Supply-side platform PubMatic saw revenue for Q1 total $43.6 million, up 54% from the year prior, when lockdowns first hit and the ad industry started to recoil as advertisers pressed pause on spend.
Top line
Digital advertising proved somewhat resilient during the pandemic, with marketers turning to programmatic channels to target consumers on their digital devices while they stayed at home.
Mobile and online video, two channels that saw usage spike during the pandemic, were also the fastest-growing channels for PubMatic. Revenue in those two areas grew 83% year-over-year and totaled 63% of the company’s overall Q1 earnings.
Between the lines
PubMatic’s connected TV revenue grew 55% compared to last quarter, and the SSP isn’t the only public ad-tech company to see gains in streaming. Fellow SSP Magnite and demand-side platform The Trade Desk also saw spikes in CTV revenue as marketers invest more ad dollars into streaming, according to their respective Q1 earnings.
The company expects Q2 revenues to fall between $45 million and $46 million, and it’s raised full-year revenue guidance by $15 million to eventually total somewhere between $195 million and $200 million.
“Our execution, combined with the economic re-opening and expected acceleration of digital advertising, gives us confidence to raise our full-year outlook for 2021,” Rajeev Goel, co-founder and CEO of PubMatic, said in a statement.
Bottom line
This is PubMatic’s second public earnings report after making its debut on the Nasdaq in December 2020. It’s one of several ad-tech companies—including Viant, DoubleVerify and Applovin—to go public over the last five months.
Companies hope to cash in on the expected growth of digital advertising as ad dollars move out of traditional media and into digital channels and as marketers prepare to spend more following severe pullbacks during the beginning of the pandemic.
