SEEEN PLC Trading Update (5367A)

TIDMSEEN

RNS Number : 5367A

SEEEN PLC

03 February 2022

SEEEN plc

("SEEEN", the "Group" or the "Company")

Trading Update and Outlook

SEEEN plc (AIM: SEEEN), the media optimisation platform company offering proprietary technology products and services to help creators, brands and publishers drive value from their video assets, is pleased to announce its trading update for the year ended 31 December 2021 ("2021") and 2022 outlook.

In 2021, the Company focused on the completion and commercial launch of its proprietary video technology products, together with improving the commercial performance of its MCN. SEEEN is pleased to have achieved these goals, including the increasing integration of its technology with its MCN channels.

Trading Update

The Group's revenue was $8.5 million in 2021 (2020: $10.1 million), reflecting changes made to improve the quality and profitability of the MCN customer base and sales contribution from SEEEN's video technology products and services.

Adjusted EBITDA loss* reduced to $1.5 million (2020: loss of $2.1 million), reflecting improved MCN profitability; and the transition from R&D to technology sales. The cash balance as at 31 December 2021 was $2.1 million, enabling the Company to continue to execute its commercialisation strategy and move to profitability.

SEEEN proprietary technology division:

   --    Revenues of $0.1m in 2021 

-- Nine contract wins (as at 31 January 2022) for use of technology-based products with an ongoing pipeline of customer opportunities

-- Fixed fee plus revenue share contracts substantially enhance the Group's revenue and profitability generation potential as contracts are implemented in 2022

MCN platform and services division:

   --    Revenues of $8.4m in 2021 (2020: $10.1m) 
   --    Improved client base quality 
   --    Introduction of SEEEN technology-based products to MCN channel partners 
   --    Higher advertising RPM** up 29% to $1.24 (2020: $0.97) 

-- MCN views of 11.7 billion (2020: 18.7 billion) as a result of focusing on higher margin creators

2022 Outlook

In January 2022, the Company secured two further contract wins for CreatorSuite and JetStream, its proprietary video products, taking the total to nine active customers. The Company expects these contract wins will drive revenues in 2022 and, in addition, expects to see the full year benefits of 2H 2021 improvements in profitability across the Group's MCN and technology divisions.

During 2022, the Group intends to scale its marketing and sales efforts to secure more customers in its core vertical markets of: current events publishers (news, political, financial and sport); retailers; and home services providers. In each of these verticals, brands seek to serve "moments of inspiration" - Key Video Moments - to consumers to drive engagement and encourage video e-commerce. In addition, SEEEN anticipates greater utilisation of its technology-based solutions within the MCN client base which will further enhance its commercial performance by driving profitability and attracting new channel partners.

SEEEN's proprietary technology can unlock value for brand customers served by content and audience analysis companies that need to react to the rapid changes from cable to streaming and short form social media content. SEEEN's 2022 plan includes building strategic partnerships through joint ventures and M&A that accelerate its organic sales plan to create a "one-stop shop" for video publishing and analytics.

Patrick DeSouza, Chairman of the Company, stated: "We are encouraged by the Group's customer traction and sales pipeline. We also appreciate the receptivity by strategic partners to our AI offerings. The media and technology landscape is rapidly being transformed with the rise of short form video content platforms, such as Tik Tok and YouTube shorts. We are emerging at the right time. Our product offerings like CreatorSuite enable brands and creators to better exploit these and other social media platforms. We look forward to growing through a combination of licensing, revenue sharing and strategic partnerships."

Notes

* EBITDA adjusted for share-based payments and one-time costs

** Revenue Per Thousand Views

Market abuse regulation

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/201 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR").

 
 SEEEN, seeen.com                               Tel: [phone] 
                                                 701 838 
 Patrick DeSouza, Chairman 
 T odd Carter, CEO 
 Adrian Hargrave, CFO 
 
 Panmure Gordon                                 Tel: [phone] 
  (Financial Adviser, Nominated Adviser &        2500 
  Joint Broker) 
 Alina Vaskina / Harriette Johnson (Corporate 
  Advisory) 
  Rupert Dearden (Corporate Broking) 
 
 Dowgate Capital (Joint Broker)                 Tel: [phone] 
                                                 7721 
 Stephen Norcross 
 

Information about SEEEN

SEEEN is a media optimisation platform offering proprietary technology products and services to help creators, brands and publishers drive value from their video assets. SEEEN consists of two synergistic divisions: a business selling proprietary AI-based technology products and services and a YouTube Multi Channel Network ("MCN").

The technology division focuses on selling the Group's proprietary AI products that make video actionable through the automated creation of Key Video Moments:

-- CreatorSuite - an AI-based tool for creating and publishing Key Video Moments to any online channel, including websites and social media. It optimises videos for Google search to drive larger audiences and increases conversion of viewers into paying customers and subscribers through contextual End Cards

-- JetStream - a backbone set of technologies and the Group's key differentiator against other video AI technology businesses. JetStream is used within the Group's other technology products and can be licenced by customers separately either as a whole system or in components

-- Dialog-To-Clip - an Adobe R approved plug-in for Premiere Pro R users that streamlines the editing process via an interactive, speaker diarized video transcript

These proprietary AI products provide the following direct customer benefits:

-- Automated identification or Key Video Moments for sharing to the widest audience possible through social media and Google Search with up to 3 times the number of video views and bounce rates of below 20%

-- 30% of all Key Video Moments are watched in full, triggering the viewer to see contextual End Cards to take follow-on actions, such as e-commerce

-- Clickthrough rates on End Cards of up to 25% supporting both binge consumptions and direct e-commerce

-- Proprietary AI models for automated identification of logos, people, speech and objects within videos to measure direct ROI from video creation and marketing spend

-- Increased ability to drive contextual advertising as the internet moves away from cookie-generated advertising

The MCN division manages 10,000 YouTube creator channels with more than 11 billion annual video views. These generate revenue from YouTube advertising. These YouTube creators have sought to diversify their income streams and the products from the Group's technology division are being integrated with MCN creator channels to drive increased yield per view.

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February 03, 2022 01:59 ET (06:59 GMT)