Angel Studios Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 1, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Angel reported a strong Q1 with $115 million in revenue (up 143% YoY) and positive $4 million Adjusted EBITDA, a $32 million improvement versus Q1 2025.
  • Positive Sentiment: The Angel Guild reached 2.22 million paying members (+220k in Q1), representing roughly $365 million of annualized recurring revenue and now accounts for ~72% of company revenue.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Angel's theatrical strategy (10-wide releases in 2026, e.g., Solo Mio and Animal Farm) is driving member acquisition, retention, and talent attraction but will introduce quarterly "lumpiness" in timing of marketing spend and revenues.
  • Positive Sentiment: Liquidity improved — Q1 cash was $38.9 million, the company generated positive operating cash flow in the quarter, and it raised ~$32 million net from an equity offering, unlocking further debt capacity if needed.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management says AI tools are delivering major productivity gains (marketing, support, and media ops) and they're on track to nearly double the streaming library in 2026, which management expects will lower CAC and improve retention over time.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Angel Studios Q1 2026
00:00 / 00:00

There are 11 speakers on the call.

Speaker 4

Klossner. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that certain statements made on today's call.

Speaker 10

Bring to the table. If we fail here, there will be war. If you can't make them see the light, make sure they feel the heat. Forces is born wild, then we say wild. They claim a great king shall take my throne. Stuff out the darkness, and the light of honor will shine.

Speaker 6

Fire.

Speaker 10

Things are about to get a whole lot better.

Speaker 6

Look at all the lights. Good morning. I would like to invite everyone to Angel's Q1 2026 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. The question and answer session will follow a formal presentation. You may be placed in the question queue at any time by pressing star, then one on your telephone keypad. If anyone should require assistance, please press star zero. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Luke Janssens, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin your conference.

Speaker 4

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Angel's first quarter 2026 earnings call. Joining me are Angel's Co-founder and CEO, Neal Harmon, and Angel's CFO, Scott Klossner. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that certain statements made on today's call, including statements regarding future financial performance, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Information regarding these risks and uncertainties is included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

Speaker 4

These forward-looking statements represent our outlook only as of the date of this call, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law. During this call, we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are available in our earnings press release. These cautionary statements apply to all forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this call, including in the question and answer session. Our earnings press release is available on our investor relations website at angx.com, where we also encourage you to sign up to our email alerts. Neal and Scott will take approximately 20 minutes for their opening remarks before we turn the call over to questions. Thank you all for joining us, and now I'll pass the call over to Neal.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Luke, good morning, everyone. It's great to be with you for Angel's first quarter 2026 earnings call. As you may have seen from our earnings release, we achieved a milestone in Q1 with positive Adjusted EBITDA of $4 million on revenues of $115 million, both significant improvements over Q4 results. This shows the strength of Angel's recurring revenue model. We'll get into these strong results in more detail later on the call, especially when Scott discusses our financial performance. Now I wanna excuse me, now I wanna focus on what sets Angel apart today and what has set us apart from the very beginning. That is our commitment to having the audience decide, to give them the power, and to align our filmmaker partners with the audience by sharing the upside.

Speaker 5

We intentionally set out to redefine the relationship between filmmakers and the audience by inviting Guild members to watch, screen, and vote on which films and television series are produced and distributed, both on the Angel platform and in theaters. Our community is living on the other side of the screen. They're part of the production process. We have built a global community of over 2.2 million paying members in just over 2 years. Annualized, that membership base represents approximately $365 million in annual recurring revenue. The Angel Guild now accounts for more than 72% of our total revenue, and filmmaker royalties have continued to grow right alongside of this. In fact, filmmakers have earned $255 million in cumulative royalties as of March 31st, 2026, over a quarter billion dollars.

Speaker 5

Our growth is driven by aligning artists and the audience, we believe the untapped total addressable market ahead of us is more than 35 times where we stand today in the U.S. alone. How do we continue to achieve this kind of growth and success in the TV and streaming market when there are big multi-billion-dollar players with huge checkbooks competing with us? We remain laser-focused on our audience-centric model, which happens to be attracting world-class talent in some of the most watched genres to Angel. I'll give you a few examples. During the quarter, Angel's release of Solo Mio starring Kevin James crossed $25 million at the domestic box office with a right-sized marketing spend.

Speaker 5

A large streamer offered up a check to buy the film before the release, but the Solo Mio team came to Angel because they believe the film would be best served by being experienced in theaters, that the Angel Guild would champion the release, and that they would share in the upside. Boy, they were right. Now Angel, without offering a big upfront check, we get to be the ones to attract new Guild members with one of the highest-rated rom-coms in cinema history. Theatrical is strategic. Investors have asked, why are we in the theatrical business if we intend to simply break even on our theatrical activities? That's an incredibly important question. Theatrical business is all about growing the Guild, and the Guild is the economic engine of Angel. Solo Mio is just one example.

Speaker 5

We've signed 10 filmmakers for theatrical releases in 2026 who made a similar bet on themselves, their projects, and on the Angel community. Most received competing upfront offers. Without committing upfront capital, our theatrical business helps Angel to compete effectively for premium titles and genres that likely would have been sold to competitors, some with multi-billion dollar checkbooks. Each theatrical release is a community-building event designed to do 3 things simultaneously. First, to retain existing Guild members, help them be happy with their memberships. Second, increase the caliber of filmmakers who want to build with us. Third, attract new audience segments to the Guild as theatrical titles are released exclusively on our streaming platform after their theatrical run. Angel films like Sound of Freedom, The King of Kings, and most recently David are released, premium Guild members redeem complimentary tickets and have higher retention.

Speaker 5

Our Guild members say that they want to impact the film industry, theatrical releases are visible cultural events that remind them of their broader impact on the culture. In addition, theatrical titles are consistently ranked as the most popular on Angel's streaming platform. Theatrical improves Guild retention both in theaters and on streaming. Our 2026 theatrical slate also reflects another important trend, that world-class talent is now increasingly turning to Angel. Animal Farm, which opens tonight on roughly 2,500 screens, features one of the most unexpected voice casts of well-known stars, including Seth Rogen, Woody Harrelson, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Jim Parsons, Kathleen Turner, and Gaten Matarazzo. Angel's summer slate begins with Young Washington, an event which opens July third, the day before America celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Speaker 5

It stars Golden Globe winners Kelsey Grammer and Mary-Louise Parker, along with Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley. If it hadn't been for the advent of the United States of America, Angel and many other companies wouldn't even exist, and this is a fitting tribute to our country. Additionally, in the slate, The Brink of War, starring Jeff Daniels, Runner with Owen Wilson and Alan Ritchson, Angel and the Badman, starring Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones and Zachary Levi. Drummer Boy, Hershey, Zero A.D. with Devika Cell, Sam Worthington, Jim Caviezel, and Ben Mendelsohn. These films will finish off the year. Because of the scale and momentum of the Angel Guild, we are creating a powerful flywheel by attracting top talent and new genres. The more premium the filmmaker or popular the genre, the stronger the library becomes.

Speaker 5

The stronger the library, the higher the growth of the Guild. The larger the Guild royalty pool, the more attractive Angel becomes to the next filmmaker. That is a durable competitive moat. Our third objective in theatrical is audience expansion. Each new title allows Angel to target new and wider audiences. In addition to fans of award-winning talent previously announced, new genres spanning action, satirical allegory, historical war epic, Cold War thriller, and Western each unlock dedicated audiences to these genres who represent entirely new segments of Angel's addressable market for And, actually, these titles also lower the customer acquisition cost as we bring people to the Guild. The Guild model is producing real expansion in our TAM with this approach. An Angel theatrical release is a brand awareness and Guild retention event, a filmmaker magnet, and a new member acquisition vehicle.

Speaker 5

That's why we do it, and it's that powerful. Before I highlight the Angel TV series and a few thoughts about our AI improvements, I want to share one final thought about financial discipline when it comes to the theatrical business. We built our own ticketing technology in-house, and we right-sized marketing budgets using our proprietary data. This year's slate of 10 films will put Angel in the same release category as it comes to wide releases as studios that have operated for decades and employ thousands of people. We are executing with just 300 employees, powered by technology and an audience that has already told us what they want to see. That discipline has delivered higher performance.

Speaker 5

From 2023 to 2025, Angel Studios' U.S. theatrical releases have generated the highest domestic box office for independent films in the industry, surpassing well-known distributors such as A24, Neon, Searchlight Pictures, and Focus Features. On the Angel Studios streaming platform, our library recently surpassed 1,000 titles, and we are on track to almost double the library from 2025 by adding 500 episodes, 200 films, and 30 comedy specials handpicked by the Angel Guild by the end of 2026. That's like a new title coming out every day. As AI collapses the cost of VFX and production, we could even see an acceleration of quality independent titles coming to the market. Angel Studios' scalable curation model driven by the Angel Guild, is poised to discover and capitalize on the best titles from this tsunami of storytelling. We think it's gonna be a renaissance, and we're excited about it.

Speaker 5

Last year, we set a goal to achieve a 10x productivity increase in key functions using artificial intelligence in our operations. In Q1 of 2026, we haven't slowed down. Our marketing team has built AI tools that are acting as 10x multiplier across the entire organization and across the growing library, improving performance and speed simultaneously. Our customer support team has had breakthroughs using AI to handle basic inquiries, freeing our people to focus on complex issues and dramatically improving our customer satisfaction. Our media operations team actually reduced content scrub time from 1 hour to 1 minute. Those are great operational examples, but as we work to complete the acquisitions of Tuttle Twins and the Wingfeather Saga franchises, we've given their production teams access to Angel's internal AI tools.

Speaker 5

Last week, Tuttle Twins producers showcased an AI production breakthrough to our internal filmmaker community. The producers asked everyone to try to identify which scenes in an animated video were generated by AI versus animators. The results were so impressive, I mean, the showrunners couldn't even identify it. We decided to leverage the knowledge to accelerate the series production and reduce animation costs for future episodes of multiple shows. As one of the producers put it, "In the last two weeks alone, we've gone from major barriers to unlocking so many opportunities to tell stories, the stories we've been too constrained to tell." We believe that this AI experimentation and knowledge sharing are enabled by our decision to acquire our most-watched series and will strengthen Angel's competitive position long into the future.

Speaker 5

Our ability to provide a diverse range of unforgettable values-driven stories across both television and film is one of the reasons why we believe that our total addressable market in the U.S. is over 35 times where we are today. Meanwhile, the global market is expanding and growing over 20% each year through 2034, and we plan to accelerate Guild membership growth in international markets after we achieve sustainable profitability in the U.S. The quarter results have validated the growing strength of Angel Studios's recurring revenue model. Angel Studios's not a theatrical studio. Angel Studios is not even a streamer. Angel Studios has used both the theatrical business and its streaming platform to build the most engaged values-driven entertainment community in the whole world.

Speaker 5

With our expanding library of top talent, over 10% growth of the Guild members in just the first quarter, $115 million in revenue, and $4 million in positive Adjusted EBITDA, this is working. Scott, will you please take us through the financials?

Speaker 8

Thanks, Neal. Good morning, everyone. I'm excited to share with you our financial performance in more detail. As Neal stated, total revenue for Q1 of 2026 was $115 million, up 143% from $47 million in revenue in Q1 of 2025. Similarly, our year-over-year improvement in Adjusted EBITDA was substantial. Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 of 2026 was positive $4 million, up $32 million from a loss of $28 million in Adjusted EBITDA in Q1 of 2025. Both figures were also above the ranges provided by the company in the 8-K filed on 10 of April, 2026. Within that total, our revenue mix continues to shift towards the Guild as designed. Guild revenue was 63% of total revenue in Q4 and 72% for Q1 of 2026. As we've stated before, that trajectory will continue.

Speaker 8

If we were to have a blockbuster theatrical release, that may skew the % in a future quarter. As of the quarter end, we had 2,220,000 paying Guild members, adding over 220,000 members in Q1. If you do the math, 2.22 million members times an average monthly revenue of approximately $13.69 annualized, that represents roughly $365 million in annually recurring revenue. As we continue to add members as planned, our operational leverage continues to improve. As you can see from the significant change in Guild marketing spend as a % of total Guild revenues, 43% in Q1 of 2026 versus 79% in Q4 of 2025.

Speaker 8

We are attracting members more efficiently, and that's a key data point for the health of our business. While average revenue per member is holding up well at $13.69, CAC is lower, which means it is cheaper for us to acquire new members. As a result of the growing library, retention continues to get better, customer lifetime values, and the results continue to improve. Now, on the theatrical side, Solo Mio drove strong results through the quarter, along with the continued run of I Was a Stranger and of course, David. We provide theatrical revenue detail in the 10-Q. The theatrical contribution, though, was a meaningful driver of the $115 million of revenue in Q1. The contribution of these films to Guild growth and retention moving forward is the strategic reason for being involved in the theatrical business in the first place.

Speaker 8

Gross margin for the quarter was 61.8%, consistent with the 60% we reported in Q4 of 2025. G&A expenses were $11 million, up 53% year-over-year. In comparison to our revenue growth of 143% year-over-year. Our GAAP net loss attributable to controlling interest was $13.8 million, or a loss of $0.08 per share, compared to a net loss of $37 million, $0.26 in Q1 of 2025, an improvement of over $23 million year-over-year. We ended Q1 with $38.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, and I want to highlight one number from the cash flow statement that I think deserves attention. We generated $1.9 million in positive operating cash flow in Q1 of 2026.

Speaker 8

That compares with $9.8 million of operating cash outflow in Q1 of 2025. That's an $11.7 million swing in operating cash generation in a single year. Keep in mind, it happened in the same quarter we ran a significant theatrical slate and added 220,000+ Guild members. That is the flywheel translating into real cash economics. Now, on April 13th, we successfully closed a $34.5 million underwritten registered offering of Class A common stock, inclusive of the full exercise-it allotment option. This raise meaningfully strengthens our balance sheet for the biggest, boldest slate we have ever brought to the Angel streaming platform for Guild members. Investors told us that the need to raise capital to satisfy the Trinity Capital agreement, our debt lender, was an overhang on our stock and was potentially pressuring the share price.

Speaker 8

Having now successfully raised approximately $32 million in net proceeds in this equity offering satisfies the requirement, and we can now unlock an additional $40 million in debt capital if needed. This capital will primarily be used to strengthen our Guild growth initiatives. We're pleased with how the team is executing across every dimension of the business. The results for Q1 speak for themselves, and we believe this improvement will continue. We're hyper-focused on growing the Guild, the engine that drives the economics of Angel, and we believe we're only just scratching the surface of that total addressable market of potential Guild members. Theatrical releases will still create some lumpiness in our results. For example, 7 of our 10 slated theatrical releases will be in the second half of the year. By lumpiness, what I mean is the timing of costs to revenues.

Speaker 8

We told you in Q4 that the spend on David occurred in Q4, but most of that benefit comes in 2026 and beyond. Similarly, in Q2 of this year, we'll initiate the ad spend for Young Washington with a planned release date, though, in July, so the revenues are anticipated to come in Q3 and beyond. The bottom line is that adjusted EBITDA on a quarterly basis is likely to remain somewhat volatile, but we believe we're on track to deliver our fiscal year 2026 guidance of an EBITDA loss of $25 million or less. Now I'll turn it to the operator for questions.

Speaker 6

One moment, please, while we pull for questions. Our first question comes from Tom Forte with Maxim Group. Please state your question.

Speaker 9

Great, thanks. Neal and Scott, congrats-

Speaker 8

Uh-oh. Can't hear him.

Speaker 5

Tom Forte, it was great to hear your voice briefly, but we are having a technical difficulty. We can't hear the remainder of your question.

Speaker 8

Hold on.

Speaker 9

Can you hear me now?

Speaker 5

Yes. Yes.

Speaker 8

Perfect.

Speaker 5

Now we can hear you.

Speaker 9

Okay, I'll talk faster. All right, just one question from me. As you broaden your theatrical releases, how do you think about how they advance the mission? For example, I would appreciate how you believe Solo Mio and Animal Farm amplify light.

Speaker 5

Great question, Tom Forte. If we just back out for one second, Angel Studios and everything we do is about the Angel Guild community, strengthening that community and growing the community. We had a great recording last night of our event, it's called Amplify, that will be broadcast shortly, but we had lots of Angel Guild members there and it was really invigorating for me to see people's faces and their gratitude and this really is a movement. That's what this is about. Right now, in the 21st century, one of the hottest things out there is called IRL, in real life, and that's the way that people are thinking about building brands and standing out in the AI era. Social media is becoming so noisy. The internet is becoming so noisy, how does one stand out?

Speaker 5

The filmmakers who are coming to Angel get to stand out by being on the silver screen. The Angel Guild members get to celebrate the work that they are doing, the funds that they are contributing to Angel's mission through their guild memberships. They get to celebrate their work alongside the filmmakers in person, in real life, and that's very powerful for the Angel brand. It's a, it's an experience that It's going to happen 10 times this year with all different kinds of genres, new genres that we've never done before that allow us to also grow our audience into new audiences. We get to help retain our existing Guild members, have them be happy with what Angel is accomplishing with their membership fees.

Speaker 5

We get to attract new filmmakers who want to be on the silver screen and want to stand out and want to have an in-person, real-life community experience. We get to reach new audiences with new genres, new talent. This is really important for us and Solo Mio and Animal Farm both were opportunities to tap into new markets. Solo Mio being a rom-com, we'd never done that before. It's the highest, if not tied for the highest rated, romantic comedy of all time on Rotten Tomatoes, and just a beautiful movie. Kevin James says it's his best work and we were proud to take that to the world, and it did extremely well.

Speaker 5

Animal Farm also is not, you know, a Orwell's masterpiece, allows us to Well, you asked how do these titles amplify light? Well, that's not, we fired ourselves from making that decision, like the community. I have the same vote as everybody else does in the Guild. The community voted for Solo Mio. The community voted for Animal Farm. They felt that they both amplified light. In the case of Solo Mio, it was a joyful rom-com. They had an amazing time. In the case of Animal Farm, it's a conversation that we believe from the comments that the Guild felt like needed to be had.

Speaker 5

Both of these are allowing us to expand the audience size for Angel, keep the Guild happy, and then help filmmakers understand that Angel is a home. It's a very broad tent and a home for all different types of genres and talent. Thank you very much, Tom, for that question.

Speaker 6

Thank you, Neal. Your next question comes from Jason Helfstein with Oppenheimer & Company. Please state your question.

Speaker 3

Hey, guys. How's everybody doing? I'll ask you two questions.

Speaker 5

Thanks.

Speaker 3

One, I guess, Neal, has the IPO given you more visibility with talent? Just maybe talk about how both that and then just kind of the success of your box office releases since the IPO, how that's impacted talent relations, and the ability to kind of attract talent. Then second, Scott, how are you thinking, I guess, generally about the cadence of net adds and marketing spend for the rest of the year? I guess is Young Washington the biggest swing factor as we're kind of thinking about kind of modeling the rest of the year, depending on how that does and kind of what you choose to put behind that? Thanks.

Speaker 5

Thanks for the questions, Jason. In terms of the box offices this year, our theatrical strategy is about creating a marketing event around and an in-person experience around every single film. We did I Was a Stranger. I Was a Stranger brought us a brand-new interest in the community. Solo Mio also has, for example, we just announced a new title called Runner. That title is a direct result of Solo Mio coming to Angel and the success of that. Runner decided also to come to Angel and that's very exciting 'cause that's a new genre for us as well, new actors that we'd never worked with before, Owen Wilson, Alan Ritchson, and it's action-comedy. That's very exciting.

Speaker 5

We had a screening premiere in N.Y. for Animal Farm and that has a, you know, really deep experienced cast and the relationships that came out of that we can't announce yet, but there have been lots of relationships come out of that opportunity. Jason, definitely the films themselves have been a real draw. As far as the IPO process itself, I think we've seen an increase in conversation. We've had comedians and other talent come to Angel and say that they have invested in Angel. We know that people are tracking Angel and its mission throughout the community. I think that ANGX gives people a symbol, something that they can rally behind. Quite frankly, we're performing really well as a company.

Speaker 5

We're growing very, very fast and so, it is a galvanizing effect on Angel's mission and on our partners, something for them to track, as far as Angel's success. Thanks for that question, Jason.

Speaker 8

It also got Jason to sign up for the Guild.

Speaker 5

Oh, good.

Speaker 8

That would be the impact on the Guild.

Speaker 6

Annual member. Annual member.

Speaker 8

As far as the cadence of the marketing, you know, we talked after the Q4 release about how we had spent.

Speaker 5

The majority of the spend on the marketing for David occurred in Q4. A lot of that benefit, well, the majority of that benefit ultimately will be in Q1 2026 and beyond. There is, you know, You pointed out well, Young Washington's going to be a little bit of a difficult release to project. Luckily, because we're running our data in a very specific way, we won't overspend in terms of the marketing spend. Because the marketing spend will occur in Q2, and then the results and the benefit coming in Q3, we'll see that same sort of cadence that we did from Q4 to Q1 with David. David, you know, gave us a nice bump in Q1.

Speaker 5

We should see a nice bump in Q3, but it could be, it will, you know, create mixed results somewhat in Q2 that way in terms of marketing spend for the theatrical. On the Guild side, we're continuing to sort of moving, you know, we're moving efficiently. I mean, you know, if you step back for a second, you think about marketing spend and what we're doing overall as the Guild grows bigger. You know, last year, you know, if you step back, we'd lost $132 in Adjusted EBITDA, and this year we're targeting $25 or less. That's in large part because the size of the business is growing.

Speaker 5

An individual movie like Young Washington will have less of an effect in future quarters, but it still will have a cadence impact on the sort of, a little bit of the lumpiness on the earnings side.

Speaker 6

Appreciate the color. Thanks.

Speaker 5

Take care.

Speaker 6

Your next question comes from Eric Handler with Roth Capital. Please state your question.

Speaker 1

Good morning. Thanks for the question. Two questions. First, Last quarter, I believe you introduced the Gift a Guild. You know, it's a $6 sort of add-on for families. Curious how that strategy is progressing.

Speaker 5

Thanks for asking about that. That's an excellent strategy that the team has been testing, where an Angel Guild member can essentially add another Angel Guild member to their billing information. Grandma could add grandkids if she wanted to. It's an interesting feature. It's been used. We don't have anything to report on the feature, in terms of, you know, changing models based on the feature. We're watching it carefully and it's an important feature for those Angel Guild members who use it. It's all margin for us 'cause we don't have to spend marketing to acquire that new Angel Guild member. It's a great opportunity.

Speaker 5

Just to clarify on how the feature works, a premium Guild member or a basic Guild member can both add someone to their account for $6 a month, and they become a basic member with ads. That's the function of the feature. Thanks for the question.

Speaker 1

Yep. Thanks. As a follow-up, you know, I really liked your CinemaCon presentation and the movies that you've added to the schedule, and these are great ways to sort of raise the profile of Angel among consumers. Historically, what we've seen from other streaming services is, you know, movies are great branding opportunities. If you want to sort of sustain or increase the lifetime value of a member, a lot of that is aided by the TV series. I'm curious what your TV series pipeline looks like at the moment.

Speaker 5

It's a great question. As we guided previously, we're planning 500 episodes for this year. I mean, call your average TV show 10, you know, season 10 episodes, be roughly, you know, 50 seasons to be released by Angel in 2026. That's our expectation. There is, you know, unknown, and that is some of the breakthroughs that are happening around AI could accelerate the quantity of independent content coming to the market, and that could change the trajectory for us. That's the sense of the scale. You know, on our specific most watched series, we have a new season of Homestead, new season of Tuttle Twins, new season of Wingfeather Saga, a new season of Wayfinders.

Speaker 5

We just announced at our event last night, and this will come out on the live stream that we're going to be broadcasting shortly, Seeking Persephone. There's a number of great shows that are coming to Angel, previous shows and brand-new shows as well. That's an important part of our strategy for retention and for Guild member acquisition, and we will continue to lean into that strategy.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Neal.

Speaker 5

Thank you. Thanks, Eric.

Speaker 6

Your next question comes from Drew Crumb with B. Riley. Please state your question.

Operator

Okay, thanks. Hey, guys. Good morning. Neal, you know, you addressed broadening your audience reach with the expanding 2026 theatrical lineup earlier. Maybe attacking this topic from a different angle, how do you see your mix of content evolving going forward? Are there genres or gaps in content that you'd like to add?

Speaker 5

It's a great question, Drew. Our strategy is to listen to the Angel Guild and the audience and what the Angel Guild would like for us to deliver for them. It's also a combination of scale as well. Some genres need scale to support them, right? Superhero blockbuster movie have $100 million budgets and, you know, we're not doing superhero movies. We're doing an action comedy movie that's got pretty big scale called Runner this year. We're also doing a large scale historical thriller, Zero A.D. We anticipate the genres will evolve as Angel Studios increases in scale that any genre that amplifies light will eventually be able to tap into those.

Speaker 5

One of the big things that happened and was a breakout year for us in 2025 was animation. Traditionally, this is a genre that only large scale companies can actually execute on. Angel proved with 2 of the top 10 animated releases that we can execute on that level with animation. That's very exciting for us to open up a broader like family animation genre for Angel moving forward and that's gonna be important for Angel and our focus on serving families and serving Guild members' households is serving that part of the market which is traditionally underserved. Thanks for that question. Hope that's helpful.

Operator

Yeah, super helpful. Thanks, Neal. Scott, maybe 1 for you. You have 2 remaining tranches of debt under your term loan with availability subject to achieving certain conditions. Can you address your need or appetite for accessing these and ability to do so given the accompanying requirements embedded in agreement? I think 1 is, you know, hitting a minimum recurring revenue figure. Thanks.

Speaker 8

Right. Well, we've already crossed the threshold for the next tranche along the way in terms of the requirement to draw on it should we choose to do so.

Operator

Okay.

Speaker 8

We're not far from the fourth. I would suggest that the way to look at it would be what you're asking us is what's our sort of cash flow runway look like as we go forward. Q1, we had a positive net operating cash flow. Again, there's gonna be a little ebbs and tides from quarter to quarter. Again, if you look back and sort of take a peek at where the company's going and where we're moving forward, it's all about growing the Guild. As long as we are continuing to execute in the main, the way that we are, we perceive that the cash we have on hand will continue to take us, you know, through to profitability.

Speaker 8

I think that's the way to look at it in that sense. Opportunities may come along that may, you know, require cash in some way. For the most part, as we operate and go forward and grow the Guild, you know, the faster we grow the Guild, it actually utilizes cash. If as the Guild starts to grow, if we see some acceleration opportunities, we may lean into them obviously for the benefit of the company long term. At this point in time, as we look at our business and our current trajectory, we think we have, you know, we had $38 million on the balance sheet as of the end of the quarter.

Speaker 8

Subsequent to the quarter, we raised the net $32 million. We do have those tranches going forward. I think we're in a really solid position in terms of where we are in terms of liquidity.

Operator

Okay. Thanks, guys.

Speaker 8

You bet.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Speaker 6

Your next question comes from Eric Wold with Texas Capital. Please state your question.

Speaker 5

Hi, Eric.

Speaker 2

Thanks. Good morning, guys. A couple questions kind of on strategy, I guess. With the new genres that you're bringing to theaters this year, how should we think about the marketing strategy around those genres that are new to Angel, in terms of, you know, new channels, new methodologies, if any, to kind of attract the kind of the potential Angel Guild members that would be attracted to those genres that maybe haven't, you know, been going after before?

Speaker 5

That's a really great question, Eric. When we pick up a new genre like Kevin James, Jonathan Roumie, which we've had Jonathan before, and some other actors inside of Solo Mio, each of those actors has a following, and they open up a marketing opportunity for us around their fan bases. Additionally, rom-com in general allows us, in combination with our demographics data of our Angel Guild members, allows us to approach the market in a new way, and that expands an audience size for Angel around Solo Mio. That same phenomenon is happening on every title, and we anticipate, for example, when we release Runner in September, Owen Wilson has a following.

Speaker 5

Owen Wilson and Alan Ritchson both have their own followings, and the action genre has a large following that does extremely well, both in theatrical and in streaming. Just think of them as a door, and the door that you open is, 'Oh, I get a brand new genre that gives me an audience, and then I get a brand new set of faces that are recognizable faces for a large audience.' That opens up a new marketing door, which for a time drops our CAC for new Guild members around those markets as we take advantage of that opportunity. Does that make sense, Eric?

Speaker 2

Yes. Yes, it does. As a follow-up, I know I guess on the doubling of the or planned doubling of the library this year, how should we think about the cadence of kind of library additions this year? Are there any expectations for kind of the annual growth in the library that may be necessary in the years ahead to sustain retention?

Speaker 5

It's a good question. Now as far as this year, we are on pace with our episodes and specials. We are, I don't have the numbers right in front of me. I think if we released the same number of films we did in Q1 through the rest of the year, we'd be behind pace for the 200 titles. We're not at all concerned about that. We have some deals that are coming together and titles that are gonna come in swaths that we're completely confident in our goal. Think an acceleration of films throughout the year, and that we're on track with our TV shows.

Speaker 5

As far as the subsequent years, there's really a big wild card. Right now there's 1,000 independent films produced every year without distribution, and about 17% of those are good enough to actually get distribution. It's only a small percentage of those that are good enough to be on Angel. Angel's positioning is well-positioned to be the first choice for independent filmmakers. When the tsunami of AI content begins coming to the market, all the rules are gonna change, and this is really exciting. Now, Rick Rubin, Jeffrey, my Co-founder and our Chief Content Officer, was on a podcast with Rick Rubin recently. Rick Rubin told Jeffrey, he said, "You know what? Slop existed before AI, and slop will exist in higher quantity after AI.

Speaker 5

Yelling at AI is like yelling at a paintbrush or a drumstick.

Speaker 2

Oh, that's great.

Speaker 5

There's just tools to make art. We very much see this that way, and what Angel is positioned to do is we're better positioned to curate those titles. If we go from 1,000 independent titles to 10,000, then we're going to be dealing with a lot more quantity, but we're going to be positioned to best curate, you know, a beloved library of titles that are values-driven for the audience, and the audience will have trust in Angel's brand. They'll have a physical association with Angel's brand because of the in real life experiences. We feel like we're positioned. I wouldn't venture to say at this stage in the world, like, that we need to grow. Cause we doubled the library last year, we're almost doubling the library this year.

Speaker 5

Is that the right cadence moving forward? I doubt it. I think that the world is changing at a rate that content will become more niche and higher quality, and there'll be more options available, and those options will be trying to stand out. Angel will, we believe, be their first choice to stand out. It's gonna be an exciting next few years. If you just stand back and look where Angel has come year on year and how Angel's positioned in the marketplace for this opportunity, it's really exciting.

Speaker 2

Perfect. Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Speaker 8

Thanks, Eric.

Speaker 6

Your next question comes from Ryan Myers with Lake Street Capital. Please state your question.

Speaker 7

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. First one for me, you know, I'm just curious. You guys guided to Q1 after the quarter had already closed, reported results well ahead of expectation. Just wonder what those, you know, puts and takes were of that and what the source of the upside on the first quarter was versus what you guys previously guided in April.

Speaker 8

Sure. Ryan, let me speak to that real quick. You're absolutely correct. When we actually began the guidance, we hadn't closed the month entirely, as we were going through the offering. The biggest sort of differences that came in is we had an unexpected TVOD contract that came to fruition right at the end that we hadn't booked yet, and the Angel Guild growth was a little higher than expected. The Q1, right at the end there, we had a couple of things that came in that made a bigger difference in terms of our revenue, which, you know, ultimately fell mostly to the bottom line. It changed the result in terms of the Adjusted EBITDA number as well.

Speaker 8

Those were sort of the two main factors that came in right at the end that were, we didn't have built into our guidance that we gave before we finalized the close.

Speaker 7

Okay. Got it.

Speaker 8

You keep in mind the way the timing of these things work, there's a little of that. You know, we started beginning that guidance at the beginning of April, and it just by the time it got closed, the month got closed, it had changed slightly.

Speaker 7

Okay. That's helpful.

Speaker 7

The trains have changed.

Speaker 7

You know.

Speaker 8

Yeah, in a good way.

Speaker 7

Yeah. Right. Just thinking about the Angel Guild membership base, now over 2 million members, you know, versus 1 million or so last year. We have roughly 12 months of data here. You know, can you just give us any sort of metrics on what you've seen so far in terms of customer retention or what you're seeing churn currently look like?

Speaker 8

We haven't specifically given guidance on that, the CAC number or the retention number. If we step back for a second and just sort of look at the way the company is evolving, I think it gives you some perspective on those two numbers, at least at a minimum. A year ago, we spent $30 million in Q1 in Guild marketing, and we had $36 million revenue. In this Q1, we spent $36 million in marketing, and we have revenues of about $83 million. You can see that the dynamic is changing, at least in terms of the way the company is moving forward. Again, remember, everything's about Guild growth and about growing the Guild going forward. Obviously, CAC and retention become very big numbers.

Speaker 8

I think we're still at a point yet where we're not gonna give specific guidance on that. There's probably still some fluctuation that's occurring in regard to that. As we just talked about, we're actually doubling our library, which will have an impact on retention, and it'll have an impact on CAC. We're not It's hard to give specific guidance around that, where we're at at this point in time. You know, it won't be too much longer. I'm sure we can talk a little bit better more about that. I think the important thing to remember is that from an overall picture, our marketing is getting more efficient, especially as a % of revenue, and that's what's happening.

Speaker 8

The library continues to grow and our Guild growth numbers, you know, we gave the 200,000 number at the call, and we added, you know, another 20,000 in the next 17 days. We can believe that that'll continue to go forward. Neal, do you have something to add?

Speaker 5

Yeah. Ryan, Just put yourself in the shoes of a Guild member today versus a Guild member at the beginning of 2025. Beginning of 2025, we had 9 theatrical releases. We had Sound of Freedom in our library. We had a few other titles. Now at the beginning of 2026, we have two major animated releases. We're up to 17 titles, and we'll be adding an additional 10 titles, plus this large streaming library, from new genres, new actors, and more, you know, traditionally more like marketable genres like action. As a new Guild member, joining us in 2026, it's a completely different picture than it was before.

Speaker 5

It's a completely different value proposition, that is the flywheel that is happening here at Angel and is continuing to accelerate. We're very optimistic. We have seen improvements in our retention numbers year-over-year, we expect, based on how we're executing, that those are going to continue to improve. That is the focus of our business because we get You know, with a 1% change in retention, we get huge leverage on that as a business moving forward, that's our focus. I'm glad that we're closing with that question 'cause it's so important.

Speaker 7

Got it. Well, thanks for taking my questions, guys.

Speaker 8

Thanks, Ryan.

Speaker 6

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Neal Harmon for closing remarks.

Speaker 5

Thank you. You know, everything at Angel is about building a community. The theatrical business and the streaming business are to support a community and what this community would like to achieve. It's also about aligning filmmakers with the audience by sharing the upside and amplifying all of their impact. If I were to summarize our two completed quarters as a publicly traded company, in Q4, our acquisitions positioned our most watched series, David, Homestead, Tuttle Twins, and The Wingfeather Saga, for future Guild growth. In Q1, our scale and deeper use of AI helped transition Angel to sustainable Guild growth. We are now a community of over 2,220,000 households strong with estimated $365 million of economic power. This is exciting. The scale and momentum of the Angel Guild is creating a powerful flywheel.

Speaker 5

Thank you for your trust in Angel. We'll see you next quarter.

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