Comscore Reports Third Quarter 2024 ResultsRESTON, Va., November 12, 2024 Comscore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a trusted partner for planning, transacting and evaluating media across platforms, today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2024.Q3 2024 Financial Highlights
Revenue for the third quarter was $88.5 million compared to $91.0 million in Q3 2023
Net loss of $60.6 million compared to net income of $2.6 million in Q3 2023, primarily resulting from a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $63.0 million in 2024
Adjusted EBITDA of $10.1 million compared to $13.4 million in Q3 2023
FX adjusted EBITDA of $12.4 million compared to $12.3 million in Q3 2023
Refining full-year revenue guidance and maintaining adjusted EBITDA guidance
In the third quarter, we took meaningful steps forward in our cross-platform business, with our revenue in this area growing nearly 34% year-over-year and underpinning several key wins in the market, said Jon Carpenter, CEO. Weve also made steady progress embedding our cross-platform measurement and audience products into the programmatic ecosystem. This progress enables advertisers to more easily target the audiences most important to them and measure their campaigns ability to deliver incremental audiences across platforms. As we look ahead to Q4 and into 2025, Im confident we will continue to make progress in our transformation, positioning us to become the industrys leading source for cross-platform audience planning and measurement.
Third Quarter Summary Results
Revenue in the third quarter was $88.5 million, down 2.8% from $91.0 million in Q3 2023. Content & Ad Measurement revenue was flat compared to the prior-year quarter, with lower revenue from our syndicated audience offerings (primarily related to national TV and syndicated digital products) offset by an increase in our cross-platform revenue, which grew 33.5% over Q3 2023. Research & Insight Solutions revenue declined 14.2% from Q3 2023, primarily due to lower deliveries of certain custom digital products.
Our core operating expenses, which include cost of revenues, sales and marketing, research and development and general and administrative expenses, were $82.9 million, a decrease of 3.9% compared to $86.3 million in Q3 2023, primarily due to a decline in employee compensation and lower cloud computing costs.
Due in part to a decline in our stock price and market capitalization, we performed an interim review of our goodwill at quarter-end, resulting in a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $63.0 million as of September 30, 2024. This charge does not directly impact our liquidity, cash flows or future operations.
Primarily as a result of the goodwill impairment charge, net loss for the quarter was $60.6 million, compared to net income of $2.6 million in Q3 2023, resulting in net (loss) income margins of (68.5)% and 2.9% of revenue, respectively. After accounting for dividends on our convertible preferred stock, loss per share attributable to common shares was $(12.79) and $(0.34) for Q3 2024 and Q3 2023, respectively.
Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $10.1 million, compared to $13.4 million in Q3 2023, resulting in adjusted EBITDA margins of 11.5% and 14.7%, respectively. Excluding the impact of foreign currency transactions, FX adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $12.4 million, compared to $12.3 million in Q3 2023. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin exclude impairment of goodwill, impairment of right-of-use and long-lived assets, amortization of cloud-computing implementation costs, restructuring costs, stock-based compensation, transformation costs, change in fair value of contingent consideration and warrants liability and other items as presented in the accompanying tables. FX adjusted EBITDA excludes these items as well as gain/loss from foreign currency transactions.
Balance Sheet and Liquidity
As of September 30, 2024, cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash totaled $20.2 million. Total debt principal, including $10.0 million in then-outstanding borrowings under our senior secured revolving credit agreement, was $20.8 million.
On November 1, 2024, we repaid the outstanding principal balance under our senior secured revolving credit agreement, and on November 5, 2024, we amended the agreement to extend the maturity date with respect to our outstanding letters of credit (totaling $3.2 million) to January 31, 2025. We continue to evaluate alternative financing options for the company, including a replacement of this facility, and have engaged outside advisors to assist in our evaluation.
2024 Outlook
Based on current trends and expectations, we are tightening our full-year 2024 revenue range, with revenue expected to be between $351 and $355 million for the year, and are reaffirming our guidance for an adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 10%. We anticipate a return to growth in 2025 as we continue to invest in and focus on our cross-platform measurement capabilities.
We do not provide GAAP net income (loss) or net income (loss) margin on a forward-looking basis because we are unable to predict with reasonable certainty our future stock-based compensation expense, fair value adjustments, variable interest expense, litigation and restructuring expense and any unusual gains or losses without unreasonable effort. These items are uncertain, depend on various factors, and could be material to results computed in accordance with GAAP. For this reason, we are unable without unreasonable effort to provide a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA or adjusted EBITDA margin to the most directly comparable GAAP measure, GAAP net income (loss) and net income (loss) margin, on a forward-looking basis.
Conference Call Information for Today, Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. ET
Management will host a conference call to discuss the results on
