Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (CSS Entertainment) (Nasdaq: CSSE), a growing media company building online video-on-demand (VOD) networks that provide video content for all screens, today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2019.
Second Quarter 2019 and Recent Business Highlights
(Results reflect Crackle Plus joint venture closed on May 14, 2019)
• Total revenue of $12.2 million
• Net loss of $5.9 million; $5.1 million before preferred dividends
• Adjusted EBITDA of $1.3 million
• Crackle Plus streaming video joint venture launched
• Release of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a much anticipated film directed by Terry Gilliam
• Began production on Season 2 of Chicken Soup for the Soul's Animal Tales
Total revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2019 was $12.2 million compared to $3.1 million in the year-ago period. The year-over-year increase reflects 45 days of Crackle contribution.
• Online networks, which includes Crackle, Popcornflix and Pivotshare, generated $10 million in revenue
• Television and film distribution generated $2.0 million in revenue
• Television and short-form video production generated $0.2 million in revenue
"In the second quarter total revenue was a record $12.2 million, reflecting only 45 days of our ownership of Crackle. Our increased scale is driving advertiser interest," said William J. Rouhana Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of CSS Entertainment. "Our ads served on our owned-and-operated networks increased to 681 million in the second quarter, up from 33 million in the year ago quarter, validating the consolidation strategy. Crackle's eCPM rate is 27% higher than Popcornflix's and we expect to increase our ad rates across all of our online networks over time as we close the gap between Popcornflix and Crackle. These results underscore our excitement for this joint venture."
Gross profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2019 was $3.6 million, or 30% of total revenue, compared to $1.2 million, or 39% of total revenue for the year-ago period. The reduction in the percentage of gross profit was a result of an increase in online networks revenue which has a lower gross profit percentage.
Operating loss for the quarter ended June 30, 2019 was $3.0 million compared to an operating loss of $1.6 million for the year-ago period. The quarterly operating loss reflects certain non-cash or one-time expenses including $0.7 million in non-cash amortization, $1.2 million of transitional expenses related to the Crackle Plus joint venture, and $1.6 million in film library amortization. If such expenses were excluded from SG&A or cost of revenue, the Company would have reported quarterly operating income of $0.5 million.
Net loss was $5.9 million, or $0.49 per share, compared to a net loss of $1.7 million, or $0.14 per share in the prior-year second quarter. Excluding preferred dividends, the net loss in the second quarter of 2019 would have been $5.1 million, or approximately $0.42 per share, compared to a net loss of $1.7 million, or $0.14 per share last year.
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter ended June 30, 2019 was $1.3 million compared to $0.2 million in the same period last year.
As of June 30, 2019, the company had $5.2 million of cash and cash equivalents compared to $7.2 million as of December 31, 2018, and outstanding debt of $7.1 million as of June 30, 2019 compared to $7.6 million as of December 31, 2018.