AudioBoom audience still booming in second quarter

Spoken word audio-on-demand platform AudioBoom announced an update for the second quarter of the current financial year on Wednesday, with the company saying its strong performance for the first quarter of the year continued in the second quarter.

That resulted in revenue for the six months to 31 May of at least £1.8m - an increase of 447% over the comparable period in 2016.

Monthly unique users were ahead 40% quarter-on-quarter at 81 million, with available advertising impressions for the whole period improving 60% at 485 million.

Unique file requests for the period were up 18% at 176 million, while content channel partners also rose 18% to 11,843.

“I am particularly pleased to report that the operational momentum generated in 2016 is now beginning to translate into rapidly improving financial results, with a significant increase in revenue for the first half of the year to over £1.8m,” said CEO Rob Proctor.

“Our forward bookings provide us with confidence for the remainder of the year.”

Proctor said the significant revenue increase compared to the first half of 2016 was driven by a broad range of growing KPIs, but most significant had been the growth in its US ‘live read’ fill rates over the last few quarters, rising from less than 20% in Q2 2016 to just over 70% in Q2 2017.

“Additionally, our sales team has done a tremendous job in increasing the company's overall advertiser brand count from just under 10 at the end of Q2 2016, to just over 80 at the end of the last quarter.

“It is now clear that advertisers are increasingly looking towards on-demand spoken word platforms to reach younger audiences as well as to target the right demographics for their brands.”

Importantly from a shareholder perspective, Proctor said the number of unique file requests had continued its upward trajectory, and the number of content channels using Audioboom services was increasing in both quantity and quality.

“We are now receiving at least 60 million UFRs per month with growth in the UK being spearheaded by success stories such as Untold: The Daniel Morgan Story and They Walk Among Us, a new wave of British True Crime podcasts, mirroring the success of US series such as Serial.

“I look forward to presenting a full review of the company's financial performance for the six months to 31 May 2017 in the knowledge that the company is well positioned to benefit as the podcast advertising industry matures.”