Vizio reduced its net loss in the first quarter as its Platform Plus advertising and data business grew, offsetting declines in its device business.
Vizio’s net loss was $700,00, or zero cents per share, compared to a loss of $11 million or 6 cents a share, a year ago.
Revenue fell 27% to $356.7 million but the company reduced operating expenses to $78.7 million from $85.7 million.
Vizio’s Platform Plus business had a gross profit of $73.8 million, up 14% from $64.9 million as revenues climbed 22% to $125.5 million from $102 million.
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The number of active SmartCast accounts rose to 17.5 million. Those users streamed a total of 4.9 million hours in the quarter. Average revenue per user of Vizio’s SmartCast rose 23% to $29.20.
Direct ad client relationships grew by 77% from a year ago, as the company added 148 net new advertisers.
Vizio’s device business profit fell to $1.6 million from $7.9 million a year ago. Device revenue decreased to $231.2 million from $382.9 million.
“Q1 kicked off our 21st year of selling award-winning, affordable products and experiences, and we continue to see success in the execution of our combined hardware and software strategy,” Vizio CEO William Wang said. “As you can see from our results, our advertising business continued to show strength in Q1, up 24% year-over-year, which exceeded our expectations. Our results speak to the progress we’ve made in raising awareness of Vizio as a scaled destination for advertisers to reach viewers.”
