Interview with Kateryna Rybka – Affiliate Team Lead at Makeberry

Becoming a direct advertiser brought us closer to the products and provided far greater control over performance and decision-making. It also gave us much more flexibility when it comes to commercial terms and partnership models compared to a traditional network structure.

For affiliates, that means direct communication without intermediaries, more transparent analytics, and faster decision-making.

One of the biggest milestones was transforming from a traditional affiliate network into a full performance ecosystem in iGaming. That shift also drove major internal growth across the company. Throughout 2025, the Makeberry Affiliates team doubled in size, giving us the capacity to scale faster and expand into new areas of the business.

This included becoming a direct advertiser for several casino brands, strengthening our in- house media buying across Facebook, Google, SEO, and Influence channels, and building the foundation for our analytics hub. Together, these developments became the key drivers behind our growth over the past year.

The key is having clear processes and shared standards across the company, while still giving each brand enough space to develop in its own direction. That means every product under our affiliate management has its own positioning, strategy, and target audience.

For instance, RocketPlay is focused on a premium gaming experience, WinSpirit on a smooth and intuitive player journey, and LuckyHills on the concept of a vibrant Casino City.

Our focus for 2026 is mainly on expansion. That includes scaling high-quality traffic across key channels, entering new markets, and growing our product portfolio as a direct advertiser. There’s already a new brand in the pipeline that hasn’t been announced yet, and more will follow.

And of course, we’re continuing to strengthen long-term partnerships and grow Makeberry Affiliates’ presence across the global iGaming market.

For us, iGB London is a chance to meet partners face-to-face, strengthen existing relationships, and build new connections in a more informal atmosphere.

At the same time, events like this help us better understand where the industry is heading, which trends and innovations are shaping the market, and what insights we can bring back to improve the business further.

AffPapa Conferences have left a very positive impression on us thanks to the quality of the audience and the overall organisation. The events combine meaningful business discussions with real networking in a more relaxed atmosphere, which makes it much easier to build genuine connections within the industry.

As for long-term partnerships, for us they’re built on trust, transparency, and consistent communication. In the end, both sides need to know they can rely on each other.

Usually, it’s a mix of partner communication, traffic analysis, team syncs, and solving operational issues that can appear unexpectedly at any moment in affiliate marketing. Because of that, my priorities can shift literally within a few hours.

Some days get pretty intense, but those are often the most productive ones as well. Probably a familiar feeling for anyone working in this industry.

As the company grows, the number of partners, brands, and internal processes naturally increases as well. The biggest challenge is making sure that scaling never affects the quality of partnerships or day-to-day operations.

At the same time, the industry itself has become far more demanding. A few years ago, performance marketing was mostly about traffic volumes. Today, success depends much more on analytics, retention, localisation, and the ability to react quickly to real-time performance data.

Because of that, a big part of our focus is building processes that can scale together with the business while still remaining flexible and partner-oriented.

I’d like to see Makeberry Affiliates continue growing into a stronger and more mature performance ecosystem. That means expanding the portfolio, entering new markets, exploring new traffic opportunities, and continuing to build the infrastructure around the business.