Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Sabio Holdings earnings call for the fourth quarter and full year of 2022. The financial statements and MD&A have been filed. They can be accessed through the SEDAR website. My name is Aideen McDermott, Investor Relations Associate at Sabio, and joining us on our call today we have Aziz Rahimtoola, Founder and CEO, and Sajid Premji, Chief Financial Officer. We will start today's call with Aziz and Sajid discussing the financial results. We will follow that up with a Q&A session. Before we begin today's call, I would like to remind everybody that certain statements made today may contain forward-looking information that is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors. Excuse me.
For a complete description of risks and uncertainties facing the company, please refer to the company's MD&A and other continuous disclosure filings that are also available excuse me, on the SEDAR website. Please also note that all figures discussed today are in the US dollars unless stated otherwise. With that, I will hand it over to Aziz.
Thank you, Aideen. Such a great quarter. You're getting pretty choked up there I could see. Welcome, everyone. Good morning. Great to have you. I wanna start off with talking about the amazing quarter and year we had. Our ability to execute and deliver in a difficult environment is proven. It stretches back to the onset of COVID in 2020, 2022 was no different for us. We grew full-year top-line revenue by 75%, driven primarily by 144% growth in CTV/OTT revenue, along with 22% increase in non-mobile video. We held gross margins flat despite inflationary pressures and scaling our business, all while delivering the third straight year of positive EBITDA, despite having the added cost of being a public company.
The net effect being an increased cash position. We delivered a record year by taking market share across the board, and more specifically in the CTV/OTT space, as I mentioned earlier. The CTV/OTT industry grew between 25% and 30%, while we grew by 144% in that category. Drivers of our strength growth in CTV/OTT included having one of the most complete end-to-end tech stacks in the space, which combines supply path optimized inventory with differentiated targeting analytics. I'm now gonna hand it over to Sajid Premji, our CFO, to dig deeper into the numbers. Sajid?
Thanks, Aziz. Our 2022 annual results are demonstrative of the structural consistencies in our business. In 2021, we grew our top-line sales by 84%, while in 2022, our top line grew a further 75% for a compound annual growth rate of 79%. Moreover, we have now held 60% margins for three consecutive years while generating positive EBITDA for three consecutive years. Digging into our sales metrics, the consistency in our business becomes more evident. Approximately 72% of consolidated sales came from repeat customers in 2022 versus approximately 55% in 2021. While 75% of our top CTV/OTT customers from 2021 came back for recurring business in 2022.
In simpler terms, Sabio continues to attract and retain customers at higher rates, particularly within our high-growth CTV/OTT business, bringing more stability to our sales model in increasing our cost efficiencies. Meanwhile, our average deal size grew 43% as we continue to leverage our end-to-end technology stack to upsell our legacy mobile display customers with new CTV/OTT and App Science offerings. Furthermore, our sales teams continue to become more efficient, with sales per seller increasing 40% in 2022 versus the prior year. Turning our attention to our most recent results, the fourth quarter was the strongest financial quarter in Sabio's history, which was also our sixth consecutive quarter of record sales. For the three months ending December 31st, 2022, we generated $17.6 million in sales, up 66% from the prior year.
This was our seventh consecutive quarter of over 50% growth. Our Connected TV and OTT sales grew 144% to $12.7 million, compared to $5.2 million in the prior year's quarter, as we continue to outpace the competitive growth rates of our peers and the CTV/OTT industry at large and take market share. For the second quarter in a row, Connected TV and OTT streaming was our dominant sales category, rising to a record 72% of our overall sales mix versus 49% in the prior year. This growth was substantially organic, with the Vidillion acquisition contributing less than 4% of our quarter four CTV/OTT sales growth.
Mobile sales, meanwhile, declined 10% to $4.8 million from $5.3 million, as we were able to entice more mobile campaigns to shift from mobile display to higher-margin mobile video, which is recognized under our CTV and OTT streaming category, consistent with the prior year. It is worth noting that for the full fiscal year, we have now recognized more CTV and OTT streaming sales alone than we did across all sales categories in 2021. Taken in totality, we produced 66% revenue growth, underpinned by our 144% sales growth in CTV/ OTT streaming. We held consistent 59% gross margins in the fourth quarter, while our closest peer group experienced substantial declines.
We protected this margin through our use of resilient supply, our App Science service offerings, and our ability to shift legacy mobile display customers to higher margin mobile video. In our fourth quarter, operating margin remained consistent despite the heavy sales investments we concluded in the first half of the year and the added cost of running a public company. All of this culminated in the company record $2.4 million of Adjusted EBITDA, up 41% from $1.7 million in the prior year's fourth quarter. We ended 2022 with $4 million in cash on our balance sheet, the highest quarter end cash position in the history of our company and over $3 million still available under our line of credit with Avidbank.
At year-end, we had 46.4 million shares outstanding, 4.2 million warrants outstanding, and 3.8 million options and RSUs outstanding, with insiders continuing to own 64% of the company. Back to Aziz to discuss our 2023 outlook.
Thanks, Sajid. Great job. As we look at the year ahead, like many of our peers in the space, we did see delays in spending from existing nameplates in January and early part of February, which we suspected was attributed to labor shortages, more than anything else. During that same time, we did see many new plates testing us, which is always a great sign. In addition, our existing nameplates started returning end of Feb and into March and continuing their increases into Q2. On a category basis, we are seeing auto, CPG, retail, and QSR spending in addition to travel, all showing positive signs with consumers continuing staying healthy in the U.S. economy. The area we are the most excited about is the political advocacy space.
Going into the election cycle of 2024, we should see a big bump later this year and going into next, and we are well positioned in that area. Our plan calls for growing our revenue above industry revenue growth, which is what we've done for the last three years, continued taking market share gains, specifically in the CTV/ OTT space, drive cost efficiencies while maintaining positive Adjusted EBITDA in 2023. That would deliver us the fourth straight year of positive EBITDA, and we believe we have a pathway to get there while maintaining growth. Having said that, I'm gonna hand it back over to Aideen.
Thanks, Aziz and Sajid. We are now going to move over to questions. The analysts have been given speaker permission, so please raise your virtual hand, and if anybody else has a question, you can post it in the chat. Thank you. First question is Daniel from Paradigm. Daniel, you can go ahead.
Good morning, Aziz and Sajid. Congrats on a strong quarter and when we see a lot of competitors not putting up the same kind of numbers or anywhere near that. My first question was on the sales productivity. Great to see 40% improvement there. I was just wondering if you could elaborate on the factors that are driving that?
Daniel, thanks. Great question. Thank you for joining us on the call this morning. Sales productivity is a function of time spent at Sabio. What we have, what we know for a fact is it takes roughly about six months time to ramp up for new sellers. That takes them about six months, and I think it's six months and a few days to get to their first deal. From that point, the second deal is reduced in terms of timeline. In terms of timeline it takes for the second deal. The second deal, and Sajid, you might have this information in front of you. The second deal, I believe, is down to two months. Let me just double check.
Yeah. That's correct. It's less than two months for the second deal, and the velocity increases quite rapidly there afterwards. I think that, you know, to that point, Daniel, that gives us a lot of hope for 2023 and beyond because we ended 2022 where 25% of our sales force was there for under nine months. We really expect them to start hitting the ground with meaningful revenue in 2023 and expanding rapidly thereafter into 2024.
Yeah. That's contributing to your efficiency. Also, what is helping us is, once again, this ability to have a fully end-to-end stack. We are not providing one solution to clients. We're providing multiple solutions, and that is also driving our renewal rate, as Sajid talked about, above 70%, for last year. Both of these factors are contributing to that component.
Thanks for that color. I guess what follows, I'm curious around the hiring strategy. How do you see the capacity of your current sales force? You know, where do you wanna take that as you look at the opportunities ahead?
Yeah, you know, we feel pretty good about the hiring we've done. We've added not a whole lot of people this year. We've added a couple more this year in terms of the sales apparatus. For the most part, as we talked about in Q3 of Q2 and Q3 of last year, that most of our hiring was done in the first part of last year. Then we started throttling down our operating expenses for the second half of the year. That's really where we're at. We feel like we have all majority of the pieces in place. We feel very good about where we're at overall, and we don't feel the need to really do a whole lot of hiring to achieve our objectives for this year.
Okay. Just switching gears, I was curious around the cost efficiencies as you think about next year. Is it really the productivity that's gonna keep you know, Adjusted EBITDA positive as you realize this growth? What are the other levers that you might have to keep costs steady or moderately growing versus the revenue growth?
Sajid, I'm gonna hand it to you as the Chief Cost Containment Officer.
Yeah. It's a good question, Daniel. I think that, you know, there are definitely gonna be some gains in sales efficiencies, you know, based on what Aziz outlined before. You know, we also, if you may recall, in 2022, we acquired a Vidillion business, and that took some initial investment to get that integrated. We expect to see those costs moderate into 2023 and beyond. Looking at EBITDA in general and cost containment, we are, I mean, we're gonna be thoughtful and prudent in managing our expenses 'cause there is a lot of variability in the marketplace.
We have dialed down, as Aziz has pointed out, our non-sales hiring and non-essential T&E as well is another area that we have dialed down to a more moderate level. We will continue to dial down or dial up investments depending on market conditions and market opportunities. If we see a big market opportunity that we need to go after with additional investments, we are gonna make those investments, but we are also gonna be mindful of the bottom line and profitability.
Appreciate that. Thanks for taking my questions and congrats again.
Thank you, Daniel.
Thanks, Daniel. Our next question is from Neehal at iA Capital Markets. Neehal, go ahead.
Hey, guys. Seriously, congrats on an excellent quarter. Very impressive to see. A couple of questions on my end. Firstly, the average deal size continued to increase, which is great to see. Can you talk about the specific reasons for the increase? Was it due to the increased scope in which customers wanting to utilize App Science? Or any color around that would be very useful. Thanks.
Hey, Neehal. Thank you for joining us, Neehal. Thank you for the question. What is really driving the increase in deal size is two components. First of which is what tends to happen is clients will test us at a smaller sum initially coming out with. They'll test us, you know, we talked about it takes us six months, usually a new seller to come on board. I mean, by the time they come on board, it's launched their first deal. What will happen is a client will test us at a lower sum. They'll see the benefits of not only the cost efficiencies we bring, by having an optimized supply path, by having unique analytics insights, and have differentiated inventory, but they also understand the metrics we're delivering independently and what they're seeing is effective.
That then leads to an increased deal size overall. On the second subsequent deals, the deals then go up, that's when we start getting the larger commitment. Really it's a combination of a lot of things. It's clients testing us. We have an incredible track record in executing across various campaigns and categories, we do that. We provide deeper insights with App Science, deeper understanding of for the brands and agencies, they come back with even bigger deals. It's just a matter of time and function on that.
You know, certainly as they see the value of using all of our components together, we then, get the opportunity to upsell App Science opportunities products and then, unique inventory on Vidillion.
Perfect. Thanks, Aziz. That helps. Maybe, to follow up on the App Science theme, can you talk about some of the product developments that have been made over the quarter, in terms of that offering and then maybe what the product roadmap looks like for the next couple of quarters?
Yeah. We continue seeing a lot of opportunities specifically in helping brands and agencies understand the streaming space, from a lens of diverse audiences. In the U.S., diverse audiences account for more than 51% of the U.S. population. That's in general. For young adults under the age of 25, that number goes up to 60%. What App Science has been is a conduit to help really bridge the gap. App Science is unique in the sense that we are not dependent on panels to get data. We're not, you know, and I've said this numerous times, I have never been part of a panel and, you know, been represented effectively in a panel. What App Science allows us to do is to provide these brands and agencies a deeper understanding.
Where the product is today is it's allowing brands and agencies to understand the opportunity that the streaming space enables, specifically, in general market and of course in multicultural. Where we believe App Science can go is to be really this truth serum for understanding actual consumer behavior as it relates to complete conversion events. To understand, you know, beyond just the media scope of it and understanding what's happening in media, is to use App Science and the rich data components we have to help clients understand the consumers even better. Like I said, it goes back to the core element of diverse audiences. Diversity continues to grow in the U.S. population, and there is a real lack of understanding different audiences, and we believe we can be, you know, a, a conduit to that in the coming years.
Perfect. Thank you. Then maybe a last one. It's more in terms of acquisition. What type of product gaps are you looking to fill? Then there are plenty of organic growth levers to pull within Sabio itself. Can you talk about what it would take in terms of a target for you to say, "Okay, this is maybe too good to pass up"?
Sajid, I'm gonna hand it over to you because I know.
Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Neehal, for the question. I think that, you know, on the acquisition front, you know, we see a lot of growth in the App Science business and particularly to expand its reach there. I think that if something compelling did come back in that space that was complementary to our current offerings, you know, that would definitely be appealing, something that we can bolt on to enhance its capabilities. At the same time, you know, we have some standards. We're not gonna be looking for a cash burning target. We're happy being a profitable EBITDA company and having free cash flow. I think that's gonna, you know, be part of our criteria when looking at certain M&A targets.
Perfect. Thanks, guys. I'll pass the line.
All right. Thank you.
Thanks, Neehal. Next up we have Kiran from Eight Capital. Go ahead, Kiran.
Good morning, guys. Congratulations, on the really strong print. To start off here, I'm curious, I see some of the mobile business strength ended up in CTV. I'm just curious if you can talk about the targeted mix between the two segments. Like how do you suggest we model this trend?
Yeah. Oh, go ahead. Sajid, do you wanna take that?
Yeah. I think that, you know, it's important to note that you have that the money is not leaving Sabio Holdings. The money is being shifted. You know, our focus has been CTV and OTT, and we've structured our commission plans, our pricing and pitches to encourage customers to switch from mobile display to mobile video. It's not only a more effective way of reaching the end user, it's quite frankly a higher margin business. While our peers suffered some margin compression in quarter four, we did not. You know, Vidillion was a reason, App Science was a reason, and that shift was also a reason. I think that as we move forward, we would probably expect more of that shift to continue, that mobile display to continue to impress, the mobile video to continue to enhance.
Do you have anything to add to that, Aziz?
Yeah. You know, as Sajid mentioned, the idea is as you're thinking about modeling, really where we're playing a big role and becoming a bigger player is video. The mobile display aspect of the business is, continues to... You know, it will not play as big of a role. I mean, it certainly played a big role for the year, but in Q4, obviously, there were decreases there as we continue to shift people into streaming video. It's gonna continue. Streaming video will continue to be the centerpiece of our focus and our strategy.
That's helpful. Thanks. Next year, I've seen you made some investments in hiring in the political advocacy space. How is this year different? Like, how do you expect to see, especially with the Senate race coming up, are there other levers that you expect could really push this growth on that vertical?
Yeah. You know, there is always. We're still in the early. We have made investments in political, but you know, small investments relative to our competitors. California specifically, and of course nationally, but California specifically has always, you know, there's always races and political changes going on, and Senate race that you alluded to is one. We just think that there's a lot of opportunity that we're understanding the advocacy space a lot better than we did even just a year ago. Because of that, we believe political and advocacy is going to be continued. The difference is, one of the things that I wanna make clear is political comes in every couple years. Advocacy continues to stay consistent throughout.
We, you know, we're making some investments there and, you know, we do believe there's gonna be a lot of upside towards the end of this year and continue next. Did I answer your question?
Yep. That's helpful. Thanks, guys. I'll leave it there.
Awesome.
Thanks, Kiran. We did have Gabriel from Beacon on the line, but he dropped due to technical difficulties, and he has sent on his question. I'll just, I'll put these to you guys, and you can answer them. The first question from Gabe is: Have any of our top five customers discussed reducing overall advertising spend in first half of 2023, especially due to the macroeconomic environment?
To answer that first question is, we have not heard of any cutbacks because of the macro environment. What we have heard, and, you know, from most of our and all of our customers is the fact that spending is delayed, and it's not even delayed connected economy, it's just spending is delayed because of they're short on capacity. They don't have enough people in the mix, and I think that really is what's causing the delays. We have yet to hear from advertisers telling us that they're looking to do cutbacks this year. In fact, we have had a number of new nameplates, pretty large Fortune 100 company nameplates, start testing us in Q1. That's always a great sign.
In the past, when we've dealt with recessionary issues, we never. You don't usually see brands testing in those kind of environments. The fact that they're testing in Q1, really gave us, you know, the thinking that it's all just simply delayed, not cut back.
Okay, great. Thanks, Aziz. He also is looking for an update around Vidillion, specifically around the company's progress in signing exclusive publisher content and cross-selling into Sabio's existing base of advertisers.
Yeah. Now Vidillion, because thanks to Vidillion, we have 75% of the inventory we use is directly integrated with the actual inventory source, and that number is gonna continue growing. Vidillion has played a critical role in a couple of ways. First of which is allowing us to maintain our margins, because of the fact that we are, you know, indirectly integrated with supply sources. It has allowed us to get a new set of valuable data flowing through to us. It has also provided us an opportunity to play in the programmatic space and continue to grow that business, because Vidillion is a supply source for pro-programmatic partners. Really it's given us three different looks at advertisers from different, you know, different places.
Whether it's direct supply for us, whether it's programmatic, through other partners that we send it out to. That integration has gone well, and we believe there's still a lot of upside from Vidillion as well.
Okay, great. Thanks, Aziz. Last question from Gabriel. He was wondering about the key growth milestones that he should track as it relates to Sabio's U.K. and European operations over the next 12- 24 months.
Sajid, do you wanna talk about that?
Yeah, thanks. Thanks for that question, Gabe. The U.K. operations are in the early stages, we are looking at it as an opportunity to learn and understand how to compete in European markets. Our focus has and has been and will continue to be the U.S. Canada will be a bigger emphasis as far as our expansion for back office support for U.S. campaigns with potential revenue down the line. The U.S. will be our predominant focus in 2023. Having said that, we do expect to see some political advocacy spending from the U.K. in 2024.
Okay, great. Thanks, Sajid, thanks, Aziz. I believe that concludes our questions for today. I will hand it back to Aziz for his closing remarks.
Thank you, Aideen. Thank you, Aideen. As we talked about today, we had another incredible year, and an incredible quarter. You know, I wanted to really take a few minutes to thank the team we have, the Sabio Holdings group across all three of our organizations. We are executing at the highest level we have, and we are just getting started. Really excited about what 2023 and 2024 have in store. Thanks all of you for joining us on the ride. That's it. Thank you, everyone.
Goodbye.