‘Chicken Soup’ Ups Q3 Fiscal Revenue, Loss
November 19, 2019
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment dramatically upped its profile earlier this year when it acquired majority ownership of ad-supported streaming service Sony Crackle from Sony Pictures Television.
The company said the acquisition increased third-quarter (ended Sept. 30) revenue 157% to $17 million from $6.6 million in the previous-year period. It also ballooned the company’s net loss to $13.3 million compared to a net loss of $200,000 in the year-ago period and a net income of $200,000 million before preferred dividends.
Online networks, which includes Crackle, Popcornflix and Pivotshare, generated $14.4 million in revenue compared to $1.8 million in the year-ago period.
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The quarterly operating loss reflected certain non-cash or one-time expenses, including $4.7 million in non-cash amortization, $1.6 million of transitional expenses related to the Crackle Plus joint venture, and $1.2 million in film library amortization.
CSSE noted that if the aforementioned expenses were excluded from SG&A or cost of revenue, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment would have reported a quarterly operating loss of $2.1 million.
“Our record third quarter results show the early promise of our transformation of our company into a leading AVOD network operator,” CEO William J. Rouhana Jr., said in a statement. “Crackle Plus is performing as expected, and our new original series ‘Going From Broke’ provides initial evidence of our growing network reach and engagement potential.”
The Ashton Kutcher-produced series has generated more than 5 millions views since launching on Oct. 17.
Rouhana said the company is “reinventing” its distribution and production business to focus on “innovative” studio launches, library content acquisitions and sponsor-funded original productions.
“We already see significant positive business momentum in the fourth quarter, where we expect to see a combination of all our primary strategic pieces in place for the first time, setting the stage for potentially significant growth in 2020,” he said.