Better Collective strengthens its focus on esports, led by HLTV and FUTBIN
Two of the most influential community platforms in global Esports, HLTV and FUTBIN, position Better Collective for continued growth and deeper fan engagement. From Q2 2025 onwards, Better Collective will report Esports as a stand-alone business segment.
Regulatory release no. 33/2025
As announced in Better Collective’s Q1 2025 report, the company will begin reporting Esports as a standalone business segment from Q2 2025 results, to be published on August 20, 2025. The move underlines the strategic importance of Esports and follows the company’s new operating model, which now rests on three global business units: Publishing, Paid Media, and Esports.
Since entering Esports in 2020, Better Collective has built a meaningful presence around deeply engaged communities. Separating the segment will provide investors and partners with clearer visibility while allowing product teams to move faster on fan-focused innovation. In 2024, the Esports segment contributed 20 mEUR to Better Collective’s revenue with a strong profitability of 60%.
Jesper Søgaard, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Better Collective:
“We see Esports as a powerful growth engine for Better Collective going forward. With HLTV and FUTBIN, we own two of the most respected and influential community platforms in global Esports, giving us a rare opportunity to serve millions of passionate fans and grow alongside the scene. By establishing Esports as its own segment, we sharpen our strategic focus, increase transparency, and create room to invest even faster in new features, content, and partnerships, so we can unlock the full potential of these communities. Platforms that are deeply embedded in the fabric of Esports are hard to replicate, and we are committed to nurturing them for the long‑term benefit of fans, partners, and shareholders alike.”
Well‑positioned brands with room to grow
HLTV is the world’s leading Counter-Strike media and community platform, drawing around 350 million monthly page views on average, 26 million unique users over the last twelve months, and 1.6 million followers across social channels. Moreover, June was a record month, with 540 million monthly page views. Founded in 2002 and part of Better Collective since 2020, it keeps the CS2 fan base engaged with live matches, breaking news, in-depth statistics, and the definitive world player & team rankings. Engagement runs deep: 95% of users are male, 78% are aged 18-34, about 80% visit at least once a day, and sessions average more than eight minutes – figures that make the brand a premium destination for advertisers.
HLTV’s content ecosystem stretches far beyond the website: Fans tune in for MVP & Player-of-the-Year features, the “HLTV Confirmed” podcast & media studio, the annual HLTV Awards show, and a wildly popular fantasy game that lets users draft rosters for every top tournament. Monetization is driven primarily by direct advertising and sponsorships that capitalise on HLTV’s trusted voice and global reach. Recent initiatives – most notably the expanded annual award show and on-site data enhancements – reflect an ongoing commitment to growing CS2 in partnership with stakeholders, such as the game producer Valve. Importantly, HLTV’s founders remain actively involved and continue to guide product and community strategy within Better Collective.
FUTBIN is the go-to platform for EA Sports FC players – their daily companion for real-time player databases, squad builders, market insights, and gameplay tools. The platform delivers approximately 10 billion impressions per month, 4 billion monthly page views, 160 million monthly visits, more than 20 million unique users each month, and 2.5 million social followers across various channels, holding around an 80% market share in its category. Since joining Better Collective, FUTBIN has migrated to the BC technology stack, resulting in faster performance and a cleaner interface that helps fans move from insight to action quickly. The ongoing rollout of AdVantage, Better Collective’s advertising technology, has already enhanced the ad experience, is expected to lift CPMs, and open more premium partner opportunities. The audience is 95% male, with 18–34 as the core age group (90% of 18+ users are 18-25), and a pronounced Gen Z and Millennial overlap with football fandom. Brand collaborations that align with the cultural intersection of football and gaming perform especially well on the platform. Building on recent product and commercial progress, upcoming priorities include richer creator-led content (podcasts and in-house formats in both long and short form), interactive features that deepen user connection, and a structured content production strategy for global and key regional football markets. Over time, revenue is expected to balance more evenly between premium content partnerships and direct brand deals rather than relying almost exclusively on programmatic ads. Capabilities added through the Playmaker Capital acquisition will support advertisers through this transition, as monetization moves increasingly in-house with a stronger focus on direct sales in core geographies.
Further information on HLTV and FUTBIN's audience, monetization, and more can be found in the attached documents.
The strength of HLTV and FUTBIN not only reinforces Better Collective's position in the growing Esports industry but also enhances business diversification, positioning Better Collective to benefit from evolving industry trends. Crucially, both platforms reach a gaming-native demographic that is significantly younger than Better Collective’s traditional sports audience - providing Better Collective early access to the “future audience” that will shape digital sports consumption in the coming decade. Both brands already command sizable global audiences - particularly in North America and Europe - and provide multiple levers for future growth. Additionally, strong brand recognition makes these assets attractive within the broader digital sports media advertising landscape.
The financial performance of the Esports segment can be found here (revenue in mEUR):
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| 18.9 | 22.2 | 20.4 |
Since acquiring the companies, the businesses have performed well. HLTV continues to expand its reach, diversify its product offering, and grow revenue. FUTBIN has undergone a turbulent period linked to the rebrand of FIFA to EA Sports FC as well as, a deliberate focus on platform migration, which temporarily limited new feature development. At the same time, broader market dynamics in programmatic advertising put pressure on CPM rates. Despite these factors, the business remained stable and is now positioned to accelerate product enhancements and growth.
Looking ahead
With dedicated leadership, a clear organisational home, and two flagship assets already reaching millions of users each month, Better Collective’s Esports unit is poised to capture the sector’s continued growth. Fans can expect richer data, fresh content formats, and more ways to engage with the games and creators they love, while partners gain a transparent view of how these community platforms create long‑term value.
Ultimately, the success of HLTV and FUTBIN depends on building something that users genuinely love. By staying close to the community, investing in product innovation, and delivering engaging, useful content, Better Collective aims to grow not just traffic or revenue, but real loyalty. That is what makes these platforms defensible, valuable, and enduring.
Better Collective will publish its Q2 2025 interim report – including the first separate Esports disclosure – after market close on August 20, 2025.
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