Better Collective announced a record-breaking second quarter, with group revenue reaching €78 million, as it continues to diversify and expand its revenue streams.
Revenue increased by 39% over a period when it acquired Skycon Limited for £45m.
The acquisition gave Better Collective access to the UK company’s expertise in display advertising, as well as paid advertising across channels that include sports media.
The Skycon integration is off to a “great start”, according to Better Collective CEO Jesper Søgaard.
“By incorporating Skycon into our paid media division, we unlock new growth opportunities and expand our offering to advertising partners,” he said.
Søgaard credited the company’s commercial team in North America, where he is “happy to see further diversification of revenue streams in this region through sponsorship sales on products such as our podcasts and YouTube shows.”
Looking to the future, he continued, Better Collective is “busy exploring AI-powered solutions, potential mergers and acquisitions, as well as ways to leverage its potential and mitigate risk.”
In explaining the company’s second-quarter growth, Søgaard credited media partnerships and “a sporting margin of victory above our expectations”, as well as North America and Skycon, as key drivers.
Better Collective Q2 overall growth
Better Collective’s record revenue of €78.1 million in Q2 represented an increase of 39% compared to 2022, when it achieved €56 million in the same period.
The Copenhagen-based branch also saw its costs rise in Q2, with a 13% increase taking the figure to €49.4m.
Operating profit before depreciation, amortization and special items increased by 135% reaching €28.7 million compared to €12.2 million in the previous year.
Looking more closely at the type of revenue, Better Collective saw a 41% growth in publishing revenue, reaching €53.5 million, while its paid media division increased its revenue by 37%, reaching €24.6 millions.
However, operating profit before depreciation, amortization and special items was much higher for paid media than for publishing.
Paid media saw this figure increase by 240% reaching €7.5m, while publication saw a 111% increase, reaching €21.16m.
Better Collective’s shift in strategy towards becoming the world’s leading digital sports media group has resulted in the development of several partnerships with traditional news outlets.
This includes deals with Goal.com, as well as Nigerian outlet Punch and Polish media company Wirtualna Polska.
When looking at regional revenue, the North America operations saw the most growth, with an increase of 60% on the previous year, reaching €22.9 million, compared to €14.3 million.
In Europe and the rest of the world, over the same period, there was an increase of 32%, reaching € 55.2 million.
Operating income before depreciation, amortization and special items for Europe and the rest of world also grew by 64%, while operations in North America increased by just 1.2%.
A strong performance in the first quarter
Better Collective also saw growth in its financials during the first half of the year, with its revenue growing by 35% compared to 2022.
It earned €166 million, compared to €123.4 million a year earlier in the same six-month period.
Operating profit before depreciation, amortization and special items for the first half increased by 75% totalizing €62 million.
That figure for paid media, similar to Q2’s metric, saw a 203% increase getting to €15.4m, while publishing saw a 54% increase.
In terms of revenue share, publishing accounted for €112.8m, with a growth of 30%, and paid media increased by 44% reaching €53.3 million.
Europe and the rest of the world increased first-half revenue by 36% to €106 million, while North America in the same six months increased its revenue by 32% reaching €60 million.
Better Collective also reported net income after tax of €29.2 million, along with cash flow before special items of €67.6 million, compared to €35.6 million, representing an increase of 90%.
