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# Catena Media's Growth Stalls as Search Traffic Slips
- URL: https://www.igamingnews.biz/catena-media-search-headwinds-marketplace-pivot/
- Published: 2026-08-14T10:26:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-14T10:29:33.000Z
- Description: Catena Media's Q2 2026 revenue fell 1% and adjusted EBITDA margin nearly halved to 13%, as weak organic search pushed the affiliate toward a marketplace pivot.
- Author: iGamingNews Editorial Desk
- Tags: Affiliate Industry, Growth Marketing

*Image credit: Source: Catena Media Q2 2026 interim report. Never imply stock depicts the actual event.*

**Catena Media's second-quarter revenue fell 1% to €9.5 million and adjusted EBITDA dropped 11% to €1.2 million, the affiliate group reported on August 11, a reversal from the double-digit growth it posted just one quarter earlier.** EBITDA margin nearly halved, to 13% from 23% a year ago, as the organic-search traffic the business depends on kept losing ground.

North America still carried the business, at €9.2 million and 97% of group revenue, up 6% year on year, and new depositing customers rose 23% to 24,781\. But chief executive Manuel Stan did not dress up the headline number: "Q2 results reflect industry-wide headwinds in organic search and mark a pause after several quarters of strong operating performance." He added that "traditional affiliation remains closely tied to the shifting dynamics of organic search," the same forces reshaping [how Google's algorithm changes and AI Overviews are rewriting affiliate SEO](https://www.igamingnews.biz/gambling-affiliate-seo-ai-shift/) across the sector.

The quarter's contrast with Q1 is stark. First-half revenue is still up 12% to €21.8 million and adjusted EBITDA up 70% to €3.9 million, entirely a function of a strong opening quarter that the second quarter did not repeat. Net income fell to €0.06 million from €0.49 million a year earlier.

Catena's answer is to lean further into MRKTPLAYS, its sub-affiliation marketplace platform, which the company said now contributes more than a third of group revenue. Management described it internally as building "a next-generation automated marketplace platform," a bet that a technology layer connecting smaller affiliates to operators can grow with less exposure to any single Google update than a portfolio of content sites can. According to intergameonline.com's report on the results, the board is "exploring how to reshape the business towards a model that reduces exposure to any single external factor."

That reshaping has already cost jobs. [Catena cut five roles across technology, marketing and regional sites teams in early August](https://www.igamingnews.biz/catena-media-layoffs-regional-sites-restructuring/), and personnel expenses fell a further 14% around the Q2 print, according to CasinoBeats, which quoted departing staff describing years of repeated restructuring. Former senior SEO content strategist Boriana Slabokova told the outlet: "The past 4 years at Catena were like being on a rollercoaster with broken brakes."

## A platform bet only works if it outgrows what it's replacing

MRKTPLAYS crossing a third of revenue is a real result, not a talking point, but it also means two-thirds of Catena's business still rises and falls with the same organic-search exposure that just erased a quarter's worth of growth. The company isn't wrong that the marketplace model is less fragile. It hasn't yet grown fast enough to prove it's the fix rather than just the cushion.