REG - SEEEN PLC - Director Changes, Business Update

SEEENAnnouncement

16/03/2022 07:15

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20220316:nRSP8963Ea&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 8963E  SEEEN PLC  16 March 2022

 

SEEEN plc

Director Changes, Business Update

SEEEN plc (AIM: SEEEN) ("SEEEN" or "Company"), the video 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 a repositioning of roles for executive members of SEEEN's
Board and other proposed appointments to build on the Company's momentum with
respect to customer wins and its recent strategic partnership with Kinetiq,
Inc.

Director Changes

With SEEEN's technology offerings gaining commercial traction, the objective
of today's changes is to use more experienced leadership to accelerate the
delivery of customer wins and profitability.

As stated in the Group's recently released 2021 Trading Update, during 2022
the Group intends to scale its marketing and sales efforts and build strategic
partnerships through joint ventures and M&A.  As explained below, the
Board believes that today's changes will deliver those goals.

·    Akiko Mikumo and David Anton appointed interim co-CEOs of the Company
with immediate effect. Each has complementary execution experience for
delivering on SEEEN's growth plan

o  Ms. Mikumo, previously Executive Vice-Chair, is expanding her role.  Ms.
Mikumo has significant global mergers and acquisition and corporate finance
experience as a senior partner at a leading global law firm. She will be
responsible for operating execution and the Group's strategic partnership with
Kinetiq, Inc.

o  Mr. Anton, previously a non-executive director, has significant sales
experience in the media space with major brands as CEO of Anton &
Partners.  He will be responsible for delivering on the Company's sales
pipeline and initiating senior level relationships in the media industry

·    Kevin Kohn, CEO of Kinetiq, Inc. with which SEEEN announced a
strategic partnership on 23 February 2022, is appointed with immediate effect
as a board observer

o  The appointment is synergistic with both the leadership of Ms. Mikumo
(building strategic partnerships including with Kinetiq) and that of Mr. Anton
(sales)

o  Mr. Kohn has more than 25 years of sales, marketing and business
development experience in software, online and data technologies; leading
500%+ growth outcomes in multiple prior companies

·    The Company intends to appoint Charles Burdick, who has a significant
track record as an executive in media and telecommunications, as its
Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair of Audit Committee upon
completion of customary due diligence.  A further announcement will be made
in due course

o  Notable previous roles for Mr. Burdick include: CFO and CEO of Telewest
plc, a FTSE 100 cable TV and media company; CEO of HIT Entertainment plc, the
AIM listed children's IPR company; and Chairman and CEO of Comverse
Technology, a NASDAQ-quoted technology business

o  The Company also intends to appoint another Independent Non-Executive
Director

·    Todd Carter, who led the development of SEEEN's technology products,
resigns as CEO and member of the SEEEN Board but will continue in a different
role to oversee customer success and product strategy

Business Update with Respect to Ukraine

·    Technology Products: The Company anticipates additional customer wins
from its sales pipeline as it is not affected by the Ukraine crisis.

 

·    MCN Business: Cessation of all YouTube advertising in Russia has had
an adverse impact on MCN revenue but little impact on MCN profitability.
During 2021, approximately 25% of the Group's revenue was generated from views
within Russia and neighbouring countries. These revenues, however, had very
low margins given distribution agreements made prior to the Group's admission
to AIM. The Company continues to add channels in the U.S. and EU including
building a sustainability channel for American Leak Detection.

 

Dr. Patrick DeSouza, Chairman of SEEEN, stated: "Our team is excited by recent
customer wins and recognizes that the time is ripe for executing and
accelerating our Go to Market plan. The rise of TikTok and recent release of
YouTube shorts are increasing market demand among brands and creators for our
Video Moments technology.

We appreciate the effort Todd has made in developing the core product. Now
with David's commercial experience and Akiko's transactional experience, we
can get the Company to the next level. Further, we welcome Kevin Kohn's
leadership in partnering with SEEEN. He joins our Sumitomo investor and
commercial partner as an additional Board Observer. We look forward to working
with both Kinetiq and Sumitomo to commercialize our offerings."

Kevin Kohn, CEO of Kinetiq added: "Video in all its forms is quickly becoming
the preferred way in which marketers engage with targeted audiences. Whether
you are an individual influencer or Fortune 500 company, getting your video
seen is becoming more and more difficult. SEEEN's technology introduces a
unique combination of AI, software and services to help content creators of
all sizes maximize the value and exposure of their video content.

I am excited to help shape the future strategy of SEEEN especially as Kinetiq
is itself leading the way in defining the next generation of video and
audience measurement through solutions that help major brands and broadcast
networks evaluate what their returns are from their respective video efforts."

 

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: +44 (0)7775 701 838
 Patrick DeSouza, Chairman
 David Anton, Co-CEO

 Akiko Mikumo, Co-CEO
 Adrian Hargrave, CFO

 Panmure Gordon                                              Tel: +44 (0)20 7886 2500

 (Financial Adviser, Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)
 Alina Vaskina / Harriette Johnson (Corporate Advisory)

 Rupert Dearden (Corporate Broking)

 Dowgate Capital (Joint Broker)                              Tel: +44 (0)20 3903 7721
 Stephen Norcross

 

Information about SEEEN

SEEEN is a video 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 approved plug-in for Premiere Pro 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.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  BOABKPBBDBKBOND