Perion Network NASDAQ: PERI reported modest first-quarter revenue growth while management highlighted rising adoption of its Perion One platform and Outmax AI agent as the company continues to shift away from legacy web and search economics toward channel-agnostic advertising infrastructure.
On the company’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Tal Jacobson said 2025 marked “year 1 for the new Perion Network,” while 2026 is focused on advancing new technologies and accelerating client adoption. He said the company saw increases across its growth engines during the quarter, with connected TV and digital out-of-home outgrowing the market, retail media gaining adoption and Outmax becoming “a meaningful part of Perion One.”
Chief Financial Officer Elad Tzubery said first-quarter results were “largely as we expected,” reflecting the seasonally low quarter for the industry. Revenue rose 1% year over year to $90.4 million. Contribution ex-TAC was flat at $39.7 million, with a 44% margin, consistent with the prior-year period. Adjusted EBITDA declined to $0.5 million from $1.8 million a year earlier, which Tzubery attributed mainly to higher go-to-market investments tied to the company’s three-year growth plan.
Perion One spend rises as company shifts reporting focus
Management emphasized that spend, rather than channel revenue, will become a central metric for evaluating the company’s strategic progress. Tzubery said Perion will no longer provide channel revenue breakdowns as a primary KPI, citing the company’s transition toward “a truly channel-agnostic platform” centered on Outmax.
“Spend represents the total media budget running through our platform,” Tzubery said. “It is the truest leading indicator of our platform’s adoption, customers’ trust, and long-term scale.”
Total Perion One spend increased 6% year over year in the quarter. Tzubery said Perion One contribution ex-TAC increased 7% year over year and represented 81% of total contribution ex-TAC, up from 75% in the first quarter of 2025. He said the company expects Perion One to account for 85% to 90% of full-year 2026 contribution ex-TAC.
Within the company’s growth engines, CTV spend grew 68% year over year to $18 million, digital out-of-home spend grew 29% to $60.6 million and retail media spend rose 27% to $36.5 million. Tzubery said those growth rates helped offset a decline in web activity.
Outmax expands across platforms and regions
Jacobson described Perion One as “an AI-native execution infrastructure” designed to unify a fragmented advertising ecosystem for advertisers and publishers. He said Outmax, the AI agent technology that came with Perion’s Greenbids acquisition, is intended to allocate spend, manage pacing and optimize outcomes in real time across Perion One and external platforms.
During the quarter, Perion launched Outmax for TikTok. Jacobson said early results showed up to a 25% performance lift on TikTok, while Tzubery said the TikTok product generated more than $1 million in spend during the first quarter.
In response to a question from Raymond James analyst Andrew Marok, Jacobson said Outmax spend grew by more than 300% year over year. He said the product’s key differentiator is its ability to operate across CTV, web and social platforms, including closed ecosystems, through a single AI agent infrastructure.
Perion also announced an exclusive partnership with McSorely Media and Mediamark to deploy Outmax and programmatic digital out-of-home capabilities across Africa. Jacobson said the partnership opens access to a programmatic market forecast to reach $6.5 billion by 2029 and creates new revenue channels “without adding further expenses” to the company’s profit and loss statement.
Company highlights customer campaigns and AI use cases
Jacobson cited several customer examples to illustrate how Perion’s technology is being used across channels. Bouygues Telecom used Outmax in always-on campaigns, producing a 34% lower customer acquisition cost and a 51% reduction in carbon intensity, according to Jacobson. C4 Energy used Perion’s YouTube capabilities and saw a skippable view rate 80% above benchmark, a 20.7% lift in brand awareness and a 4.1 lift in brand ad recall.
He also cited a campaign for Vaseline that integrated live UV index data into digital out-of-home creative, delivering more than 1.65 million impressions. Jacobson said the campaign showed how digital out-of-home can support “dynamic, data-driven storytelling.”
Perion also discussed internal AI initiatives. In response to Needham analyst Laura Martin, Jacobson said Perion One and Outmax are fully AI-driven and that new products under development are “fully agentic.” Internally, he said Perion has deployed AI tools in research and development and introduced an AI sales development representative capability intended to speed lead qualification.
Search revenue rises, but contribution declines
Search revenue increased 21% year over year to $23.7 million, while advertising solutions revenue totaled $66.7 million. However, Tzubery said search contribution ex-TAC declined 70% as Perion transitions away from its Microsoft agreement and works with search providers carrying lower margin profiles.
“Even though search revenue increased year-over-year by 21%, the related Contribution ex-TAC decreased by 70% as expected,” Tzubery said.
On a GAAP basis, Perion reported a net loss of $10 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $8.3 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, in the prior-year quarter. Non-GAAP net income was $4.8 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, compared with $5.4 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, a year earlier.
The company generated $6.7 million in operating cash flow and $7 million in adjusted free cash flow. Perion ended the quarter with $293 million in cash equivalents, short-term bank deposits and marketable securities. During the quarter, it repurchased 2.5 million shares for $24.1 million. Tzubery said the company has repurchased 15.3 million shares for $142.2 million under its current authorization at an average price of $9.27 per share.
Management reiterates 2026 outlook despite macro caution
Tzubery said Perion is reiterating its full-year 2026 guidance despite expected macro headwinds in the second quarter. He cited building momentum in the pipeline for the second half of the year and “several large strategic agreements” in advanced stages.
Asked about advertiser caution, Tzubery said inflation, oil prices and Middle East tensions have created uncertainty around budgets, particularly in consumer packaged goods and, to a lesser extent, autos. He also said advertisers continue to use shorter planning cycles.
Jacobson announced that Chief Revenue Officer Stephen Yap will transition out of his role. He said Perion is flattening the sales organization and adding AI capabilities to improve conversion of its growing pipeline into realized revenue.
In closing, Jacobson said Perion will continue investing in its technologies and clients, adding that management expects adoption rates to increase.
About Perion Network NASDAQ: PERI
Perion Network Ltd. NASDAQ: PERI is a digital advertising technology company that offers a suite of solutions designed for both brand marketers and performance-driven advertisers. The firm's platform integrates search monetization, programmatic display, video and connected TV (CTV) advertising to help clients reach and engage audiences across desktop, mobile and television environments. Through proprietary algorithms and AI-driven tools, Perion's technology optimizes ad placements in real time, aiming to boost campaign efficiency and return on investment for publishers and advertisers alike.
Key offerings include search engine marketing services that cover major platforms such as Google and Bing, native and display advertising solutions under its Undertone brand, as well as social and video ad formats.
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