Genius Brands International, Inc. Announces 2016 Financial Results and Business Update

BEVERLY HILLS, CA--(Marketwired - March 31, 2017) - Genius Brands International, Inc. (GNUS) announced today its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2016:

Business Highlights:

  • Deferred revenue increased by over 220% in FY 2016

  • To date $2.5 million has been invested in the development and production of animated content

  • In production and development of four animated series to be delivered throughout 2017 and 2018

  • Currently have over 50 worldwide licensees with over 500 SKUs in over 10,000 retail locations

  • Licensed content to over 20 broadcasters in nearly 90 territories globally as well as several VOD and online platforms

  • Kid Genius Cartoon Channel generated first advertising sales in the fourth quarter 2016

  • Expanded our long term strategic partnership with our shareholder Sony Pictures Home Entertainment from a domestic to a global partnership in January 2017

Management Commentary:

Andy Heyward, Chairman and CEO of Genius Brands International, Inc. ("Genius") commented, "2016 represented a highly productive year for the Company in creating value to be realized. It is marked by both increasing investment in our brands and properties and increasing activity around those brands and properties. Two key financial metrics highlight this investment and activity -- our investments in film and televisions costs and our deferred revenue.

The production of original content generally entails a three-year cycle from the inception of an idea, through production of the animated content, to the distribution of that content, and finally the development and distribution of a range of consumer products based on content to be sold at retail. This can create a lag between the creation of the intellectual property to the realization of economic benefit of those assets. This is no different from Marvel, Nickelodeon, or the Walt Disney Company.

In the three years since the merger with A Squared Entertainment, the Company has spent roughly $2.5 million on the development and production of animated content. Our investment in these assets has steadily increased year over year beginning in 2014 when we had only one property in production (Thomas Edison's Secret Lab) to where we closed 2016 with two properties in active production (SpacePop and Llama Llama) and two properties in development (Rainbow Rangers and Stan Lee's Cosmic Crusaders).

Just as important as the investments we've made in animated content is the activity around them. While our 2016 revenue declined by a nominal 5% from the prior year, our deferred revenue increased by over 220% in that same time frame to $3.1 million, and in the three years since the creation of the new post-merger Genius Brands, our deferred revenue increased over 500%. We believe deferred revenue is a good measure of activity as it represents deal flow and monies we have collected or can immediately collect that, per GAAP, are not yet able to be recognized as revenue. Our already released properties, such as Thomas Edison's Secret Lab, Warren Buffett's Secret Millionaires Club, and Baby Genius, continue to do well in the market place and generated roughly 50% of our 2016 revenues.