OAREX Releases Q4 2023 Digital Media Revenue Report, Reveals More Low Growth & Volatility

OAREX, the provider of fast and flexible funding for digital media businesses, today announced the release of its 2023 Q4 Digital Media Revenue Report, with data revealing the sixth consecutive quarter with a median YoY revenue growth of 5% or less, the longest prolonged period of low growth and low volatility. Overall digital media revenue performance remained flat, and volatility of revenue performance continued and remained historically low.

The report uncovered the following insights related to digital media revenue:

• 2023 saw marginal growth but remained mostly flat. With a median growth of 5%, Q4 2023 was flat, yielding the same 5% growth rate as Q3 2023. However, more companies reported positive numbers—66% saw positive revenue growth, a 13% YoY increase (from the 53% reported in Q4 2022).
• Meta improved, while Google remained below the industry average. For the second consecutive quarter, Google Network (the display business) remained below the industry average, posting negative YoY revenue growth of 2%. During that same period, Meta outperformed the broader market with growth of 25%, and Snap was in line with the median performance, posting 5% YoY revenue growth.
• Volatility of revenue performance remains historically low. At 18% dispersion, Q4 2023 marks the seventh consecutive quarter of consistently low volatility.
• Bigger is still better. The data continues to suggest that size and performance are correlated, with the YoY growth of larger companies (excluding Google, Meta, and Snap) outperforming the smaller ones.  
• There were still some big winners. Several companies still experienced large increases. Unity, Applovin, DoubleVerify, Hubspot, and The Trade Desk experienced YoY growth rates of 20% or higher. On the other end of the spectrum, System1 and Tenga both saw more than 20% decreases.

“While positive growth is good, overall revenue performance continues to flatten. Median revenue growth held constant year-over-year at 5%, but we saw a 13% increase in companies that reported positive growth during that same time,” commented OAREX EVP Nick Carrabbia. “This is the longest sustained period of consistently low growth and volatility on record, but we remain cautiously optimistic that more growth is on the horizon.”

The report was released as part of OAREX’s quarterly digital media revenue analysis series, which evaluates publicly traded data of companies with revenues primarily earned from digital media operations and was underwritten by the OAREX credit team. The report does not include some of the larger tech companies such as Google, Meta, and Snap to ensure the data reflects true sector performance and is not outweighed by industry giants.