Nexxen International Bets on CTV, AI as Record Growth Prompts Another Outlook Raise

Nexxen raised its full-year outlook for the third time , now expecting 12% net revenue growth versus its initial 8% forecast. Second-quarter contribution ex-TAC rose 11% year over year, programmatic revenue increased 12%, and CTV revenue surged 33% to a record. The company is prioritizing CTV, enterprise expansion and AI , with enterprise platform spending up more than 25% and adoption of its nexAI tools accelerating. Nexxen is also developing conversational AI and open-protocol integrations to simplify campaign setup and management. Nexxen sees additional growth from home-screen advertising, political CTV spending and mobile in-app advertising, while evaluating revenue-accretive bolt-on acquisitions. It ended the quarter with about $132 million in cash, no long-term debt and a newly authorized $40 million share-repurchase program.

Nexxen International NASDAQ: NEXN outlined its commercial priorities following a series of executive appointments, highlighting its end-to-end advertising technology platform, connected TV growth, enterprise customer expansion and investments in artificial intelligence. Chance Johnson, who was newly appointed president, said Kara Puccinelli will become chief commercial officer and oversee the company’s enterprise business. Ken Suh, formerly chief strategy officer, will take on the chief business officer role, with responsibility for expanding Nexxen’s exchange business and connected TV partnerships. Johnson said his focus as president will be on coordinating Nexxen’s buy-side, sell-side and data capabilities to better serve customers. The company’s full end-to-end technology stack remains relatively new in the market, he said, and Nexxen is seeking to communicate the value of having integrated advertising capabilities across multiple parts of the ecosystem.

Contribution ex-TAC increased 11% year over year, while programmatic revenue rose 12%, he said. CTV was the standout category, according to Eckert, with revenue increasing 33% year over year to the best quarterly CTV revenue result in the company’s history. He attributed the growth in part to an expanding enterprise customer base and greater adoption of multiple products within the Nexxen platform. Eckert said Nexxen raised its top-line guidance for the third time during the year, increasing expectations for both Contribution ex-TAC and programmatic revenue. The company initially forecast 8% net revenue growth in March and now expects 12% growth, he said. Nexxen is continuing to invest in AI, data and go-to-market execution.

Nexxen’s integrated demand-side platform, supply-side platform and data offerings can reduce the number of systems that advertisers must use to set up and manage campaigns. He said the structure can offer time savings, lower costs, greater transparency and improved campaign performance. Advertisers are increasingly seeking transparency around how much of their advertising investment reaches media inventory, Johnson said. Nexxen can offer commercial incentives for customers that use its DSP, supply and data products together, he added. Despite macroeconomic uncertainty, Johnson said advertisers have remained resilient and budgets have been relatively consistent. He identified declining open-web display traffic as a major industry trend, citing the growing use of large language models and ChatGPT for information that consumers p...