Q4 2024 comScore Inc Earnings Call
Okay.
Speaker Change: Hello, and welcome to Comscore fourth quarter 2024 financial results Conference call.
Speaker Change: At this time all participants are in a listen only mode.
Speaker Change: After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session to ask a question. During the session you will need to press star one on your telephone you.
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Speaker Change: I would now like to hand, the conference over to John Tinker head of Investor Relations you may begin.
John Tinker: Thank you operator before we begin our prepared remarks I'd like to remind all of you that the following discussion contains forward looking statements.
John Tinker: These forward looking statements include comments about our plans expectations and prospects and are based on our view as of today March four 2025.
John Tinker: Our actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected because enough because of a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include those outlined in our 10-K 10-Q and other filings with the SEC, which can find on our website or at Www Dot FCC Dot Gov.
John Tinker: We disclaim any duty or obligation to update our forward looking statements to reflect new information. After today's call. We will be discussing non-GAAP measures. During this call for which we've provided reconciliations in today's press release and on our website. Please note that we will be referring to slides on this call which are also available on our website www dot com score.
John Tinker: Com under Investor Relations events and presentations I'll now turn the call over to Commscope, Chief Executive Officer, John Carpenter John.
Thank you John and thanks, everyone for joining us this evening.
Speaker Change: In 2024, we made meaningful progress towards our goal of establishing comscore as the global leader in measuring audiences and their media consumption across platforms.
Speaker Change: Our cross platform audience solution proxemics, coupled with our cross platform AD measurement product grew 20% for the year was up 22% in the fourth quarter as advertisers, including large CPG and health care clients as well as major walled gardens and others.
Speaker Change: And in the Comscore is cross platform capabilities to reach their desired audiences with targeted campaigns across both linear and digital channels.
Speaker Change: We also made meaningful progress with a couple of major agency holding companies by signing new multiyear contracts for our suite of cross platform and currency measurement offerings.
Speaker Change: That progress, which has been a major area of focus for us began to pay off in the fourth quarter, where we saw more advertising dollars transacting on comscore as measurement currency across local and national television.
Speaker Change: Than at any other point the company's history.
Speaker Change: In addition to that the <unk>.
Momentum, we built with our cross platform solutions as well as with key clients, we made some big operational changes.
Speaker Change: We shored up our cash cash position with a new round of financing that we closed at the end of last year. We also restructured our deal with charter and agreement that we estimate will save us more than $35 million over the remaining six years of this deal.
Speaker Change: We also added key talent to our leadership team with the hire of our new Chief Marketing Officer, Jacqueline Keller as well as bringing an industry veteran and change agent Frank Friedman as our chief data and analytics officer and head of measurement.
Speaker Change: These key hires helped us round out a talented team that is focused on delivering both the results and our cross platform vision.
Speaker Change: Turning to the scoreboard for 24 I'm proud of how the team rebounded in the second half of the year. After a difficult start are revenue of $356 million represents our second half print.
Speaker Change: Meaningful acceleration in key cross platform growth areas as well as currency advancements in parts of the market that had been previously difficult to make meaningful progress in.
Speaker Change: Our adjusted EBITDA print to $42 4 million reflects a continued effort to remain disciplined on costs. While also investing in key areas of the business fueling our growth moving forward.
Speaker Change: So we turn specifically to the fourth quarter the progress that we're making comes into sharper focus.
Speaker Change: In the fourth quarter of last year, we delivered revenue of $94 9 million nearly flat with the fourth quarter, a year ago, and an adjusted EBITDA of $17 2 million, which is up four 4% versus the same quarter a year ago.
Speaker Change: Yes.
Speaker Change: While I am encouraged by the numbers themselves what's more interesting to me is how we delivered them in the fourth quarter, we saw strength in areas of our business that represent key growth drivers for our future.
Speaker Change: Our cross platform offerings, specifically proximate and Comscore campaign ratings continue to scale within programmatic advertising environments and on the TV currency front, we saw strength from clients, who renewed big big.
Speaker Change: Agreements with us and from our clients using Comscore TV as a currency for more of their ad campaigns.
Speaker Change: As I mentioned earlier, we saw more dollars in advertising spend trade on comscore currency in the fourth quarter than in any other quarter in the company's history.
Speaker Change: While we still have work to do to deliver the results that we expect from ourselves it's gratifying to see our clients confirmed for us that we're moving in the right direction as they put more of their budgets against Comscore is cross platform and currency measurement offerings.
Speaker Change: As we've highlighted before Comscore brings a portfolio of measurement and audience solutions to the table to help media companies platforms and advertisers understand reach and drive consumer actions.
Speaker Change: We create these measurement and audience solutions by scoring and analyzing audience behaviors wherever they happen.
Speaker Change: And our privacy forward way Comscore measures audiences on 216 million connected TV screens more than $200 million desktop screens and 240 million mobile devices.
Speaker Change: We're also measuring over a half a trillion social actions and more than 200000 movie screens around the world.
Speaker Change: We have an unmatched view of audiences across platforms, which positions our measurement and audience products for world, we're reaching consumers spread across dozens of platforms is mission critical to our clients.
Speaker Change: This unmatched set of audience data that we're building best in class Cross platform and currency measurement solutions.
Speaker Change: As we look towards this year and beyond we're clearly focused on delivering long term profitable growth anchored by our cross platform and currency capabilities.
Speaker Change: Specifically in 'twenty five we expect to continue to see high double digit growth from our cross platform solutions.
Speaker Change: Proximate are programmatic audience targeting solution is expected to continue growing high double digits throughout the year.
Speaker Change: Comscore campaign ratings or CCR, our cross platform AD measurement product helps advertisers evaluate and optimize their AD campaigns across platforms. It specifically it helps them understand which platforms are driving incremental reach enabling them to optimize campaigns. While they are in flight we fully.
Speaker Change: We expect this product to continue to scale throughout the year and deliver meaningful double digit growth.
Speaker Change: Finally, as you may have seen earlier this year, we announced comscore content measurement or CCM.
Speaker Change: Launched in January of this year Comscore content measurement is our cross platform content measurement and planning solution.
Speaker Change: As brands and agencies look to understand which platforms and content most effectively attract the audience that they need to reach CCM puts that data at their fingertips.
Speaker Change: While we're still in the early innings, we've already printed deals with key enterprise clients in both interest in this solution and our pipeline are strong.
Speaker Change: TV currency product Comscore TV is another place, where we expect to drive growth this year.
Speaker Change: While there is no question that the future of advertising is cross platform. There's also no question that TV remains one of the most efficient vehicles for reach available to advertisers today.
Speaker Change: We expect to see the usage of our currency products continued to accelerate throughout the year building on the momentum that we saw in the second half of 'twenty before.
Speaker Change: We have an exciting year ahead of us and I look forward to sharing our progress with you throughout the year, but for now I will turn it over to Mary Margaret to talk you through 2024 in more detail and provide our guidance for 2025.
Mary Margaret: Thank you John.
Speaker Change: Total revenue for the full year was 356 million down four 1% from $371 3 million in 2023 and above the guidance, we gave earlier in the year.
Speaker Change: Content and AD measurement revenue of $301 1 million was down two 8% from 2023, driven by lower revenue from our syndicated audience offerings.
Speaker Change: Offset by an increase in cross platform revenue.
Speaker Change: Revenue from our National television in syndicated digital products was most notably impacted during the year, but the pricing pressures are legacy media clients have been facing which has impacted our ability to rebound in these areas.
Speaker Change: Movies business continued to show consistent growth generating $37 1 million of revenue in 2024 up 5% from the prior year.
Speaker Change: Cross platform revenues of $45 million was up 20% compared to the prior year.
Speaker Change: As John mentioned, our cross platform solutions had a strong back half of the year as demand for our offerings continue to increase we're pleased with the progress we've made to overcome some of the setbacks. We had earlier in the year and expect growth in this area to continue as we move into 2025.
Speaker Change: Research and insight solutions revenue up $54 9 million was down 10, 6% from 2023, primarily due to lower deliveries of custom digital solutions and lift products as a result of the pullback of discretionary spend we've seen from certain clients.
Speaker Change: Adjusted EBITDA for the year was $42 4 million down three 8% from 2023, resulting in in just in an adjusted EBIT margin of 11, 9% in line with the guidance. We gave earlier this year.
Speaker Change: Last year.
Speaker Change: Core operating expenses for 2024 were down nearly 2% year over year, driven by a decline in employee compensation and lower cloud computing costs, partially offset by higher datacom.
Speaker Change: While we've made good progress transforming our business in 2024, we're continuing these efforts as we move into 2025 investing in new products and capabilities, including enhancements to existing products upgrading our tech stack, providing faster data delivery and increasing interoperability as we continue to rollout key integration.
Speaker Change: Yes.
Speaker Change: Our fourth quarter results tell a very similar story.
Speaker Change: Total revenue for the fourth quarter was $94 9 million down 2% from $95 1 million in the same quarter last year.
Speaker Change: Content and AD measurement revenue of $81 million was up 1% from 2023, primarily driven by an increase in our cross platform revenue, which grew 22% over the fourth quarter of 2023.
Speaker Change: This growth was partially offset by lower revenue from our syndicated audience offerings, primarily related to our national TV and syndicated digital products are.
Speaker Change: Our movies business generated revenue of $9 4 million in the quarter, resulting in a 3% growth over Q4 of 2023.
Speaker Change: Research and insight solutions revenue of $13 9 million declined six 5% from the prior year quarter again, primarily due to lower deliveries of certain custom digital products.
Speaker Change: Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $17 2 million up four 4% from the prior year quarter, resulting in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 18, 1%.
Speaker Change: Our core operating expenses were up seven 6% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, primarily due to higher employee compensation costs and higher data costs, some of which were directly related to delivering on contracts that drove our top line performance.
Speaker Change: Yes.
Speaker Change: Over the last couple of quarters I've provided updates on our progress towards improving our balance sheet, including our evaluation of alternative financing options as a replacement for our credit facility with bank of America.
Speaker Change: We worked very hard in the back half of the year to make sure. We can execute on several of these initiatives by the end of the year.
Speaker Change: At the end of at the end of December we secured new financing, which provides a total capacity of $60 million consisting of a $45 million term loan that was fully funded at closing along with a $15 million revolving facility that was unfunded at closing.
Speaker Change: We used the proceeds from the term loan term loan to do a number of segments.
Speaker Change: The first was to terminate the credit facility, we had with bank of America.
Speaker Change: We had already repaid the outstanding principal balance in November upon obtaining the new financing we used a portion of the term loan proceeds to cash collateralize, our outstanding letters of credit and terminate the Bofa facility.
Speaker Change: The second was to address our aged accounts payable balances.
Speaker Change: This resulted in a significantly lower ending AP balance at December 31, reflecting.
Speaker Change: A reduction of approximately $18 million during the fourth quarter we.
Speaker Change: We expect to see continued improvement in our AP balances in 2025.
Speaker Change: Also at year end, we executed an amendment to our data license agreement, which are providing us with an estimated minimum $35 million of cash savings over the remaining term of the agreement.
Speaker Change: The new fee structure going forward is based on household counts, which allows for variability in the fee payments as household count fluctuate.
Speaker Change: The amendment was conditioned on settling the balances we owed to charter at year end, which we did as part of our payables catch up.
Speaker Change: Yeah.
Speaker Change: After doing those things we ended the year with a healthy amount of cash on our balance sheet at $33 $5 million, which provides us with additional flexibility to manage our uses of capital going forward. This will unlock our ability to continue to invest in our business in ways that we believe will fuel growth as we move into 2025.
Speaker Change: Based on current trends and expectations. We believe our total revenue for 2025 will be between $360 million and $370 million as John mentioned, there are a number of factors driving growth in 2025 in key areas that matter.
Speaker Change: Including the accelerated growth of our cross platform products and the progress, we're making with linear currency as evidenced by the momentum that we're seeing from wins in local TV strengthened relationships with agency Holdco and the rollout of major platform integrations.
Speaker Change: We anticipate that legacy media channels will remain challenged and that demand for custom digital products will continue to be unpredictable.
Speaker Change: Our forecast had been built conservatively to reflect these expectations.
Speaker Change: We currently expect revenue in the first quarter of 2025 to be roughly flat compared to the first quarter of 2024 with a return to growth in subsequent quarters as demand for our cross platform products continues to rise.
Speaker Change: For adjusted EBITDA, We expect improvement of our adjusted EBITDA margin in 2025, and anticipate the full year margin to be between 12% and 15%.
Speaker Change: The margin expansion is largely driven by a greater share of our revenue coming from our higher margin Cross platform solutions, coupled with our continued efforts around cost containment.
Speaker Change: Similar to last year, we expect our margin rate to scale as we move through the year.
Speaker Change: With that I'll turn it back over to John for some closing remarks.
John: Thank you Mary Margaret This concludes our prepared remarks I'd like to thank our employees around the world for the work that they do every day to bring our solutions to life for our clients.
Speaker Change: Operator with that we can open up we can open it up for questions.
John: Thank you.
Speaker Change: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder to ask a question. Please press star one on your telephone and wait for.
Speaker Change: For your name to be announced to withdraw your question. Please press star one again, please standby, while we compile the Q&A roster.
Speaker Change: Our first question comes from Jonathan career with Craig Hallum. Your line is open.
Jonathan career: Great. Thank you guys.
Jonathan career: John We've just seen a lot of volatility in our results through Q4 and the early stages of Q1 I was just wondering if you could maybe give us a lay of the land of what Youre seeing if <unk> seen pockets of volatility or if things are a bit more state most things have been pretty stable for you.
Jonathan career: Yeah.
Jason: Hi, Jason Thanks.
Jonathan career: I would say.
Jonathan career: We've seen really good momentum coming out of.
Jonathan career: And throughout the fourth quarter and.
Jonathan career: And we believe that momentum carries nicely into 2025, we know that the first quarter's always.
In terms of just the sheer size of the AD spend in the marketplace from a digital standpoint.
Jonathan career: Always the lowest quarter and we've got that appropriately factored into.
Jonathan career: And to the guidance that Mary Margaret kind of indicated for for Q1, we haven't we haven't seen.
Jonathan career: Lot of specifics in terms of.
Jonathan career: Macroeconomic factors that are pulling on on anything here coming out of 2024, and we feel really good about the momentum that we've built and.
Jonathan career: Fully expect that to carry forward.
Jonathan career: How that have that reflected I think appropriately.
Jonathan career: And how we've tried to guide for the year.
I appreciate that.
Jonathan career: If we're going into a world of more uncertainty do you think that creates more opportunity for a solution like approximate second basically help marketers find efficiencies in the media side.
Jonathan career: Yes, I mean, we certainly we certainly think so and I think part of not just not just the uncertainty but you.
Jonathan career: <unk> got single loss that continues to permeate throughout the.
Jonathan career: The digital ecosystem, you've got increased.
Jonathan career: Consumer privacy and regulation state by state and as you know, our our proxemics offering and the free solution that we provide to the marketplace.
Jonathan career: Is something that continues to scale and against that backdrop that you described.
Jonathan career: We anticipate it's only going to continue to continue to benefit.
Jonathan career: Yes.
Jonathan career: Okay. Thank you last one for me. So you had called out more currency utilization in Q4 than you've ever seen before you had kind of pair that with some new agency contracts that you've won is that the driver or do you think there are others.
Jonathan career: External drivers that are creating a better currency adoption.
It's probably a combination of both I mean, there's certainly no shortage of.
Jonathan career: Excuse me press in the marketplace around.
Jonathan career: The goal of clients.
Jonathan career: See better and improved innovation around.
Jonathan career: TV currency.
Speaker Change: Been a beneficiary of that certainly in the fourth quarter, but our focus.
Speaker Change: At the agency Holdco level, specifically over the course of the last call. It 12 months.
Speaker Change: It has been an area that we've called out that we're clearly focused on and that.
Speaker Change: That work in that effort.
Speaker Change: Aid off with.
Speaker Change: A couple of the Big agency whole companies as their contracts came up really leaning into the offerings that we have in multi year contracts that.
Speaker Change: That are also coupled with.
Speaker Change: Focus on currency adoption, and we saw that pay off in the.
Speaker Change: In the fourth quarter with greater AD spend against our offerings.
Speaker Change: Sure.
Speaker Change: We certainly we certainly anticipate to see that continue throughout the year.
Speaker Change: Alright, I appreciate the thoughts John Thank you.
Speaker Change: Of course.
Speaker Change: Thank you.
Speaker Change: As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, Thats star one to ask a question.
Speaker Change: I'm showing no further questions in the queue.
Speaker Change: I would now like to turn the call back to CEO, John Carpenter for closing remarks.
Speaker Change: Okay. Thanks, everybody I appreciate.
Speaker Change: Everyone joining us this evening and we'll be talking to folks soon thank you.
Speaker Change: Ladies and gentlemen that concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation you may now disconnect.
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Speaker Change: [music].
Speaker Change: At this time all participants are in a listen only mode.
Speaker Change: After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session.
Speaker Change: I asked the question during the session you will need to press star one on your telephone.
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John Tinker: To withdraw your question. Please press star one again I would now like to hand, the conference over to John Tinker head of Investor Relations you may begin.
John Tinker: Thank you operator before we begin our prepared remarks I'd like to remind all of you that the following discussion contains forward looking statements. These forward looking statements include comments about our plans expectations and prospects and are based on our view as of today March four 2025.
John Tinker: Our actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected because enough because of a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include those outlined in our 10-K 10-Q and other filings with the SEC, which you can find on our website or at Www Dot FCC Dot Gov.
John Tinker: We disclaim any duty or obligation to update our forward looking statements to reflect new information. After today's call. We will be discussing non-GAAP measures. During this call for which we've provided reconciliations in today's press release and on our website. Please note that we will be referring to slides on this call which are also available on our website www dot com score.
Speaker Change: Com under Investor Relations events and presentations I'll now turn the call over to Commscope, Chief Executive Officer, John Carpenter John.
John Tinker: Okay.
Speaker Change: Thank you John and thanks, everyone for joining us this evening.
Speaker Change: In 2024, we made meaningful progress towards our goal of establishing comscore as the global leader in measuring audiences and their media consumption across platforms.
Speaker Change: Our cross platform audience solution proximate, coupled with our cross platform AD measurement product grew 20% for the year and was up 22% in the fourth quarter as advertisers, including large CPG and health care clients as well as major walled gardens and others.
Speaker Change: Leaned in the Comscore is cross platform capabilities to reach their desired audiences with targeted campaigns across both linear and digital channels.
Speaker Change: We also made meaningful progress with a couple of major agency holding companies by signing new multiyear contracts for our suite of cross platform and currency measurement offerings.
Speaker Change: That progress, which has been a major area of focus for us began to pay off in the fourth quarter, where we saw more advertising dollars transacting on comscore as measurement currency across local and national television.
Speaker Change: Than at any other point the Companys history.
Speaker Change: In addition to that the <unk>.
Speaker Change: Momentum, we built with our cross platform solutions as well as with key clients, we made some big operational changes.
Speaker Change: We shored up our cash cash position with a new round of financing that we closed at the end of last year. We also restructured our deal with charter and agreement that we estimate will save us more than $35 million over the remaining six years of this deal.
Speaker Change: Yeah.
We also added key talent to our leadership team with the hire of our new Chief Marketing Officer, Jacqueline Keller as well as bringing an industry veteran and change agent Frank Friedman as our chief data and analytics officer and head of measurement.
Speaker Change: These key hires helped us round out a talented team that is focused on delivering both results and our cross platform vision.
Speaker Change: Turning to the scoreboard for 24 I'm proud of how the team rebounded in the second half of the year. After a difficult start are revenue of $356 million represents a second half print.
Speaker Change: Meaningful acceleration in key cross platform growth areas as well as currency advancements in parts of the market that had been previously difficult to make meaningful progress in.
Speaker Change: Our adjusted EBITDA print of $42 4 million reflects the continued effort to remain disciplined on costs. While also investing in key areas of the business fueling our growth moving forward.
Speaker Change: So we turn specifically to the fourth quarter the progress that we're making comes into sharper focus.
Speaker Change: In the fourth quarter of last year, we delivered revenue of $94 9 million nearly flat with the fourth quarter, a year ago, and an adjusted EBITDA of $17 $2 million, which is up four 4% versus the same quarter a year ago.
Speaker Change: While I am encouraged by the numbers themselves what's more interesting to me is how we delivered them in the fourth quarter, we saw strength in areas of our business that represent key growth drivers for our future.
Speaker Change: Our cross platform offerings, specifically proximate and Comscore campaign ratings continue to scale within programmatic advertising environments and on the TV currency front, we saw strength from clients, who renewed big big agreements with us and from our clients using comscore TV as a currency for more of their ad campaigns.
Speaker Change: As I mentioned earlier, we saw more dollars in advertising spend trade on comscore currency in the fourth quarter than in any other quarter in the Companys history.
Speaker Change: While we still have work to do to deliver the results that we expect from ourselves it's gratifying to see our clients confirm for us that we're moving in the right direction as they put more of their budgets against Comscore is cross platform and currency measurement offerings.
Speaker Change: As we've highlighted before Comscore brings a portfolio of measurement and audience solutions to the table to help media companies platforms and advertisers understand reach and drive consumer actions.
Speaker Change: We create these measurement and audience solutions by scoring and analyzing audience behaviors wherever they happen.
Speaker Change: And our privacy forward way Comscore measures audiences on 216 million connected TV screens more than $200 million desktop screens and 240 million mobile devices.
Speaker Change: We're also measuring over a half a trillion social actions and more than 200000 movie screens around the world.
Speaker Change: We have an unmatched view of audiences across platforms, which positions our measurement and audience products for world, we're reaching consumers spread across dozens of platforms is mission critical to our clients.
Speaker Change: With this unmatched set of audience data that we're building best in class Cross platform and currency measurement solutions.
Speaker Change: As we look towards this year and beyond we're clearly focused on delivering long term profitable growth anchored by our cross platform and currency capabilities.
Speaker Change: Specifically in 'twenty five we expect to continue to see high double digit growth from our cross platform solutions.
Speaker Change: Proximate are programmatic audience targeting solution is expected to continue growing high double digits throughout the year.
Speaker Change: Comscore campaign ratings or CCR, our cross platform AD measurement product helps advertisers evaluate and optimize their AD campaigns across platforms. It specifically helps them understand which platforms are driving incremental reach enabling them to optimize campaigns. While they are in flight we fully.
Speaker Change: This product to continue to scale throughout the year and deliver meaningful double digit growth.
Speaker Change: Finally, as you may have seen earlier this year, we announced comscore content measurement or CCM.
Speaker Change: Launched in January of this year comps, where content measurement is our cross platform content measurement and planning solution as.
Speaker Change: As brands and agencies look to understand which platforms and content most effectively attract the audience that they need to reach CCM puts that data at their fingertips.
Speaker Change: While we're still in the early innings, we've already printed deals with key enterprise clients in both interest in this solution and our pipeline are strong.
Speaker Change: TV currency product Comscore TV is another place, where we expect to drive growth this year.
Speaker Change: While there is no question that the future of advertising is cross platform. There's also no question that TV remains what are the most efficient vehicles for reach available to advertisers today.
Speaker Change: We expect to see the usage of our currency products continued to accelerate throughout the year building on the momentum that we saw in the second half of 'twenty before.
Speaker Change: We have an exciting year ahead of us and I look forward to sharing our progress with you throughout the year, but for now I'll turn it over to Mary Margaret to talk you through 2024 in more detail and provide our guidance for 2025.
Thank you John.
Speaker Change: Total revenue for the full year was $356 million down four 1% from $371 3 million in 2023 and above the guidance, we gave earlier in the year.
Speaker Change: Content and AD measurement revenue of $301 1 million was down two 8% through 2023, driven by lower revenue from our syndicated audience offerings.
Speaker Change: Offset by an increase in cross platform revenue.
Speaker Change: Revenue from our National television in syndicated digital products was most notably impacted during the year, but the pricing pressures are legacy media clients have been facing which has impacted our ability to rebound in these areas.
Speaker Change: Movies business continued to show consistent growth generating $37 1 million of revenue in 2024 up 5% from the prior year.
Speaker Change: Cross platform revenue of $40 5 million was up 20% compared to the prior year.
Speaker Change: As John mentioned, our cross platform solutions had a strong back half of the year as demand for our offerings continue to increase we're pleased with the progress we've made to overcome some of the setbacks. We had earlier in the year and expect growth in this area to continue as we move into 2025.
Speaker Change: Research and insight solutions revenue up $54 9 million was down 10, 6% from 2023, primarily due to lower deliveries of custom digital solutions and lift products as a result, the pullback of discretionary spend we've seen from certain clients.
Speaker Change: Adjusted EBITDA for the year was $42 4 million down three 8% from 2023, resulting in in just in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 11, 9% in line with the guidance. We gave earlier this year.
Speaker Change: The last year.
Speaker Change: Core operating expenses for 2024 were down nearly 2% year over year, driven by a decline in employee compensation and lower cloud computing costs, partially offset by higher data costs.
While we've made good progress transforming our business in 2024, we're continuing these efforts as we move into 2025 investing in new products and capabilities, including enhancements to existing products upgrading our tech stack, providing faster data delivery and increasing interoperability as we continue to rollout key integration.
Speaker Change: Yes.
Speaker Change: Our fourth quarter results tell a very similar story.
Speaker Change: Total revenue for the fourth quarter was $94 9 million down 2% from $95 1 million in the same quarter last year.
Speaker Change: Content and AD measurement revenue of $81 million was up 1% from 2023, primarily driven by an increase in our cross platform revenue, which grew 22% over the fourth quarter of 2023.
Speaker Change: This growth was partially offset by lower revenue from our syndicated audience offerings, primarily related to our national television in syndicated digital products are.
Speaker Change: Our movie business generated revenue of $9 4 million in the quarter, resulting in a 3% growth over Q4 of 2023.
Research and insight solutions revenue of $13 9 million declined six 5% from the prior year quarter again, primarily due to lower deliveries of certain customer digital products.
Speaker Change: Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $17 2 million up four 4% from the prior year quarter, resulting in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 18, 1%.
Speaker Change: Our core operating expenses were up seven 6% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, primarily due to higher employee compensation costs and higher data costs, some of which were directly related to delivering on contracts that drove our top line performance.
Speaker Change: Over the last couple of quarters I've provided updates on our progress towards improving our balance sheet, including our evaluation of alternative financing options as a replacement for our credit facility with bank of America.
Speaker Change: We worked very hard in the back half of the year to make sure. We can execute on several of these initiatives by the end of the year.
Speaker Change: At the end of this at the end of December we secured new financing, which provides a total capacity of $60 million consisting of a $45 million term loan that was fully funded at closing along with a $15 million revolving facility that was unfunded of clothing.
Speaker Change: We use the proceeds from the term loan term loan to do a number of segments.
Speaker Change: The first was to terminate the credit facility, we had with bank of America.
Speaker Change: We had already repaid the outstanding principal balance in November upon obtaining the new financing we used a portion of the term loan proceeds to cash collateralize, our outstanding letters of credit and terminate the Bofa facility.
Speaker Change: The second look to address our aged accounts payable balances.
Speaker Change: This resulted in a significantly lower ending AP balance at December 31, reflecting.
Speaker Change: Reflecting a reduction of approximately $18 million during the fourth quarter we.
Speaker Change: We expect to see continued improvement in our AP balances in 2025.
Speaker Change: Also at year end, we executed an amendment to our data license agreement with charter, providing us with an estimated minimum $35 million of cash savings over the remaining term of the agreement.
Speaker Change: The new fee structure going forward is based on household counts, which allows for variability in the fee payments as household count fluctuate.
Speaker Change: The amendment was conditioned on settling the balances we owed to charter at year end, which we did as part of our payables catch up.
Speaker Change: Okay.
Speaker Change: After doing those things we ended the year with a healthy amount of cash on our balance sheet at $33 $5 million, which provides us with additional flexibility to manage our uses of capital going forward. This will unlock our ability to continue to invest in our business in ways that we believe will fuel growth as we move into 2025.
Speaker Change: Based on current trends and expectations. We believe our total revenue for 2025 will be between $360 million and $370 million.
John: As John mentioned, there are a number of factors driving growth in 2025 in key areas that matter.
John: Including the accelerated growth of our cross platform products and the progress, we're making with linear current theme as evidenced by the momentum that we're seeing from wins in local TV and strengthen relationships with agency holdco and the rollout of major platform integrations.
John: We anticipate that legacy media channels will remain challenged and that demand for custom digital products will continue to be unpredictable.
John: Our forecast had been built conservatively to reflect these expectations.
John: We currently expect revenue in the first quarter of 2025 to be roughly flat compared to the first quarter of 2024 with a return to growth in subsequent quarters as demand for our cross platform products continues to rise.
John: For adjusted EBITDA, We expect improvement of our adjusted EBITDA margin in 2025, and anticipate the full year margin to be between 12% and 15%.
John: The margin expansion is largely driven by a greater share of our revenue coming from our higher margin Cross platform solutions, coupled with our continued efforts around cost containment.
John: Similar to last year, we expect our margin rate to scale as we move through the year.
John: With that I'll turn it back over to John for some closing remarks.
Thank you Mary Margaret This concludes our prepared remarks I'd like to thank our employees around the world for the work that they do every day to bring our solutions to life for our clients.
Speaker Change: Operator with that we can open that we can open it up for questions.
John: Thank you.
Speaker Change: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder to ask a question. Please press star one on your telephone and wait for.
Speaker Change: For your name to be announced to withdraw your question. Please press star one again, please standby, while we compile the Q&A roster.
Speaker Change: Our first question comes from Jonathan career with Craig Hallum. Your line is open.
Jonathan career: Great. Thank you guys.
Jonathan career: One we've just seen a lot of volatility in results through Q4, and the early stages of Q1, just wondering if you could maybe give us a lay of the land of what youre seeing if <unk> seen pockets of volatility or if things are a bit multi most things have been pretty stable for you.
Jonathan career: Okay.
Speaker Change: Hi, Jason Thanks.
Jonathan career: I'd say.
Jonathan career: We've seen really good momentum coming out of.
Jonathan career: And throughout the fourth quarter and.
Jonathan career: And we believe that momentum carries nicely into 2025, we know that the first quarter's always.
Jonathan career: In terms of just the sheer size of the AD spend in the marketplace from a digital standpoint.
Jonathan career: Always the lowest quarter and we've got that appropriately factored into.
Jonathan career: And to the guidance that Mary Margaret kind of indicated for for Q1, we haven't we haven't seen.
Speaker Change: Lot of specifics in terms of.
Speaker Change: Macroeconomic factors that are pulling on on anything here coming out of 2024, and we feel really good about the momentum that we've built and.
Speaker Change: Fully expect that to carry forward in.
Speaker Change: How that have that reflected I think appropriately and.
Speaker Change: And how we've tried to guide for the year.
Speaker Change: I appreciate that.
Speaker Change: If we're going into a world of more uncertainty do you think that creates more opportunity for a solution like approximate second basically help marketers find efficiencies on the media side.
Speaker Change: Yes, I mean, we certainly we certainly think so and I think.
Speaker Change: Not just not just the uncertainty but.
<unk> got single loss that continues to permeate throughout.
The digital ecosystem, you've got increased.
Speaker Change: Consumer privacy and regulation state by state and as you know, our our proxemics offering and the free solution that we provide to the marketplace.
Speaker Change: Is something that continues to scale and against that backdrop that you described.
Speaker Change: We anticipate it's only going to continue to continue to benefit.
Speaker Change: Okay. Thank you last one for me. So you had called out more currency utilization in Q4 than you've ever seen before you had kind of pair that with some new agency contracts that you won is that the driver or do you think there are others.
Speaker Change: External drivers that are creating a better currency adoption.
Speaker Change: It's probably a combination of both I mean, there's certainly no shortage of Av.
Speaker Change: <unk> excuse me <unk> in the marketplace around.
Speaker Change: The goal of clients to see better and improved innovation around.
Speaker Change: TV currency and we've been a beneficiary of that certainly in the fourth quarter, but our focus.
Speaker Change: At the agency Holdco level, specifically over the course of the last call. It 12 months.
Speaker Change: It has been an area that we've called out that we're clearly focused on and that that work in that effort.
Speaker Change: Paid off with.
Speaker Change: A couple of the Big agency whole companies as their contracts came up really leaning into the offerings that we have in multiyear contracts that.
Speaker Change: That are also coupled with.
Speaker Change: Focus on currency adoption, and we saw that pay off in the.
Speaker Change: In the fourth quarter with greater AD spend against our offerings.
Speaker Change: We certainly we certainly anticipate to see that continue throughout the year.
unknown: Alright, I appreciate the thoughts John Thank you.
Speaker Change: Of course.
Speaker Change: Thank you.
Speaker Change: As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen that star one to ask a question.
Speaker Change: Okay.
Speaker Change: I'm showing no further questions in the queue.
John: I would now like to turn the call back to CEO, John <unk> for closing remarks.
John: Okay. Thanks, everybody I appreciate.
John: Joining us this evening and we will be talking to folks who thank you.
John: Ladies and gentlemen that concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation you may now disconnect.