growth, continued operating leverage and building an increasingly scalable and efficient Better Collective.”
The number that defines this quarter is not the 9% top line. It is the jump in North America’s margin from 5% to 26%, the point where a long transition turned into a clear result.
Source: Better Collective
