Second-quarter revenue more than doubled for Genius Sports, as the return of a full slate of sports and growing market share powered sales for the sports data and analytics company. Genius also narrowed its projections for the back half of 2021 in its earnings release this morning to the top end of its previously-disclosed range, as it integrates new acquisitions and NFL-related deals.
“We have tightened our guidance, and I’m feeling very confident about the year,” CEO Mark Locke said in a phone call. “We haven’t actually shown any of the revenue that’s going to come from the NFL contract in any of the earnings releases that we made so far.”
Genius sales were $55.85 million in the period, up 108% compared to the prior year quarter. The largest of its three divisions—betting technology, content and services—posted a 122% gain, helped in part by comparison to last year’s pandemic-influenced quarter but also from advances in market share and new product sales to existing clients. Sales in media technology content and services were up 62%, while sports technology and services revenue more than doubled. The two latter divisions contributed a bit more than a quarter of Genius’ business in the period.
“Although like everybody else we were impacted by COVID-19, actually our results in 2020 were ahead of 2019, so we didn’t suffer any significant fall. On a two-year comparison, on a revenue, basis, we are up north of 120%, so you can see the growth is significant, whatever metric you look at,” said Nick Taylor, Genius’ chief financial officer, also on a phone call.
The company tightened its guidance for full-year revenue to $255 to $260 million, raising its previous low-end from $250 million. Its projection for full-year adjusted earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization is unchanged, at $10 to $20 million. EBITDA is often a preferred metric for fast-growing technology businesses that see high costs that Wall Street expects will decrease in time. Genius posted a net loss in the quarter of $464.2 million, a figure ballooned by stock-based compensation of $415 million and a $39 million charge to account for warrants related to spring regulator guidance on how special purpose acquisition companies should treat warrants. Genius went public by SPAC this spring.
The earnings announcement brought with it a slew of new deals for Genius. Sportico reported today the company will provide the official data and trading capabilities for SI Sportsbook in a partnership with 888 Holdings. Yesterday Genius inked deals with Caesars Entertainment (CZR) and Wynn Resorts (WYNN), and its WynnBET division, to provide official NFL data, content and fan engagement services with both casino operators. Earlier this year, Genius secured the right to provide official NFL data.
“The NFL is going almost exactly how we expected it to go, which is great. We’re executing really well. We’ve done a lot of integrations, and we’re announcing deals on a regular basis,” added Locke. “We’re making really, really good progress with the operators.”
Locke also said Genius is finding integrating the three businesses it has purchased in 2021 going well. Genius earlier purchased marketing specialist Spirable, AI-based sports data collection and analytics outfit Second Spectrum and free-to-play games maker FanHub.
“We’re already cross-selling extremely effectively, and they’re really going to add a lot of value to the business and drive a lot of the growth that’s coming from the deals that we’ve already done,” added Locke.
While the North American market is a focus of many investors, the executives noted that growth in Europe was also double in the second quarter, compared to 2020. North America contributed about 17% of overall sales in the period, a share that is expected to grow in coming years as sports betting expands in the U.S. and the NFL deal begins generating income.
