Audioboom’s 2025 numbers: record revenue, fatter margins, and a platform shift
Audioboom has delivered another record year. Revenue rose 10% to US$80.4 million, gross profit climbed 17% to US$16.9 million, and adjusted EBITDA jumped 54% to US$5.1 million – ahead of market expectations. Q4 capped things off with record quarterly revenue of US$24.9 million and adjusted EBITDA of US$2.2 million, implying a 9% margin for the quarter.
Note on today’s amendment: Q1 2026 adjusted EBITDA was corrected from US$1.5 million to US$1.4 million. Revenue for Q1 2026 remains US$22.5 million, up 30% year-on-year.
Adjusted EBITDA is a profit measure before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share-based payments, non-cash FX, material one-off items and onerous contract effects. In short, it strips out noise to show core operating performance.
Key numbers at a glance
| Metric | 2025 | Change vs 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | US$80.4 million | +10% (US$73.4 million) |
| Gross profit | US$16.9 million | +17% (US$14.4 million) |
| Adjusted EBITDA | US$5.1 million | +54% (US$3.4 million) |
| Q4 adjusted EBITDA | US$2.2 million | Record; 9% margin |
| Showcase revenue | US$30.4 million | +31% (US$23.1 million) |
| Average monthly downloads/views | 118 million | +20% (98 million) |
| RPM (revenue per 1,000) | US$56.46 | Down from US$62.41 |
| Cash at 31 Dec 2025 | US$4.2 million | US$3.9 million in 2024 |
| Overdraft facility | US$3.4 million | Undrawn availability |
Showcase drives scale and margin
Showcase – Audioboom’s ad-tech marketplace that programmatically inserts ads at scale – is doing the heavy lifting. Revenue hit a record US$30.4 million, up 31%, contributing 38% of Group revenue (2024: 32%). Management flagged more than 10 billion available ad impressions in 2025, underlining the platform’s reach. Higher Showcase mix is a positive because it carries a higher gross margin than other formats.
Two handy upgrades also landed: Sounder AI for brand suitability and contextual targeting, and Adaptive Ads to auto-create bespoke host-style ads. These should improve fill and pricing over time.
Premium steady, Sonic softer
Premium host-read ads grew 4% to US$40.9 million and still represent the largest slice at 51% of revenue. Sonic Integrated Marketing fell 17% to US$8.7 million as average active brands dipped to four from five. The mix shift towards Showcase and Premium – both higher quality in this context – helped nudge gross margin up to 22.4% (excluding onerous contracts), from 21.5% in 2024.
Video podcasting: big audience, lower yield (for now)
Video became a real growth engine in 2025, and Audioboom says about 12% of 2025 revenue came from video. The trade-off: RPM fell to US$56.46 (from US$62.41). Two reasons are given – rapid video growth where dynamic ad insertion is more limited, and a larger UK audience footprint where current ad spend lags the US. Management’s view is clear: this is short-term dilution for medium-term upside.
Why it matters: Audioboom has already struck new deals with Spotify and Apple post year-end to improve video distribution and monetisation. Expect investment in video-specialist sales, with the stated goal of bringing video monetisation up to audio levels over the medium term.
Adelicious acquisition: accelerated UK scale, early integration win
Audioboom acquired Adelicious on 22 July 2025, creating the UK’s second largest podcast network. Integration finished two weeks ahead of plan. The strategic point: when Adelicious was plugged into Audioboom’s monetisation engine, monthly revenue on its roster rose by 67% to about US$1.0 million from roughly US$0.6 million pre-acquisition. That’s a tangible proof-point for the platform thesis.
Financially, the deal came with a fair value gain on consideration of US$2.0 million as earn-out expectations were trimmed – but also a US$3.9 million goodwill impairment as 2025 performance landed below the upper end of projections. The net message: execution is working, but management has reset expectations to a more conservative path. The final purchase price is now expected to be below the potential £10 million maximum.
Onerous contracts concluded: cash generation should improve
Two legacy loss-making partner deals that were provisioned in 2023 ran off by 31 December 2025. They dragged a US$3.7 million net loss in 2025, but they’re now done. Management expects adjusted EBITDA in 2026 to again be a reasonable proxy for operating cash generation.
Operating costs were kept tight at US$11.9 million (+8%) despite the larger group, with average monthly opex inching from US$1.0 million pre-acquisition to US$1.1 million post-acquisition. That operational gearing is the crux of the investment case.
Q1 2026 momentum and a live strategic review
Post year-end, Audioboom posted record Q1 2026 revenue of US$22.5 million, up 30% year-on-year, and adjusted EBITDA of US$1.4 million, up 118%. The creator roster has been refreshed with high-profile signings including Crooked Media, RedHanded and Hear Me Out, which are expected to add more than 20 million downloads and video views per month in 2026.
Strategically, a review launched in October 2025 remains in play, considering options including a potential sale, partnerships, further acquisitions and other pathways. With Audioboom ranking fourth for US audio downloads (Triton), number one for video podcast views in 2025 (Podscribe) and fifth in Edison’s Q4 2025 network rankings, it is positioning itself as the leading independent, pure-play platform at scale.
Why this matters for investors
- Platform mix shift boosts quality: Showcase scaling at 31% growth with higher margins is exactly what you want to see in a maturing ad-tech platform.
- Operational gearing is real: Costs grew slower than gross profit, and Q4 margins hit 9%. If revenue momentum holds, more of it should drop to EBITDA and cash in 2026, now the onerous contracts are gone.
- Video is the swing factor: Short-term RPM dilution is the price of audience growth. Spotify and Apple integrations aim to close the monetisation gap – that’s the medium-term upside.
- UK acceleration via M&A: Adelicious shows the model can scale acquired rosters fast. The goodwill impairment is a reminder to stay grounded, but the 67% immediate uplift post-integration is compelling.
Watch-outs and risks
- RPM pressure: Average revenue per 1,000 fell 9.5% due to video and UK mix. Recovery depends on successful video monetisation and UK ad spend catching up.
- US concentration: 92% of revenue still comes from the US. Diversification via the UK is improving, but remains a small share at 8%.
- Softer Sonic: Integrated marketing revenue dipped 17% with fewer active brands. Not a thesis-breaker, but worth monitoring.
- Working capital timing: Year-end receivables rose on a strong Q4; debtor days lengthened to 89. Management’s historic 96% five-year collection rate is reassuring, but cash timing matters.
Outlook: set up for another record year
The company is guiding to another record 2026, and early trading backs that up. Cash at year-end was US$4.2 million with a further US$3.4 million available via HSBC overdraft, and the board expects adjusted EBITDA to be a better proxy for cash now that legacy contracts have rolled off.
Bottom line from me: this is a high-quality platform story moving up the value chain. The near-term job is to translate video reach into Showcase-like economics. If Spotify and Apple integrations deliver, Audioboom’s margin profile could step up again. The strategic review adds optionality on top.
