Comscore revenue drops in Q1

Comscore said it had revenue of $86.8m in the first quarter of 2024 compared with $91.6m in the same period in 2023, and accepted that the results were “slightly below our expectations”.

However, net losses dropped from $8.7m to $1.1m year-on-year, with adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rising from $5.2m in Q1 2023 to $8.1m this year.

Comscore said that the reduction in revenue was primarily driven by a 9.7% decline in Cross Platform Solutions revenue due to lower income from national television, partially offset by growth in the firm’s films business.

Digital Ad Solutions revenue also fell 1.5% from the first quarter of 2023, primarily due to lower syndicated digital revenue, which was partially offset by an increase in Activation (Proximic) and Comscore Campaign Ratings (CCR) revenue, which together grew 28% year-on-year.

Core operating expenses were $87.4m, a decrease of 4.5% compared with $91.6 million in Q1 2023, which Comscore put down to a decline in employee compensation because of our restructuring efforts and lower cloud computing costs.

Based on current trends and expectations, Comscore said it was expecting to have revenue between $375m and $390m in 2024 and an adjusted EBITDA margin between 12% and 15%, with national TV revenue continuing to be impacted by the linear advertising  spend pressure that major networks are experiencing and the macroeconomic environment.

As a result, Comscore said it expected revenue in the second quarter of 2024 to be lower than in the same period in 2023, with revenue growth building in the back half of the year.

Jon Carpenter, chief executive at Comscore, said: “While revenue came in slightly below our expectations, our teams continued to make encouraging progress against a number of key initiatives that are critical to our transformation.

“Our adjusted EBITDA performance, and key product and client progress that we’ve continued to make with our cross-platform offerings, are evidence we’re moving in the right direction.

“I remain confident in the direction we’re taking the business, and we will continue to leverage Comscore’s cross-platform capabilities to deliver value to our stakeholders.”