Catena Media Q2 Results: Lack of Growth Sparks More Layoffs and Business Pivot

Catena Media has confirmed another round of layoffs after posting a Q2 report that showed revenue essentially flat year-over-year but continuing to slide from recent highs. The affiliate marketing company, long known for building sportsbook and casino review sites, is now pivoting away from its traditional SEO-driven business model in search of more stable footing.

Revenue for the quarter came in at €9.5 million, down slightly from €9.6 million in the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA fell 11%, from €1.4 million to €1.2 million, as the company’s cost-cutting efforts failed to offset the ongoing revenue slump.

A Revenue Slide That Won’t Let Up

The year-over-year comparison only tells part of the story. Catena Media’s revenue has swung sharply over the past two years, peaking at €16 million in Q1 2024 before falling in nearly every quarter since. A brief rebound in the second half of 2025 — helped along by workforce cuts that reduced headcount by more than 60% — pushed full-year revenue to €15.6 million, but that recovery has since evaporated. Q1 of this year saw revenue drop to €12.3 million, and the latest quarter fell further still, landing back near the €9.5 million mark last seen a year ago.

In its results presentation, the company pointed to “structural challenges that traditional affiliation is facing relating to the shifting dynamics of organic search” as the driver behind the stalled growth — a challenge that has hit affiliate marketers across the sports betting and casino space as search engines increasingly favor AI-generated summaries over traditional referral links.

More Cuts, More Departures

Personnel expenses dropped a further 14% following new layoffs confirmed last week, part of what the company describes as ongoing operational streamlining meant to sharpen focus on its core products. Among those departing was Senior SEO Content Strategist Boriana Slabokova, who described her four years at Catena on LinkedIn as “like being on a rollercoaster with broken brakes.”

Eric Ramsey, founder of TickerTracker, also confirmed his exit after nine years with the company, saying he’d felt like he was “already freerolling through the last couple years of periodic layoffs.” Ramsey has since begun collaborating with fellow Catena alum Dustin Gouker on the newsletter The Closing Line.

A New Direction for the Business

CEO Manuel Stan used the earnings report to outline a pivot toward a “technical infrastructure platform that brings together industry players in a single ecosystem,” framing it as a path to more predictable revenue than the company’s historical reliance on search traffic has provided. Stan said the board began exploring the shift earlier this year after concluding that a search-dependent model exposed the business to too much financial volatility, and that the company has reorganized its internal product teams to push the new venture forward, though he declined to share further operational details for competitive reasons.

Investors reacted sharply to the news, sending Catena Media’s share price down 30% in the aftermath of the report as the market waits for more clarity on whether the new platform can stabilize a business that has struggled to find consistent footing. For companies and bettors who lean on odds comparisons and affiliate-driven guides, the shakeup is a reminder of how much of the industry’s content ecosystem still hinges on shifting search trends.