플루언트(FLNT) 2026년 2분기 실적 발표회: 커머스 미디어 매출 90% 급증

핵심 요약

• Fluent(NASDAQ: FLNT)의 2026년 2분기 매출은 보고 기준 전년 동기 대비 8% 증가하고, 합산 계속사업 기준으로는 25% 증가한 4,840만 달러를 기록했다.
• 커머스 미디어 솔루션(Commerce Media Solutions) 매출은 90% 증가한 3,050만 달러를 기록하며, 연결 매출에서 차지하는 비중이 전년 동기 36%에서 63%로 확대되었다. 해당 사업부는 연간 매출 환산액(run rate) 1억 2,500만 달러 이상으로 이번 분기를 마감했다.
• 매출총이익은 36% 증가한 1,400만 달러를 기록했으며, 매출총이익률은 2026년 1분기 대비 650베이시스포인트(bp) 개선된 28.9%에 달했다. 수익성 개선과 주요 커머스 미디어 파트너십의 규모 확대가 이러한 성장을 견인했다.
• 조정 EBITDA는 마이너스 180만 달러로, 전분기 대비 180만 달러, 전년 동기 대비 100만 달러 개선되었다. 경영진은 계절적 요인 등에 힘입어 지속적인 개선세를 이어가며 4분기에는 조정 EBITDA 흑자를 기록할 것으로 예상하고 있다.
• CVS는 3분기에 온라인 결제 후(post-transaction) 파트너로 참여했다. 경영진은 이를 플루언트(Fluent)의 가장 큰 파트너 확보 사례 중 하나로 묘사했으며, 2027년까지 매장 내 커머스 미디어로 관계를 확장하기 위한 로드맵을 제시했다.
• 경영진은 2026년 전체 연간 합산 계속사업 매출이 두 자릿수 성장을 기록할 것이라는 기존 전망을 유지했다. 회사는 매장 내 서비스가 2026년이 아닌 2027년부터 실질적으로 기여할 것으로 전망하고 있다.

주요 재무 실적

사업 및 운영 성과

커머스 미디어 솔루션은 10분기 연속으로 높은 두 자릿수에서 세 자릿수의 성장을 기록하며 플루언트의 핵심 성장 동력으로 자리를 지켰다. 수익성 개선, 파트너 규모 확대, 일부 초기 인센티브 종료에 힘입어 온라인 결제 후 광고가 현재의 성장세를 이끌었다.

회사는 3분기에 CVS를 신규 파트너로 추가하여 소매 약국 영역으로 확장했다. 기술적 구현은 파트너의 결제 후 경험 내에 플루언트의 광고 모듈을 적용하는 방식으로 이루어진다. 경영진은 CVS가 2026년 동안 매출에 기여할 것으로 기대하며, 이 파트너십이 추가적인 대형 소매업체를 확보하기 위한 레퍼런스가 될 것으로 보고 있다.

또한 플루언트는 논엔데믹(non-endemic) 광고 수요를 공급함으로써 캡티브 리테일 미디어 네트워크 영역으로 확장하고 있다. 경영진은 회사가 이미 세계 최대 리테일 네트워크 중 하나와 협력하고 있으며, 파이프라인에 추가 네트워크를 보유하고 있다고 밝혔다. 이 모델은 광고주에게 새로운 오디언스에 대한 접근성을 제공하는 동시에, 소매업체가 직접 판매하는 제품 범주를 넘어 수익화를 확대할 수 있게 해준다.

매장 내(in-store) 전략은 빌트 테크놀로지스(Bilt Technologies)와의 파트너십을 통해 추진되고 있다. 초기 출시 대상은 베드배스앤비욘드(Bed Bath & Beyond), 바이바이베이비(buybuy BABY), 컨테이너 스토어(The Container Store)를 운영하는 비욘드(Beyond, Inc.)다. 플루언트는 2026년 하반기 동안 소비자 경험, 측정 방식, 광고주의 광고비 대비 수익률(ROAS)을 테스트할 예정이며, 추가 파트너들은 2027년 초부터 온보딩될 것으로 예상된다.

경영진은 로열티 데이터를 통해 구매자의 온라인 및 오프라인 매장 활동을 연결할 것이라고 밝혔다. 회사는 소매 거래의 83%가 여전히 오프라인 매장에서 발생하며, 이는 미국에서 연간 700억~800억 건의 추가 거래에 해당한다고 추정한다. 이러한 수치는 매장 내 커머스 미디어가 플루언트의 잠재적 시장 기회를 실질적으로 확대할 수 있다는 경영진의 견해를 뒷받침한다.

자사 소유 및 운영(O&O) 사업 매출은 전분기 대비 보합세를 유지했으나 전년 동기 대비로는 24% 감소했다. 경영진은 이 사업이 아직 구조적으로 안정적이라고 보지 않는다. 대신 플루언트는 이를 커머스 미디어를 위한 수익성 있는 테스트 환경으로 운영하며, 크리에이티브 접근법을 빠르게 테스트하고 AI 모델을 개선하며 퍼스트 파티 데이터 자산을 활용하고 있다.

경영진 가이던스

경영진은 2026년 전체 연간 합산 계속사업 기준 연결 매출이 두 자릿수 성장을 기록할 것으로 예상하고 있다. 회사는 커머스 미디어 솔루션이 높은 두 자릿수 성장률을 유지하며 연결 매출에서 차지하는 비중을 높여갈 것으로 전망한다.

플루언트는 마진이 높은 커머스 미디어 매출이 사업 비중에서 더 큰 부분을 차지함에 따라 2분기에 반영된 매출총이익률 확장세를 유지할 것으로 기대한다. 커머스 미디어 솔루션 마진은 20%대 중반 수준을 유지한 후 20%대 후반으로 향할 가능성이 있다. 경영진은 규모의 경제를 달성할 경우 30%대 초반의 마진도 가능할 수 있지만 2026년 중에는 어려울 것이라고 밝혔다.

조정 EBITDA는 남은 연기간 개선될 것으로 예상된다. 경영진은 특히 계절적 호조에 힘입어 4분기에 조정 EBITDA 흑자를 기록할 것으로 예상했지만, 3분기 가이던스는 제공하지 않았다.

회사는 2026년에 의미 있는 매장 내 매출이 발생할 것으로 예상하지 않는다. 경영진은 이 모델이 규모 있게 테스트되고 검증된 후인 2027년부터 실질적인 재무적 기여가 시작될 것으로 전망하고 있다.

리스크 및 주요 관전 포인트

• 플루언트가 상반기에 약 30만 달러의 영업활동 현금흐름을 창출하고 단기 채무를 줄였음에도 불구하고, 현금 및 현금성 자산은 연말 1,290만 달러에서 690만 달러로 감소했다.
• 유동성은 매출채권 담보 대출 시설을 통해 지속적으로 지원되고 있으며, 경영진은 잉여현금흐름과 유동성 개선에 계속 집중하고 있다.
• 자사 소유 및 운영(O&O) 사업 매출은 경쟁 시장의 변동성에 여전히 노출되어 있다. 또한 경영진은 플루언트의 2023년 미국 공정거래위원회(FTC) 합의 이후 공정하지 않은 경쟁 환경을 언급했다.
• 새로운 커머스 미디어 파트너십은 온보딩 투자 및 초기 인센티브로 인해 초기에는 마진에 압박을 가할 수 있다. 수익화 및 마진 개선은 성공적인 규모 확장에 달려 있다.
• 매장 내 소비자 경험, 측정 프레임워크 및 광고주 수익률은 여전히 테스트 단계에 있으며, 경영진은 이 이니셔티브가 2027년까지는 의미 있는 매출을 창출하지 못할 것으로 예상하고 있다.
• 소비자 지출은 쇼핑, 로열티, 게임 부문 간의 일부 전환이 있는 가운데 전반적으로 안정적인 것으로 묘사되었다. 경영진은 이러한 환경을 면밀히 모니터링하고 있다고 밝혔다.

애널리스트 Q&A 주요 내용

CVS 확장: 경영진은 CVS가 3분기에 서비스를 시작했으며 계획대로 규모를 확장하고 있다고 밝혔다. 로드맵에는 온라인 결제 후 광고와 2027년 매장 내 도입 가능성이 모두 포함되어 있다.

매출 및 EBITDA 궤적: 플루언트는 구체적인 분기별 매출 성장 가이던스 제공을 사양했으나, 계속사업의 두 자릿수 성장을 유지하거나 지속 강화할 것으로 기대하고 있다. 경영진은 4분기 조정 EBITDA 흑자를 예상하지만 3분기 흑자 전환 여부에 대해서는 확답하지 않았다.

마진 잠재력: 커머스 미디어 솔루션은 2분기에 27%의 매출총이익률을 달성했다. 경영진은 신규 파트너 및 지면 투자와 마진 확장의 균형을 맞추어 20%대 중후반 마진을 목표로 하고, 향후 규모 확대에 따라 30%대 초반까지 도달할 가능성을 기대하고 있다.

파트너 수익 구조: 경영진은 엔터프라이즈 파트너가 일반적으로 서비스 출시 초기부터 거래의 80%~90%에 대한 접근 권한을 제공한다고 밝혔다. 이후 확장은 모바일 애플리케이션, 신규 지역, 로열티 연동 및 매장 내 배치를 통해 이루어질 수 있다.

경쟁적 차별화: 플루언트는 공개된 직접 비교 사례 연구에서 공급 파트너의 매출이 약 30% 증가하고 소비자 생애 가치도 유사한 수준으로 개선된 것으로 나타났다고 밝혔다. 경영진은 이러한 성과의 배경으로 퍼스트 파티 데이터, 캠페인 이력 및 자사 소유·운영 테스트 환경을 꼽았다.

실적 발표 콘퍼런스 콜 전문

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Operator

Good afternoon and welcome. Thank you for joining us to discuss Fluent's second quarter 2026 earnings results.

With me today are Fluent's Chief Executive Officer, Don Patrick; Chief Financial Officer, Ryan Perfit; and Chief Strategy Officer, Ryan Schulke.

Our call today will begin with comments from Don Patrick and Ryan Perfit, followed by a question and answer session. I would like to remind you that this call is being webcast live and recorded. Additionally, there is a slide presentation that accompanies today's remarks, which can be accessed via the webcast and is also available on Fluent's website. A replay of the event will be also available following the call on Fluent's website. To access the webcast and slide presentation, please follow the Investor Relations page at fluentco.com.

Before we begin, I would like to advise listeners that certain information discussed by management during this conference call will contain forward-looking statements covered under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements made during this call only speak of the date hereof. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business.

These statements may be identified by words such as expects, plans, projects, could, will, estimates, and other words of similar meaning. The company undertakes no obligation to update the information provided on this call. For a discussion of the risks and uncertainties associated with Fluent's business, we encourage you to review the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

During the call, management will also present certain non-GAAP financial information relating to media margin, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted net income. Management evaluates the financial performance of the company's business on a variety of indicators, including these non-GAAP metrics. The definitions of these metrics and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure are provided in the earnings press release issued earlier today.

With that, I'm pleased to introduce Fluent CEO, Don Patrick.

Donald Patrick

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today. I'm here with Ryan Schulke, our Chief Strategy Officer and Company Co-Founder; and Ryan Perfit, our Chief Financial Officer.

Our Q2 financial results marked an important milestone in the execution of our business strategy, Fluent returned to year-over-year revenue growth. On an aggregate continuing business basis, revenue grew 25% year-over-year in the second quarter, and even on a reported basis, inclusive of the Call Solutions divestiture, total revenue grew 8%. This is not an isolated data point. As we discussed in previous earnings calls, this is part of our strategic plan that we have been aggressively investing to capture the significant opportunity in front of us in Commerce Media.

We are solidly positioned to accelerate as we become a recognized brand in the industry based on the results we provide our partners. This quarter is the proof. Revenue growth paired with improving margins, the signature of a sustainable business strategy, showing up on a consolidated level, not just within a single business line.

Looking ahead, we believe that we are well positioned to drive double-digit growth in revenue on an aggregate continuing business for full year 2026. Q2 was also a quarter where we leveraged our credentials and extended our platform into new adjacent Commerce Media markets with innovative, first-mover advantage. In June, we announced our in-store partnership with Bilt, extending Commerce Media beyond digital post-transaction moments and into physical checkout.

More than 80% of retail transactions still happen in the physical store. And this gives us a way to engage our partners' most valuable customers wherever they shop, online or in-person. I'll go deeper on this in a few minutes.

Let me take you through the quarter, starting with the financial results, and then spend time on where Fluent will continue to innovate in leading Commerce Media. Q2 2026 results were as follows, and consistent with what we advised last quarter. Revenue of $48.4 million, up 25% year-over-year on an aggregate continuing businesses, excluding the impact of the Call Solutions divestiture and other divested and runoff revenue. Year-over-year revenue was up 8% on a reported basis. Our Commerce Media Solutions business again led that growth with revenue up 90% year-over-year.

Gross profit of $14 million, up 36% year-over-year and representing 28.9% of revenue, a 650 basis point improvement from Q1 2026, driven directly by improved monetization with certain key Commerce Media Solution partners, and those partnerships becoming a larger share of our business.

Adjusted EBITDA of negative $1.8 million, a margin of negative 4%, a sequential improvement of $1.8 million from Q1 of 2026. Commerce Media continues to be the lead story of our company. It's where we will deliver shareholder value by expanding our footprint in the rapidly growing marketplace. What gives us increasing conviction isn't just the growth rate. As the momentum we're building with world-class brands,, combined with new, innovative adjacent solutions, we're beginning to build in loyalty and in-store.

The marketplace continues to expand, and we're leading in meeting our partners' current and future needs. That strategic combination, a growing roster of premier partners, plus real future product innovation beyond our core, is what positions Fluent to be a market leader in the commerce media industry.

Commerce Media Solutions revenue grew 90% year-over-year in the second quarter, our 10th consecutive quarter of high double-digit to triple-digit growth. That growth in Q2 was driven by continued momentum in online post-transaction, and as we ended the quarter with an annual revenue run rate of over $125 million.

A second strategic breakthrough with in-store lays the foundational platform for additional future growth, and it's not part of our successful Q2 financial performance. In-store represents a large market opportunity we're moving decisively to prove out in the second half of this year with material revenue impact beginning in 2027.

Let me walk you through both. Our core online post-transaction business remains the largest and most mature piece of our Commerce Media Solutions, and it continues to do the heavy lifting. This isn't a new thesis. It is validated based on the continued superior execution by our team and built on our ability to deliver superior results through our data and performance marketing industry leadership.

Our foundation is uniquely grounded in our owned and operated marketplace, which our competitors simply cannot replicate, given our decade-plus of industry experience. The first-party data, performance marketing expertise, and consumer and advertising relationships we built there are the competitive advantages we're now leveraging to deliver superior, measurable results for commerce partners. That foundation is driving our growth and has established a competitive moat.

We continue to add world-class partners to our Commerce Media network in Q2. We believe we are a reflection of the partners we do business with, and our partner pipeline has grown significantly in both size and quality. Given the seasonality of the retail partner sales cycle, we expect that pipeline to convert and accelerate in the second half, and we'll take that redefined baseline into fiscal year 2027.

As validation of our business and brand momentum, one of the largest retail pharmacy chains in the country, CVS, has chosen us to partner with Fluent, and they came online in Q3. We are excited to enrich the checkout experience for the customers with an eye towards deeper loyalty and integration over time, which will add value to an already best-in-class experience.

A meaningful trend that we're seeing in our online post-transaction business is bringing non-endemic advertising demand into traditional captive retail media networks. As those networks continue to look for new growth opportunities, they're beginning to turn to partners like Fluent for non-endemic demand. Our partners understand that their customers enjoy products and services that they don't directly sell, and our post-transaction business enables them to do so successfully on their behalf.

These captive network relationships are more bespoke compared to our traditional enterprise partnerships, but they are meaningfully expand our addressable market, and further validate Fluent's competitive position in Commerce Media. We're already delivering non-endemic demand into one of the largest retail media networks in the world, a proof point of how we expand these captive networks' addressable market. And our partner sales pipeline is expanding with other retail media networks. Importantly, working directly with captive retail media networks gives us a differentiated avenue to unlock massive new audiences for advertisers.

During the second quarter of 2026, we introduced in-store, a strategic marketplace opportunity that will lean on loyalty for success. Loyalty data is what lets us recognize the same shopper, whether they're checking in online or standing at the physical register. And this is the connective tissue between the 2 moments. That matters because we're not building 2 separate online and in-store businesses. We're building 1 commerce platform that follows the shopper wherever they transact. And that makes both sides of the marketplace more valuable to the shopper and to our retail partners.

Our first proof point here is our expansion into in-store commerce media through a partnership with Bilt Technologies, a nationwide commerce and loyalty network that offers in-store point-of-sale systems for retailers. In an estimated $140 billion commerce media industry, in-store remains the hardest segment to measure, and this partnership is built to close that gap.

The in-store offering is the first-mover position for Fluent, and we're deliberate about how we're going to build it. The partnership launches later this year with Beyond, Inc., operator of Bed Bath & Beyond, buybuy BABY, and The Container Store. We've developed a strong pipeline of potential additional partners for onboarding in early 2027.

In the second half of 2026, we are committed to testing and learning, proving at the consumer experience, the measurement, and the advertiser return on ad spend. We are not expecting any meaningful financial contribution from in-store this year. We expect that in 2027 once we've validated the model at scale.

To put this in perspective, online post-transaction is driving our results today. In-store is what we're building for tomorrow. A vast market that allows us and commerce partners to tap into 83% of transactions that do not happen online, which represents an additional 70 billion to 80 billion annual transactions in the U.S. This is a 5x unlock across commerce, and for media partners in pharmacy, grocery, and home improvement retail sectors, this could mean a 10x increase over monetizable transactions.

In short, this is a huge market opportunity and one where being first matters. Returning to year-over-year growth this quarter, layered on top of accelerating and now two-pronged commerce media business strategy, gives us more visibility than at any other point since we've completed our strategic pivot.

We remain confident in our stated financial targets for the full year. We expect continued double-digit consolidated revenue growth on aggregate continuing businesses, and to maintain the gross margin expansion reflected in Q2 as our higher-margin business becomes an increasingly dominant share of the mix. We also expect continued improvement in adjusted EBITDA as that revenue growth and margin expansion flow through the P&L.

And with that, I'll turn it over to Ryan Perfit for a deeper look at the financials.

Ryan Perfit

Thank you, Don, and thanks to everyone for joining us today. I'll now provide a deeper review of our second quarter financials with commentary on year-to-date results where relevant.

Total consolidated revenue was $48.4 million in the second quarter of 2026 compared with $44.7 million in the prior year period. Notably, total consolidated revenue increased by 8% compared to the second quarter of 2025, and revenue from our aggregate continuing businesses increased 25% when compared to the second quarter of 2025.

As Don mentioned, we view this as a key milestone that demonstrates the impact Commerce Media Solutions is having on the overall business. And accordingly, we expect to continue to drive double-digit growth in revenue from aggregate continuing businesses through the balance of the year.

Commerce Media Solutions revenue grew 90% to $30.5 million in the quarter when compared to Q2 2025 and represented 63% of total consolidated revenue compared with 36% in the prior year period. Demand is strong and we're very encouraged by the interest we're seeing from leading brands across diverse industries, including some of the largest retail chains in the United States, as we continue to strategically invest in our growth, specifically in the launch of our new in-store offering that we expect to significantly expand our addressable market.

Commerce Media Solutions is now firmly established as the main driver of total consolidated revenue across our business. With our visibility today, we expect CMS to continue to grow at high double digits and increase as a percentage of total revenue going forward. As expected, owned and operated revenue decreased 24% to $16.3 million compared to $21.4 million in the second quarter of 2025.

Media margin in the second quarter was $17.5 million, representing 36% of total consolidated revenue, compared with $11.9 million, or 26.7% of revenue, in the prior year period.

Commerce Media Solutions' media margin in the second quarter of 2026 was $10.5 million, or 34% of Commerce Media Solutions' revenue, compared with $3.2 million, or 20% of revenue, in the second quarter of 2025. Commerce Media Solutions' gross profit was $8.2 million in the second quarter of 2026, an increase of 186% compared to the second quarter of 2025 and representing 27% of revenue. This is especially encouraging given our stated expectation that CMS margins would return to the mid-20s range over the course of 2026 as we continue to scale and grow this business as a percentage of total revenue, and newer partnerships and placements move beyond early-term incentive periods.

The major driver of the increased media margin and gross margin was improved monetization and scale of certain media partners that do not operate on rev-share agreements. Total operating expense in the second quarter of 2026 totaled $17.3 million compared with $14.9 million in the second quarter of 2025. The year-over-year increase was driven largely by higher incentive-based compensation, which scales with our results and steps back if performance moderates, rather than adding to our fixed cost base.

Interest expense in the second quarter decreased 9% to $637,000, down from approximately $702,000 in Q2 2025. This decrease continues to reflect the lower average daily outstanding loan balance and lower amortization of debt costs under the new Bay View facility.

We reported a net loss of $6.2 million in the second quarter of 2026, compared with a net loss of $7.2 million in the prior year period. Adjusted net loss, a non-GAAP measure, was $4.2 million, or a loss of $0.13 per share, compared with adjusted net loss of $5.8 million, or a loss of $0.24 per share in the second quarter of 2025. We reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of approximately $1.8 million in the quarter, compared with a loss of $2.8 million in the second quarter of 2025, reflecting our ongoing commitment to improved adjusted EBITDA throughout 2026.

Shifting now to our balance sheet and cash flow. We had $6.9 million cash and cash equivalents at June 30, 2026, compared with $12.9 million at December 31, 2025. Accounts receivable was $39.4 million compared with $48.7 million at year-end 2025, contributing to total assets of $75.1 million.

We also drove operating cash flow of approximately $300,000 in the first half of 2026 and reduced short-term debt from $30.8 million at year-end to $26.8 million as of June 30, 2026. Our liquidity continues to be supported by our accounts receivable financing facility, and we remain focused on improving free cash flow and liquidity as Commerce Media Solutions scales.

Overall, we're very pleased with our results this quarter and the progress that we've made year-to-date. Commerce Media Solutions continues to grow at a high double-digit rate on a year-on-year basis, and we're validating the Fluent brand with interest from Tier 1 media partners and advertisers across diverse market verticals, and now with our in-store offering.

Our execution has been strong, and with our visibility today, we remain confident in our stated goals for 2026 to deliver double-digit consolidated revenue growth on aggregate continuing businesses and improved full-year adjusted EBITDA supported by continued growth in Commerce Media Solutions.

With that, I'll turn it back over to Don.

Donald Patrick

This was a milestone quarter for a number of reasons. Consolidated revenue growth turned positive. Commerce Media grew 90%, powered by continued strength in post-transaction and captive retail media network expansion. Margins expanded, adjusted EBITDA improved, and we planted the flag on our second major commerce media growth front, in-store, that we believe will matter a great deal in 2027 in further differentiating the Fluent brand as a market leader in our space. Our business model is accelerating, and we are encouraged by the results we are driving for our stakeholders.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Our first question comes from Maria Ripps with Canaccord.

질의응답

Maria Ripps

I just wanted to ask about your CVS partnership, which was great to see. Maybe just talk about sort of what does that mean for your commerce business? And just maybe talk about the integration that's required to bring that partner sort of on board. And then maybe more broadly, what does it mean for maybe for attracting other partnerships similar to CVS?

Donald Patrick

Maria, thanks for the question. So specifically, what does it mean to the commerce? It is going to be one of our largest partner wins, but more importantly, it brings us into a different vertical, obviously heavily into pharmacy and heavily into along with their retail pieces. So it expands our audience, which obviously plays well into our diversified advertiser strategy. So it's a great partner to bring on that diversifies our marketplace and continues to make it stronger.

The integration on the onine is no different than any of our other integrations. So our ad tech and our ad module will be placed within their post-transaction site, and it's a fairly straightforward integration in terms of how we work through it from a technical perspective. So there's nothing unusual from that.

And as far as attracting other, what that means to us in terms of, A, we're in the new vertical, which you guys know, we land that vertical, we prove out superior results in a case study, and then go deeper. So we certainly expect that to continue to allow us to get deeper into that vertical. And at the same time, we believe that getting them will also attract other big-name retail partners that we're working with.

Operator

Our next question comes from Eric Martinuzzi with Lake Street Capital Markets.

Eric Martinuzzi

Hey, congratulations on that return to positive consolidated revenue growth. That's got to feel good. Given the success of the first half of the year on the aggregate consolidated business, you're already at 10% growth there for the first half of the year. So I guess you don't want to over-promise and under-deliver, but that growth rate in the back half of the year, I assume we're talking about an acceleration. Is there a number that we should be thinking about for the growth rate in Q3, Q4? Anything you can talk to us about beyond just 10%?

Ryan Perfit

Eric, this is Ryan Perfit. We're not giving specific guidance on the growth rate. Your point is well taken in terms of us being at double-digit growth already, but yes, that is something we expect to continue to maintain and even grow upon.

Eric Martinuzzi

Okay. And then the adjusted EBITDA, we are -- we can almost reach out and touch breakeven here. I'm modeling for Q4 to be positive. Is there a chance you could do that in Q3?

Ryan Perfit

We do expect to have a positive Q4. Q3, we're not giving specific guidance on Q3, but we expect continued improvement from where we are now throughout the year, and then Q4 has the seasonality that will bring us positive.

Eric Martinuzzi

Okay. All right. And then the CVS, just congratulations on that tremendous partnership. You've signed them up for the post-transaction. Is there an opportunity for in-store with CVS?

Donald Patrick

Yes, it's a great question, Eric. This is Don Patrick. Yes, the clear roadmap for CVS was both online post-transaction and then getting into in-store in 2027.

Eric Martinuzzi

Okay. So, is that something -- go ahead.

Donald Patrick

Sorry, go ahead. Okay, sorry.

Eric Martinuzzi

Yes, I was just going to say a lot of times the customer can be the barrier to the ramp, so to speak. In other words, you all are ready, willing, and able. They just need to dedicate the people to implement as they -- kind of what's the body language on their post-transaction ramp? Are they looking for this to be a big contributor in seasonally stronger Q4 business from what you can tell?

Donald Patrick

Contributor in terms of for 2026, absolutely, yes. So we went live in Q3, we went live last week with them, so we are scaling and it's going as planned as far as the integration piece, so...

Eric Martinuzzi

Okay. And then lastly, on the gross margin, Ryan. Understanding that the gross margin was, I think we were at 29% for Q2. Is there something that would, I know you talked about kind of mid-20s, I think, is in the press release. Is there -- is it the onboarding of partners that's kind of holding that back from expanding? I'm just wondering why we wouldn't be able to push that higher as we're ramping these -- the businesses that we signed up in '25?

Ryan Perfit

Yes, that's a great question. In terms of the margin, we were at 27% margin on Commerce Media Solutions. That was the return to the mid-20s that we had promised earlier in the year. That was ultimately driven by some strong partnerships, better monetization on a couple of key partnerships, and scale of those partnerships.

We've also talked historically about the early-term incentives rolling off for some of these larger partners, and we expect that to continue to happen. That said we will continue to invest into opportunities just like this one that took up the margin from Q1 to Q2, where we spent a couple quarters trying to get it right and figuring out the monetization and then eventually we got there and it's a huge opportunity for us. So there will be cases like that. I think ultimately, you know, we do expect to maintain in the mid-20s and then hope to grow it from kind of mid-20s to upper-20s and hopefully at some point, you know, not in 2026, but eventually, at scale we would expect to be in the 30 -- low-30s.

Eric Martinuzzi

Got you. Well, congrats again on the breakout quarter.

Operator

Our next question comes from Bill Dezellem with Tieton Capital Management.

William Dezellem

I have a group of questions. Allow me to start with the in-store, if you would, please, since you spent so much time on this. Would you walk us through operationally how this works for the retailer? Or maybe another way to ask the question is what training is required for the associate that's standing at the register for the Commerce Media Solution to be executed?

Donald Patrick

Bill, thanks for the question. So we're not surprising being very deliberate about not getting too far ahead of this for competitive reasons, so we're not going to go into great detail around this, but you're absolutely right. If you're online checking out, you're either in front of your laptop or on your app and your credit card's out and you're spending. It's a very different experience than if you're checking out of a store.

If you've been -- a lot of the new stores, as you know, a lot of stores have built out either self-checkout kiosks that are bigger screens, or they'll have bigger screens in the checkout area. And that is sort of allowing us to have a different user experience as someone's checking out that physical store.

So the exact consumer experience is not exactly defined, and it will be different by the different audiences, but we expect it to be both in-store instantaneously when you're checking out and also some follow-up afterwards with -- from a CRM perspective in terms of how we continue to engage those physical store consumers.

The thing that we did mention is the loyalty play here, Bill. If you are in-store and you're a loyalty member and you're checking out, the information that we will have both from our self-proprietary database and our partner's database will be significant on who you are, what's relevant to you, and how do we make that a meaningful experience? If you're not known, then it's going to be a different, it'll be a different consumer journey and a different path for you.

So you've been with us for a long time, Bill. You know Fluent very well. We're very good at building meaningful consumer experiences and making them valuable to them. And that's what we've been doing for 16 years in our core business, and that's why we're so successful on the commerce side, and that's what we're going to bring to this testing and learning phase that we have with Bilt in Q3 and Q4 this year.

So we will be rolling out slowly with these stores. We will be testing it, we'll be integrating it, and then we'll be -- we plan on being ready to scale in 2027. And there's a number of new partners -- new specific in-store partners that will be coming on in 2027 already.

William Dezellem

So you have those new in-store partners essentially signed up, and they're in the dugout ready to roll, when we're ready?

Donald Patrick

Yes. That's right.

William Dezellem

Okay, great. And then you had mentioned your owned and operated business both here in response to my question and in your opening remarks, the advantage that, that is giving you. Would you please quantify how much more conversion or margin that you provide your customers than competitors do?

Donald Patrick

Yes, great question, Bill. So we have on our website a case study that's head-to-head against our biggest competitor in the market. And we will drive close to 30% more revenue to our partners, our supply partners, and we will also, equally important, drive close to the same amount, close to 30% improvement on the lifetime value of that consumer. So not only are we signing up driving more revenue for our partners, but we're also equally important driving better and more valuable consumers to our advertisers, which obviously makes that marketplace spin.

We directly, when we look at our ability to drive those results, come from our core first-party data asset, which has been built over 16 years, and all the campaign data that we have with our advertisers that we understand deeply about their audiences and how we build it, and those are the assets that come from that owned and operated piece.

William Dezellem

That's helpful. So the example or case study on the website, that is not an anomaly. That is a norm that you experienced across your customers, irrespective of the type of business that they run?

Donald Patrick

That's right, yes.

William Dezellem

And then I believe you said that Ryan Schulke was on the line. And Ryan, it's been so long since you've been on these calls, I'm feeling like I want to bring you on to this. So what is your focus today? And how does that play into the initiatives that Don and Ryan have been talking about here?

Donald Patrick

Your timing is perfect, Bill, because he was coming -- he's coming into the office, has been delayed, so he's not in the office with us yet. But it's a great question that I'll answer and then you can ask him directly, make sure we answer it the right way.

Listen, Ryan is the Chief Strategy Officer, right? He is one of the unique assets that can look at how does a consumer connect to a brand that connects to a return on ad spend. And he has been the ability to build that processes and build that database and build that strategy in terms of how we execute across any of businesses, whether it was owned and operated, whether it's in Commerce Media, whether it's in our other 2 businesses around audience solutions in Trevant. So that's sort of where he plays across the group.

I think we had talked to you about in a previous earnings call Bill, that we are now going to our advertisers and we're selling across the entire Fluent portfolio. So if you're an advertiser and we'll match you up on Commerce Media, we'll also put you into the owned and operated audiences, we'll put you into some other solutions that we have.

So we can now go to our advertisers with a much broader value proposition and much broader solution. So he's been driving that significantly along with Matt Conlin, who as you know, is another Co-Founder who's been with us since 16 years, where -- who's been really leading on that outside with our partners and our brands. So Ryan's very, very active in all the monetization in the audience and strategy and how we monetize best for that consumer and at the same time for that advertiser.

William Dezellem

Great, that's helpful. And I know I've asked a number of questions, so cut me off if you'd prefer I went back in queue.

But following up on what you just said relative to the owned and operated, the revenues there were flat sequentially. I don't remember the last time that, that happened and what the year-over-year decline was cut in half. Would you discuss that? And talk about what that's indicating and if that somehow ties into what you just shared about this broadening advertiser base?

Ryan Perfit

Yes, this is Ryan Perfit, I'll handle that. It was flat sequentially. We had a number of quarters last year that were flat sequentially. So Q2, Q3, and Q4 were sequentially flat, and then we saw a fall off again in Q1. This business has its kind of ebbs and flows and is very much dependent on the competitive marketplace.

We look to strengthen margins there through using kind of our programmatic business to help bolster the data set and use the data set to help bolster the margins there. So margins were up as well. But I think over the long term here, we still don't have enough foresight to believe this is a stable business that can maintain for more than, again, it could be stable quarter-over-quarter.

And we always shoot for that, but over the long haul, I think that we don't have enough view into the future to believe that it is ultimately a stable business yet.

Donald Patrick

Bill, the structural reality of the owned and operated, as you know, got an uneven playing field with our FTC settlement back in '23. So it continues to fight an uneven playing field against competitors that, as Ryan said, sort of ebbs and flows in terms of their adherence to compliance.

The one thing I want to make very clear is that we're not managing through headwinds. We have pivoted this business to support our Commerce Media and enhance our Commerce Media. And as Ryan said, there's 2 specific mandates. Number 1, continue to be profitable, which they have been throughout, for the last 3 years. And number 2 is to really be a test and learn environment for our Commerce Media.

So I gave the example before in previous earnings that if we go to one of our commerce partners and we want to test something, we have to do an A/B test, we have to run through the test, it might take a while to get up and running, and they see the results and then we can plow through.

In our owned and operated, if we want to do a test, we can do a test within -- literally within hours and have the results within a day or 2 days, and we can see how that can be used to both feed our AI models, but equally important, feed our creative approaches to driving superior results. So it is a strategic weapon and not a financial weapon for us right now.

William Dezellem

That's helpful and that is part of what drives that 30% better return for your customers that you were referring to earlier, correct? I'm linking that in the right way?

Donald Patrick

Yes, that is correct.

William Dezellem

Okay, great. And then one additional question, please. How much of the, call it $15 million of incremental revenue with the Commerce Media business from a year ago was from customers that were with you prior to March 31 of '25? Or said another way, the opposite would be, what percentage or proportion of that $15 million is from new customers that came online since -- in the last 12 months?

Ryan Perfit

Bill, it's a great question. We, without the specific stats in front of us and something that we don't really disclose, I can tell you directionally is that we continue to bring on new customers and they do add to that run rate on a quarterly basis.

The largest growth we see from bringing on new partners is usually in Q3, where we have the majority of our closes for the year where we bring on the most amount of new partners. So for example, CVS will be part of that increase in Q3. We do see expansion from existing partners, and a lot of the expansion in the last quarter was from existing partners. So it can be a mix of both, but the seasonality usually determines that. So, Q3 we get a bit of both and then the other quarters it may be more expansion than it is new partners coming on.

William Dezellem

Ryan, that's helpful. And part of the spirit of the question that I was trying to understand is once a partner has signed on, is there meaningful growth after that initial step up? Or essentially are you capturing their transactions in that initial step up and then from there it's really how much growth that they see within their online sales? Again, keeping this that in-store being separate for the future, but what was the right way to think about that?

Donald Patrick

Yes, so I'll answer a couple of ways, Bill. First, as you know, we've been 100% focused on enterprise partners, right? These are strong brands that we partner with Fluent to integrate our technology to build up a Commerce Media business.

In that market segment, in which we are focused on, for the most part, we get 80% to 90% of their transactions day 1. The type of growth that we have traditionally seen is if they're on the web and we get their mobile app live, or they are in the U.S. and they want us to expand into Canada, things like that. So there is expansion being within that, but if you're like Bath & Body Works, and you do X number of transactions last year, it's going to be within close range of what you did the year before.

So from that market segment, the type of growth we're going to start seeing from them are the new solutions that we've talked about. How do we get in-store? How do we tie in the loyalty to the in-store? And that's where we think we'll start to see more inherent growth from the existing base.

The one thing we did talk about in the earnings call today that no ones asked about is what we called the captive retail media network. So -- and if you go back, the Commerce Media business was really founded on the basis of these captive retail media networks like Amazon, Walmart, Kroger, Target, et cetera. We call these the walled gardens. These are companies that great retailers that built out their own technology, their own data science, their own ad serving and advertising relationships. And if you want to work with them -- you have to -- if you're an advertiser, you have to go directly to those platforms to buy and integrate with them.

And as I said, we've not been focused on that segment. We've been 100% focused on the enterprise, and that's where all our growth has historically come from. But these walled gardens have been all focused on what I'll call endemic demand. So an endemic demand would be if you're on a grocer's checkout page and they serve you an ad for paper towels, right, that's something they already sell at the grocery store.

Non-endemic is where Fluent has participated and where we've been in for 16 years. That's where the same grocer checkout, we might serve an ad for insurance, we might serve an ad for subscription services, et cetera. What we're seeing as a meaningful trend here is that those captive retail media networks are now, they're still growing, but they're growing at a smaller percentage and they're starting to look at non-endemic and start to -- as a growth avenue for them.

So we are working with one of the largest retailers in the world on non-endemic into their platform in a post-transaction environment. And that's the type of thing where, it obviously has huge scale in terms of supply, and that's where you'll start to see some of the growth where we penetrate a smaller percentage of traffic. We'll start to build that and start to continue to grow as we deliver superior results.

So that's probably the bigger growth as part of -- what I'll call land and expand. We are working with one very successfully. We have a number of them also in the pipeline. And as you know, meaningfully, it addresses -- it increases our addressable market size, which obviously we thought was big to begin with, but cracking into these retail media networks is big.

And the second thing is it's a validation of the results we can drive. So when we work with them, we're putting up a multiple performance lift than what they've been doing themselves, which again plays to those unique assets that Fluent has built up over time that drive superior results. So a long-winded answer, Bill. I think we're starting to look at our commerce media partners in clear industry -- not industry but industry segments around Commerce Media and how we continue to grow that. And the addressable markets for Fluent has continued to get large.

William Dezellem

Congratulations and thank you on that extra perspective and helping us understand how all these pieces of the puzzle that actually might look disparate are really interconnected. That's quite helpful.

Donald Patrick

Thank you, Bill.

Operator

Our next question comes from Frank DiLorenzo with Singular Research.

Frank DiLorenzo

Nice pivot. Could you just give us a broad comment on what you're seeing on the consumer spending side of things from your partners and just generally?

Donald Patrick

Frank, thanks for the question. We have not seen anything meaningful on the consumer spending side, it has been pretty consistent. We have seen a little bit in terms of certain vertical rotations, in terms of across, I'll say, shopping and loyalty and gaming. But for the most part, we've seen fairly stability around the consumer and their ability to spend.

Frank DiLorenzo

Okay. Also on...

Donald Patrick

Obviously, yes, given the environment, Frank, obviously we're watching it very closely, right?

Frank DiLorenzo

But do you think it's stable for the balance of the year as far as visibility? And maybe related to that also budgeting on the client side, partnership side, do you have a little more visibility, do you think it will at least remain stable from what you can see for the balance of the year?

Donald Patrick

Yes, we do, absolutely.

Frank DiLorenzo

Okay. And just one other quick follow-on regarding partnerships. It seems like that's your focus now more than M&A. And on the partnership side, can you speak to maybe some things you're looking for, minimum hurdles, benchmarks, in order to enter into any new partnerships? And kind of how you view the overall partnership landscape? Are there several good partnership targets? Or is it more selective?

Donald Patrick

Yes, Frank, when you talk partner, you're talking about sort of supply partner like a CVS. Is that where your question is?

Frank DiLorenzo

Yes. Yes.

Donald Patrick

Yes, so good question. As we talked about before, we obviously are very vertical focused in our sales, and it's the enterprise sales cycle. Retail is where we obviously started, and we believe we have a great vertical which we've grown and we're delivering results. We've gotten into ticketing, we're into grocery, we're now into retail pharmacy, and we will continue to roll out those verticals which expands our marketplace but also diversifies the audience that we have for our advertisers. So there's nothing that we're outside of that says, we have to get into this and we have to land it specifically. But there are obviously continued expansion into the verticals that we've talked about.

Frank DiLorenzo

Okay. Just one other quick question. Regarding margins and your opportunities, is there enough room as far as investment back into the business based on opportunities you may have this year into next year where you can do that without hindering what your margin goals may be over the next few years?

Donald Patrick

Yes, the short answer is, yes. Ryan gave guidance that we're -- if you're talking about gross profit or you're talking operating margins, our gross profit obviously is in the mid to high-20s, which we will manage between the various pieces of investment to bringing new clients on to growing those.

And then I think on the operating side, we've made a heavy investment early on in '23 and '24 and '25 on our technology and our platform, our data science. We will continue to invest in those, but the -- our ability -- the operating leverage that we now have in the business is much more significant than it has been. So there's going to be more flow through as we bring that revenue through than it has been in prior years. So we think there's plenty of flexibility in terms of our ability to reinvest back into the business.

Operator

That concludes today's question and answer session. I'd like to turn the call back to Don Patrick for closing remarks.

Donald Patrick

Thank you all for joining us today. Q2 was an important milestone with Fluent returning to year-over-year revenue growth from an aggregate continuing businesses, and we have entered Q3 with Commerce Media at 63% of our total revenue and growing, and with the strongest part of the year still ahead. In Q3, we'll have more to say than just the numbers alone. We look forward to demonstrating that for you and look forward to updating you all at the end of the quarter. Thank you so much.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.