CuriosityStream Inc.

Second-quarter revenue was $23.2 million, up 22% year over year, with licensing revenue of $14.1 million, up 48%, and subscription revenue of $8.9 million, roughly flat versus the prior year. Gross margin improved to 73% from 53%, total operating expenses fell 24.1% year over year, adjusted EBITDA hit a record $11.4 million, and net income was $8.9 million, or $0.15 per share. For 2026, management guided to second-half revenue of $38 million to $41 million, full-year revenue of $77 million to $82 million, second-half adjusted EBITDA of $6 million to $10 million, and full-year adjusted EBITDA of $18 million to $22 million.

Clint Stinchcomb framed the quarter as a proof point for CuriosityStream’s model, emphasizing that the company can monetize its content and data assets across three licensing pillars: traditional video distribution, AI training data, and private code corpora. He said productizing the library into 17 off-the-shelf data sets should shorten sales cycles and improve operational velocity. His tone was upbeat but disciplined, repeatedly stressing execution, operating leverage, and a longer-term goal of reaching $100 million or more of reliable annualized revenue.

Brady Hayden highlighted the financial inflection in the quarter: revenue of $23.2 million versus $19 million a year ago, adjusted EBITDA of $11.4 million, gross margin of 73%, and operating expenses down 24.1%. He said the company ended the quarter with $10.9 million of cash and securities, no debt, paid a regular $5 million dividend, repurchased $600,000 of shares, and prepaid $2 million to consolidate its German business, which closed July 1. He also guided to ending 2026 with $17 million to $22 million in cash and investments and said second-half operating expenses should decline an additional 18% to 20% versus the first half.

Analysts focused on the strength and visibility of the licensing pipeline, especially AI training demand, and whether the new off-the-shelf data products can accelerate deals. Management said the pipeline is the strongest it has been, but licensing can be lumpy and revenue is hard to forecast precisely; the new products are intended to simplify evaluation and speed sales. Questions also covered international expansion and streaming bundles, with management pointing to Germany as the largest non-English market, ongoing work on currencies and payments, and a strong belief that bundling will support steadier subscription revenue.