00:00Super League is redefining how global brands are connecting with players, gamers, everyone
00:06in this space.
00:07It's such an exciting time and they're reaching so many people with their immersive experiences
00:12reaching over 300 million people.
00:15Is that right?
00:15It's incredible.
00:16We're here now with CEO and Chairman of Super League, Matt Edelman, thank you so much for
00:21being here.
00:22I'm glad to be here.
00:23Yeah, this is so exciting.
00:24It's just reaching so many people.
00:25Tell us a little bit more about what Super League is and how you're reaching all these
00:29eyeballs.
00:30Sure, sure.
00:31So we run advertising and branded content programs that help businesses grow by connecting them
00:40with people who play video games, which is one of the largest and frankly most under-monetized
00:47consumer segments in modern media.
00:49Yeah, tell me about that and how you're kind of solving that problem.
00:52How does that work?
00:53Most of the people who play video games, which happens to be 80% of consumers under the age
00:59of 45 and by the way, 90% plus of consumers under the age of 30, most of them spend
01:06enormous
01:07amounts of time playing games, interacting in environments where advertisers and brands
01:13have not typically placed a lot of their marketing campaigns and we change that.
01:20We bring brands into those gaming channels and help them reach these people with the right
01:26creative, the right distribution plan and help them improve marketing performance.
01:33I mean, it's incredible.
01:34You have Mattel, you have Netflix, you have Chipotle.
01:37How do you even get these partnerships and then how do you actually monetize them, these
01:42partnerships for them?
01:43So, the partnership development is a key strength.
01:47We have people who, frankly, brands like working with and we bring those clients and their agencies
01:54unique insights around these audiences.
01:56And the way we make money is through generally getting them to engage us to do campaign work, to build
02:04immersive experiences, to deploy playable ads and other marketing technology solutions that help them
02:12improve their business outcomes from the advertising money they spend.
02:16That's incredible.
02:17Talk to me more about this native playable idea.
02:19What does that really mean and how do you make that work?
02:23When somebody is playing a video game, if you can give them an advertising experience
02:28that connects to that game play, you're going to have a much better chance of them engaging
02:32in the advertising experience.
02:34And so, we bring mini games and playable ads to life that are sort of organic and native
02:40to the place where the user is already playing.
02:44So it's a very smooth transition and they almost continue to engage with the ad as if they're
02:48still enjoying the game they're playing in the first place.
02:50Wow.
02:51That's incredible to think about integrating everything together like that, especially in
02:55an industry that is so big, right?
02:57$522 billion in this gaming world right now.
03:00How do you go about trying to grab a big piece of that pie?
03:04Well, it's interesting.
03:05We sort of sit at the intersection of what is a $300 plus billion advertising market in the
03:11U.S. and more than 200 million video gamers in the U.S.
03:16And our job is to help bring some of that $300 plus billion into gaming channels and connecting
03:23to gaming participants and players and communities.
03:28The idea is if we can be at the center of that intersection, we can achieve outsized growth.
03:36Yeah.
03:37And talk to me about those higher response rates that you get with these types of ads.
03:41Why are these types of ads so important and how are you getting those higher response rates?
03:44So typically, a lot of the ads that we run inside gaming channels have a session time
03:51of anywhere from one to three minutes, whereas usually you're looking at one to three seconds
03:56when somebody is watching a video ad on social media.
03:59We also see about a 13 times higher return on advertising spend, particularly in our mobile
04:05ads than you would typically get if you are just running standard video ads in that same
04:10inventory.
04:12And when we bring our insights to bear that really speak to the unique psychology of a
04:17gamer, the psychographic traits, the mindset that you have when you play, we see about
04:22a 50% better response rate to the ads that we design compared to if you're not using our
04:29insights.
04:29That's so interesting thinking about how all of these pieces come together.
04:33How do you actually go ahead and measure these things?
04:35Because that's incredible to have this way of getting these insights.
04:39How do you do that?
04:40There are two places where you can achieve measurement.
04:42One is when the user is interacting with the ad or the branded content itself.
04:48And then one is after they interact and perhaps click through to something or take an action
04:55with that brand at a future time.
04:57Some of that measurement is still advancing in the gaming space.
05:00But we try to connect the dots, which we've done, for instance, with companies like Chipotle,
05:07where after a program we ran in Roblox, we helped them redeem 130,000 codes for a free
05:15burrito within 30 minutes.
05:17And so that kind of measurement is unique because it's highly engaged and highly focused on what
05:22the brand is trying to make money selling.
05:25That's incredible.
05:25And having those codes, being able to measure it is amazing.
05:28Now, talk to me a little bit about the business side of things.
05:31You recently restored the NASDAQ compliance with the reverse split, stock split there.
05:37So tell me a little bit more about what that means for the company now and kind of moving
05:41forward.
05:41Sure.
05:42So I've been the CEO now coming up on one year, almost exactly one year ago when I started
05:47April 1st.
05:48We had a lot of financial challenges ahead of us at that time.
05:54Took about six months.
05:55We really cleaned up the company.
05:57We streamlined our cap table.
05:59We fixed our balance sheet.
06:01We're now debt free.
06:01As of year end, we had $14 million of capital available to the company.
06:07We removed a lot of restrictions connected to the way our cap table had been set up.
06:14We did clear three NASDAQ deficiencies.
06:18And so we are now fully compliant.
06:20We also recently were successful in having our auditors remove going concern language from
06:27their coming report attached to our 10K.
06:30And so we really created an entirely new foundation corporately that allows us to pursue meaningful
06:36growth and actually execute without distraction.
06:40Yeah, that's exciting to think about all of that kind of being behind you in a way and
06:44moving forward.
06:44So when you look to the next six months, 12 months, where do you see Super League going?
06:49What do you see as important partnerships, other things like that coming up?
06:53One of the more interesting things that we've done recently is announce the signing of a
06:58definitive agreement to acquire an ads division from a company that has been a great partner
07:04for us.
07:05The name of that company is Misfits.
07:07So we're acquiring a profitable team that is bringing new capabilities, a terrific pipeline,
07:13and some technology that is highly complementary to what we do.
07:17And we believe will cement our path to profitability.
07:21And frankly, that is the most important objective for Super League over the next six to 12 months,
07:26to prove that we can continue to improve our operating performance, get to breakeven and
07:32beyond, and keep growing our market share in this really exciting space.
07:36Yeah, that is exciting to look at that and think about all the potential that's there
07:40with this huge market.
07:41Tell me a little bit more as you look to the future for the gaming industry overall, because
07:45there are changes every day, it seems like.
07:47So where do you see this going in the next couple of years even?
07:50Look, gaming is already an activity that people spend almost as much time enjoying as they
07:59do on social media and in watching television and streaming.
08:04The opportunity for us is that whereas there are about $150 billion of advertising budgets
08:11that are spent against social media and television and streaming, in gaming it's still under $10
08:17billion on an annual basis.
08:19Again, time spent is about equal.
08:23That gap is our opportunity.
08:26And as it relates to gaming at large, we are very active in the fastest growing part of the
08:31gaming industry, which are world building platforms like Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft.
08:37And we see a ton of opportunity to continue to tap into that growth and the incredible passion
08:46that players have when they are in these spaces.
08:49Wow.
08:49It's so exciting.
08:50Thank you so much for being here and breaking this all down for us.
08:53Matt Edelman, we really appreciate it from Super League.
08:55And we can't wait to see what happens next.
08:57Thank you so much for having me.
08:58Thanks.
08:59Thank you so much for having me.
08:59Amen.
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