Mirriad Advertising (MIRI), the pioneering in-content advertising enterprise, has unveiled its unaudited interim results for the six months culminating on June 30, 2023, delivering modest revenue growth despite a tough advertising market and the closure of its Chinese operations, part of a strategic review completed in the period.
The company said that exiting China will save the group £1m a year, which alongside other savings of £1.5m would significantly lower the cost base even bore the impact of the ongoing restructuring. That helped the loss before tax decrease by 12% to £7.5m, with losses likely to narrow further as sales rebound in what is anticipated to be a seasonally stronger second half.
Just as importantly, the decision will allow Mirriad to focus on the high-potential US market, where it pointed to a “high-quality pipeline” of sales opportunities. The company also launched programmatic delivery in the half, which without manual booking will allow it to scale more efficiently – it said that 2024 will be a key year for sales as a result of this transition.
Mirriad also signed several important partnerships in the period, including a technology partnership with Microsoft to further enhance the product’s AI capabilities and develop and enterprise solution, and a sales partnership in the Middle East. It also doubled the number of active agency relationships to 18, which should support its key account strategy.
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Mirriad’s technology is already gaining traction with advertisers and agencies alike, with 20 tier 1 brands across a range of industries running campaigns in the half, and 31 in total, a 72% year-on-year increase.
As research has suggested, the performance of its in-content ads has been superior to traditional linear advertising, too, with brand affinity up 96%, purchase intent up 54%, and the format 8 times more likely to be preferred by viewers. It’s little surprise that key advertising clients have made repeat bookings.
Although difficult market conditions across the entire advertising industry have held back Mirriad’s top line growth, it’s made tough but sensible decisions to ready itself for the upturn when it comes. That included a successful £5.7m fundraise, which should see it through to late 2024 when a shift to programmatic sales and the rollout of an enterprise product should bring a meaningful revenue uplift.