Audioboom hopes new ad strategy will power recovery as it reports net loss
Podcasting platform Audioboom today posted a net loss of $1.8m (£1.4m) for the first half of the year, but said that its new advertising strategy would see the firm “emerge from the economic downturn in a position of strength”.
Revenue for the first half of the year came in at $31.8m (£24.6m), down from $40.9m (£31.6m) for the same period last year. This was mainly driven by the loss of the ‘Morbid’ podcast, which left the network in May of last year.
Average global monthly downloads held steady, rising from 125.2m in the first quarter to 125.9m in the second.
The London-listed firm said, however, that revenues from Showcase, its automated advertising marketplace, increased 18 per cent from last quarter, and 35 per cent for the same period one year ago.
Audioboom recently rolled out its new brand-oriented revenue strategy, as it looks to expand its customer base beyond traditional podcast advertisers to leading global brands.
“Its success will be a sign of maturation for our advertising business,” Stuart Last, chief exec of Audioboom, said.
He added that the firm’s strategy and model continued “work well”, adding that the “refocusing of our advertising strategy setting us up to emerge from the economic downturn in a position of strength.”
Fiona Orford-William, director of TMT at investment research firm Edison Group, said that as the advertising market remains”sluggish”, Audioboom’s shift towards larger advertisers was a “sensible” move that “broadens the revenue base” for the firm.
“The increase in proportion of revenues generated from the Showcase… improves the quality of earnings, driving a gross margin well above that achievable from the ‘traditional’ podcasting,” she said.