Third Quarter Update

RNS Number : 0372Q

Audioboom Group PLC

07 September 2017

 

Audioboom Group plc

('AudioBoom' or the 'Company')

Third Quarter Update

AudioBoom (AIM: BOOM), the leading spoken word audio on-demand platform, announces an update on its performance for the third quarter of the current financial year (the "Period").

The Company's strong financial and operational performance has continued into the third quarter with revenue increasing 329% compared to the corresponding period in the previous year. In addition, revenues increased 32% over the second quarter of the current financial year to £1.49m (Q2 2017: £1.12m). Third quarter revenues were therefore another quarterly record for the Company with record forward bookings already received for the final quarter of 2017.

The Board is also particularly pleased that available advertising impressions, a key performance indicator for future revenue growth, increased 24% quarter on quarter in what has traditionally been the quietest period for Internet companies.

KPI	Q3 2017 to 31 Aug	Q2 2017  to 31 May	% +/-
Monthly unique users (Total for final month of period)	90m	81m	+11%
Available advertising impressions (Cumulative for period)	602m	485m	+24%
Unique file requests ("UFRs") (Cumulative for period)	181m	176m	+3%
Content channels (Total at end of period)	11,424	11,843	-4%

Content partners

The number of content channels reduced slightly in the Period following the implementation of the nominal subscription fee for smaller content partners announced on 30 June 2017. The primary purpose of the nominal subscription fee model was to charge these customers a fair market rate for access to the global AudioBoom distribution platform, with a view to helping the Company remove non-profitable accounts. The nominal fee generates additional revenue, reduces demand on the Company's bandwidth and decreases storage costs but most importantly frees up account management time, allowing the team to focus on winning and serving larger and more profitable podcasters. This reflects the Company's key targets of increasing revenue generation and expanding its operating margins.

This strategy is demonstrably working with unique users, UFRs, available advertising impressions and revenues all increasing against a backdrop of reducing channel partner costs.

USA

An important re-signing during the Period was the very popular podcast Undisclosed, which is now contracted to December 2018. Other important signings included Dave & Chuck The Freak (4m listens per month ("lpm")), Drink Champs (3m lpm), Convicted (2m lpm) and the newly launched It's Happening With Snooki & Joey (already 1m lpm).

The 'Audioboom Originals Network' has continued to build on its initial success, with launches including Inside The US Open, the official US Open tennis podcast, Blank Check, Deliberations, Mission To Zyxx and Very Bad Words.

UK

An important new UK partner signed during the Period is the Totally Football Show (formally The Guardian Football Weekly), which debuted at the top of the UK iTunes chart and now has 2m downloads per month. No Such Thing As A Fish, with 6m lpm, has re-signed until June 2018 with the Huffington Post and Spectator both re-signing by the end of the Period.

International

Growth in India continues rapidly, with new partners including BookMyShow, a licensing deal for 50 Indian and international podcasts to be made available within their app on a non-exclusive basis. Aaj Tak, part of the India Today Group and News18, part of CNN International have also joined. AudioBoom India will also create four new original podcasts. In Australia, Planet Broadcast, the country's premier original podcast producer, has also signed to come onto the platform.

Rob Proctor, CEO of AudioBoom, said: "Nearly 90 million people listened to a Boom in August and this already incredible number of users continues to grow month on month. This provides a prime target for agencies and marketers who have now realised this engaged, motivated and attractive audience is an ideal demographic for clients' advertising spend. Major marketing budgets are therefore increasingly being allocated to the podcasting and audio mediums.

This growth is directly impacting our financial performance and our quarter on quarter revenue growth continues. This increasing momentum, together with record advance bookings for the final quarter of the year, means we are increasingly confident for the remainder of the current financial year and beyond.

Since the Period end, our industry continues to move forward apace; in the past month, there have been three significant investments into US podcasting companies. Both public and private capital is realising the growth and global potential of podcasting, an industry in which AudioBoom is already a key player, and this clearly bodes very well for our future as we continue to build one of the most robust, diverse and extensive podcasting platforms in the world."

Audioboom Group plc
Rob Proctor, Chief Executive Officer	Tel: [phone]
Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated adviser and broker)	Tel: [phone]
David Hart / James Thomas / Asha Chotai
Walbrook PR Limited (PR & IR Advisers)	Tel: [phone]
Paul Cornelius / Sam Allen	or [e-mail]

About AudioBoom

AudioBoom is a global podcasting platform that consolidates the business of on-demand audio, making content accessible, wide-reaching and profitable for podcasters, advertisers and brands. AudioBoom addresses the issue of disparate podcast services by putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together under one umbrella, creating a user-friendly, economical experience. AudioBoom helps content creators share their content via Apple Podcasts, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Google Play, Saavn, Spotify, Stitcher, Facebook and Twitter, as well as their own websites and mobile apps.

AudioBoom hosts almost 11,500 channels, with key ones including the Associated Press, Trinity Mirror Group, BBC, the "Totally Football Show" (formerly The Guardian Football Weekly), celebrities such as Russell Brand, and more.

Top podcasts include Athletico Mince, News Roast, No Such Thing As A Fish, and Untold: The Murder of Daniel Morgan. AudioBoom receives over 60 million unique file requests per month and is the only end-to-end podcasting platform that also operates internationally, with operations across the US, Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America.

For more information for podcasters, advertisers and listeners, visit audioboom.com.

ENDS.

 

END

 

 

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