The opening quarter of 2024 has proven to be a period of exceeding financial milestones for Genius Sports, a prominent data, technology, and broadcast services supplier, which has just raised its full-year revenue forecast to an impressive $500 million. Alongside this, the company now anticipates adjusted EBITDA to reach $82 million, significantly surpassing its initial prediction of $480 million in revenue and $75 million in adjusted EBITDA.
The London-based firm, renowned for its partnerships with heavyweights like the NFL and the English Premier League, released this revised guidance in conjunction with the disclosure of its $120 million group revenue for the first trimester ending March 31, 2024. This figure marks a 23.1% increase from the same period the previous year, as well as a 2.5% surge past earlier estimates.
Considerable growth is noted within its betting technology, content, and services sector, where revenue ascended by 14% year-on-year to $73.9 million. This spike is attributed to the acquisition of new customers and expanded transactions with existing clientele, bolstered by contractual price hikes during renewals and negotiations.
The media technology, content, and services sector also experienced a substantial revenue uptick of 63% compared to the previous year, reaching $35.5 million, spearheaded by the robust expansion in the American market. In this momentum, programmatic advertising services played an instrumental role.
Operating parallel to the uptrend in revenue was the cost of revenue growth, which rose by 21.8% to $106.9 million. Total operating expenses saw an increase of just over 15% year-on-year, amounting to $37.1 million. Despite these surges, the group’s net loss remained relatively stable at $25.5 million, only a marginal dip from the $25.2 million in the first quarter of 2023.
The adjusted EBITDA for the group showed an unexpected turn, dropping by 14.5% compared to the previous year, resting at $7 million, albeit still topping the projection of $6 million. This downward shift was chiefly due to the new NFL domestic streaming rights, integral to powering Genius’ BetVision product. The streaming rights expenditure is distributed evenly throughout the NFL season, which peculiarly impacts profitability in Q1 of 2024 due to the scarcity of NFL games bolstering revenue in this interval.
Mark Locke, the co-founder and CEO of Genius Sports, heralded the company’s performance, along with some early 2024 operational milestones, including securing a new, exclusive betting rights agreement with Football DataCo projected to last until 2029.
“Following a strong year of execution in 2023, we are pleased to continue our momentum to start the new year, with the first quarter of 2024 marking another period of outperformance relative to expectations,” Locke stated.
Locke further elaborated, “As we expand our technology footprint and work to extend one of our most important data partnerships with Football DataCo, we feel an enhanced sense of excitement and confidence in our outlook for 2024 and beyond.”
Indeed, the previous fiscal year bore witness to Genius Sports’ revenue swelling by 21.0% to $413.0 million, beating its earlier guidance of $391 million. Meanwhile, the cost of revenue for FY23 saw a modest ascent of 1.7% to $343.9 million. Consequently, the gross profit soared to $69 million—a staggering increase from the $66.1 million observed in the full-year 2022. Adjusted EBITDA witnessed a prodigious growth of 238.3% year-on-year to $53.3 million, once again surpassing the initial guidance of $41 million.
At the commencement of 2024, Genius was proclaimed the victor in the bid for the esteemed official betting data partnership with Football DataCo, holding the coveted data rights to the English Premier League.
Currently, negotiations are underway between Genius and DataCo, with the anticipated renewed agreement contingent upon the consent of the respective leagues and their affiliate clubs. This development underscores the strategic direction and growing influence Genius Sports commands within the sports data and betting industries as it forges ahead with greater vigor in the competitive landscape.
