CuriosityStream Q4 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Strong 2025 results: CuriosityStream reported full‑year revenue of $71.7 million (up 40%) and adjusted free cash flow of $13.9 million (up 46%), with four consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA and a narrowed net loss of $6.4 million.
• Licensing and AI tailwind: Licensing revenue surged to $33.2 million in 2025—driven by structured video fulfillments for AI training—and management expects licensing to exceed subscription revenue in 2026 as partner demand broadens.
• Healthy liquidity and upbeat outlook: The company finished 2025 with $27.3 million in cash, no debt, paid $22 million in dividends, raised buyback authorization to $6 million, and guided H1 2026 revenue of $38–$42 million while forecasting double‑digit growth and the potential for full‑year positive GAAP earnings.

CuriosityStream NASDAQ: CURI executives highlighted sharp year-over-year revenue growth, expanding margins, and continued cash generation during the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call, while emphasizing the accelerating role of licensing—particularly structured video fulfillments for AI model training—in the business mix.

2025 results: revenue up 40% and cash flow extended

Chief Executive Officer Clint Stinchcomb said CuriosityStream delivered “strong full year 2025 results,” driven by what he described as complementary revenue pillars: licensing volume, including structured video fulfillments for AI training, and a “sturdy” subscription business supported by new partnerships and operational execution.

For the full year, CuriosityStream reported revenue of $71.7 million, up 40% from $51.1 million in 2024. Adjusted free cash flow increased 46% to $13.9 million from $9.5 million in 2024.

In the fourth quarter, revenue rose 36% to $19.2 million from $14.1 million a year earlier, while adjusted free cash flow climbed 33% to $4.3 million.

Chief Financial Officer P. Brady Hayden said fourth-quarter revenue landed at the high end of the company’s guidance. He also reported adjusted EBITDA of $1.1 million in Q4, representing a $3.1 million improvement from the prior-year period and marking the company’s fourth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. For the full year, adjusted EBITDA totaled $8.2 million, a $14.3 million improvement from 2024.

Licensing momentum and the shift toward AI training

Management repeatedly underscored licensing as a long-term growth engine, with Stinchcomb stating the company believes annual licensing revenue will exceed overall subscription revenue in 2026. Hayden reported that in 2025, subscriptions generated $37.0 million and licensing generated $33.2 million, which he said represented an increase of more than $25 million from 2024 and was driven by continued growth in AI training fulfillments.

In Q4, licensing revenue was $9.8 million (up $6.1 million year-over-year), while subscription revenue was $9.1 million.

Stinchcomb argued CuriosityStream’s licensing model is “durable” because it is built on content assets that are “scarce,” “rights aware,” and increasingly valuable across multiple end markets. He described CuriosityStream’s licensing inventory as a large library supported by more than 200 content and data partners, featuring finished and raw content across factual genres as well as sports, news, general entertainment, animation, and film. He also emphasized the company’s push to provide “usable data sets” through structured metadata, taxonomy, provenance, segmentation, and packaging tailored to partner specifications.

Stinchcomb said the company expects demand to broaden beyond existing customers, projecting the overall roster of partners could more than double in 2026 and potentially increase 5-6x in 2027 as fine-tuning of open source and proprietary models expands the potential buyer universe.

Renewals and partner pipeline

In response to emailed questions (after technical difficulties disrupted the live Q&A), Stinchcomb said large language model (LLM) licensors are renewing. “Virtually everyone has renewed or will renew,” he said, adding that subsequent agreements tend to be easier to execute because the contracting framework is already in place. He also said the company is seeing repeat business while simultaneously receiving interest from new potential partners with high volume and specific requirements.

Asked about CuriosityStream’s ability to add other companies’ libraries for licensing, Stinchcomb said the company is “constantly in acquisition mode” and added that CuriosityStream has been told by “the most valuable by market cap companies in the world” that it has the best video corpus for AI training.

In a separate question about CuriosityStream’s partnership with Veritone’s Video Training Library, Stinchcomb described Veritone as a longtime technology partner that helps the company organize and clip content and manage high volumes of assets as it prepares licensing fulfillments.

Margins, expenses, and profitability bridge

Stinchcomb said cost discipline contributed to expanding gross margins and lower non-discretionary G&A spending, pointing to Q4 gross margin expansion to 60% from 52% a year earlier and a 33% year-over-year reduction in non-discretionary G&A expenses.

Hayden reported gross margins of 60% in Q4 and 57% for the full year, both improved from the prior year. He noted that storage and delivery costs increased during the year due to the volume of video included in AI licensing agreements.

Hayden said combined advertising and marketing plus G&A costs were higher by 24% year-over-year, attributing the increase primarily to non-cash stock-based compensation of $14.4 million (about $0.24 per share), an adjustment to payroll for incentive compensation, and one-time expenses associated with an August secondary stock offering. Without those items, he said G&A would have declined by more than $1 million in 2025.

For the full year, CuriosityStream posted a net loss of $6.4 million, compared to a net loss of $12.9 million in 2024. Hayden said the 2025 net loss was driven by the one-time charges, incentive compensation adjustment, and non-cash stock-based compensation, and that absent those charges the company would have posted positive earnings for the year.

Capital return, liquidity, and 2026 outlook

Hayden said CuriosityStream ended 2025 with $27.3 million in total cash and securities and no outstanding debt. Stinchcomb similarly cited more than $27 million of liquidity and no debt as providing flexibility.

Hayden also noted that 6.7 million warrants expired unexercised in October, which he said reduces potential dilution and “should eliminate any lingering share overhang.”

The company paid $4.7 million for its fourth-quarter dividend in December, including a 10-cent special dividend paid in June, bringing total dividends paid in 2025 to $22 million, according to Hayden. Looking ahead, Stinchcomb said the company intends to pay 2026 dividends from cash generated by operations, as it did in 2024.

Hayden said the board increased the company’s share repurchase authorization to $6 million, and management plans to selectively resume repurchases in the coming weeks and months.

For guidance, Hayden said CuriosityStream expects first-half 2026 revenue of $38 million to $42 million and adjusted free cash flow of $6 million to $9 million. For the full year, management reiterated its belief that the company will achieve double-digit growth in both revenue and cash flow in 2026, and Hayden said a full year of positive GAAP earnings is achievable.

Management emphasized that timing can be difficult to forecast due to the structure of licensing deals. Hayden said the revenue cycle for such agreements is generally 4 to 6 months, involving delivery, revenue recognition, and an acceptance process, and noted that the company often does not issue purchase orders until it is paid under most contracts. He added the company may narrow its guidance as it moves closer into the second quarter.

On the subscription side, Stinchcomb said the company expects low- to mid-single-digit percentage growth in subscription revenue in 2026, driven by new pricing rolled out March 1, new wholesale and retail partnerships, and organic growth from existing partnerships. He also said CuriosityStream anticipates launching on 12 to 20 new platforms over the course of 2026, citing a launch with Apple in Canada as one recent example.

Stinchcomb said the March 1 price increase will take about a year to fully implement due to annual subscriptions, with a small portion of customers affected in the first month and broader impact rolling through over time.

About CuriosityStream NASDAQ: CURI

CuriosityStream, Inc NASDAQ: CURI is a global streaming media company specializing in factual content across science, nature, history and technology. Founded in 2015 by John Hendricks, the founder of the Discovery Channel, CuriosityStream offers on-demand documentaries, series and short-form programming designed to inform and entertain viewers with high-quality educational content. The company's library features both original productions and licensed titles, covering topics such as space exploration, wildlife conservation, archaeology and cutting-edge scientific research.

Since its launch, CuriosityStream has expanded its reach to subscribers in more than 175 countries, delivering content in multiple languages and via a range of platforms.

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