REG - SEEEN PLC - Trading Update

SEEENAnnouncement

03/02/2022 07:00

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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: +44 (0)7775 701 838
 Patrick DeSouza, Chairman
 Todd Carter, 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 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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