Focusing on building up its key brands with new licensing partnerships has helped Toronto’s WildBrain achieve growth in its 2023 Q4 and year-end results.
According to its 2023 fiscal report, published on September 12, WildBrain earned US$393 million in total revenue, up 5% compared to US$384.7 million last year. Despite the revenue jump, the company incurred a net loss of US$33.7 million, down from the US$4.2 million profit it made in 2022. This decline was primarily driven by a goodwill impairment charge of US$24.5 million.
In Q4 (April to June), WildBrain’s businesses brought in a combined US$92.4 million in revenue. This is up 11% compared to US$82.9 million in the same quarter last year. WildBrain CPLG experienced double-digit growth, generating 24% more revenue (US$38.3 million) from consumer products based on WildBrain’s proprietary and partner brands.
WildBrain CPLG’s most recent licensing moves include dozens of licensing deals for its CG-animated Netflix series Sonic Prime (produced with SEGA); and a retail partnership with China-based MINISO for Teletubbies and Strawberry Shortcake products. Meanwhile, the Peanuts Worldwide licensing team signed a new agreement with tech giant Apple for Peanuts-branded smartwatch faces.
Revenue generated by WildBrain’s content production and distribution business was up by 6% to US$39.4 million for the quarter.
The only division to see a loss in Q4 was digital vertical WildBrain Spark. Its revenue decreased by 9% to US$7.6 million, compared to US$8.4 million during the same period last year. WildBrain attributes this to macroeconomic conditions impacting the advertising industry.
“As we look to fiscal year 2024, we expect strong growth in consumer products,” said president and CEO Josh Scherba in a release. “We expect content production and distribution revenue to be down year over year, driven by the direct and indirect impacts of the ongoing dual strikes on the content industry.”
As part of his outlook, Scherba anticipates that WildBrain’s fiscal 2024 revenue will be down moderately compared to 2023, because of a widespread slowdown in content commissioning and a lack of new orders coming in. Meanwhile, WildBrain CPLG is focused on developing several family entertainment centers and themed hotel rooms for its brands in China by 2025, driven by the company’s newly launched location-based entertainment division.
Sonic Prime photo courtesy of Netflix