Fiscal 2024 off to a strong start: Stingray

Stingray Group Inc. reported revenue and subscriber growth for the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year on Tuesday, adding that early revenue growth in Q2 has already picked up. According to a statement from CEO Eric Boyko, the company is on track to “more than double” its advertising revenues in the next 12 to 36 months, thanks in large part to its recent deals with car manufacturer BYD Co. Ltd., Mood Media Corp.’s Vibenomics advertising division, and retail media company Loblaw Media. “We remain on target to achieve our goal of 40 per cent growth in advertising revenues for 2024,” he stated, alluding to the faster growth the company is seeing during the current second quarter. In Q1 2024, ended June 30, total revenues increased by 1.1 per cent to $79.0 million, up from $78.1 million in Q1 2023. This includes an increase in Canadian revenues by 1.3 per cent to $47.3 million, up from last year’s $46.6 million. U.S. revenues remained stagnant at $19.1 million compared to Q1 2023. Revenues in other countries increased 2.1 per cent to $12.6 million, up from last year’s $12.4 million. Broadcasting and Commercial Music revenues grew 2.3 per cent, to $47.2 million in Q1 2024 from $46.1 million in Q1 2023. Radio revenues declined by 0.6 per cent, to $31.8 million in Q1 2024 from $32.0 million in the same period in 2023. Streaming subscribers were up 8.9 per cent year over year, reaching 795,000. “I think for sure we’ll hit a million subs, just with the launch of the new countries on Amazon, we're launching in about 20 new countries…” said Boyko during a conference call with analysts on Wednesday. Boyko cited the company’s upcoming product launches as well as its existing ones through CLIQ Digital, Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video, Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube TV, and YouTube Primetime, as reasons to expect future subscriber growth. Stingray’s first quarter saw a profit of $14.1 million, a 50.2 per cent growth from Q1 2023’s $9.4 million. “The increase was mainly due to a one-time settlement gain on a trademark dispute and to a higher gain on the fair value of derivative financial instruments, partially offset by higher interest expense,” wrote the company in its report. The company announced on Tuesday it signed a global deal with BYD, a major car manufacturer known for its electric vehicles, to embed Stingray’s karaoke app into its popular car models. This deal is the latest step in Stingray’s efforts to expand its reach in the in-car entertainment industry, adding BYD to its list of partners including Audi and Tesla. Boyko said, along with the revenue Stingray will receive from each car manufactured, he expects an increase in radio ad sales, which will hopefully bring growth back to its radio revenues. “The EV market will increase for the next 10 to 20 years… And if you're involved, everybody will make money, so it’s the opposite of the cable industry,” he stated, “I feel that the cars will replace the cable industry and you'll get your entertainment from your car in the future more than you get from .” Tuesday also saw an announcement from Stingray that it will be pulling all of its advertising from Facebook and Instagram, joining the growing list of companies boycotting Meta Platforms Inc. due to its decision to block Canadian news content on its platforms. “We cannot tolerate Meta's recent decision to block news from Canadian news media publishers and their potential implications for Canadian news content,” said Boyko in a statement. Referring to Meta’s actions as an “affront to public policy and the news media,” Stingray urged other organizations and businesses to join the movement. – Reporting by Phalen Tynes-MacDonald at pcreed@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

Fiscal 2024 off to a strong start: Stingray

Broadcast | August 9, 2023

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Fiscal 2024 off to a strong start: Stingray

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