Super League (SLE) Q2 2026 Earnings Call: Margen verbessern sich bei wachsender Pipeline

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Der Bruttoumsatz lag bei etwa 3 Millionen US-Dollar und blieb sowohl im Jahresvergleich als auch gegenüber dem Vorquartal nahezu unverändert, da die Werbebudgets durch Ausgaben für die Weltmeisterschaft, Unsicherheiten bei Zöllen, geopolitische Ereignisse und geänderte Roblox-Richtlinien unter Druck gerieten.
• Der Nettoumsatz stieg gegenüber dem Vorquartal um 16 % auf etwa 1,24 Millionen US-Dollar, während sich die Bruttomarge von 36 % in Q1 2026 auf 41 % verbesserte.
• Der bereinigte EBITDA-Verlust verringerte sich um etwa 20 % im Jahresvergleich auf rund 1,7 Millionen US-Dollar, verglichen mit rund 2,1 Millionen US-Dollar im Vorjahresquartal.
• Die gewichtete Pipeline pro Vertriebsmitarbeiter stieg auf etwa 2,8 Millionen US-Dollar am Ende von Q2, verglichen mit etwa 1,78 Millionen US-Dollar zum Zeitpunkt der Berichterstattung über die Ergebnisse von Q1.
• Super League integrierte die Vermögenswerte von Misfits Ads, ohne die Gesamtkostenbasis zu erhöhen. Der derzeitige Personalbestand bleibt unter dem Niveau vor der Übernahme.
• Das Management konzentriert sich weiterhin darauf, im vierten Quartal 2026 ein positives bereinigtes EBITDA zu erreichen, was in erster Linie von der Umwandlung der erweiterten Vertriebspipeline bei gleichzeitiger Kostendisziplin abhängt.

Wichtige Finanzdaten

Geschäfts- und operative Entwicklung

Super League erhöhte den Anteil der Kapazität des Implementierungsteams für abrechenbare Kundenarbeiten um etwa 30 % gegenüber Q1. Laut Management spiegelt die Verbesserung die Bemühungen wider, bestehende Ressourcen für umsatzgenerierende Aktivitäten einzusetzen.

Das Unternehmen schloss die Übernahme der Vermögenswerte von Misfits Ads im Mai ab. Misfits brachte programmatische Werbung, schlüsselfertige Medienkapazitäten und eine bestehende Vertriebspipeline ein. Laut Management erfordern diese Angebote im Allgemeinen weniger operativen Aufwand und bieten höhere Margen.

Super League startete außerdem einen Marktplatz für Kinder und Familien, der Zugang zu kindersicheren Gaming-Medien über programmatischen Einkauf oder Managed Services bietet. Das Management erwartet, dass programmatisches Inventar zu einem berechenbareren Umsatzfluss führt, stellte jedoch klar, dass dies nicht als abonnementsähnlicher wiederkehrender Umsatz betrachtet werden sollte.

Die vertriebliche Aktivität verstärkte sich im Berichtszeitraum. Super League gewann sechs Neukunden in Q2 und dem bisherigen Verlauf von Q3, darunter Dodge für ein erstes Fortnite-Programm. Zu den Kunden mit Vertragsverlängerungen gehörten die USGA, Logitech, GoGo squeeZ und Regal Cinemas.

Das Unternehmen baute seine Vertriebsorganisation unter dem neuen Executive Vice President of Revenue, Anthony Alexander, um und stellte Vertriebsmitarbeiter in Los Angeles, New York und Chicago ein. Laut Management wurden diese Investitionen getätigt, während die Kostenstruktur weitgehend stabil gehalten wurde.

Super League positioniert sein Angebot als kanalübergreifende Lösung für Connected TV, Mobile, PC, Konsole, Web, Roblox, YouTube, TikTok, Discord und Creator-Plattformen. Das Inventar an Connected-TV-Gaming-Anwendungen ist in 100 Millionen US-Haushalten verfügbar, so das Management.

Die Bilanz wurde im zweiten Quartal weiter vereinfacht. Super League hat nach dem Schuldenabbau im Vorjahr keine Vorzugsaktien mehr ausstehen. Das Management erklärte, dass die vorhandene Liquidität den Betrieb auf absehbare Zeit finanzieren dürfte und keine zusätzliche Kapitalbeschaffung zur Unterstützung des operativen Geschäfts erwartet wird.

Prognose des Managements

Das Management bekräftigte sein Ziel, im vierten Quartal 2026 ein positives bereinigtes EBITDA zu erreichen. Der Weg dahin hängt hauptsächlich davon ab, die größere Vertriebspipeline in Umsatz umzuwandeln, die Umsatzqualität und die Margen zu verbessern sowie die derzeitige Kostenstruktur beizubehalten.

Das Unternehmen ist überzeugt, dass sein bestehendes Team und seine Infrastruktur das erforderliche Umsatzwachstum ohne wesentlichen Anstieg der Kosten unterstützen können. Das Management beschrieb die Betriebsausgaben als nahe an der notwendigen Basislinie, obwohl weitere Effizienzsteigerungen erzielt werden könnten, indem mehr Mitarbeiterkapazität auf abrechenbare Aktivitäten verlagert wird.

Für den Rest des Jahres 2026 wird Super League der Umwandlung der Pipeline, der Margenverbesserung, der Kostendisziplin und der weiteren Nutzung der Misfits Ads-Kapazitäten Priorität einräumen. Das Unternehmen prüft weiterhin Möglichkeiten im Bereich digitaler Vermögenswerte, betonte jedoch, dass sein Ansatz besonnen und diszipliniert bleibt.

Risiken und Beobachtungspunkte

• Der Umsatz blieb unverändert, und das Management räumte ein, dass sich die kommerzielle Dynamik noch nicht in ein nachhaltiges Umsatzwachstum übersetzt hat.
• Die Werbenachfrage wurde durch Ausgaben im Umfeld der Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft, Unsicherheiten bezüglich Zöllen, geopolitische Ereignisse einschließlich des Iran-Kriegs sowie sich ändernde Roblox-Richtlinien beeinträchtigt, die sich auf einige Markenaktivierungen auswirkten.
• Das Rentabilitätsziel für das vierte Quartal hängt stark von der Umwandlung einer wachsenden Pipeline durch die ausgebauten Vertriebs- und Strategieteams ab.
• Programmatische Werbung könnte die Umsatzplanbarkeit verbessern, das Management betonte jedoch, dass dies nicht mit vertraglichen Abonnementsumsätzen gleichzusetzen ist.

Highlights der Q&A-Runde für Analysten

Das Management führte den Anstieg der gewichteten Pipeline pro Vertriebsmitarbeiter auf drei Faktoren zurück: neue Vertriebsführung, ein breiteres Produktportfolio und Chancen, die aus der Misfits-Transaktion übernommen wurden.

Bezüglich des Ziels beim bereinigten EBITDA für Q4 erklärte das Management, dass zusätzliche Kostensenkungen nicht der Haupttreiber seien. Die zentrale Anforderung sei es, die erweiterten Geschäftschancen in Umsatz umzuwandeln, während die bestehende Kostenbasis weitgehend stabil gehalten wird.

Hinsichtlich der programmatischen Werbung erklärte das Management, dass Inventar gekauft und Budgets täglich angepasst werden können, was die Abhängigkeit von langwierigen Ausschreibungsverfahren verringere. Effektive Kampagnen könnten zu einem regelmäßigen Bestandteil der Medienausgaben der Kunden werden und so zu berechenbareren Umsätzen beitragen.

Das Management erklärte außerdem, dass sich Super League vom Verkauf isolierter Produkte entfernt. Das Unternehmen konzipiert zunehmend zielgruppenbasierte Kampagnen, die Kanäle wie Mobile, Roblox, Connected TV, Web-Games und YouTube-Influencer entsprechend den Zielen des jeweiligen Werbekunden kombinieren.

Vollständiges Transkript des Earnings Calls

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to Super League's Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call. Please note, this conference is being recorded.

Before we begin, I'd like to caution listeners that comments made by management during this call may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements involve material risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. For a description of these factors -- for a description of these risks and uncertainties, please see Super League's financial statements and MD&A for the second quarter 2026 ended June 30, 2026, available on EDGAR. Important qualifications regarding forward-looking statements are also contained in Super League's earnings release distributed earlier this morning, also available on EDGAR.

Furthermore, the content of this conference call contains time-sensitive information accurate only as of today, August 14, 2026. Super League undertakes no obligation to revise or otherwise update any statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this call.

I would now like to turn the conference call over to Matt Edelman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Matt, please go ahead.

Matthew Edelman

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to share our financial results and business updates for the second quarter of 2026, along with our perspective on the progress we continue to make across Super League's media and advertising business.

As we entered this year, we said 2026 would be about execution. Our second quarter results reflect continued progress against that priority even as the broader advertising environment presented several challenges during the period.

Gross revenue was approximately $3 million, essentially flat both year-over-year and sequentially and generally in line with analyst expectations. While we are not satisfied with flat revenue, we believe the stability of our top line demonstrates resilience in a quarter when advertising budgets and brand priorities were affected by several macro factors, including significant spending around the World Cup, uncertainty surrounding tariffs and geopolitical events such as the Iran war, as well as evolving Roblox policies affecting certain brand activations. More importantly, we continue to make progress beneath the top line, in areas critical to the health and scalability of the business.

Net revenue increased 16% sequentially to approximately $1.24 million from $1.08 million in the first quarter, despite gross revenue remaining essentially flat. Gross margin improved to 41%, up from 36% in Q1. Adjusted EBITDA improved approximately 20% year-over-year to a loss of approximately $1.7 million, compared with a loss of approximately $2.1 million in the prior year quarter. On a sequential basis, our pro forma cash basis operating performance also continued to improve.

These results reflect our ongoing focus on the quality of our revenue, operational efficiency and disciplined management of our cost structure. One example is the progress we are making in implementation team utilization. During the second quarter, the percentage of our cost of goods related team capacity dedicated to billable client activity increased approximately 30% relative to Q1. Our focus is ensuring the resources we have in place are deployed efficiently against revenue-generating work.

That discipline has extended to the integration of the Misfits Ads assets acquired in May of this year. We completed the acquisition early in the second quarter and successfully integrated the Misfits team without increasing Super League's overall cost base. In fact, total company headcount today remains below where it was prior to the acquisition.

Just as importantly, Misfits has brought more than technology and incremental capabilities to Super League. The team has added strong commercial energy, an attractive pipeline of opportunities, and further reinforced our culture of creativity, execution and accountability. The acquisition has also expanded the breadth of what we can offer to our brand partners. We now have programmatic advertising and turnkey media solutions that are lower lift operationally, generally higher margin and have the potential to become more predictable sources of revenue.

In that regard, we recently launched a youth and family marketplace, giving advertisers a single point of access to kids-safe media within gaming channels that can be accessed programmatically by buyers or through our managed services team. These capabilities represent the intentional revenue diversification that inspired the Misfits transaction and already allow us to address a broader range of advertiser objectives across gaming and digital media.

We are seeing encouraging signals from our broader commercial organization as well. Weighted pipeline per seller as of the end of Q2 increased to approximately $2.8 million, up from approximately $1.78 million when we reported our first quarter results.

Win rates with clients are also improving and our renewal business remains strong. Recent examples include the USGA, Logitech, GoGo squeeZ and Regal Cinemas. Our success with these and a growing number of partners is rooted in how we establish their entry into the gaming landscape. We create a presence they can build upon. A starting point becomes a proof point, and a proof point becomes an opportunity we can expand.

We also closed 6 first-time clients during the second quarter and third quarter to date. One recent example is Dodge, which selected Super League as its inaugural partner for a program within Fortnite. We believe wins like this demonstrate the continued relevance of gaming environments for major consumer brands and Super League's ability to help advertisers activate within them.

Consistent with our recent growth initiatives, we have continued to add new business and inventory partners, further expanding our reach to targeted audiences across connected TV, mobile, PC, console, web, and creator and community platforms, including YouTube, TikTok and Discord. Our client solutions have become both broader and more precise. We are more equipped than ever in our history to demystify the fragmented gaming landscape by designing cross-channel programs that optimize advertiser outcomes and deploying our play intelligence engine powered by psychographic insights, AI insights through our partnership with Solsten.

Supporting all of this is a meaningful upgrade to our commercial organization. Beginning late in the second quarter, we substantially rebuilt our revenue team under the leadership of a new Executive Vice President of Revenue, Anthony Alexander. Anthony brings approximately 15 years of senior revenue leadership experience in gaming media, including deep expertise in programmatic advertising, data-driven sales strategies and building teams capable of scaling revenue.

We also have added experienced sellers in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, strengthening our presence across 3 important markets. And as mentioned a few moments ago, we have made these moves while maintaining a largely flat cost structure.

The early indicators are encouraging. We are receiving more RFPs week after week, and we believe we now have a much stronger team in place to convert those opportunities into revenue.

Our financial position also remains an important source of strength. We ended the second quarter with approximately $6.7 million in cash and investments, compared with approximately $475,000 at June 30 of last year. Additionally, we continued simplifying our capitalization structure during the quarter. For the first time in several years, Super League no longer has any preferred stock outstanding.

Combined with the elimination of our debt last year and the other steps we have taken to simplify our balance sheet, we believe Super League is operating from a significantly stronger financial foundation than it was a year ago. Importantly, we continue to believe our existing liquidity is sufficient to fund ongoing operations for the foreseeable future and do not anticipate needing to raise additional capital to support the operating business.

As we look toward the remainder of 2026, our priorities are straightforward. First, convert the growing commercial pipeline into revenue. Second, continue improving the quality and margin profile of that revenue. Third, maintain the cost discipline and operating leverage necessary to translate revenue growth into improved financial performance. And fourth, continue integrating and taking advantage of the capabilities we have added through the Misfits Ads assets and the investments we have made across the business.

We remain focused on achieving adjusted EBITDA profitability in the fourth quarter and believe the gains we are seeing in margin, operating efficiency and commercial activity continue to support that objective. We also continue to follow developments within the digital asset sector. Our approach remains measured and disciplined, and we will explore opportunities when we believe they can create meaningful value for shareholders.

We entered 2026 saying the focus had shifted from stabilization to execution. Halfway through the year, that is exactly where our attention remains. We have more work to do, particularly in translating the commercial momentum we are building into sustained revenue growth, but we believe the underlying business is getting stronger, our capabilities are broader, our financial foundation is healthier and our organization is increasingly positioned to deliver the operating leverage we have been working toward. Thank you.

With that, I'll turn it back to the operator for Q&A.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first questions come from the line of James Kisner with Water Tower Research.

Fragen und Antworten

James Kisner

So this weighted pipeline per seller jumping 57% seems quite a bit. What's behind that step up? How much is that from the new sales leadership versus the broader product set?

Matthew Edelman

James, nice to talk to you. I think it's really 3 things, you talked about 2 of them. One, the leadership has really come in and opened up a lot of new opportunities. Two, we do have a broader product set, and that has given us a chance to speak with more potential brand partners about more opportunities. And then three, we did inherit, through the transaction with Misfits, an attractive pipeline that brought in a higher volume of opportunity.

James Kisner

That's helpful. So nice to see you kind of reaffirm this target of adjusted EBITDA profitability in Q4. What kind of gets you there? Is it just revenue conversion from the pipeline, or is it further margin gains, cost discipline, all of the above? Like what's the road map?

Matthew Edelman

Well, we certainly will maintain cost discipline. We have to stay pretty locked in where we are, and believe we have the team members and the infrastructure now to support the kind of revenue growth that can make our current cost structure successful in supporting a path to adjusted EBITDA profitability. And so really, it is converting the volume of opportunities and a broader product set and relying upon the upgraded sales and strategy teams to deliver revenue based on the opportunities we brought in.

James Kisner

Great. That's helpful. And I was hoping maybe you could provide an update on the kind of CTV advergaming inventory partnership, where that stands and when it might kind of show up in pipeline or revenue?

Matthew Edelman

It's an important question. Our CTV inventory is within a gaming application that is available on 100 million households -- within 100 million households in the U.S. And it is an application that allows playing games on your television and also watching gaming content, largely from YouTube, that lives within the application. And there is a fair amount of exciting standard media inventory as well as custom advertising opportunities that we are able to bring our partners inside that application.

And it is becoming a real highly desirable feature in many programs, especially with a number of streamers and entertainment applications that companies want people to download and use on their connected TV. So there's a nice tune-in opportunity by appealing to gamers and really only being one click away from getting to content.

Operator

Our next questions come from the line of Rommel Dionisio with Aegis Capital.

Rommel Dionisio

Matt, in your comments, you talked about the Misfits -- the integration of Misfits leading to a more predictable or, I think, recurring revenue stream. Could you walk us through the thought process on that? I understand, obviously, the cross-selling synergies. But how do you think about the stickiness of your client base going forward? Could you walk us through how that would kind of translate to a more recurring or predictable revenue stream? And maybe if you can add an anecdote or 2 about if you've had success with that in the past.

Matthew Edelman

Yes, sure. Absolutely. So I think the word predictable is a better word than recurring because it is not similar to sort of subscription or business of that nature.

But the opportunity with programmatic advertising solutions is that there is a consistent amount of advertising inventory that is available to buyers on a daily basis and as opposed to always working in a request for proposal and response dynamic where you're going back and forth on a number of rounds of discussions. That inventory can be purchased either by the buyer or by our team on behalf of the buyer very easily, and the budget can be set or changed in any given day.

And so it allows the more seamless flow of revenue, and it is very targeted inventory. So if it's starting to work, it becomes a bit of a staple for a client. And so we did acquire a handful of partnerships that are using that inventory, and we are expanding the breadth of that inventory and the applicability of that inventory to a wider range of brands. And we do expect programmatic buying and managed services buying of the programmatic inventory to become a very healthy source of revenue going forward.

Operator

Our next questions come from the line of Jack Codera with Maxim Group.

Jack Codera

Given the kind of industry environment, do you have any commentary on specific channels you're starting to see improve, whether it's your kind of mobile segment or CTV? Do you have any expectations for these -- or maybe at a high level, any kind of targets for these to contribute as like a major percentage of revenue?

Matthew Edelman

Jack, that's an important question, because our business has gone through periods in recent years where we've had a single channel either become especially dominant in terms of our revenue mix or that we have brought in to diversify around that dominance.

The interesting thing about the way the business has evolved in the past 6 to 9 months, and particularly after we brought in the Misfits Ads assets, is that we now can help our brand partners design a program that is specifically optimized across multiple channels based on their audience and objectives.

And so we are beginning to see that buyers are trusting our expertise and looking at us as a single-point solution to help them optimize a program across mobile, which could be combined with Roblox, which could be combined with CTV, which could be combined with web games, which could be combined with influencers on YouTube, for the purposes of reaching gamers that match their audience and deliver against the marketing outcomes they desire.

And so instead of pitching specific products like we have in the past, we're actually pitching to reach a specific audience. And so we really do think that our offerings across the board are going to sort of rise in concert because, in any given campaign, it may be one or another product or channel that is the most important to activate.

Jack Codera

Okay. Yes, that's super helpful. And then I just had one more follow-up. Given the commentary about being smart about costs, do you expect the OpEx levels, is this a go-forward baseline? Or do you expect any flex? I think in the quarter, the GAAP OpEx is, call it, $5 million. Is that kind of the new baseline? Or do you expect that to kind of go down a little bit as well?

Matthew Edelman

We never stop looking for ways to reduce OpEx. We think we're probably close to the baseline. The primary area where we have an opportunity to perhaps find a little bit more efficiency is, as our volume of revenue-generating opportunities grows, we think we can shift more of our resources into supporting revenue-generating activity and bringing more of those resources into billable hours that might fit into cost of goods as opposed to OpEx.

That's really the goal, is to maximize the utilization of our team around billable activity. And so there might be some additional opportunity there. But otherwise, I think we're probably pretty close to the baseline that we need in order to support that path to adjusted EBITDA breakeven and profitability.

Operator

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. And with that, I would like to hand the call back over to Matt Edelman for any closing comments.

Matthew Edelman

Thank you again, everyone, for your time and for your questions.

Stepping back, I think the second quarter is best understood as a quarter of resilience and continued operating progress. Revenue remained stable despite a challenging advertising environment. Net revenue and gross margin improved sequentially. Adjusted EBITDA improved year-over-year. We integrated the Misfits Ads assets without increasing our overall cost base. We rebuilt and strengthened our commercial organization. And we maintained a strong liquidity position while continuing to simplify our capital structure.

As we move through the second half of 2026, our priorities remain clear: converting a growing pipeline into revenue, continuing to improve the economics of the business, maintaining financial discipline, and executing against our path toward profitability. We believe the work completed over the past quarters has created a strong foundation for Super League. The opportunity now is to translate that stronger foundation into sustained financial improvement.

We look forward to updating you on our progress next quarter. Have a great Friday.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. This does now conclude today's teleconference. We appreciate your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and enjoy the rest of your day.