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comScore, Inc. (SCOR)

Q3 2024 Earnings Call· Tue, Nov 12, 2024

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Comscore Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Thank you. I'd now like to hand the conference over to John Tinker, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

John Tinker

Analyst

Thank you, operator. Before we begin our prepared remarks, I'd like to remind all of you that the following discussion contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include comments about our plans, expectations and prospects and are based on our view as of today, November 12, 2024. Our actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected because of a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include those outlined in our 10-K, 10-Q and other filings with the SEC, which you can find on our website or at www.sec.gov. We disclaim any duty or obligation to update our forward-looking statements to reflect new information after today's call. We will be discussing non-GAAP measures during this call, for which we have provided reconciliations in today's press release and on our website. Please note that we will be referring to slides on this call, which are also available on our website, www.comscore.com under Investor Relations, Events and Presentations. I'll now turn the call over to Comscore's Chief Executive Officer, Jon Carpenter. Jon?

Jon Carpenter

Analyst

Thank you, and thanks everyone for joining us this evening. During the third quarter we made steady progress in our efforts to transform Comscore into a global leader in measuring consumer behaviors across platforms. We're focused on scoring and analyzing audiences to help our advertiser and publisher clients reach and measure consumers and their viewing habits wherever they are. Our teams have worked hard to simplify and streamline our offerings, ensuring that our investment is tied directly to the things that will move the needle for our clients and I'm pleased with the progress that we've made. With 34% growth in cross-platform revenue versus the third quarter a year ago and key wins with agency holding companies, we see mounting evidence that the changes we're making are delivering value to our clients. During the quarter we renewed key agreements that expanded partnerships with some of our most important partners. This includes a new three year commitment from a major agency holdco. These renewals couple both our syndicated audience offerings with our cross-platform capabilities to deliver incremental value for our client set. We know we've got work left to do, but we have and we will continue to take meaningful steps to address our cost structure and to better align our focus towards the areas of the business where there's clear line of sight to long term growth. Taking a closer look at our cross-platform performance in the third quarter, we saw progress in some key areas. Our Proximic business and especially our Predictive Audiences offering, which is our ID Free AI enabled audience activation product had an strong quarter. With the disruption of Oracle's sudden announcement in the second quarter largely behind us, we've seen clients leading in to Comscore's offerings. Predictive Audiences revenue more than doubled versus the third…

Mary Margaret

Analyst

Thank you, Jon. Total revenue for the third quarter was $88.5 million, down 2.8% from $91 million the same quarter a year ago. Content & Ad Measurement revenue of $75.3 million was flat compared to the prior year quarter with lower revenue from our syndicated audience offerings offset by an increase in cross-platform revenue. In the third quarter, we continued to feel the impacts of the pricing pressures that our legacy media clients have been facing, most notably in our national TV and syndicated digital products. Our movies business remains strong, generating $9.3 million of revenue in the third quarter, up 7% from the prior year. Cross-platform revenue of $10.2 million was up nearly 34% compared to the prior year. As Jon mentioned, our Proximic business was impacted in the second quarter by the Oracle announcement that it was shutting down its ad business and at the time we anticipated it could be a revenue catalyst for us in the longer term. We saw some of that happen very quickly in Q3, which is contributing to the revenue growth for the quarter and we expect the trend to continue as we close out the year. We're also seeing quarter-over-quarter increases in CCR usage, with the number of active campaigns being measured growing exponentially. Research & Insight Solutions revenue of $13.2 million was down 14% from 2023, primarily due to lower deliveries of custom digital solutions and Lyft products as a result of the pullback of discretionary ad spend we're continuing to see from certain clients. Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $10.1 million, down 24% from the prior year quarter, resulting in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.5%. When you exclude the foreign exchange impact from adjusted EBITDA, this quarter's result of $12.4 million is up 1% over the…

Jon Carpenter

Analyst

Thanks, Mary Margaret. I'm confident that we'll continue to make progress in our transformation, positioning us to become the industry's leading source for cross-platform audience planning and measurement. Transformations are hard and take patience and discipline to execute successfully. I'd like to thank our employees who have worked tirelessly every day to help position us to achieve our goals and to our clients and stakeholders for their continued trust and partnership. With that, why don't we open it up Operator for any questions that we may have. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Jon Carpenter

Analyst

Okay, operator. Thank you very much. Thanks everybody for joining us this evening.

Operator

Operator

That concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.