HALIFAX — Kids and family entertainment company WildBrain yesterday evening reported its revenue increased 4% to $102.2 million in the third quarter of its 2021 fiscal year, compared to $98.3 million in Q3 2020.
For the three months ended March 31, 2021, the company’s net loss was $26.5 million, an improvement over the net loss of $221.7 million WildBrain reported in same three-month period in 2020.
Adjusted EBITDA was down slightly in the third quarter of 2021 to $17.2 million, compared to $17.9 million in Q3 2020. The company’s free cash flow was negative $3.3 million in Q3 2021, which was consistent with its free cash flow in the same quarter of 2020.
WildBrain, which owns an animation studio in Vancouver and four Canadian TV channels (Family, Family Jr, Family Chrgd and Télémagino), highlighted the performance of its consumer products segment and WildBrain Spark AVOD business when reporting its financial results for the quarter.
In its Canadian broadcasting division, revenue decreased $400,000 to $11.2 million in Q3 2021 compared to Q3 2020, “reflecting subscriber erosion in line with the broader linear TV market,” reads the management discussion and analysis. “Subscriber revenue as a percentage of total revenue was 89%, or $10 million (Q3 2020 – 90%, or $10.4 million), while advertising, promotion, digital and other revenues were 11%, or $1.2 million (Q3 2020 – 10%, or $1.1 million).”
Its consumer products revenue grew 12% to $45.7 million in Q3 2021, compared to $40.9 million in Q3 2020. WildBrain Spark’s revenue was $9.6 million in Q3 2021, relatively flat compared to revenue of $9.5 million in the same quarter of 2020.
WildBrain’s content production and distribution revenue fell slightly to $35.6 million in Q3 2021, compared to $36.4 million in Q3 2020, which the company said reflected steady growth from its production pipeline, offset by fluctuations in timing of distribution deals.
“Our content and brands continued to perform well in Q3, driven by a robust production slate and strength in our consumer products segment. WildBrain Spark saw further improvement in advertising rates, as well as growing revenue in emerging areas of direct ad sales, paid media and digital production. Looking forward to Q4 2021, we will have results fully comparable to Q4 a year ago, factoring in the impact of both Covid-19 and ‘Made-for-Kids’,” said WildBrain CEO Eric Ellenbogen, referring to changes at YouTube related to targeted advertising.
For more on WildBrain’s Q3 2021 financial results, please click here.
