Festival live-streamer LiveXLive grows revenue, subs in Q2 2019

Live music video platform LiveXLive recorded a 5% quarter-on-quarter increase in turnover in Q2 2019, boosted by growth in paid subscribers, ad revenue and its roster of partner festivals.

The West Hollywood-based company, which listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market in February, LiveXLive posted record-to-date revenue of US$8m in the last quarter, compared to $7.6m in Q1 2019, driven by strong subscriber growth and advertising revenue.

In Q2, LiveXLive livestreamed eight major festivals – Montreux Jazz Festival, Sziget, Paléo Festival Nyon, Global Dance Festival in Denver, Colorado, HARD Summer Music Festival in Fontana, California, Bumbershoot in Seattle, Rolling Loud Festival in California and Life is Beautiful in Las Vegas – up from five in Q1 2019 and three in Q2 2018.

It also increased its paid subscriber base by 12% to 549,000 (585,000+ as of today). In total, more than 40m people watched its music live streams during the last quarter.

Operating loss for Q2 was $9.5m, with net loss standing at $10.3m – a consequence of “ongoing operating investments” made to grow the company, according to an earnings release.

“We continued to execute in Q2 2019, livestreaming a record number of festivals, improving our operating results and use of capital sequentially and exiting Q2 with a run rate of over 50% growth year over year in paid subscribers across our music platform,” says Michael Zemetra, who joined the company as CFO in April.

“We are well-positioned to continue investing in content, future festivals and our music platform”

“With the improvements in operating results, lower cash spend in Q2 versus Q1 2019 and accelerated growth in paid subscribers, we are well-positioned to continue investing in content, future festivals and our music platform to support our immediate growth objectives.”

LiveXLive provides an online video network for streaming live music and music-related content. It launched in July 2015, initially positioned itself as the “ESPN of premium live music experience” with its aim of creating a 24-hour network of live music broadcasting digitally and on mobile.

After moving into ticketing in 2016 with the acquisition of Wantickets, following that company’s top brass’s controversial defection to Eventbrite, the company began to develop original content, launching slate of programming that now includes “180+ pieces of short-form content [including] artist interviews, lifestyle segments and show pilots”.

It also recently launched a management division, LiveXLive Influencers, focusing on social-media stars, and in September 2017 announced plans to acquire internet radio service Slacker Radio.

“LiveXLive continued our year with another strong quarter in Q2 2019,” says Rob Ellin, LiveXLive’s CEO and chairman, “with record revenue driven by solid growth in our paid subscriber base, which today has surpassed 585,000, and improved operating results over Q1 2019.

“Our successful integration of LiveXLive operations with Slacker has increased impressions and accelerated our active users and total viewership, driving a record number of livestreams and, most importantly, growth in our paid subscriber base. We are tightening our revenue guidance range to $37.5–$45 million for the full year to reflect the strong momentum we are seeing across the business.”

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