Despite worries over a slowing ad market, Audioboom reports its revenue grew 25% last year while its earnings continued to climb. During the fourth quarter, the company says its revenue totaled $18.4 million, a 14% increase compared to third quarter. That brought its year-end revenue to a record $75.5 million. Profits also climbed at Audioboom which said it had $3.6 million in earnings last year, up 16% from 2021.
CEO Start Last says 2022 was a “year of significant cash generation” for the company, although it failed to live up to expectations. “On paper a very successful period, but ultimately our performance was restricted by global economic headwinds which negatively impacted the wider advertising market,” Last said. Yet Last also said Audioboom’s revenue growth once again outpaced competitors – he says the market overall grew 15% -- and for the fifth straight year the company gained market share to become the fourth largest publisher in the U.S.
Audioboom had 5,944 brand advertisers during the fourth quarter, a four percent gain from the third quarter. That was aided by the growth of its programmatic platform Showcase where revenue was up by more than 70% year-to-year during 2022. And Showcase contributed 14% to company revenue last year, up three points from 2021.
It also reports its average global revenue per one thousand downloads -- what Audioboom calls its eCPM -- increased to $55.63 during the fourth quarter, up 11% from the prior quarter.
“We are focused on ensuring that the company is structurally resilient, and I am pleased to report a record year-end cash position of $8.1 million – critical during uncertain economic periods,” Last said in the quarterly update. “We continue to focus on controlling costs, operating with a lean team, to ensure we can deliver maximized profits for shareholders in 2023,” he said.
Looking ahead, Audioboom says it so far has contracts totaling $44 million of revenue on the books for this year. To further grow revenue, Last said the company plans internal changes. “Across 2023 we will restructure our sales organization, ensuring we remain competitive at the top end of the podcast industry,” he said.
Audioboom Chairman Michael Tobin – who financial disclosure filings show has just raised his ownership of the company to 4.4% with the purchase of 2,380 more shares -- agreed that the “challenging economic conditions” of the past year “prevented even stronger financial growth” than their initial expectations, but he too is optimistic.
“With Q4 revenue being 14% up on Q3, and all three of our KPIs showing positive quarterly growth in the final quarter, I am confident that the business is not just showing good resilience, but is moving forward, fully primed for further growth as the advertising market improves across 2023,” he said.
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