PodcastOne Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
November 7, 2024

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. This is PodcastOne's Fiscal Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

Operator

Thank you. And now, I will turn the call over to PodcastOne's Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Aaron Sullivan. The floor is yours.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and welcome to Podcast 1 fiscal Q2 2025 Business Update and Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be open for questions. On our call today is Kit Gray, President and Founder of Podcast 1 myself, Aaron Sullivan, Chief Financial Officer and Rob Allen, Executive Chairman of the Board. I'd like to remind you that some of the statements made on today's call are forward looking and are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve various risks and uncertainties.

Speaker 1

These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the future performance of the company, including expected future financial results and expected future growth in the business. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed on this call for a variety of reasons. Please refer to the PodcastOne's filings with the SEC for information about factors which could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from these forward looking statements, including those described in PodcastOne's Form 10 ks for the year ended March 31, 2024 filed by the company with the SEC on July 1, 2024 and subsequent SEC filings made by the company. You will find reconciliations of non GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures discussed today in the company's earnings release, which is posted on its Investor Relations website. The company encourages you to periodically visit its Investor Relations website for important content.

Speaker 1

Following discussion, including responses to your questions, contains time sensitive information and reflects management's view as of the date of this call, November 7, 2024. And except as required by law, the company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise this information after the date of this call. I'd like to highlight to investors that this call is being recorded. Podcast 1 is making it available to investors and media by webcast and a replay will be available on our IR website in the Events section shortly following the conclusion of the call. Additionally, it is the property of the company and any redistribution, retransmission or rebroadcast of the call or the webcast in any form that the company's expressed written consent is strictly prohibited.

Speaker 1

Now, I would like to turn the call over to PodcastOne's President, Kit Gray.

Speaker 2

Good morning. Thank you, Aaron. We are very excited to have you all here today. The podcasting world is exploding and we are a huge part of it. I'm excited to talk to you about it all today.

Speaker 2

Thank you and welcome to our fiscal Q2 2025 earnings call. As a reminder, we are not on a calendar reporting here in our fiscal year end March 31, 2025. Today, I'm joined by our CFO, Darren Sullivan, who just spoke and our Executive Chairman, Robert Helland. Today, we will provide a brief recap and overview of Podcast 1 in a continuously growing podcast market and highlight our recent successes before passing it on to Aaron for the financial results. After his comments, I will close with an update on our strategic initiatives and what we are looking forward to in the quarters to come.

Speaker 2

Lastly, we will open it up to Q and A. To start, I'd like to first provide an overview on Podcast 1 for those who may be new to our story. Podcasts have transitioned from their niche interest to a mainstream medium with millions of engaged listeners. Since founding the company in 2012, we have been there from the beginning, which has provided a 1st mover advantage and allowed us to scale our platform significantly. Today, PodcastOne is the only pure play publicly traded podcast company in the United States.

Speaker 2

Put simply, PodcastOne is a leading podcast platform that hosts 189 shows that reaches a U. S. Audience over 16,200,000 global downloads and streams as of September 2024. Leveraging our platform, we help podcasts recognize their full potential by providing world class support via 360 marketing capabilities to accelerate growth and exposure, allowing talent to do what they do best. This support includes full capabilities related to studio space, marketing, production, editing, distribution, talent booking, public relations and leveraging our seasoned direct sales teams who have long term relationships with advertisers and brands that want exposure and sought after audience of listeners on the podcast platform.

Speaker 2

A majority of our revenue is generated from advertisers sold by our direct sales team who brings these brands access to the unique audiences on our platform. We also recently introduced 2 new revenue streams, which are already showing significant traction and should diversify our revenue streams while providing new avenues of growth for PodcastOne. 1st, PodcastOne Pro, which features everything from full 360 degree marketing, which I touched on, or a la carte offerings for every price point and specific needs to our talent on our platform. 2nd, we've launched Paywalls with Apple Plus, Sub Spec, SportingCast, and where we have an agreement with some of our most popular podcasts and package that add that offer ad free listening, early access, notes from podcasters, bonus episodes, merchandise and more. This afternoon also provides us with future spots and premium placements within each paywall ecosystem.

Speaker 2

More on those verticals later. Nucle, our full end to end capabilities not only partner with podcasts, but in some instances, our own intellectual property or the actual show. This year alone, we have already sold 2 shows to 2 major streaming networks, which can provide high return on investment to PodcastOne with even larger upside based on future performance. According to PodTrak, our platform is currently ranked number 12 of all U. S.

Speaker 2

Podcast publishers, ahead of such names as CNN, Fox Audio Network and other major media conglomerates. The U. S. Podcast market is projected to reach 160,000,000 listeners in 2024, more than double the 2020 figure, and we are in prime position to capture market share. And advertisers are certainly taking notice too.

Speaker 2

A recent study in Pod News found that podcasting advertising not only surpasses other mediums and brand building, but is also highly effective in generating long term sales. According to the study, podcast advertising delivers 4.9x the ROI, making it one of the most profitable media channels available. Clearly, podcasts continue to be preferred medium for entertainment, sharing content, education, and importantly, news. To showcase this, both 2024 presidential candidates appeared in long form interviews on trending podcasts as proven platforms for messaging. During the quarter, Podcast 1 also had notable guests, including Barack Obama, Doctor.

Speaker 2

Anthony Fauci, Whitney Cummings and Sassy Schroeder to name a few. Now before going further, I'd like to turn the call over to Aaron, our CFO, to walk through the financial results for the fiscal Q2. Aaron?

Speaker 1

Thank you, Kit. As Kit mentioned at the beginning of the call, I want to again remind listeners that our fiscal year ends on March 31. Revenue in the fiscal Q2 of 2025 increased 16% to $12,200,000 compared to $10,500,000 in the same year ago quarter. Operating loss in the fiscal Q2 of 2025 was $1,700,000 compared to an operating loss of $1,400,000 in the same year ago quarter. The increase was primarily driven by higher non cash stock compensation expense.

Speaker 1

Net loss in the fiscal Q2 of 2025 was $1,700,000 or $0.07 per basic and diluted share compared to a net loss of $10,900,000 or $0.52 per basic and diluted share in the same year ago quarter. As a reminder, the prior year quarter included a non cash non operational 8,900,000 dollars charge related to a change in the fair value of embedded derivatives as our bridge notes were converted to equity. Adjusted EBITDA in the fiscal Q2 of 2025 improved to negative $4,000,000 compared to adjusted EBITDA of $0.1000000 in the same year ago quarter. The change in adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to the timing of content acquisition costs. We ended the fiscal Q2 with no debt on our balance sheet and $1,400,000 in cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2024.

Speaker 1

As we look ahead, I'd like to also briefly touch on guidance. We expect fiscal 2025 revenues for the full year to be at least $51,000,000 representing an increase of at least 17% when compared to revenues of CAD43.3 million in fiscal 2024. Given the continued strong double digit revenue growth, we also project positive adjusted EBITDA for the full fiscal year 2025. We've recently entered into long term deals with certain podcasters to make them equity partners as we will compensate them for revenue share with stock grants. This will be accretive to adjusted EBITDA and strengthens our relationship with talent as they will literally be invested in our company and we'll have the opportunity to participate in the upside as the company continues to grow.

Speaker 1

Now I'd like to turn the call back to Kit for some additional comments in the quarter before wrapping up with questions from the audience.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Aaron. As highlighted, the momentum we're building continues to drive meaningful financial results, which is a direct result of our extremely scalable platform and the execution by our team at PodcastOne. During the quarter, we made several significant hires, including industry veteran Jim Lally, who joins us from Lipson Ads, where he served as Director of Brand Partnerships. His experience spans podcasting, digital media and advertising with notable roles at WNYC Studios, the SoundRise, which is part of the PRX's media sales division, and The New York Times, having a direct impact on the sales strategies behind shows of some of their top trending properties. As Head of Business Development at Podcast 1, he will focus on expanding internal sales and publishing synergies, increasing talent revenues and the company's prominence with both media buyers and content creators.

Speaker 2

Alongside Sue McNamara, our CRO, this is a 1 two punch combo that should help accelerate our growth for years to come. We've also added Steve Lehman as Vice Chairman of Podcast 1, who among his many accolades was Founder, Chairman and CEO of Premier Networks, the largest radio network in the U. S, which is now part of Iheartradio. He brings extensive experience and will work alongside senior management to drive both organic and inorganic growth opportunities, specifically in M and A. Lastly, John Merriman joined the Board of Directors.

Speaker 2

He currently serves as Chief Business Officer for B. Riley Financial as a 35 year investment banking veteran. He has deep experience helping companies with their strategic growth initiatives and in achieving visibility in the public markets through debt and equity transition transactions. As I noted in my opening remarks, we've taken several steps to increase growth on the platform and diversify our revenue streams, which ultimately will make us much larger and much more of a mature platform as we move forward. In August, we launched Podcast 1 Pro, which utilizes our current resources, technology and team to foster and accelerate growth for podcasts at any price point.

Speaker 2

By helping shows succeed, either via leveraging our studio resources, helping with production or adding advertising opportunities into their show, it provides us with a stickier relationship and upside to both parties. During this quarter, we have signed 5 deals with average expected revenues in 6 figures with major brands such as MotorTrend, Lovesac and Invisible Scars. We also saw success using Paywalls to provide exclusive access to live events, pay per view merchandise and bonus content. A great example of a show that utilizes these offerings to expand its reach is Adam Corolla, which we recently launched on Substack. Our use of Substack allows PodcastOne and Adam Corolla to uniquely package exclusive content to the most passionate of podcast listeners that will have full access to Beat It Out, Jay Moore's podcast return, as well as ad free and video content for all new episodes of The Adam and Carolla Show, The Adam and Drew, and Classic Carolla Shows.

Speaker 2

Additionally, subscribers will receive an exclusive newsletter, access to archival content and be the 1st to experience planned live recording sessions and live chat. These new revenue streams provide additional avenues for high margin growth while diversifying our revenue mix and service offering to the entire PodcastOne ecosystem. As of the quarter end, we have 189 shows on the platform with 48 shows added year to date and 6 new shows added this quarter. In most instances, our platform helps shows expand their reach, increase revenue and take them to the next level. I'll highlight that with the I've had it podcast.

Speaker 2

2 years ago, they signed the podcast 1 when they were under 20,000 downloads per episode, and now they are well over a 100,000 audio and video downloads per episode with multiple, episodes a week and nearly 10,000,000 downloads in total. The show recently extended its relationship with Podcast 1 for a 2 year deal and added a second show to their network called IHIP News, that is under their umbrella and leverages their extremely loyal audience. Podcast 1 was also able to support Kendall Toole, a Peloton fame, as she embarked on her next chapter with Wholeheartedly podcast, joining our former colleague and current Peloton instructor, Cody Rigsby, and his podcast, Tactile Peddiness on podcast 1. Full Coverage is a runaway Gen Z hit whose hosts, Manny and Laura, have transitioned their notoriety as influencers to become top notch and compelling podcast hosts. They are leaning into industry trends, producing superior video content and averaging over 100,000 downloads per episode.

Speaker 2

PodcastOne's roster of talent is only expected to grow with debt free balance sheet and multiple accelerated accretive growth opportunities. We will continue to evaluate M and A prospects not only for our attempts to acquire the best content, but other networks, producers, sales firms and technology to bolster PodcastOne's offerings to host and their advertising partners. PodcastOne offers investors a unique opportunity with a rapidly growing platform that not only has scale and talent, but its own intellectual property that can be sold for significant return on investment. To that end, the fiscal Q2 of 2025, we sold our 2nd company owned podcast to a major television network. And as we move forward, we are excited to see the on screen adaptations of these 2 popular shows.

Speaker 2

The unique model, team and resources within Podcast 1 is reshaping a budgeting podcast industry, resulting in sustainable double digit revenue growth with significant margins as we scale. Looking ahead, we will continue focusing on our strategic growth initiatives as the only pure play podcast company in the United States, which ultimately will help drive sustainable long term shareholder value. Thank you for joining us. And at this time, I'd like to turn the call over to the operator for Q and A. Operator?

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Your first question comes from the line of Sean McGowan of ROTH Capital Partners. Your line is now open.

Speaker 3

Thank you. Two quickies for Aaron first. Aaron, when you were giving that guidance, did you say 6,161 or 5,151?

Speaker 1

51.51.

Speaker 3

Okay. Thank you. And I assume the 10Q will be out early next week as well as 5 1?

Speaker 1

Yes. Similar timing as we discussed earlier. So early next week, a day or 2 before the deadline. Okay.

Speaker 3

Then a couple of questions for you, Kit. So now that the election cycle, the most important election of our lifetime, etcetera, etcetera, is over, What does that do to the ad market in the period following an election? How does pricing trend

Speaker 4

kind

Speaker 3

of in the wake of that? I know you guys don't do a lot of political advertising, but it's got to affect the overall pricing, right? So what happens to pricing?

Speaker 2

Yes. Hey, Sean. Good to hear from you. Thanks for joining, buddy. Yes.

Speaker 2

So the never ending political world, hopefully, it is kind of over and we can all move on. I think we are all exhausted with that. But I think really the cool thing is when you look at all the candidates and going on podcasts and even the Elon Musk of the world going on podcast and just talking about that and really the strength of podcasting, it really was a powerful tool in this campaigning strategies of both partners, both candidates. So really kind of cool to watch. But that's saying, to answer your question on the advertising front, front, what I've heard mostly in talking to a lot of our competitors, talking to a lot of our brand partners and agencies is that they've really pulled back over the last couple of months in their total ad spending because they just didn't want to be a part of the clutter, right, and being a part of the constant barrage of Trump and Harris commercials and local ads going out there.

Speaker 2

So a lot of them pulled back. And I think that's going to poise us for a really strong November, December and into Q1 as some of these budgets that have been held back will be pumped in as it's business as usual and maybe even some people will be a little bit more robust just like the market yesterday and today that they should be spending more money to get their word out and sell product and so forth. So I think it's going to be a really good thing for our business and the world. So hopefully that holds true.

Speaker 3

Okay. Thanks. Kind of along in the same general area is that discussion with podcasting becoming like a greater part of some of the general social dialogue, including politics. How does that enter into the negotiations that you have with talent either for new shows or existing shows? Does it help you or does it kind of make it more expensive to get some of these shows?

Speaker 2

I guess it can kind of go both ways. But we're really unique. I talked about the I've had it properties earlier in the presentation. They've been on the TODAY show multiple times. We have leveraged that through our PR relationships and our talent booking relationships.

Speaker 2

And obviously, they're tremendously talented women and very funny. So it's been good for them to do what they do, but for us to complement them nicely with the services that we offer. When you look at the ability to drive revenues and drive growth on that show, it's allowed those 2 women in particular to not spend as much time in their core business, which is being a divorce attorney and a design specialist running your own firm and really concentrating on the podcasting business and launching the political show and being able to travel to Chicago for the DNC and LA to go out to meet with certain political people and Obama and so forth. So I think it's great in the sense that we're getting more audience, we're getting bigger guests, we're getting bigger recognition. It does get expensive, but we offer these services because it grows their pie and it grows the total revenues that we could bring to the ecosystem of that show, which is great, right?

Speaker 2

So we're able to do exactly what we said we would do for them, which is take some of their heavy lifting off and allow them to do more content and then we can all make more money together.

Speaker 3

Great. That's helpful. My last question is, given that every business has an eightytwenty rule, right, the podcast is probably more like the 95.5 in terms of audience size, maybe not, maybe you can correct me on that. But is it getting harder for newer shows to get discovered? And what does that do?

Speaker 3

Like in terms of the services that you offer talent, what kinds of things are you saying that you can do to help the shows get discovered?

Speaker 2

Yes. Good question. Sean, you always have some good ones. I think it is harder for new shows to you know, get discovered or be discovered and then, you know, continue to download it and grow. It is, I believe there's less new podcasts out there than there has been in the last couple of years, but the consumption of podcasts is growing tremendously and the ways to access podcasts is changing.

Speaker 2

Right? We talked about YouTube becoming a huge, huge platform of distribution for podcasts in the vodcast world. So there's new ways to discover podcasts. Not only, you know, do I run a network of podcasts where we can use open inventory and we can cross promote with guests to grow shows or special events. I would tell my best friend if he wanted to grow a podcast that you'd have to join the right network and network like ours where you just don't have that opportunity to to, you know, make your footprint.

Speaker 2

But that in turn, I think you're seeing smaller shows. And and when I say smaller, that's like 20, 30, 40,000, you know, right where I've had it used to be, right, when we first picked them up that are, you know, able to make money and not only make money on the immediate shows that go out, the episodes that go out, but their backlog of content, right? And that's coming through programmatic revenues and selling as, run a network type deals, not just, you know, show by show where you're really capped out of that, like, what downloads number you have. So there's different ways to make money now. You know, if you're 20, 25,000 downloaded podcasts, you you've got the advertising side of it, but now you've got the merch, you've got the paywall, you've got the live shows, you've got all these type of things that that we can help people do, and and that's And that's their chance to become podcast partners.

Speaker 3

Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Sure.

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Leo Carpio of Joseph Kanner. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Good morning, gentlemen. Got a couple of quick questions. The first question regarding the quarter, did you experience a summer seasonality effect on the revenues being summertime, people tend to go to the beach and thus they don't spend as much time on podcasts or listening? And just wondering if that's happened this Q.

Speaker 2

Yes. Hey, Leo, good to see you or good to see you last week and good to hear from you again. Yes. So you always do see, seasonality in the summer months, just like you would around the week of Thanksgiving and Christmas New Year, you do see a little bit of that. It's been a wild year for podcasting in the sense that you've you've got this new distribution channel really of YouTube diving into it deeply, but you've also have the iOS change with Apple, where, they changed how they, you know, download to subscribers of podcasts.

Speaker 2

And, you know, not only did that hurt many shows in our network, but it also hurt, a lot of shows throughout the podcast medium. And that's short term hurt, a long term gain because I think it it helps, you know, clarity and, in in terms of the audience, and it helps the advertisers have some more confidence on people actually hearing their spot. So I think that's it's a good thing. So the numbers and the downloads have really evolved. So it hasn't been just kind of a consistent thing.

Speaker 2

Last year in Q2, that's when that change occurred. And so we're still kind of living through that world a little bit. So it's hard to just say, oh, yeah. You know, there are a lot of people at the beach, but, you know, there could have been a lot of people at the beach listening to podcasts too. Right?

Speaker 2

So I think, I think the medium is just exploding. I I think, you know, it continues to be a place where people consume information, laugh and feel like a community. And, you know, again, the biggest and best personalities in the world are in the podcasting space spaces either as hosts or guests or creators of these fantastic IP programs now that we've got going on as well.

Speaker 4

Okay. And speaking in terms of the new media that you just mentioned there, given this whole presidential election cycle that just went through, do you think podcasting is becoming a more reliable form of news source? Like for example, this cycle we saw people going to TikTok and other social media versus traditional news. Do you think this is kind of like the dawn for podcasting being a better, a more reliable media and hence dollars will follow in terms of ad?

Speaker 2

Yes. I actually watched a clip that Rob, Rob Ellen, had sent me this morning from Tucker Carlson interview with Elon Musk and he talked about podcasting and really the benefits of these candidates, going on podcasting, really anybody. Right? Like, when you go on a podcast, it's not like Instagram or a, you know, a Twitter post. It's those are short form, you know, fast content.

Speaker 2

You see what you see and you make your own judgments. But, you know, when you listen to an hour to 3 hour interview with with a candidate or, you know, an actor or a writer or whatever it is you're listening to, you really get an opportunity to learn who that person is and beyond what they're just doing. But you either like that person or you don't, but it really gives you a unique time to sit with someone and listen, and it's a very intimate experience. And when you do something like Joe Rogan and it's a 3 hour interview, you're getting way deeper than you'd see in any other medium form, and people really like it. It's extremely powerful, and it allows you to kind of connect with these people unlike you ever have been able to do before, right?

Speaker 2

So that's the strength of podcasting.

Speaker 1

Okay. And then can you remind us what's the status of

Speaker 4

your talent pipeline and also in acquisitions in terms of podcast networks that you looked at. If I recall in Passport as you mentioned like about 100 plus podcast talent at any given time being evaluated as potential adds to your platform. How is that pipeline shaping up now? Is it still the same health robust or?

Speaker 2

Yes. On the show by show side of things, still in that 100 plus, you know, continually falling in and out, right? Certainly you win some, you lose some, new ones are coming in. There are ones that are ones that just we wouldn't consider for multiple reasons, but that remains strong. Where I think it's changing is you're going to see on the M and A side of things, especially with Steve, Raymond joining the company, our focus of getting out to those podcasting companies similar to the ones we are, you know, that represent or produce podcasts, have shows, have a network of shows.

Speaker 2

There's companies out there that are involved in the tech and the production of things. So we're looking at all of those, and that's definitely a much more robust funnel than it was a month or even 2 months ago. So I think that they're both there's so many opportunities out there. I think when I was talking to all I know when I was talking to Steve about the differences between, you know, running a premier, which is a radio station kind of group and and and then running a podcasting group is, you know, in the radio side, you're still limited in a market by market, you know, signal account. Right?

Speaker 2

There's only a certain amount of AMs or SEMS in that market. But in our world, there's literally millions of podcasts. Right? And there's great ideas and great people in the social media world that have communities that could be great at doing podcasts. So we have a much bigger ocean to pick from.

Speaker 2

We just have to pick the right ones.

Speaker 4

Okay. And then last question, turning back to the guidance. Previously, you had indicated the guidance was $51,000,000 to $56,000,000 for the year, and you're saying today it's greater than $51,000,000 Just want to try to connect the 2 dots in in terms of the guidance. Is it still the 51, 56?

Speaker 2

What we're saying is that we're going to be over 51. Where that's going to land is definitely going to depend on a couple of big deals that we feel very strongly on. I think that we're really, really excited about. But I wouldn't, they're not slam dunked, I would say that. We're confident on hitting that over that 51 number.

Speaker 2

How big that will be? Well, we'll see. We feel really good about them. We've got great relationships with those brands that we're really close to signing to get us to that number. A couple of acquisitions go our way a little quicker than we'd like, then we'll get higher than that number.

Speaker 2

But that's kind of where we're leaning right now.

Speaker 4

All right. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Lia.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Barry Sine of Litchfield Research. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hey, thanks for taking the call. Just to comment, kid, I saw Lady Gang when they were in New York live last month with a really passionate audience, although I think I was the only straight guy there, but the audience loves that group. And I was able to meet the talent afterwards. So, just really great experience.

Speaker 2

I'm glad you had fun, and, yeah, that's a unique one. That's a unique one, for sure. So, can you hear me okay?

Speaker 5

I can. Yes. Can you hear me okay? Sorry, I'm actually in Hong Kong. So it's a little bad connection.

Speaker 5

So you mentioned that you've hired somebody for brand partnerships. What are brand partnerships? Can you give us an example of what one might be?

Speaker 2

Sure. Those are most of our advertising deals, I would say probably 80% ballparking it, are through agency view that represents brands and it's very much spot, weak spots, spot spot spot kind of business. Brand partnerships are taking something like the Adam Corolla show and going to a brand directly, whether that's like a Home Depot or a Lowe's or something like that or even an alcohol brand and doing really more of those 3 60 sales that we talked about. So you're getting more money for the content that you're providing. So signage in the studio, brands on the video, giveaways, segments, having people on the episodes.

Speaker 2

So really going deeper into that and using brand relationships to go above and beyond. You know, we work with the State Farms of the world, and it's it's it's just much more in-depth. Right? Like, is the is the coffee mug facing the right way on the video, all that kind of stuff. So so a guy that can bring big bucks and big deals on that front, he's done it before.

Speaker 2

You know, I I outlined his history. So he's going to be involved in that, and he has a ton of relationships with shows, individual shows that we're already talking to with him, and he's run similar groups to our sales teams where those networks are accustomed to him and his strategies and his success in sales to bring them over to our team and do a great job. So he's going to be doing all that stuff.

Speaker 5

Okay. And I'm trying to just collect everything you've said. You've given a lot of data points on as I start to think about what you could do in 2025. And I know you're not giving guidance for the year. On the LiveOne call, Rob seemed to indicate that your activity in the last couple of weeks has really accelerated with a lot of bids out there.

Speaker 5

You continue to add new podcasts. You're continuing now that you've monetized 2 of your podcasts for movie or TV. And then there's other opportunities, I guess, live events and so on. Could you prioritize what do you think is the most exciting of everything that you're doing and we're going to see really drive 2025 numbers?

Speaker 2

Yes. I'm really excited about the M and A side of things. Personally, I've gotten a chance to know Steve quite well over the last month, 2 months that we've been working together. And he is a really smart guy, a guy that has been through doing exactly what we're trying to do for Premier and growing that business. And honestly, I get excited every time I talk to the guy on the phone, and we've got you know, 20, 30, companies that we're talking to in the space that, can bring us a bunch of different things.

Speaker 2

So me personally, working with Steve has just been tremendous. I've learned a lot from him, and I think that's where it's going to kick start our growth really fast. And I think that's what the industry needs. I think we're well positioned being the only real publicly traded company in the United States focused on podcasting that if we can make some of these partnerships with Burke, we start to scoop some of them up, this becomes a really, really exciting company in the next year or 2 in that side of things, right? I'm still extremely excited about our core business.

Speaker 2

That's acquiring shows, launching shows and working with advertisers and taking a show like Ibotta where we do 20,000 downloads and maybe they make $100,000 a year to doing close to $2,000,000 $3,000,000 if we're lucky, right, on new programming, that's also super fun, right? But I'm excited about all of those things. I'm excited about the IP. We've proven that model. We've learned a lot from that process, being able to really equate what the value of these scripted shows are in terms of going out and producing them, how much it costs, what can we charge advertisers to supplement some of those costs.

Speaker 2

And then the process of taking those to streaming television movie companies has been fascinating. And I think people are really excited about what that could be. And as Rob likes to say, those are home run swings. So we're going to have a bunch of things in that space too. So again, I'm really excited about the business.

Speaker 2

It couldn't be more excited about the medium. You guys listen to podcasts, you guys see the news, you guys see what's going on in the world. Podcasting is right square in front of your face. And I think it's really exciting for all of us.

Speaker 5

And you mentioned M and A, would that just be acquiring individual podcasts? Or have you looked at acquiring other podcast companies?

Speaker 2

Yes. So the M and A side of things will be we already have a division that does the acquiring existing podcasts and starting new podcasts like in our talent content acquisition team that's led by Eli Dvorkin. They do a great job, right, like, I guess, that we we signed 48 this year or year to date. So that is going to be and is a huge part of our business. But the M and A side of things is really looking at clusters of podcast groups and technology and hosting platforms and ad servicing businesses, things like that, that if we can land 2 or 3 of those strategically, it really, really gets exciting.

Speaker 5

And what does the opportunity look like out there? Are there companies like that for sale? And why are they up for sale?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, look, we acquired the assets of Cast Media a little over a year ago now, where that landed anywhere from 6 or 7 shows, maybe more I'm sorry, more than that, but because Brandon Schaub has 3 shows, right? But those we were able to land those shows that drove anywhere between $5,000,000 $7,000,000 right? So the reason that company was in trouble was they had to just kind of run out of money and used a lot of the money that was supposed to go to talent that went to just keeping the lights on and keeping things moving. And we all know the end of the year, the economy changed and raising money changed and they got kind of on the squeeze.

Speaker 2

When you're looking at some of the companies out there right now that we're talking to, they're doing nice revenues, but they're at that business building, infrastructure building stage, right, where we've already done that. We have our HR, we have our finance team, we have our sales team, we have our tech, we have everything in place that we can go to a group like that and say, well, don't do that part of it. We've already got that. But you've got some great properties, some great salespeople, some great leaders, some great talent, some great writers, some great tech. Well, we can bring that over and you can be a part of this and 2 plus 2, it can equal 5 or 6, right?

Speaker 2

So that's the idea. There's plenty of those out there. There's companies that are just losing money that need a company like ours to take on some of that and we can grow and use the good parts of it to just make great business decisions and we can all win.

Speaker 5

Okay, great. Thank you very much, guys.

Speaker 2

Hey, thanks and travel safely. Enjoy your time all across the world.

Speaker 5

All right. Thank you.

Operator

And that concludes our Q and A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Keith Gray for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate your interest in Podcast 1. We look forward to connecting with the investor community this month at the Wall Street Conference in Boca, Florida Boca Raton, Florida and the 13th Annual ROTH Tech Conference in New York City later this month. For more information or to schedule a meeting with management, please reach out to the MZ Group at podcmzgroup.us

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Earnings Conference Call
PodcastOne Q2 2025
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