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Playmaker’s acquisition spree drives revenue growth in Q4

| By iGB Editorial Team
A string of acquisitions continued to drive sharp revenue growth for Playmaker in the fourth quarter of 2021, although the digital sports media business reported a net loss of $3.5m (£2.7m/€3.2m) for the financial year.

Revenue reached $7.0m in the fourth quarter – up from $4.8m in the third quarter of 2021. The company’s revenue was nil in the fourth quarter of 2020, with the soft launch of its new sports betting vertical only having happened in early August 2021 in partnership with operators like BetMGM and Circa Sports.

Playmaker said that operating income was $500,000 in the final three months of 2021 – up from an operating loss of less than $100,000 in the corresponding period last year.

Looking at the entire year, revenue reached $14.8m in 2021, again compared to nil the year prior, with $1.2m allocated for cost of sales.

However, with total operating expenses hitting $11.9m, the business reported an operating loss of $1.8m for 2021 – up from $240,000 in 2020. These expenses included salaries and wages totalling $5.8m and advertising, commissions and fees reaching $2.7m, with both figures up from negligible amounts in the previous year.

With listing and filing fees of $1.8m and transaction costs of just over $840,000 among other items on the balance sheet, the company’s $3.5m net loss was in comparison with a $266,000 net loss in 2020.

Playmaker pointed out, though, that pro-forma adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was $9.3m in 2021 – a 119% increase on $4.2m registered in the previous year. The amount the business held in cash and cash equivalents improved from $6.6m to $7.1m year-on-year by the end of 2021.

The company added that pro-forma revenue for the year had also increased by 91% from $12.5m in 2020 to $23.8m in 2021.

“Our pro-forma results for Q4 2021 and full year 2021 demonstrate the continued execution of our strategy,” said Jordan Gnat, Playmaker’s founder and chief executive.

“We are acquiring great companies and successfully integrating them to leverage the centres of excellence within each business for the benefit of the entire Playmaker ecosystem.

“Our audience numbers have grown dramatically. We are now generating over 200 million monthly sessions from more than 85 million unique users across Playmaker’s web properties, generating over 50 million monthly YouTube views and 550,000 monthly podcast streams, and reaching more than 100 million fans across all major social platforms.

“We have expanded our distribution channels to deliver relevant content to our fans when they want it, how they want it, and where they want it. Our organic growth has been phenomenal, and we have done it while maintaining a focus on profitability with a 119% increase in pro-forma adjusted EBITDA year over year.”

Over recent months, Playmaker has acquired numerous entities, including Mexican sports platform Cracks, Brazil-based Grupo SuperPoker, digital betting and media solutions provider Two-Up, Brazilian online football community Fanáticos Por Futebol and digital media property Yardbarker.

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