Q4 Trading Update & Appointment

RNS Number : 6502J

SEEEN PLC

23 December 2020

 

  SEEEN plc

4Q Technology Commercialization and Trading Update

 Executive Vice-Chairman Appointed

SEEEN plc (SEEN: AIM), the global media and technology video experience platform ("VXP") that enables creators, brands and publishers to unleash video for improved digital marketing yield and connected audience experiences, including frictionless e-commerce, is pleased to provide a 4Q update as the Group completes its first full year of operations. 

Summary Update .  The Group is building on its 3Q trading update.  The Group's technology platform has been deployed with different commercial launch partners described below.  The Group's multichannel network ("MCN") business continues to recover from 1H Covid-related market effects. The Group's results will be in-line with expectations for both revenue and profits before taxes for 2020.  Audience views and RPM yield are both continuing to improve.  The Group's technology is also being applied to its MCN ecosystem of creators, brands and publishers.

Appointment .  The Group also announces the promotion of Senior Independent Director, Akiko Mikumo, to Executive Vice Chairman as the Group plans to accelerate its corporate development. The Board seeks to underscore the importance of rapid execution of its Go-to-Market strategy given the dynamism of the market for video-first approaches to digital transformation. Ms. Mikumo will focus on aligning strategic direction with rapid execution and, in so doing, explore strategic opportunities for scale.

For its 4Q product launch, the Group targeted three distinct customer segments as discussed further below.  In each segment we describe two customers. Each set of customers has access to the same proprietary technology platform and will pay for utilization of the different modules of the Group's automated self-serve SaaS offering:  CreatorSuite^TM, JetStream^TM and Video Experience Microsites^TM.

(i)  preferred customer relationships with its strategic partners Sumitomo and Water Intelligence, which will lead to reselling of the Group's technology t o their respective customers;

(ii)  revenue share and performance-based opportunities with MCN affiliated creators, brands and publishers that also have the collateral benefit of increasing advertising revenue and royalties at the Group's MCN subsidiary; and

(iii)  a managed services offering with third-party brands that is expected to become monthly recurring revenue (MRR) after the Group launches its SaaS platform in early 1Q. 

Preferred Customer Applications; R eseller Opportunities

SEEEN is pleased to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") to integrate and localize SEEEN's technology with the product and service solutions of IMAGICA Lab,SC Digital Media, K.K. and Sumitomo Corporation. IMAGICA Lab, Japan's largest post-production company, specializes in producing feature films, television shows, commercials and promotional videos, amongst other production services. SC Digital Media, K.K. operates and invests in digital media on behalf of SEEEN's strategic investor Sumitomo Corporation.

SEEEN is also pleased to announce a MOU with Water Intelligence plc, another of its strategic investors.  SEEEN's video moments technology will be incorporated into a new Water Intelligence plc website to be launched in January to accelerate its brand definition for ESG investors.  Moreover, Water Intelligence 's American Leak Detection ("ALD") subsidiary will be part of SEEEN's software as a service ("SaaS") platform.  ALD video moments will be integrated with its back-end Salesforce CRM platform to enable enhanced consumer purchases of water-related products and services across its 200,000+ annual household customer base in the United States.

MCN Base of Brands and Video Creators

SEEEN has also begun to offer its VXP products to MCN affiliated creators, brands and publishers on a pre-release basis. SEEEN's VXP is now deployed with The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, the annual automobile and motorcycle hill climb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA. PPIHC can customize and control its content from a single content hub and both attract more viewers to its sponsored and branded offerings and provide more targeted offerings based on the video moment being watched.

PPIHC builds on the Group's successful deployment at GTChannel. Since implementing SEEEN's VXP, GTChannel has grown its views by more than 50 per cent. and increased engagement significantly, with bounce rates consistently below 10% - outcomes sought by brands and creators everywhere that lead to increases in advertising revenue.

Third-Party Brand Customers

SEEEN has entered into a SaaS agreement with What's My Car Worth, The Collector Car Enthusiast Community to power its VXP offering commencing January 2021. Under the terms of this SaaS agreement, SEEEN will be paid a direct revenue share of all advertising and lead generation opportunities generated.

Finally, SEEEN is pleased to announce that its VXP product offering is now powering a video experience for Evasive Motorsport, based on an executed SaaS subscription agreement. The SaaS agreement includes fees for processing videos, creating "video moments", driving traffic and operating the connected Evasive Motorsports video microsite. 

The Company has a pipeline of third-party brand customers at advanced stages of negotiation ahead of a wider marketing campaign in 1Q.

Chairman Patrick DeSouza commented, "We are finishing the year in a good position for 2021.  We have put EIS/VCT money to work and created a robust, proprietary technology platform - an achievement in product development that CEO Todd Carter and his team can be proud of given the challenges of a Covid workplace.  We have now added commercial launch partners who will be paying for value gained from different modules that we are offering.  And we have cash resources on hand to execute our Go-to-Market plan.

Our final piece of the puzzle is the acceleration of corporate development in a focused way through strategic deals that leverage our technology platform. Akiko Mikumo's level of experience in terms of global transactions from strategic partnerships with major companies to acquiring companies as part of a build and buy strategy will provide all our shareholders with an exciting roadmap as we take advantage of a fast-moving market for video-first AI technology."

The information communicated in this announcement is inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation 596/2014

SEEEN plc - seeen.com
Patrick DeSouza, Chairman	[phone]
Todd Carter, CEO
Adrian Hargrave, CFO	[phone]
Dowgate Capital Limited (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Stephen Norcross
WH Ireland (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)	[phone]
Adrian Hadden / James Sinclair-Ford / Matthew Chan

 

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