BBTV Announces Record Q4 and Full Year 2020 Results

Total Revenue grew by 40% during the quarter and quarterly gross profits were a record $11.3 million

VANCOUVER, BC, March 4, 2021 /CNW/ - BBTV Holdings Inc. (TSX: BBTV) (OTCQX: BBTVF) ("BBTV" or the "Company"), a media tech company that uses technology enabled solutions to help content creators and influencers become more successful, today announced record financial results for Q4 and Full Year 2020 ended on December 31, 2020. The Management Discussion and Analysis, along with full financial statements are posted and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. All dollar amounts are expressed in Canadian currency and are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

"I am very pleased with our performance this quarter," said Shahrzad Rafati, Chairperson and CEO of BBTV. "Following the initial industry-wide slowdown caused by the pandemic, BBTV's growth trajectories accelerated well through the year. It is a testament to the strength of our platform to monetize content for influencers, and the dedication and skills of our team to deliver 40% revenue growth this quarter. We exceeded our expectations on all of our core KPIs this quarter including growth in revenue, views, and revenue per thousand views.  We are especially bullish on the next few quarters as we continue to see strong momentum in the growth of our higher margin Plus solutions which positions us well to accelerate revenue growth and enhance margins in the coming quarters".

Q4 2020 Financial Highlights

• Total revenue generated in Q4, 2020 was $150.8 million, a 40% increase over $107.8 million reported in Q4, 2019.
• Total BBTV Share of revenue in Q4, 2020 was $12.0 million, or 8% of total revenue.
• Cost of revenue, excluding content creator and third-party platform fees, in Q4, 2020 was $0.7 million, comparable to the previous quarter.
• Adjusted Gross Margin, which is Gross Profit divided by BBTV Share, was 94% in Q4, 2020.
• Gross Profit reported in Q4, 2020 was $11.3 million, a 12% increase in comparison to $10.1 million reported for the same quarter last year.
• Gross Margin was 7.5% in Q4, 2020 in comparison to 9.3% in Q4, 2019 as a result of penetration pricing strategy to gain market share.
• Net income for the quarter was $1.2 million compared to a loss of $1.2 million in Q4, 2019.
• Earnings per share was $0.06 for Q4, 2020 (based on pro forma 20.5 million shares outstanding) compared to a loss of $.09 per share for Q4 2019 (based on 13.1 million shares outstanding).
• Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-IFRS measure, was $1.0 million for Q4, 2020 compared to $0.7 million reported for Q4, 2019.

Q4 2020 Operational Highlights

In Q4 2020, the number of views on BBTV's content was 114.2 billion, a 16% increase compared to 98.7 billion reported in Q4, 2019.

Revenue per Thousand Views (RPM) increased in Q4 2020 by 21% to $1.25 compared to $1.03 in Q4, 2019.

In Q4 2020, BBTV announced the signing of new international gaming partners L'étoile Noire, Acenix, Games EduUu, Mustafa GAME OVER, and VinhMC, who collectively achieved 217 million monthly YouTube views and boasted over 23 million YouTube subscribers. This was in addition to new signings with: Nick Pro, penguinz0, Jack Denmo and Francesca Farago, adding 267.8M monthly views and 12.5M subscribers organically.

BBTV also renewed and expanded content partnerships with key existing partners including Kwebbelkop, IAmSanna and CJ SO COOL, who collectively generate 187.6M monthly views.

Additionally, the company announced that it extended its Content Management solutions to the Encore+ YouTube channel, presented by the Canada Media Fund (CMF), and it renewed its agreement with the NBA (National Basketball Association) for which BBTV manages all fan uploaded NBA content on YouTube across the globe excluding China.

Subsequent to quarter end, BBTV announced a strategic partnership with both Instagram and Tik Tok to monetize influencers across these platforms.

Fiscal Year 2020 Summary Financial Highlights.

• For fiscal year 2020, revenue was $459.0 million, a 23.3% increase from $372.4 million reported for fiscal year 2019.
• Total BBTV share of revenue in fiscal 2020 was $38.9 million, or 8% of total revenue.
• Cost of revenue, excluding content creator and third-party platform fees, in fiscal year 2020 was $2.8 million, which was comparable to the previous year.
• Adjusted Gross Margin, which is Adjusted Gross Profit divided by BBTV Share, was 93% in fiscal year 2020.
• Total gross profit for fiscal year 2020 was $36.1 million comparable to $36.3 million reported for fiscal year 2019.
• Gross Margin was 7.9% in FY 2020 in comparison to 9.8% in FY, 2019 as a result of penetration pricing strategy to gain market share.
• Net loss for fiscal year 2020 was $10.3 million compared to a loss of $8.2 million in fiscal year 2019.
• Loss per share was $0.50 (based on pro forma 20.5 million shares outstanding) for fiscal year 2020 compared to a loss per share of $0.62 (based on 13.1 million shares outstanding) for fiscal year 2019.
• Adjusted EBITDA loss, which is a non-IFRS measure, was $2.6 million for fiscal 2020 compared to income of $1.0 million for fiscal 2019. The decline in EBITDA in fiscal 2020 compared to fiscal 2019 is related primarily to increased strategic investments in sales and marketing.
• Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) for the year was 37 days.
• As at December 31, 2020 the company had $16.0 million of cash and short-term investments.

"Despite the market disruption caused by COVID-19 pandemic earlier in the year, we were able to expand views on our platform and improve RPM," Added Ms. Rafati. "To capture more market share in the wake of the pandemic, we reduced our revenue share to gain more influencers and significantly more views on the BBTV platform. As a result, we are well positioned to maximize monetization on the platform and to expand our revenue streams going forward. To maximize our opportunity, we are actively investing in sales and marketing capabilities across our higher margin solutions."

We are providing a summary of the results of operations of BBTV Corp, the main operating entity of BBTV Holdings.  BBTV Holdings, the public company, was initially  a shell entity which acquired BBTV Corp. on October 28, 2020, and its financial results therefore only include two months of Q4 2020 operating activity. BBTV Holdings does not currently generate revenue, and other than the transaction-related costs, operating expenses were $1.2 million and non-operating expenses were $1.8 million for the year.

Certain pro-forma consolidated unaudited financial statements, which combine BBTV Corp. and BBTV Holdings, and the unaudited BBTV Corp. financials may be found in the MD&A. The BBTV Holdings audited consolidated statutory financial statements are filed separately. Future earnings releases will combine BBTV Holdings and BBTV Corp. into one reporting entity in accordance with regulatory requirements.

BBTV Corp.  Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2020 Financial Summary

 Non-IFRS Measures

The Company presents the following non-IFRS measures in the MD&A, reconciliations of which to their nearest IFRS measures are provided, below:

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net earnings or loss, as applicable, before finance expenses, income tax expense (recovery), amortization and depreciation, share-based compensation, unrealized and realized gains or losses due to foreign exchange, transaction-related costs, and certain other items as set out in the reconciliation table. Adjusted EBITDA Margin is defined as Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue.

BBTV Share and Adjusted Gross Margin

BBTV Share is defined as revenue less influencer and third-party platform fees while Adjusted Gross Margin is defined as Adjusted Gross Profit divided by BBTV Share. Adjusted Gross Profit is defined as gross profit plus amortization associated with intangible assets acquired as part of the Business Combination Transaction, which for the period reported for BBTV Corp. was $nil. The amortization associated with intangible assets acquired as part of the Business Combination Transaction is recorded in BBTV Holdings.

The Company uses Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, BBTV Share, Adjusted Gross Profit, and Adjusted Gross Margin to provide readers with a supplemental measure of our operating performance and thus highlight trends in our core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS financial measures. The Company believes that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS measures in the evaluation of performance. Management also believes BBTV Share, Adjusted Gross Margin and Adjusted EBITDA are useful performance measures as they provide information regarding the Company's ongoing core operating activities, trends in underlying performance, the preparation of annual operating budgets and is used by management to assist in operating decisions and resource allocations.

About BBTV

BBTV is a media and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. The company's mission is to democratize content by leveraging its proprietary technologies to drive viewership and monetization for content creators of all sizes. From individual influencers to global media companies, BBTV monetizes the content of influencers through end-to-end monetization solutions. BBTV's platform is powered by its innovative technology, enabling influencers to focus on their core competency – content creation. BBTV has the second most unique monthly viewers among digital platforms with more than 600 million globally, who consumed more than 50 billion minutes of video content, the most among media companies*. www.bbtv.com 

*Calculations and classifications made by BBTV based on August 2020 data from Comscore's reports from its top 12 countries. Each report is titled, "Comscore Video Metrix Media Trend – Multi-Platform – Top 100 Video Properties Report."

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward–looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking information") which reflects the Company's current expectations regarding future events, including that the Company is especially bullish on the next few quarters as the Company continues to see strong momentum in the growth of its higher margin Plus solutions which position the Company well to accelerate revenue growth and enhance margins in the coming quarters; the Company is well positioned to maximize monetization on the BBTV platform and to expand its revenue streams going forward; and that  the Company's mission to democratize content by leveraging its proprietary technologies to drive viewership and monetization for content creators of all sizes. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that we considered appropriate and reasonable as of the date such information is given, including but not limited to our assumption regarding continued changes and trends in our industry or the global economy, that our growth trends will continue in future, and the performance of our services and technology. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the risk that our assumptions on which our forward-looking information is based may not be accurate, the effect of competition, that historical or previous results are not necessarily indicative of future results, as well as the factors discussed under "Risk Factors" in the final prospectus of the Company dated October 22, 2020 filed on sedar at www.sedar.com and in our other filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update such forward–looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

Conference Call Details
March 4th, 2:15pm Pacific Time/5:15pm Eastern Time
Participant Information
Participant Toll Free Dial-In Number: (844) 418-0102
Participant International Dial-In Number: (236) 714-3015
Conference ID: 7445485
Please connect at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call.

To coincide with the call, an Investor Highlights presentation will available at: https://investors.bbtv.com/events-and-presentations/default.aspx

Links to SEDAR filings, conference call recordings and press releases are available on the investor website at: https://investors.bbtv.com/

Telephonic Replay:
Encore Dial In #:(800) 585-8367 or (416) 621-4642
Conference ID: 7445485
March 4, 202119:30 ET - March 11, 202123:59 ET

Contacts:

Media Relations
Dan Gamble,
Head of PR & Corporate Communications,
778-873-0422
dgamble@bbtv.com

Investor Relations
ir@bbtv.com

Ron Shuttleworth
Partner
Oak Hill Financial Inc
(647)–500–7371
rshuttleworth@oakhillfinancial.ca

BBTV-F

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SOURCE BBTV Holdings Inc.