TheStreet
The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. (AREN) a tech-powered media company home to more than 250 brands, including Sports Illustrated, TheStreet, Parade Media ("Parade"), Men’s Journal, and HubPages operating on a single technology platform, today reported an increase of 70% in digital advertising revenue for fiscal 2022, helping drive between $217 million and $220 million in fiscal-year revenue from continuing operations -- an increase of between $28 million and $31 million or 15% to 16% compared to the 2021 fiscal year.
In key preliminary and unaudited financial results for the full year ended Dec. 31, 2022, the company said it expects fiscal year 2022 adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations to exceed $3 million, compared to a loss of $12 million in the prior fiscal year.
The Arena Group also reiterated full-year 2023 guidance of between $255 million and $270 million in total revenue and between $30 million and $35 million in Adjusted EBITDA. For the fiscal year 2022 the company sees a net loss from continuing operations of between $68 million and $72 million, an improvement of between $18 million and $22 million compared to the 2021 fiscal year. Non-cash charges, such as stock-based compensation and depreciation and amortization, represented a majority of the net loss from continuing operations.
The Arena Group Results Exceed Estimates
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Arena Group Ross Levinsohn said, "Our financial results continue to validate our platform and our strategy, enabling us to drive significant revenue and audience growth. Key fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 results are expected to exceed published estimates and surpass our posted guidance."
He added, "As we continue to scale our platform, we are generating significant efficiencies and expanding operating margins, with an expectation of substantially higher profitability in 2023 on a non-GAAP basis. We are benefiting from reaching the necessary scale to drive expansion in our operating margins, and we are increasingly utilizing advanced technology, including AI, to further streamline workflows, enabling further improvements in profitability. We continue to bolster our content, develop and leverage brand recognition, and benefit from strong audience development capabilities across a unified backend system."
Previously, The Arena Group provided guidance for 2022 full-year pro forma revenue and pro forma adjusted EBITDA of $220 million and $4 million, respectively. These figures give effect to the discontinuation of the Parade print operations, consistent with the expected results announced today, but also included an estimate of the pro forma revenue of $8 million and pro forma adjusted EBITDA of $1 million from the Men’s Journal acquisition, as if they had been acquired as of Jan. 1, 2022. Adjusting for these pro forma estimates, management expects to exceed the previously issued guidance.
Artificial Intelligence Initiatives
In addition, The Arena Group on Feb. 3 announced strategic development partnerships with two AI firms, Jasper and Nota. These partnerships will build on successful company AI pilots run over the past two months on content production workflows that showed substantial productivity gains for editorial teams. The company says it believes the rollout of such technology initiatives may drive margin expansion and consumer engagement in future quarters.
The Arena Group says it will provide more detail and discuss full financial results on its fourth quarter 2022 earnings conference call on Thursday, March 16, 2023.
