BBTV Holdings Inc.

Q2 revenue was $72.8 million, down 27% year over year. Total views were 114 billion, up 20% year over year and 1% sequentially, and 52% of views came from YouTube Shorts. Q2 RPMs were down 43% year over year to $0.54; excluding Shorts, RPMs would have declined 2% year over year. Plus Solutions revenue was $10.7 million, down 18% year over year; adjusted gross profit was $5.8 million and gross margin was 8%, versus 8.3% a year ago. Operating expenses were $10.6 million, down 34% year over year and 12% sequentially. The company recorded an $18.3 million gain from a favorable amendment to its RTL promissory note agreement, and ended with $14.4 million in cash and $44.3 million of long-term debt, with maturities substantially in 2026 and 2027. Management did not give formal numeric revenue guidance, but said Plus Solutions revenue should grow for the full year, second-half revenue should improve, and gross margin should move toward double digits over time.

Shahrzad Rafati emphasized that BBTV is shifting toward higher-margin, recurring content management work and said several large enterprise deals signed in the first half of the year are still being deployed. She framed YouTube Shorts as a near-term monetization headwind, but said Shorts RPMs have been improving sequentially and that the company is starting to push creators toward more long-form content to improve monetization. Her tone was confident and operationally focused, with repeated emphasis on cost optimization, improving margins, and reaching adjusted EBITDA profitability as soon as possible.

KB Brinkley said the quarter reflected the same industry trends seen in Q1: strong view growth, but RPM pressure from the shift to short-form content. She highlighted that revenue fell to $72.8 million, Plus Solutions revenue was $10.7 million, adjusted gross margin was 8%, and OpEx fell to $10.6 million, helping improve adjusted EBITDA loss by $2.7 million year over year despite lower revenue. She also noted an $18.3 million one-time gain from the RTL note amendment, $14.4 million of cash at quarter-end, and $44.3 million of long-term debt.

Analysts focused on how much further BBTV needs to cut costs to reach a steady state and when the new content management contracts will start contributing meaningfully to revenue. Management said cost optimization will continue across the whole business, including shared services, with automation and technology, including generative AI, helping reduce the cost base further. On content management, management said the ramp is complex and should generate strong incremental, profitable revenue once deployments finish, and reiterated confidence that Plus Solutions will grow for the full year. On Shorts, management said RPMs rose sequentially, Shorts monetization is improving, and Google expects the monetization gap versus long-form content to narrow over time.