Sports-focused TV streaming platform fuboTV has noted a year-on-year uptick in paid subscribers, total revenues and advertising revenues in Q1 as it continues to grow in 2022.
Publishing its closed Q1 2022 results, fuboTV reported total North American streaming revenues of $236.7m, up 98% YoY and setting a new record for the division. With operations in the rest of the world, revenues reached $242.0m, up 102% YoY.
Furthermore, other key metrics saw significant growth in Q1 as advertising revenues surged 81% up to $22.8m and total paid subscribers increased by 81% to over one million.
However, such growth has led to total expenses growing in a similar fashion, up 104% to $377.3m, leaving a net loss of $140.8m, doubling the losses made one year ago.
Similarly, adjusted EBITDA showed losses of $105.5m, 127% worse than Q1 2021’s ($46.5m).
Despite this, CEO David Gandler told investors that the firm is eyeing a positive adjusted EBITDA by 2025. He noted that it was operating in a ‘less robust advertising market’ during the quarter and this was twinned with ‘slower ad sales growth’.
Gandler commented: “In our first quarter, against a challenging macro environment, fuboTV achieved strong growth in subscribers and revenue, with North American subscriber growth of 81% year-over-year.
“In a less robust advertising market, however, we experienced some pressure on adjusted contribution margin due to slower ad sales growth than we had initially expected, with ad revenue up 81% year-over-year. Importantly, we strengthened fuboTV’s balance sheet, ending the quarter with over $456 million in cash. This increased financial flexibility is expected to take us through 2023, and we are targeting positive cash flow and Adjusted EBITDA (AEBITDA) in 2025, with a relatively modest cash requirement anticipated in 2024.”
Fubo also issued its North American guidance for Q2 and the full-year. It expects revenues to sit at $220m – $225m in Q2 and $1.02bn – $1.03bn for the full year.
Meanwhile, it expects its North American subscriber count to be 965,000 – 975,000 in Q2 and 1.47m – 1.49m for the full-year.
“We are committed to a business which replaces the decades-old basic cable package by giving consumers increased and improved content, ‘anytime anywhere’ access and mobility, increased choice and flexibility, personalization and interactivity – including gaming,” added Edgar Bronfman Jr., Executive Chairman, fuboTV.
“Wagering remains an important pillar in our path to profitability and strategy to integrate interactivity into our live TV streaming experience. While striving to be the most compelling destination for cord-cutters, fuboTV has started to enact a series of approaches to increase monetization, accelerate our ad sales business and further strengthen our unit economics.”
