Genius Sports, the international sports data technology company, has posted revenue above expectations for the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 and raised its full-year outlook after a strong period.
The group generated Q1 revenue of $120 million, which exceeded first-quarter guidance of $117 million and was up 23% year-over-year (YoY).
The main driver behind the overall revenue increase was a jump of 63% in the group’s income from the media technology, content, and services division to $35.5 million.
Genius attributed this to growth in the Americas region, primarily for programmatic advertising services.
Revenue from the betting technology, content, and services sector was up 14% to $73.9 million, “driven by new customer acquisitions and growth in business with existing customers as a result of price increases on contract renewals and renegotiations.”
However, income from the sports technology and services sector decreased by 4% to $10.3 million.
For the three months ending March 31, Genius also announced a group net loss of $26 million, which was relatively unchanged from Q1 last year.
Meanwhile, adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) stood at $6.9 million, compared to guidance of $6 million and $8 million in the first quarter of 2023.
Genius said the change was primarily driven by new NFL domestic streaming rights for its BetVision product, representing a new product offering compared to the prior year.
The group outlined that those rights are expensed equally each month during the NFL season, which affected profitability for Q1 due to fewer NFL games to generate revenue in the quarter.
Operating expenses across Q1, meanwhile, came to $37 million, up from $32.6 million last year.
Genius now expects to generate revenue of approximately $500 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $82 million in 2024.
For the full-year 2023 financials, announced in March, Genius’ revenue climbed 21% YoY from $341 million to $413 million.
In the first quarter of 2024, the company was chosen as the successful bidder for exclusive Football DataCo betting rights for the 2025-29 cycle and selected as the optical tracking provider to women’s basketball’s WNBA.
The firm also partnered with the Lithuanian Basketball League and software company DVSport.
Mark Locke, Genius Sports co-founder and chief executive, said: “Following a strong year of execution in 2023, we are pleased to continue our momentum to start the new year, with the first quarter of 2024 marking another period of outperformance relative to expectations.
“As we expand our technology footprint and work to extend one of our most important data partnerships with Football DataCo, we feel an enhanced sense of excitement and confidence in our outlook for 2024 and beyond.”
