PlanetArt parent Claranova reports stable revenue
Paris, France-based Claranova reported revenue of €91 million for Q3 2021-2022 (January-March 2022), contracting 5% year-on-year(-14% like-for-like). The company said the trend reflects the continuing effects of tight constraints on marketing investments in PlanetArt’s activities within Apple’s iOS ecosystem, in addition to a tougher comparison base resulting from the division’s 45% growth in last year’s third-quarter. The slower pace of growth by PlanetArt was partly offset by good momentum from Avanquest and myDevices, the company said, which grew respectively 13% and 45% at actual exchange rates. For the first nine months of the period, the group reported revenue of €371 million, contracting 1% at actual exchange rates.
“Maintaining the trend of H1, Claranova’s revenue remained stable over the first nine months of FY 2021-2022 at €371 million, with a marginal decline of 1% as marketing investments were forced to adapt to the transformation of customer acquisition channels after the introduction of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature,” says Pierre Cesarini, CEO of Claranova. “Difficulties encountered by our partner Facebook since the introduction of this new feature continue to impact growth momentum of some of the activities of the PlanetArt division, the largest contributor to Group revenues. However, internal adjustments to the marketing strategy are starting to produce results even though this gradual improvement remains partly offset by the high comparison base in relation to last year’s Q3 45% growth. On that basis, PlanetArt registered a 12% decline in revenue in Q3 at actual exchange rates and a 5% drop for the first nine months.
Revenue trends by division for Q3 2021-2022:
|
In €m |
Jan. to |
Jan. to |
Var. |
Var. at constant |
Var. at constant |
Var. at constant |
|
PlanetArt |
64 |
72 |
-12% |
-19% |
-14% |
-21% |
|
Avanquest |
26 |
23 |
13% |
7% |
13% |
7% |
|
myDevices |
1.2 |
0.8 |
45% |
36% |
45% |
36% |
|
Revenue |
91 |
96 |
-5% |
-12% |
-7% |
-14% |
Revenue trends by division for the first nine months of 2021-2022:
|
(in € million) |
Jul. 2021 to |
Jul. 2020 to |
Var. |
Var. at constant |
Var. at constant |
Var. at constant |
|
PlanetArt |
291 |
306 |
-5% |
-9% |
-9% |
-12% |
|
Avanquest |
77 |
65 |
19% |
14% |
19% |
14% |
|
myDevices |
3.5 |
3.0 |
16% |
12% |
16% |
12% |
|
Revenue |
371 |
373 |
-1% |
-5% |
-4% |
-8% |
PlanetArt: A tougher comparison base
PlanetArt had revenue in Q3 2021-2022 of €64 million, down 12% at actual exchange rates (-21% like-for-like). On this basis, revenue for the group’s personalized e-commerce division stood at €291 million for the first nine months, down 5% at actual exchange rates (-12% like-for-like).
This development reflects continuing marketing constraints on the customer targeting process within Apple’s iOS mobile ecosystem. These constraints caused by the introduction of the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature have been contributing to higher customer acquisition costs for apps and websites with the greatest exposure to Facebook as the acquisition channel most impacted by this new feature. PlanetArt’s U.S. activities, which are less dependent on the social media network, were less affected by this development than in Europe. The division’s US websites (SimplyToImpress, PhotoAffections, CanvasWorld and others) thus registered double-digit growth for the quarter, the company said.
Adjustments made since the introduction of Apple’s ATT to diversify and circumvent these new constraints are gradually producing results, though this sequential improvement was overshadowed in this last quarter by the high comparison base from the division’s 45% growth in Q3 2020-2021. The personalized e-commerce business is expected to return to growth in the last quarter in response to the positive impact of new internal marketing initiatives and Facebook’s upcoming updates to improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns on the platform.