Super League (SLE) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript

Image source: The Motley Fool.

DATE

May 15, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• President and Chief Commercial Officer — Matthew Edelman
• Operator

Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email pr@fool.com

TAKEAWAYS

• Cash Balance -- $11.4 million at quarter-end; management stated they do not anticipate needing to raise capital for ongoing operations despite a $1.5 million outlay this month for the Misfits Ads business acquisition.
• Gross Revenue -- $3 million, up from $2.7 million year over year, with a 6% sequential decline from Q4 2025 attributed to typical seasonality, which management indicated as demonstrating “the early establishment of a higher revenue baseline.”
• Gross Margin -- 36%, up from 32% in Q4 2025; this improvement was credited to enhanced revenue mix and “a more disciplined delivery model” including greater use of turnkey and media packages.
• Cash-Based EBITDA -- Improved 11% year over year as stated by management, reflecting combined effects of investment and operational discipline.
• Average Closed Deal Size -- Increased to $157,000 from $145,000 year over year.
• Weighted Pipeline Open Opportunities per Salesperson -- Reached approximately $1.78 million, nearly triple the level from two years ago, as of this month.
• Client Acquisition -- 23 new clients engaged year-to-date, with further expansion noted among existing partners.
• Misfits Ads Business Acquisition -- Cash paid was $1.5 million with integration already underway; management stated “We will see an impact in the second quarter.” and transactions are “profitable, as we said, the acquisition itself is a profitable acquisition, an accretive acquisition on an EBITDA -- cash-based EBITDA basis.”
• Combined Super League and Misfits Pipeline -- “approximately $12 million of gross revenue potential in fiscal year 2026,” which management clarified “should not be interpreted as guidance.”
• Strategic Properties Initiative -- Maintains ownership interests in games such as Hide or Die! and My Avatar! and includes access to over 100 million users through the Misfits Gaming Group Roblox game portfolio, providing differentiated inventory and direct monetization opportunities.

SUMMARY

Super League Enterprise (NASDAQ:SLE) signaled the close integration of the Misfits Ads acquisition, positioning for increased scale in programmatic media and expected profitability improvements on a cash-based EBITDA basis by year-end. Management emphasized the accelerating diversification of multi-platform brand engagements, as clients now pursue cross-channel campaigns spanning Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft, mobile, and influencer-driven media on YouTube and TikTok. Company leaders highlighted a significant expansion in the commercial sales pipeline, supported by both increased deal sizes and broader opportunities per salesperson. In addition, statements outlined continued progress toward a scalable and predictable revenue foundation, driven by reusable campaign components and expanded media solutions. Super League also continues to explore participating in emerging digital asset economies, referencing broader regulatory approvals and industry movement as reinforcing their long-term strategic direction.

• Management offered that “The focus of 2026 is execution,” signaling a transition away from a stabilization phase referenced throughout 2025.
• Proprietary technology and rewarded video advertising via Misfits Ads are expected to be reflected in financial results starting in the following quarter, with “revenue-generating deals that have already moved over.”
• Commercial pipeline expansion is partly driven by “a more clear set of solutions” and engagement with agencies and marketers now “helping brands understand the opportunities to get in front of what we are now really emphasizing, our gamified consumers, both within gaming environments and beyond.”
• Positive operational signals include rising efficiency through “the delivery of turnkey packages” and media solutions, which were highlighted by management as key margin drivers.
• Company continues to position itself at the convergence of gaming, media, and digital financial infrastructure, citing recent regulatory and market developments as supportive of potential future opportunities.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Turnkey Package: Pre-developed, reusable marketing or campaign components that reduce customization time and costs for each client engagement.
• Programmatic Revenue: Revenue generated from automated, algorithm-driven digital advertising sales, often through real-time bidding platforms.
• Cash-Based EBITDA: Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization calculated using cash flows, excluding non-cash charges.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Matthew Edelman: Thank you very much, Darryl. Good morning, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to share our financial results and business updates for the first quarter of 2026, along with our perspective on the progress we are making as a company and the opportunities ahead. As we've discussed during our last earnings call, 2025 was about stabilizing and restructuring Super League. We strengthened our balance sheet, eliminated our debt, simplified our capital structure, reduced operating costs and established a more disciplined operating model. The focus of 2026 is execution. Our first quarter results reflect the early stages of delivery against the commitments we made to shareholders.

We are investing strategically to strengthen the business, expand our capabilities and create a more scalable and predictable revenue foundation, all while continuing to preserve capital and maintain financial flexibility. We believe our liquidity position remains strong. We ended the quarter with $11.4 million in cash. And even with the $1.5 million in cash consideration associated with the closing of the Misfits Ads business acquisition paid earlier this month, we do not anticipate needing to raise capital in the foreseeable future to fund ongoing operations. At the same time, we are beginning to see encouraging operational signals across the business. Gross revenue for Q1 2026 increased to $3 million, up from $2.7 million in the prior first year quarter.

Sequentially, revenue declined only 6% from Q4 2025 despite typical seasonal patterns in which our fourth quarter is materially stronger than the first. We believe this reflects the early establishment of a higher revenue baseline for Super League. Gross margin improved to 36% in Q1, up from 32% in Q4 2025, reflecting continued improvement in the quality and structure of our revenue mix and the more disciplined delivery model we have implemented across the organization. Cash-based EBITDA improved 11% year-over-year as we continue to balance strategic investment with operational discipline. We are also seeing positive momentum in our commercial activity.

Average closed deal size increased to $157,000, up from $145,000 in the prior-year quarter while weighted pipeline open opportunities per salesperson grew to approximately $1.78 million as of this month, nearly triple the level from 2 years ago. In addition, we have continued to expand our client base, engaging 23 new clients year-to-date, while also increasing activity with returning partners. We are beginning to see evidence that brands view Super League as more than a campaign execution partner. In an increasing number of cases, relationships that began on one gaming platform, such as Roblox, are evolving into multi-platform programs spanning Fortnite, Minecraft and mobile. Connected TV, PC and web gaming are now entering the mix as well.

We are also incorporating more media solutions and amplification strategies through TikTok and YouTube influencers, tapping into the vibrant gaming creator economy. Together, these trends reinforce Super League's role as a strategic partner, helping brands reach consumers across fragmented digital environments. That progress is supported by a stronger and more connected operating model. Our platform and data capabilities continue to expand through the integration of Bounce, our Solsten partnership and now the addition of rewarded video advertising technology and new programmatic solutions via the Misfits Ads business acquisition. Together, these capabilities strengthen our ability to better understand audiences, improve the return on advertising spend and support more scalable campaign execution.

At the same time, our strategic properties initiative continues to evolve through ownership interests in gaming experiences on Roblox such as Hide or Die! and My Avatar!, along with our commercial partnership with Misfits Gaming Group. These initiatives provide access to differentiated inventory, including more than 100 million users through the Misfits Gaming Group Roblox game portfolio, direct monetization opportunities and gameplay behavior signals that further enhance our understanding of consumer engagement patterns. The recent closing of the Misfits Ads business transaction reinforces this broader strategy. The addition of profitable programmatic revenue, proprietary technology and expanded brand relationships is expected to contribute to our financial results beginning in the second quarter.

More importantly, we believe the transaction strengthens the predictability and scalability of our revenue model while supporting our path to cash-based EBITDA profitability by year-end. On a pro forma basis, the combined Super League and Misfits pipeline of opportunities reflects approximately $12 million of gross revenue potential in fiscal year 2026. While this should not be interpreted as guidance, we believe it provides a useful illustration of the expanded scale and commercial reach of the combined business as well as a clearer trajectory towards sustained financial stability. Stepping back, more broadly, we believe the market itself is evolving in ways that further align with Super League's strengths.

We've spoken often about the scale and influence of gaming audiences, what is becoming clear, however, is that gaming behavior itself is shaping consumer behavior across the digital economy. Consumers are gravitating toward products and services built around progression-based engagement, participation, identity expression, rewards and continuous interactive feedback loops. We see these dynamics across prediction markets, sports betting, stock trading, collectibles, social commerce, dating platforms and even emerging entertainment formats such as micro dramas. Said simply, we are witnessing the rise of the gamified consumer. With more than 80% of people under the age of 45 playing video games, we believe Super League is uniquely positioned to help brands understand and connect with this highly engaged and undermonetized audience.

The player mindset increasingly shapes consumer behavior well beyond gaming itself. Our opportunity is to help brands apply the principles that drive participation, progression and engagement inside games to marketing programs across digital platforms and channels. We believe this positions Super League to help partners create more relevant, effective and measurable consumer experiences. A final note, we continue to explore opportunities related to digital assets and are encouraged by recent stabilization and announcements validating the long-term potential of the sector.

Examples include Fannie Mae's support of Bitcoin and USDC-backed mortgage products, the SEC's approval of the New York Stock Exchange's tokenized securities framework as well as Nasdaq's proposal to trade and settle securities in tokenized form and broader regulatory support for digital financial infrastructure. While our approach remains thoughtful and disciplined, these developments, combined with the depth of crossover between gaming audiences and digital currency holders continue to reinforce the potential of participation-driven digital economies and related ownership ecosystems. Most importantly, as we look ahead, we remain focused on disciplined execution across the business.

We are doing what we said we would do, strengthening the business, improving the quality and predictability of our revenue model, expanding our capabilities and positioning Super League to participate more meaningfully in large and growing markets. We still have important work ahead of us. But today, the priority is execution, not stabilization, a phase now behind us. We believe shareholders will increasingly see our continued progress down this path reflected in our operating and financial results in the fiscal quarters ahead. Thank you. With that, I'll turn it back to the operator for Q&A.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first questions come from the line of James Kisner with Water Tower Research.

James Kisner: So just first, 23 new clients year-to-date, that's pretty notable. Can you just kind of drill down a bit on that? Like what's really driving that momentum, particular offerings or customer verticals, or just any other way you'd like to talk about it?

Matthew Edelman: Thanks for the question. Look, I think we have been successful with our education process and helping brands understand the opportunities to get in front of what we are now really emphasizing, our gamified consumers, both within gaming environments and beyond. The industry at large is also getting more attention, and that has been aided by a lot of the work done by platforms such as Roblox. And as a result, there are more agencies and marketing executives who see the opportunity to be in front of an audience that is otherwise hard to influence and reach. And so we are assembling a more clear set of solutions, and it seems to really be paying dividends.

James Kisner: That's helpful. So on gross margin, it looks like you had a nice improvement here sequentially. Just I think you mentioned mix and a more disciplined delivery model. Can you kind of say more about that, like perhaps what mix is improving and maybe what costs you're controlling? What are kind of the biggest levers to improve gross margin from here?

Matthew Edelman: There are really a couple of key items here. One is we are beginning to be more focused on the delivery of turnkey packages. So we have built a handful of reusable elements that help us bring what our brand partners find to be custom solutions, but are not built from scratch each time by our execution team. And so these reusable components allow us to be much more efficient. We also have begun adding more media solutions into our packages, which typically bring us a higher margin because of the minimal execution costs associated with bringing those to life.

And then I would say the increasing breadth of our opportunity to not just bring people into immersive platforms or mobile, but also CTV, PC and web games gives us a chance to weave together a program for a client that meets our margin goals a little bit more consistently without compromising and, in fact, enhancing the potential outcome for our partners.

James Kisner: That's helpful. Last one, and I'll pass it. Just on Misfits, congrats on closing that. Can you talk about the integration plan here and perhaps how soon we might see a positive impact from the opportunities from that acquisition?

Matthew Edelman: I appreciate that. Misfits, the ads business, is a terrific addition to Super League. We have already brought the team on board and are starting to use their capabilities and their tools. Coming with Misfits was a very exciting pipeline of partnerships, both active and in sort of a setup for future business. We will see an impact in the second quarter. There are revenue-generating deals that have already moved over to Super League as part of the acquisition. And the deals have -- are profitable, as we said, the acquisition itself is a profitable acquisition, an accretive acquisition on an EBITDA -- cash-based EBITDA basis.

And so we anticipate being able to share some of that progress and contribution when we report on Q2.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next questions come from the line of Rommel Dionisio with Aegis Capital.

Rommel Dionisio: I wonder if you could just discuss the progress you made on cross-selling opportunities. Obviously, the Misfits acquisition is new, but in prior acquisitions, I wonder if you could just describe to what extent that's helped benefit the top line and the prospects for that going forward, especially with the Misfits acquisition now closed.

Matthew Edelman: Sure. Thank you, Rommel. I'm very excited. We are seeing an increasing amount of interest from partners in being in more than one channel with their campaigns. And so earlier on in our life cycle, a partner would come to us, a brand would come to us and want to be active in a single platform such as Roblox or Minecraft. And the excitement about the results we've been able to show over the years has emboldened more brand partners to look at cross-channel opportunities.

And so they are now coming to us and looking for either a cross-channel media solution, in fact, we had one brand ask us to run a program for them across 5 different channels that is just for media, turnkey media, which is a terrific area for us, as I mentioned earlier, a high-margin opportunity. But even when partners are coming to us now to activate inside a platform like Roblox or Fortnite, we are bringing influencers from YouTube or TikTok into that program. We are bringing a mobile media buy into that program.

And so we're really starting to see that brands understand this gamified consumer lives in multiple places and being able to surround that segment as part of their campaign has an increasingly positive impact on the results we can deliver.

Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I'd now like to hand the call back over to Matt Edelman for any closing comments.

Matthew Edelman: Thank you again, everyone, for your time and your questions. As we continue through 2026, our focus is clear: executing against the strategy we laid out, strengthening the quality and predictability of our business and translating operational progress into long-term shareholder value. We are encouraged by the momentum beginning to emerge across the business and believe the coming quarters will increasingly reflect the progress we have made in building the new Super League. Have a happy Friday.

Operator: Thank you so much. This does conclude today's teleconference. We appreciate your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Enjoy the rest of your day.

This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. Parts of this article were created using Large Language Models (LLMs) based on The Motley Fool's insights and investing approach. It has been reviewed by our AI quality control systems. Since LLMs cannot (currently) own stocks, it has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.

The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.