FuboTV's losses from continuing operations stopped growing in the fourth quarter as the company added 214,000 subscribers in North America
Fubo’s net loss in the fourth quarter was $152.9 million, or 76 cents a share, compared to $112 million, or 76 cents a share a year ago. The loss included $56.2 million in red ink from discontinued operations, including the company's foray into wagering..
Revenue increased 38% to $319.3 million.
In North America, subscribers increased by 214,000 to 1.445 million, up 29% from 1.222 million a year ago. Revenue rose 6% to $312.1 million.
North American ad revenue rose 30% in the fourth quarter to $33.5 million. The company said it added about 175 new advertisers, sold out its World Cup coverage and had record political advertising.
The company plans to continue ad growth by launching in free ad supported streaming (FAST) channels. Fubo already has more than 80 FAST channels on its platform and they generated about 5% of the company’s advertising revenue in 2022, up from 1% in 2021.
“We’re continuing to make progress towards the launch of our Maximum Effort Channel, a partnership with Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort Productions,” the company said in its letter to shareholders.
In the rest of the world Fubo added 62,000 subscribers to get to 420,000 subscribers, up from 117% a year ago.
On Monday, Fubo said it sold 36.7 million shares of stock for $68.1 million in block trades to multiple investors at negotiated discounts to Friday's closing prices.
For the first quarter of 2023 in North America, Fubo expects to generate between $295 million and $300 million in revenue and finish the full year with between $1.195 billion and $1.225 billion in revenue, up 23%.
It expects to have between 1.14 million and 1.16 million subscribers by the end of the quarter as some subscribers drop due to price increases, the World Cup ending and the loss of some content, including local CBS affiliate programming. For the full year, it expects to have 1.51 million to 1.53 million subscribers, up 9%.
For the rest of the world, Fubo expects revenue of $5.5 million to 6.5 million for the first quarter and between $24.5 million and $28.5 million for the full year. It projects having 368,000 to 373.000 subscribers outside North America by the end of the quarter and 395,000 to 415,000 at the end of the year.
The company reaffirmed that it plans to achieve positive cash flow in 2025.
“We surpassed $1 billion in total annual revenue and $100 million in ad sales annual revenue for the first time. The quarter also marked our lowest level of quarterly cash usage in Fubo’s time as a publicly-traded company,” CEO David Gandler and executive chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr. said in the shareholder letter.
“Over the course of 2022, we undertook bold measures to position our business for today’s challenging macroeconomic environment. We furthermore believe that Fubo’s model will prove to be resilient, profitable and poised to continue to deliver a truly differentiated consumer experience while providing our media partners with a growing distribution platform,” they said..
“We remain very excited about the opportunity in front of us. There are still approximately 62 million U.S. consumers who have not cut the cord. In the shorter term, we are well-positioned for the next major sports season - baseball - which runs from the second - fourth quarters. With our expanded RSN portfolio, we have increased our coverage while other vMVPDs have dropped this content,” they said in the letter. ■
