MediaAlpha Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results

Exceeds Fourth Quarter Guidance with Revenue Growth of 157% and Transaction Value Growth of 202%; Delivers Record Transaction Value of $401 million in Property & Casualty Vertical

Full-Year 2024 Revenue Grew 123% to $865 million; Transaction Value Grew 151% to $1.5 billion, Driven by Robust Volume and Pricing

Full-Year 2024 Net Income Significantly Improved to $22.1 million; Record Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾of $96.1 million

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE: MAX) ("MediaAlpha" or the "Company") today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024.

“Our fourth quarter financial results surpassed our expectations, closing out a year of record-breaking performance,” said MediaAlpha co-founder and CEO Steve Yi. “Our Property & Casualty insurance vertical reached new highs, fueled by favorable trends in the auto insurance sector, including improving profitability and continued robust advertising spend by our key auto carrier partners, and we made meaningful market share gains driven by our leading marketplace model. As we look ahead, we remain confident that our commitment to our partnerships and industry leading scale and efficiency will drive long-term sustainable growth and shareholder value creation.”

Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Results

• Revenue of $300.6 million, an increase of 157% year over year;

• Transaction Value of $499.2 million, an increase of 202% year over year;

  • Transaction Value from Property & Casualty of $401 million, an increase of 639% year over year;

  • Transaction Value from Health of $90 million, a decrease of 8% year over year;

• Gross margin of 16.3%, compared with 19.0% in the fourth quarter of 2023;

• Contribution Margin⁽¹⁾ of 17.1%, compared with 21.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023;

• Net income of $7.3 million, compared with a net loss of $3.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2023; and

• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $36.7 million, compared with $12.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

• Additionally, the Company remains in active settlement discussions with the FTC and has recorded a $7.0 million reserve related to this matter in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
  

Full Year 2024 Financial Results

• Revenue of $864.7 million, an increase of 123% year over year;

• Transaction Value of $1.5 billion, an increase of 151% year over year;

  • Transaction Value from Property & Casualty of $1.2 billion, an increase of 325% year over year;

  • Transaction Value from Health of $270 million, an increase of 4% year over year;

• Gross margin of 16.6%, compared with 17.2% in 2023;

• Contribution Margin⁽¹⁾ of 17.9%, compared with 20.1% in 2023;

• Net income of $22.1 million, compared with a net loss of $56.6 million in 2023; and

• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $96.1 million, compared with $27.1 million in 2023.

_{⁽¹⁾ A reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP financial measures has been provided at the end of this press release. An explanation of these measures is also included below under the heading “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”}

Financial Outlook

MediaAlpha's guidance for the first quarter of 2025 reflects approximately 170% year-over-year growth in P&C Transaction Value, representing a high single-digit sequential decline as pricing moderates from fourth quarter levels, offset in part by rising volumes. In its Health vertical, the Company expects Transaction Value to decline by a high-teens percentage year over year as conditions in under-65 continue to soften.

For the first quarter of 2025, MediaAlpha currently expects the following:

• Transaction Value of $415 million to $440 million, representing a 95% year-over-year increase at the midpoint of the guidance range;

• Revenue of $225 million to $245 million, representing a 86% year-over-year increase at the midpoint of the guidance range;

• Adjusted EBITDA of $24.5 million to $26.5 million, representing a 77% year-over-year increase at the midpoint of the guidance range. The Company expects Contribution less Adjusted EBITDA to be approximately $0.5 - $1.0 million higher than in the fourth quarter of 2024.
  

With respect to the Company’s projections of Adjusted EBITDA and Contribution under “Financial Outlook,” MediaAlpha is not providing a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss), or of Contribution to gross profit, because the Company is unable to predict with reasonable certainty the reconciling items that may affect the corresponding GAAP measures without unreasonable effort. These reconciling items are uncertain, depend on various factors and could significantly impact, either individually or in the aggregate, the corresponding GAAP measures for the applicable period.

For a detailed explanation of the Company’s non-GAAP measures, please refer to the appendix section of this press release.

Conference Call Information
MediaAlpha will host a Q&A conference call today to discuss the Company's fourth quarter and full year 2024 results and its financial outlook for the first quarter of 2025 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time). A live audio webcast of the call will be available on the MediaAlpha Investor Relations website at https://investors.mediaalpha.com. To register for the webcast, click here. Participants may also dial-in, toll-free, at (800) 715-9871 or (646) 307-1963, with passcode 2616289. An audio replay of the conference call will be available following the call and available on the MediaAlpha Investor Relations website at https://investors.mediaalpha.com.

The Company has also posted a letter to shareholders on its investor relations website. MediaAlpha has used, and intends to continue to use, its investor relations website at https://investors.mediaalpha.com as a means of disclosing material nonpublic information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including without limitation our expectation that our commitment to our partnerships and industry leading scale and efficiency will drive long-term sustainable growth and shareholder value creation, and our financial outlook for the first quarter of 2025. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, future events and our financial performance. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “predict,” “potential,” “believe,” “will likely result,” “expect,” “continue,” “will,” “anticipate,” “seek,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “projection,” “would,” and “outlook,” or the negative version of those words or other comparable words or phrases of a future or forward-looking nature. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management’s beliefs and certain assumptions made by management, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Accordingly, we caution you that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, actual results may prove to be materially different from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

There are or will be important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements, including those more fully described in MediaAlpha’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including the Form 10-K as of and for the year ended December 31, 2024 to be filed on February 24, 2025. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive. MediaAlpha disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date of this press release.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Operating Metrics

This press release includes Adjusted EBITDA and Contribution Margin, which are non-GAAP financial measures. The Company also presents Transaction Value, which is an operating metric not presented in accordance with GAAP. See the appendix for definitions of Adjusted EBITDA, Contribution, Contribution Margin and Transaction Value, as well as reconciliations to the corresponding GAAP financial metrics, as applicable.

We present Transaction Value, Adjusted EBITDA, Contribution, and Contribution Margin because they are used extensively by our management and board of directors to manage our operating performance, including evaluating our operational performance against budget and assessing our overall operating efficiency and operating leverage. Accordingly, we believe that Transaction Value, Adjusted EBITDA and Contribution Margin provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management team and board of directors. Each of Transaction Value, Adjusted EBITDA and Contribution Margin has limitations as a financial measure and investors should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP.

About MediaAlpha

We believe we are the insurance industry’s leading programmatic customer acquisition platform. With more than 1,200 active partners, excluding our agent partners, we connect insurance carriers with online shoppers and generated nearly 119 million Consumer Referrals in 2024. Our programmatic advertising technology over the last twelve months powered $1.5 billion in spend on brand, comparison, and metasearch sites across property & casualty insurance, health insurance, life insurance, and other industries. For more information, please visit www.mediaalpha.com.

Contacts:
Investors
Denise Garcia
Hayflower Partners
Denise@HayflowerPartners.com

Key business and operating metrics and Non-GAAP financial measures

Transaction Value

We define “Transaction Value” as the total gross dollars transacted by our partners on our platform. Transaction Value is an operating metric not presented in accordance with GAAP, and is a driver of revenue based on the economic relationships we have with our partners. Our partners use our platform to transact via Open and Private Marketplace transactions. In our Open Marketplace model, revenue recognized represents the fees paid by our Demand Partners for Consumer Referrals sold and is equal to the Transaction Value and revenue share payments to our Supply Partners represent costs of revenue. In our Private Marketplace model, revenue recognized represents a platform fee billed to the Demand Partner or Supply Partner based on an agreed-upon percentage of the Transaction Value for the Consumer Referrals transacted, and accordingly there are no associated costs of revenue. We utilize Transaction Value to assess the overall level of transaction activity through our platform. We believe it is useful to investors to assess the overall level of activity on our platform and to better understand the sources of our revenue across our different transaction models and verticals.

The following table presents Transaction Value by platform model for the three months and full years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023:

The following table presents Transaction Value by vertical for the three months and full years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023:

^{(1)   Our other verticals include Travel and Consumer Finance.}

Contribution and Contribution Margin

We define “Contribution” as revenue less revenue share payments and online advertising costs, or, as reported in our consolidated statements of operations, revenue less cost of revenue (i.e., gross profit), as adjusted to exclude the following items from cost of revenue: equity-based compensation; salaries, wages, and related costs; internet and hosting costs; amortization; depreciation; other services; and merchant-related fees. We define “Contribution Margin” as Contribution expressed as a percentage of revenue for the same period. Contribution and Contribution Margin are non-GAAP financial measures that we present to supplement the financial information we present on a GAAP basis. We use Contribution and Contribution Margin to measure the return on our relationships with our Supply Partners (excluding certain fixed costs), the financial return on and efficacy of our online advertising costs to drive consumers to our proprietary websites, and our operating leverage. We do not use Contribution and Contribution Margin as measures of overall profitability. We present Contribution and Contribution Margin because they are used by our management and board of directors to manage our operating performance, including evaluating our operational performance against budget and assessing our overall operating efficiency and operating leverage. For example, if Contribution increases and our headcount costs and other operating expenses remain steady, our Adjusted EBITDA and operating leverage increase. If Contribution Margin decreases, we may choose to re-evaluate and re-negotiate our revenue share agreements with our Supply Partners, to make optimization and pricing changes with respect to our bids for keywords from primary traffic acquisition sources, or to change our overall cost structure with respect to headcount, fixed costs and other costs. Other companies may calculate Contribution and Contribution Margin differently than we do. Contribution and Contribution Margin have their limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of our results presented in accordance with GAAP.

The following table reconciles Contribution with gross profit, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP, for the three months and full years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023:

Adjusted EBITDA

We define “Adjusted EBITDA” as net income (loss) excluding interest expense, income tax expense (benefit), depreciation expense on property and equipment, amortization of intangible assets, as well as equity-based compensation expense and certain other adjustments as listed in the table below. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that we present to supplement the financial information we present on a GAAP basis. We monitor and present Adjusted EBITDA because it is a key measure used by our management to understand and evaluate our operating performance, to establish budgets and to develop operational goals for managing our business. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA helps identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be masked by the effect of the expenses that we exclude in the calculations of Adjusted EBITDA. Accordingly, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results, enhancing the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects. In addition, presenting Adjusted EBITDA provides investors with a metric to evaluate the capital efficiency of our business.

Adjusted EBITDA is not presented in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered in isolation of, or as an alternative to, measures presented in accordance with GAAP. There are a number of limitations related to the use of Adjusted EBITDA rather than net income, which is the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. These limitations include the fact that Adjusted EBITDA excludes interest expense on debt, income tax expense (benefit), equity-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization, and certain other adjustments that we consider to be useful to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results. In addition, other companies may use other measures to evaluate their performance, including different definitions of “Adjusted EBITDA,” which could reduce the usefulness of our Adjusted EBITDA as a tool for comparison.

The following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA with net income (loss), the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP, for the three months and full years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023: