Samba TV, viewership measurement specialist, files IPO

Samba TV, a company that specializes in first-party television viewership data, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public.

The company, which launched in 2008, has applied to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “SMBA,” but it has yet to determine the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering.

In its SEC filing, Samba TV highlighted its viewership data integration partnerships with 24 smart TV makers including Sony, TCL, Philips, Toshiba, Sharp and LG along with its set-top box data agreements with TiVo and 605. The company also touted its global reach of more than 100 countries which includes six revenue generating countries like the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, Italy and Australia. The company is also currently beta testing its product in Spain, France and Japan.

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“We address the needs of a television ecosystem eagerly trying to become more scientific by using data to establish the new paradigms for the consumer-attention economy. Through our first-party, opt-in relationships with audiences, Samba TV has built and scaled our business on providing comprehensive, actionable insights into real-time, real-world content consumption that enable brands, agencies, programmers, and publishers to build attentive, engaged audiences. The result, we hope, is a more personal and rewarding entertainment experience for everyone,” wrote Samba TV CEO Ashwin Navin in a letter to prospective investors.

Samba TV believes it’s in the “early stage of our growth” and plans to invest in expanding its customer base, increasing its share of customer advertising spend, activating additional international markets, investing in new solutions and pursuing “opportunistic M&A.”

Samba TV said it has generated $82.8 million in revenue through the first nine months of 2021, compared to $67 million during the same period of 2020. The company’s gross profit was $33.7 million and $28.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

The company recorded a net loss of $17.1 million and adjusted EBITDA loss of $4.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, compared with a net loss of $12.7 million and adjusted EBITDA loss of $4.5 million for nine months ended September 30, 2020.