Advertising spend falls in 'demanding' period for Brave Bison

Social video company Brave Bison said on Wednesday that the last five months had been “demanding”, as direct result of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

The AIM-traded firm, which was holding its annual general meeting, said that its relationships with major platforms, including Facebook, Snap, YouTube, and TikTok, had put it in a decent position to benefit from the growth in digital advertising spend and proliferation of digital media.

Executive chairman Oliver Green noted the company recently became a creative partner of Snap and TikTok, distributing its own content across the platforms, as well as working alongside them with clients.

“Our network of managed YouTube channels saw revenues grow by over 60% last year,” Green told shareholders.

“YouTube continues to be an area of focus for us and, whilst we have seen a reduction in advertising across all social platforms during the pandemic, we are fully prepared to take advantage of a bounce back in marketing spend as lockdowns are lifted across the world.”

Green said that, despite a softening in the Japan and Asia-Pacific region since the beginning of the year due to Covid-19, Brave Bison was still working with new and existing clients within the branded content and influencer marketing space.

“We continue to review our overheads in line with performance, and we have made significant reductions to discretionary spending, lease and staff costs.

“Our team is now leaner, but nimbler, and we are well placed for recovery in the second half of this year and in the run up to the Olympics.”

The company’s board had evolved “significantly” since the year-end, Oliver Green added, noting that it had welcomed Matt Law and Philippa Norridge.

He said Law’s experience in digital and creative services had already proven “invaluable”, while Norridge’s financial acumen would be “instrumental” in the development of the firm.

“We are looking to bolster the board with a further non-executive director in the near future.

“Finally, we continue to look for growth opportunities.

“Mergers and acquisitions are a core part of our strategy to build a profitable, growing, media and marketing group.”

At 1038 BST, shares in Brave Bison were down 7.14% at 1.3p.