from shareholders meeting 7-11-13
Here it is, the handy work of Fuzz and Digitalis:
Today's AGM went well and at "top table" were M Opzoomer (chair), Brian, Suranga and Ed Reginelli (FD)
After the formal part of the meeting had been concluded and all resolutions passed by a poll of those shareholders present, Brian gave his overview of last year's performance. He began with an overview of Blnx's market. Currently Blnx have 40+ agencies, 900+ content partners, 1000 brands and 3000 publishers. The company operates in the US and UK and has 235 employees split into 157 sales and marketing, 62 R&D and 36 admin. Despite rocketing revenue and cash generation the company reduced headcount by 20. There is, therefore, a good grip on costs
At present 95% of video ad dollars is still spent on TV. However, online video is 51% of consumer internet traffic and this is expected to grow to 55%. By 2016 1.2 million minutes of video - or 833 days - will traverse the internet every second. 45% of the world's population is expected to be internet connected by 2016. Currently $3bn of online video ad spend against $65bn TV ad spend. This rapidly growing market is ripe for disruption.
The internet market has not yet got mobile video advertising right as the tendency is still to try to cram PC type video ads onto mobile screens. There is still therefore a way to go before this product comes right.
Blnx has tripled its sales force and publishers as a result of the acquisitions and now run with major web publishers (AOL), Aggregators (Rubicon), Agencies (WPP) and Advertisers ( P&G, Nestle, Disney). Brian stressed that these are all non-exclusive relationships therefore no guarantees have been given. All relationships are revenue sharing. With the newer automated platforms the dollar spend may be reduced but the volumes are much expanded. Brian emphasised numerous times the critical importance of the fact that Blnx only runs with professional content. $60m has been spent customising CORE and several patents have been applied for.
Overall Brian was upbeat, excited and referred several times to BLNX being in the crosshairs of this video revolution.
The FD then talked us through various stats and figures. 568 billion ad opportunities were presented last year of which BLNX achieved a 13% conversion. The previous year the numbers were 460 billion with a 9% conversion. 78% of revenue came via Premium content. Pricing trends are trending upwards on Premium content. R&D spend is increasing due to work being undertaken on both mobile and big data. There is a team working on mobile which is the fastest growing segment but of course BLNX have no control over the content\suitability of the advertising for mobile (see above). Blnx see their main competitors for premium content as being Netcom, Hulu, ITV,VEVO, CBS and 4.
