(NASDAQ:CIDM), the independent streaming company, has announced record-breaking milestones across its cumulative digital content sales businesses, which encompasses Transactional, Subscription and Ad-Supported, with over 30 percent estimated growth year over year. Cinedigm’s transactional revenue, which includes digital rentals and purchases, as well as AVOD minutes streams have not only experienced major growth year over year, but have also outperformed the rest of the industry. These preliminary results come on the heels of the Company’s fourth consecutive record-setting digital content sales quarter, as digital home entertainment consumption transformed Fiscal Year 2021.
Transactional revenue was a driving force behind the Company’s digital growth due to a variety of factors including new release and catalog initiatives with Amazon, Apple and VUDU. With more people staying home, and reaching for their remote, transactional revenue grew approximately 39 percent year over year, exceeding the average industry year over year growth of 34.3 percent, according to the DEG.
Cinedigm specifically found success with new releases such as The Call with horror veterans Lin Shaye (Insidious) and Tobin Bell (Saw) and gritty war film Battle of the Bulge: Winter War, which became a Top 10 title on Apple upon its release.
In addition to transactional revenue, ad-supported revenue has become one of the industry’s fastest growing sectors, and Cinedigm has seen impactful year over year increases in minutes viewed and overall revenue.
Advertising Video On Demand (AVOD) minutes streamed of Cinedigm content on partner platforms was up 89 percent year over year, exceeding industry year over year minutes streamed (+57 percent YOY), according to Nielsen. These numbers highlight the importance of under-served audiences’ eagerness to find bottomless programming of Movies and TV Series targeting their passions.
In addition to Cinedigm’s own portfolio of streaming networks, AVOD growth came from Tubi, Pluto TV, VUDU-AVOD and Amazon’s IMDB TV, just to name a few. Hickok, the star-studded Western, found a new and fervent audience in 2020. The powerful Left Behind, based on the best-selling book of the same name, was also a top performing film, showing that consumers continue to seek out positive messaging during these times.
The progressive release strategy of a new Yu-Gi-Oh series, one of the top Anime brands in the world, on Pluto TV also contributed to the record breaking AVOD performance. The strong Yu-Gi-Oh revenue performance was also attributed to the expansion of the brand to Lat Am, another territory seeing an Anime resurgence. Opportunities for premium content remain strong within the ad-supported streaming space as traditional cable and satellite services continue to lose subscribers.
Cinedigm’s year over year growth was also aided by recently closed AVOD deals with NBC Universal’s Peacock, Fubo TV, Plex, Redbox AVOD, and Local Now AVOD.
“Cinedigm is a filmmaker centric studio, focusing on maximising a title’s digital footprint and taking advantage of opportunities in the marketplace to capitalise on forward thinking monetisation strategies,” said Yolanda Macias, Chief Content Officer and Head of Digital Sales at Cinedigm. “As consumers begin to recognise the vast digital resources at their disposal, the digital shift is only going to become more pronounced. Being able to reach viewers, when, how and where they choose to stream is key, and Cinedigm works to customise release strategies with every film or tv series to reach the optimum consumer.”
With the recently published record subscription and ad-supported growth milestones, along with the record-breaking third-party digital sales, Cinedigm is well positioned to offer filmmakers, producers and library owners a full suite of commercial opportunities to provide accessibility to audiences while maximising revenues. The recent M+A work and NFT initiatives further advances the Company’s mission to create enhanced enthusiasts’ experiences.
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