Opera Mediaworks delivers record revenue and profits, exceeds $100M in quarterly revenue
Today Opera Mediaworks’ parent company, Opera Software, announced financial results for Q4 2014. Opera Mediaworks delivered yet another record quarter, surpassing $100 million in quarterly revenues in Q4 2014.
Here are some highlights from the financial results, broken down for the Opera Mediaworks business.
- Revenues of $103.2 million in Q4 2014, up 139% versus Q4 2013
- Overall Opera Mediaworks 2014 revenues of $272.8 million
- Total mobile advertising impressions managed (including Opera Owned and Operated properties) was 190.8 billion in Q4 2014, up 6% compared to Q4 2013.
Overall, Opera Software reported revenue of $154.4 million, up 72% versus Q4 2013 and Adjusted EBITDA* of $34.4 million, up 43% versus Q4 2013. In Q2 2014, Opera Mediaworks’s revenues surpassed the 50% mark of overall Opera Software revenues. In Q4 2014, the Opera Mediaworks subsidiary now comprises two-thirds of overall Opera Software revenues.
Mobile video and performance advertising fuel growth
The strong results from Q4 were driven by increased revenue from premium and performance advertisers and “app install”- driven spend from primarily the mobile gaming sector. In Q4, Opera Mediaworks brand business ran campaigns with 49 of the top 50 global advertisers including Samsung, Wells Fargo, Toyota and Pepsi.
Based on the latest financial results, Opera Mediaworks business is becoming more balanced, more so leaning toward brand advertising versus performance advertising in its strongest market – the United States. A majority of that growth in revenues comes from the mobile video medium, which is the fastest growing ad format on mobile, and has 5X the brand recall compared to other formats. Today, more than 50% of Opera Mediaworks’ revenues come from the mobile video, compared to less than 20% a year ago.
With the acquisition of premium mobile video ad platform AdColony in Q3 2014 and its full addition this quarter to revenues, Opera Mediaworks is now particularly strong in mobile video advertising. AdColony clearly complements Opera’s traditional strength in rich media advertising and greatly strengthens Opera’s position in the high growth user acquisition/app install segment of the mobile advertising market.
AdColony has a strong record of driving high fill-rates and premium eCPMs to publishers all over the globe. All in all, a record quarter for Opera Mediaworks in terms of videos viewed by our audience too.
International expansion
In Q4 2014, Opera Mediaworks committed itself to expanding rapidly in markets outside its core regions such as the United States and Europe. In December, Opera Mediaworks announced the acquisition of AdVine, South Africa’s leading premier mobile advertising network, to better service advertisers in Africa, frequently known as the “mobile continent.”
The company also launched a team in Asia Pacific in Q4 (announced more recently) to meet the growing needs of brands, agencies and publishers in the region. In our most recent State of Mobile Advertising report for Q4 2014, we reported that Asia has overtaken Europe in terms of overall mobile ad impressions by a big margin – making 26% of global mobile ad impressions share.
“Once again, Opera Mediaworks has delivered a record quarter on all fronts — campaigns, impressions under management, video views and installs,” said Mahi de Silva, CEO, Opera Mediaworks. “The company is on track to achieve key strategy milestones in order to deliver a highly-differentiated experience and results to our customers — advertisers and publishers globally — with the launch of several products and services in the past few months.
Record sales of smartphones globally in Q4 2014 is fueling a strong start to Q1 for our business. We see brand and performance advertisers go after the multiplying consumer eyeballs as a result of more smartphones flooding the market worldwide.”
You can read more about Opera’s Q4 2014 results here.