Genius Sports believes it can accomplish its full-year 2022 financial objectives after it outperformed its expected guidance for the first quarter of the year by 10%.
Publishing its Q1 2022 results, the sports technology firm registered corporate revenues of $85.9m, up 59.9% from the $53.7m reported during the same period in the previous year.
Each of Genius’ three core business units – Betting Technology, Media Services, and Sports Tech – was the driving force behind the uptick in revenues due to the increased demand for their services.
Betting Technology, Content & Services revenue increased by 27.6% year-over-year to $49.7m (Q1 2021: $39m).
Genius notes the improvement in this vertical was due to ‘growth in business with existing customers as a result of price increases on contract renewals and renegotiations, expansion of value-add services and new service offerings, and new customer acquisitions’.
On the other hand, Media Technology, Content & Services revenue grew by over 150% YoY to $24.1m (Q1 2021: $9.4m).
The firm states that this is ‘substantially organic growth driven by the continued acquisition of new customers, primarily for programmatic advertising services and the inclusion of incremental revenues from recent acquisitions’.
Meanwhile, Sports Technology & Services revenue more than doubled (123.3%) YoY to $12.1m (Q1 2021: $5.4m) thanks to the ‘inclusion of revenues derived from recent acquisitions, including Second Spectrum, as well as expanded services provided to existing sports league and federation customers across all tiers of sport’.
Commenting on the results, Mark Locke, Genius Sports Co-Founder and CEO, said: “Our strong first quarter is a result of successful execution.
“We began 2022 with a comprehensive Investor Day, outlining our strategic plan and underlying assumptions supporting our financial outlook.
“Our financial and operational achievements in the quarter demonstrate our ability to deliver on that plan and increase our competitive advantages through unique and proven technology.”
Genius bolstered its presence across the Americas in Q1, with several new developments in the US and Canada, as well as a new partnership in Mexico after the end of the quarter.
The firm agreed to fan engagement, official data, and integrity partnership with the Mid-American Conference, an NCAA Division I Conference that sponsors championships in 24 sports.
Genius sealed a new partnership with the NBA G League to deploy its Second Spectrum data tracking technology across all NBA G League venues, and it provided Turner Sports and ESPN with optical tracking, data visualization, and video augmentation solutions for its broadcasts of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Division 1 Basketball Tournaments.
In Canada, Genius obtained regulatory approval from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, while it agreed to a new tracking and video augmentation partnership with Liga MX franchise, Club Necaxa after the reporting period.
Continued investment in North American expansion opportunities, projects, and corporate resources contributed to a period EBITDA loss of $2.9m (Q1 2021: $9.2m).
Looking ahead, Genius stated its full-year 2022 targets of $340m and adjusted EBITDA of $15m, “despite risks related to foreign exchange and ceased commercial operations in Russia and Ukraine.”
The firm maintains its hard target of achieving group revenues of $430m to $440m and group adjusted EBITDA of $40m to $50m in 2023.
