New Wetpaint Launched with Celebrity
Support
Conference Call at 9:00 am ET
Strong year-over-year growth in revenue and gains in key
operating metrics were demonstrated by Viggle Inc. (NASDAQ:VGGL),
the entertainment marketing and rewards platform, during its third
quarter of fiscal year 2015 ended March 31, 2015.
Greg Consiglio, President and COO of Viggle, said, “As we
celebrate our three-year milestone of operations this quarter, the
Viggle experience has become more rewarding for our users and
advertising partners. During this quarter, we spent a lot of time
and energy preparing for our upgrade of Wetpaint, which took place
this past week with celebrity enthusiasm and support. Now fully
optimized for mobile, Wetpaint delivers timely celebrity news and
entertainment and the best part is that it’s now fully integrated
with the Viggle platform."
Fiscal Third Quarter Highlights
Key Metrics
- Average monthly total reach for the
quarter ended March 31, 2015 was 25.66 million, compared with 19.35
million for the year-ago quarter, and 26.04 million for the quarter
ended December 31, 2014.
- Average active reach for the F3Q 2015
quarter was 10.59 million compared with 6.51 million for F3Q 2014,
an increase of 63%, and compared with 10.46 million for F2Q
2015.
- Almost one million new users registered
on the Viggle platform during the quarter, bringing net registered
users to more than 8.95 million, compared with 4.14 million net
registered users as of the end of the year-ago quarter, an increase
of 116 percent.
- As of the end of F3Q 2015, Viggle users
have checked into more than 478 million TV programs and matched
more than 146 million songs using the Viggle Music service.
Overall, users’ average time in the Viggle app has been nearly 62
minutes per session.
- As of March 31, 2015, users have
redeemed more than 57 billion points for approximately 4.7 million
rewards, an average of 12,182 points per reward redemption. The
total retail value of rewards redeemed through March 31, 2015 is
approximately $24.3 million.
Business Highlights
- Following significant user testing, the
Viggle app has been redesigned to streamline the registration
experience to help new users quickly appreciate the value
proposition and get them into the habit of using Viggle when they
watch TV and identify music.
- Viggle launched a partnership with
RewardsPay® (www.rewardspay.com), an innovative payment platform,
that gives Viggle users the opportunity to apply their Viggle
points toward purchases of goods from popular online
retailers.
- Viggle partnered with inMarket, the
world’s largest beacon platform, to profile targeted offers and
branded engagement to Viggle users based on context and their
proximity to retail environments. This was launched in March.
- Wetpaint has made history on social
media yet again as the first-ever entertainment site to let the
celebrities who love it announce the news of its relaunch on the
brand's behalf. Using the hashtag #freshpaint, more than 100
participants tweeted, including headliner American Horror
Story’s Naomi Grossman, reality icon Heidi Montag, and Twitter
favorite DJ Pauly D. So far, news of Wetpaint's relaunch has
reached more than 8.5 million Twitter accounts, with a total of
10.4 million impressions.
- Viggle signed a sales agency agreement
with SFX that was created to significantly bolster Viggle’s brand
partnership, media and sponsorship capabilities. The combined sales
organization at SFX now represents Viggle and Wetpaint to brand
advertisers and is selling inventory for both companies.
Financial Results
- F3Q 2015 revenue increased 52% to $5.0
million compared with $3.3 million in the year-ago third quarter.
Sequential quarterly revenue decreased $2.2 million or 30.1%
compared with the F2Q 2015, reflecting seasonality of the
advertising industry.
- Adjusted EBITDA loss for F3Q 2015 was
$8.7 million compared with an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $7.9 million
in F3Q 2014 and $6.9 million in F2Q 2015. Although revenue
increased, adjusted EBITDA loss grew compared with a year ago
primarily due to an increase in marketing costs, which was
partially offset by a decrease in personnel-related costs.
- Non-marketing operating costs fell by
$1.8 million in F3Q 2015 compared with F3Q 2014, and marketing
spend increased by $3.4 million compared with F3Q 2014.
Sequentially, non-marketing operating costs decreased by $1.4
million compared with F2Q 2015.
For more details on these results and a description of all
definitions, please see Viggle’s quarterly form 10-Q filed this
same date.
Conference Call and Webcast
Date: Monday, May 11, 2015Time: 9:00 am Eastern Time (ET)Dial-in
Number for U.S. & Canadian Callers: 1-877-407-3102Dial-in
Number for International Callers (Outside of the U.S. &
Canada): 1-201-493-6790
Participating on the call will be Viggle President and Chief
Operating Officer Greg Consiglio and Chief Financial Officer John
C. Small, who will discuss operational and financial highlights for
the fiscal 2015 third quarter.
Also participating on the call will be Viggle Executive Chairman
and CEO Robert F.X. Sillerman, who will discuss financing and the
strategic direction of the company.
To join the live conference call, please dial into the above
referenced telephone numbers 5 to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled
conference call time. A live webcast and archive of the call will
also be available on Viggle’s website at:
http://viggleinc.equisolvewebcast.com/q3-2015.
A replay will be available for 14 days starting on May 11, 2015,
beginning one hour after the end of the conference call, and will
run through midnight on May 25, 2015. To access the replay, please
dial 1-877-660-6853 in the U.S. and 1-201-612-7415 for
international callers. The conference ID# is 13594822.
About Viggle
Viggle is an entertainment marketing and rewards platform whose
app rewards its members for watching TV shows and discovering new
music. The Viggle Platform had an average monthly total reach of
25.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015, including
nearly 9.0 million Viggle registered users. Since its launch,
Viggle members have redeemed over $24 million in rewards for
watching their favorite TV programs and listening to music. Members
can use Viggle’s store, accessible through the Viggle app or on
Viggle.com, to redeem their Viggle Points for TV show, movie, and
music downloads. In addition, Viggle operates Wetpaint, which
offers entertainment and celebrity news online; NextGuide, maker of
technology that helps consumers search for, find, and set reminders
for TV shows and movies; and Choose Digital, a digital marketplace
platform that allows companies to incorporate digital content into
existing rewards and loyalty programs in support of marketing and
sales initiatives. For more information, visit www.viggle.com or
follow us on Twitter @Viggle.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve
inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those projected or anticipated. All
information provided in this press release is as of the date of
this release. Except as required by law, Viggle Inc. undertakes no
obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to
reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Non-GAAP Adjusted Rewards Costs and Adjusted EBITDA
The Company provides a non-GAAP measure for adjusted rewards
costs as an alternative view of the Company’s cost of providing
rewards to its users. The Company reports rewards costs in its
Consolidated Statement of Operations in both cost of watchpoints
and engagement points and in selling, general and administrative
expenses. Management believes that a useful financial measure for
investors is to provide to them the amount of cash the Company has
actually paid to provide rewards to its users. Therefore, the
Company adjusts cost of watchpoints and engagement points as
reported, which represents the cost of points earned by users
during the period, to the cost of actual rewards redeemed by users
during the period. Selling, general and administrative expenses as
reported are likewise adjusted as certain point costs are
classified as marketing. The Company also presents Adjusted EBITDA.
Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure that represents operating
loss (as reported) plus depreciation and amortization, stock based
compensation and adjustment to rewards costs. Management believes
these non-GAAP measures enhance investors’ understanding of the
Company’s financial performance. The information on adjusted
rewards costs and Adjusted EBITDA should be considered in addition
to, but not in lieu of operating income prepared in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles in the United States
(GAAP). Since adjusted reward costs and Adjusted EBITDA are not
measures determined in accordance with GAAP, they have no
standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and therefore, may not be
comparable to the calculation of similar measures of other
companies. A reconciliation between GAAP financial measures and
non-GAAP financial measures is as follows.
Tables follow
Reconciliation of rewards cost
toadjusted rewards cost and selling,general and
administrativeexpenses to adjusted selling,general
and administrativeexpenses (amounts in thousands)
QuarterEndedMarch 31,2015
QuarterEndedMarch 31,2014
9 MonthsEndedMarch 31,2015
9 MonthsEndedMarch 31,2014
Cost of watchpoints and
engagement points as reported
$ (2,758 ) $ 1,148 $ (6,948 )
$ (1,509 )
Adjustment to cost of watchpoints and
engagement points
823 (2,093 )
2,664 (2,340 )
Adjusted cost of watchpoints
and engagement points
(1,935 ) (945 )
(4,284 ) (3,849 )
Selling, general and
administrative expenses as reported
(21,918 ) (18,841 )
(70,704 ) (61,745 )
Adjustment to selling, general
and administrative expenses
147 (157 )
312 (230 )
Adjusted selling, general
and administrative expenses
$ (21,771 ) $ (18,998 ) $ (70,392 )
$ (61,975 )
Reconciliation of operating loss
toAdjusted EBITDA (amounts inthousands)
QuarterEndedMarch 31,2015
QuarterEndedMarch 31,2014
9 MonthsEndedMarch 31,2015
9 MonthsEndedMarch 31,2014
Revenue $ 5,021 $ 3,306 $
18,680 $ 12,677
Operating loss as
reported (19,655 ) (14,387 )
(58,972 ) (50,577 ) Add:
Stock compensation
costs 8,672 6,408
27,094 29,843
Adjustment to cost of watchpoints
andengagement points
823 (2,093 )
2,664 (2,340 )
Adjustment to Selling, general
andadministrative expenses
147 218
1,189 145 Depreciation and
amortization costs 1,275
1,978 4,558 4,043
Adjusted EBITDA * $ (8,738 ) $ (7,876 )
$ (23,467 ) $ (18,886 )
* Adjusted EBITA is a non-GAAPmeasure, but
shown above itrepresents operating loss plusdepreciation and
amortization, stockbased compensation, interest(expense) income,
net, certainone-time selling, general andadministrative costs, and
adjustmentto rewards costs
Investor Relations:Viggle Inc.John C. Small,
1-646-738-3220CFOjohn@viggle.comorIRTH CommunicationsRobert Haag,
1-866-976-4784Managing PartnerVGGL@irthcommunications.comorMedia
Relations:Dian Griesel InternationalLaura Radocaj,
212-825-3210lradocaj@dgicomm.com