Games revenue grew 7.8% in H1 2019 and was stable in Q2, Angry Birds Dream Blast continued growing
Comments from Kati Levoranta, CEO:
Rovio’s revenue in the second quarter of 2019 was EUR 71.8 (71.8) million and thus, stable year-on-year. Rovio games revenue was EUR 65.4 million and similar to last years’ period (65.3). The newest game in Rovio’s portfolio, Angry Birds Dream Blast, continued to grow and reached EUR 14.0 million gross bookings and became Rovio’s 2nd largest game in the quarter. We are happy with how Angry Birds Dream Blast has developed and that it is now trending towards EUR 50 million for the full year. The gross bookings of Angry Birds 2, Rovio’s largest game, declined year-on-year to EUR 26.5 million (29.7) due to much lower user acquisition investments in the period as UA investments were optimized across the key games. In total, we invested 21.3 million in user acquisition (22.9) which was a bit lower than last year’s period. The lower level of user acquisition impacted the revenues mainly for Angry Birds 2. We expect the large media visibility of the Angry Birds Movie sequel, which starts its global roll-out in August, to enable increasing user acquisition investments for our top games during the second half of the year.
The adjusted operating profit in the reporting period was EUR 5.3 (6.0) million and the adjusted operating profit margin 7.4% (8.4%). The decline in operating profit was attributed to Hatch Entertainment’s expansion to new markets along the 5G roll-outs.
We are very excited by our new games pipeline: We have currently 11 games in different phases of development out of which three are in soft launch. We aim to launch at least one game during the second half of 2019.
Brand Licensing unit’s revenue in the second quarter was EUR 6.4 million and thus at the same level as last year (6.5). We expect the Angry Birds Movie sequel and surrounding marketing to boost our licensing business as well as drive users to our Angry Birds games during the second half of 2019. The movie sequel is rolling out globally in August, with the two largest markets of USA and China scheduled for launch on 14th and 16th of August, respectively.
Hatch Entertainment, Rovio’s 80% owned subsidiary developing a game streaming service for mobile and smart TVs, has signed a partnership agreement with Samsung in April and announced partnerships with Vodafone in UK, Spain and Italy. To accelerate its growth, Hatch Entertainment is seeking external funding and further strategic partnerships.
With the launch of the Angry Birds Movie sequel and with several promising games in development, we are thrilled to enter the second half of 2019.
You can read the full Half Year financial report here.