Cinedigm Corp

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Today, we are hosting a conference call to discuss Synodyne's fiscal 2023 third quarter results. My name is Bethany, and I will be your conference operator. Currently, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will have a question and answer session at the end of the call, at which time participants can press star followed by the number one and identify themselves before to ask a question. If anyone needs operator help, Press star zero. Please note that this call is being recorded. Your host for today is Gary Lofredo, COO and General Counsel. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Synodyne's Fiscal 2023 Third Quarter Results Conference Call. Before we begin, I would like to point out that certain statements made on today's call contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. The company's periodic reports that are filed with the SEC describe potential risks and uncertainties that can cause the company's business and financial results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. All of the information discussed on this call is, as of today, February 14th, and Synonym undertakes no duty to update it. In addition, certain financial information presented in this call represent non-GAAP financial measures, and we encourage you to read our disclosures and the reconciliation tables to applicable GAAP measures in our earnings release carefully as you consider these metrics. I'm Gary LaFretto, Chief Operating Officer in General Counsel of Synodine. With me today are Chris McGurk, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, John Canning, Chief Financial Officer, Yolanda Macias, Chief Content Officer, Eric Opica, Chief Strategy Officer and President of Synanime Networks, Tony Wiador, Chief Technology and Product Officer, and Mark Lindsay, Executive Vice President, Finance and Accounting, all of whom will be available for questions following the prepared remarks. I will now turn the call over to Chris McGurk to begin.

Thanks, Gary. welcome everyone and thanks for joining us on the call today obviously we had a great quarter as our financial results exceeded our internal expectations and those of the analysts that follow us by an extremely wide margin on both the top and bottom lines with total revenues up 98 net income up 1139 to 4.9 million dollars and eps of three cents per share and all of our key operating metrics grew dramatically once again this quarter across all of our business lines. Rather than dwell on great performance where the numbers clearly speak for themselves, I'd first like to start out by stating how proud I am of the Cinedigm team, which continues to deliver outstanding record results across all sectors of our business quarter after quarter, and to also thank our investors for standing with us in a challenging equity market. While so many other companies in the streaming and entertainment business are struggling to figure out the best path forward as they try to reconcile years of record-breaking spending on content and marketing and an over-reliance on the paid subscription model, Synodyme continues to demonstrate how a streaming content company can develop and execute a business plan that works successfully in real time today. Because of sound and reasonable business principles, like diversification, portfolio management, and a sensible content and marketing spending practice. Part of our success is, of course, by virtue of our company not trying to be everything to everybody. We've become experts in our sector of the streaming business, that is, serving passionate fans across popular and specific enthusiast genres better than anybody else. One example of this success is in our approach to horror. category that continues driving some of the most exciting success stories, not only for our company, but in all of Hollywood. City9 is in a truly unique position in the streaming industry, having built upon our strong momentum to wrap a profitable third quarter with triple-digit growth in net income and adjusted EBITDA as we continue towards our goal of sustained long-term annual profitability and positive cash flow. All units of our company contributed to our successful quarter, which speaks to the value of our differentiated revenue streams across content licensing, our portfolio of channels, which are made up of a strategic mix of third-party and owned and operated networks, and they span SVOD, AVOD, and FAST, our library of 60,000 films and TV episodes, our resurgent theatrical release business, and our proprietary programs. state-of-the-art MatchPoint technology. Diversification and a portfolio strategy is a business 101 concept drilled into MBA's heads their first day in class. Synodyme is implementing that strategy to great success, all of it within the streaming content business, the fastest growing segment in the entertainment industry. While many of our one channel, one line of revenue, heavy spending, non-diversified streaming competitors are struggling. As I mentioned, our total revenue is up 98%, including our 11th straight quarter of record advertising revenue growth, up 79% over the prior year quarter, and up 258% on a two-year basis. We were on the free ad-supported streaming television, or FAST, train before many in the industry. And with new senior sales executives added to our Synanime Ad Solutions team, we remain very bullish on this part of our business. We also grew our subscription streaming revenue 38% versus last year's third quarter and nearly tripled revenue from two years ago. We now have 1.22 million subscribers across our portfolio of streaming brands, up 28% from third quarter last year. StreamBox, which we acquired two years ago this month, has become the fastest growing horror streaming service in the business, with subscriptions increasing 900% over that time. In fact, in the two weeks following our exclusive streaming release of instant cult classic slasher film Terrifier 2, Screenbox subscribers grew 144%. And what can I say about Terrifier 2? It was a late 2022 theatrical box office phenomenon. It performed incredibly well on transactional VOD and streaming, and consumer product versions of the title are flying off the shelves. The fact of the matter is that the smart and talented Bloody Disgusting team, which operates Screenbox and curates our horror vertical, worked closely with our content team to identify a breakout film and a breakout creator in the incredible Damien Leung that was very much worth investing in. We not only trusted their expertise, but we also leaned in to support the release with a cost-effective viral marketing strategy. And boy, did it pay off. We have much more to come on the horror side with last week's limited theatrical release and upcoming screen box exclusive of the critically acclaimed clown footage film, The Outlanders, which Slashfilm and others said rightfully feels like this generation's Blair Witch Project. Also, we have the recently announced acquisition of Hollywood dreams and nightmares, the Robert Englund story, and many other films and series on the horizon. And we are also mirroring this strategy with other genres for which we have a proven expertise, including family, anime, and Asian films. John will cover our financial results in more detail, and Eric will delve into our rapidly increasing operating metrics and the continued early success of the important business initiatives that are key parts of our plan to continue our high growth while achieving sustainable profitability on an annual ongoing basis starting with next fiscal year. These include Centiverse, which we believe will become the Spotify of independent streaming video content, our proprietary Matchpoint technology platform, our growing advertising unit, and our expanding podcast business. I also want to point out that as our business is scaled, and players in the industry have taken notice of our operating and technological capabilities, the scope of our discussions with potential strategic partners for operating partnerships, investments, and M&A has rapidly expanded. Look for more announcements in that regard in the coming months. And in addition, our balance sheet remains in a very, very strong position right now, and we currently see no need to raise additional capital at this point. With that, let me turn it over to John for a more detailed review of our financial results.