Sportsbet and Tabcorp continue to dominate Australian online betting brand recognition, according to a new survey by Global Reviews.
The customer research firm says Paddy Power’s Aussie division Sportsbet and Tabcorp’s Tab.com site rule the brand recognition roost, with Sportsbet just south of 70% and TAB around 65%. The results are similar to Global Reviews’ previous surveys, which also found the two brands dramatically outpacing their local rivals.
Global Reviews commercial director Che Carbis said the results weren’t surprising, given the amount of consolidation and rebranding in the Aussie online business. Tatts Group recently rebranded its online sites under the new UBET moniker, while William Hill is in the process of amalgamating its Sportingbet, Centrebet and TomWaterhouse.com sites under the William Hill Australia umbrella.
Hills’ own brand has improved markedly from a year ago, although its recognition is still only around 10%. Meanwhile, the decreased promotion of TomWaterhouse.com has reduced its recognition by 10 points to 25%, while Centrebet fell by around half to 7% and the now defunct Sportingbet brand fell from 20% to just 6%.
Ladbrokes and Bet365 each scored around 15%, although Lads was up dramatically from around 6% last year while Bet365 slipped a few points. Unibet’s Aussie brand doubled its recognition to 10% and Tabcorp’s Luxbet brand was basically unchanged at 5%.
Tattsbet had risen as high as 12% in January but has since fallen back to around 5%, while Ubet has a long way to go to establish its presence, scoring just 4%. Casino operator Crown Resorts’ online operations have also undergone a significant restructuring, with the acquisition of Beteasy and its subsequent rebranding in March as CrownBet, which scored 8% recognition, tied with Crown’s Betfair Australasia brand.
Global Reviews said the overall results indicated the strong brands were getting stronger at the other firms’ expense. Around half of Sportsbet and TAB’s final preference scores came from punters who are either customers of other brands or those who aren’t customers of any betting brand. Compare that to BetEasy, Betfair, Ladbrokes, Unibet and William Hill, all of which were cited as final preference by existing customers only.
