Revenue Steady for Comscore ahead of Theater Reopenings

Comscore has reported results for the first quarter, with revenue up fractionally from $89.5m to $90.3m. Adjusted EBITDA was down 12.5% to $5.6m, but remains much stronger than in 2019.

Reported net loss was $36.4m, compared to a net loss of $13.2m in Q1 2020 - the firm says this relates primarily to 'higher data costs associated with our new commercial agreements'. During the quarter the firm signed a string of renewals and new agreements with broadcasters like NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS, as well as partnerships with digital specialists like AdSquare and Retargetly.

Growth came from increases in TV, cross-platform services, custom marketing solutions and Activation, but was offset by lower revenue in the Movies Reporting and Analytics division - down from $10.5m to $6.8m with the continuing impact of theater closures - as well as lower income from syndicated digital products.

Ratings and Planning revenue rose more than 3% to $65.8m, despite declines insales of syndicated digital and from Validated Campaign Essentials. Analytics and Optimization revenue rose $2.2m to $17.7m.

The firm entered into a $25.0m revolving credit facility earlier this week, to provide additional liquidity and financial flexibility, and says it expects full yer revenue up 3-5% from 2020, and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 65 to 8%.

CEO and Executive Vice Chairman Bill Livek (pictured) comments: 'Completing our investment this quarter with Charter, Qurate and Cerberus was a critical strategic step for Comscore. This transaction gave us access to expanded rights with our data sets and created additional momentum behind our efforts to shift the media and advertising industry to census-based measurement at a time that the industry needs Comscore more than ever. Combined with the financial flexibility and liquidity created by the transaction, we are now positioned to reestablish revenue growth across our business'. He continues: 'This quarter we saw improvement in many areas of our business, and with movie theaters beginning to reopen, we expect to see a healthy rebound over the coming quarters in that vertical. We signed new contracts and partnerships with industry leaders and are seeing customer excitement and momentum in many of our products. As a result, we remain confident in our ability to grow revenue as the year progresses'.

Web site: www.comscore.com .