TORONTO – Despite gains in television advertising revenues, Score Media reported a $1.3 million net loss for the second quarter ended February 29, 2012.
Consolidated revenue for the period fell to $10.4 million from $11.0 million in the same period last year. Broadcast revenues were $9.7 million compared to $10.2 million year-over-year, while digital media revenues dipped to $0.7 million from $0.8 million.
A 2% increase in theScore's advertising revenue from $5.8 million to $5.9 million was offset by revenue reductions from the closure of theScore Satellite Radio and lower contra revenues.
Consolidated EBITDA dropped to $40,000 from $1.1 million in the previous year, which the sports broadcaster said was a result of a planned increase in expenditures on personnel and technology to support the “significant growth” in the audience of its digital media platforms.
ScoreMobile applications averaged 3.4 million unique users per month in the quarter, growing by more than 1.3 million unique users per month from the same time last year, while theScore.com averaged 1.4 million unique users per month, a 50% increase.
"Last year's Q2 TV advertising revenue was exceptional for us, so it's encouraging to see continued growth off that base for the same quarter in 2012," said chairman and CEO John Levy, in a statement. "We are also very excited about the continued growth of the digital side of our business, with these assets seeing record audience figures for Q2, as well as increased sales traction in U.S. which has led to us closing our first two major digital sales deals in this market."
The company added that revenues have historically reflected a seasonality trend, with the third quarter (ending May 31st) being the strongest, followed by the first quarter (ending November 30th), the fourth quarter (ending August 31st), and finally the second quarter (ending February 28th). This seasonality reflects general trends for sports media advertising, which in turn reflects the schedules (particularly the playoffs) of the major sports leagues.
