Fluent (NASDAQ:FLNT) said its fourth quarter and full-year 2025 results marked a turning point in the company’s multi-year shift toward Commerce Media, with management emphasizing that the business has moved from transition to what it described as a “transformative inflection point.”
On the company’s earnings call, CEO Don Patrick said Fluent began an aggressive investment-driven pivot three years ago to build a Commerce Media business anchored by its owned-and-operated marketplaces. He pointed to the mix shift in the fourth quarter as a key milestone, with Commerce Media Solutions (CMS) contributing 56% of total revenue, up from 26% in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 10% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Fourth-quarter results highlight mix shift
Media margin in the quarter was $19.1 million, representing 31% of total revenue, compared with $16.5 million, or 25% of revenue, in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was approximately $0.2 million, compared with an adjusted EBITDA loss of $1.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. The company reported a GAAP net loss of $4.1 million, compared with a net loss of $3.4 million in the prior-year period. Adjusted net loss was $2.8 million, or a loss of $0.09 per share, versus an adjusted net loss of $3.3 million, or a loss of $0.18 per share, a year earlier.
CMS revenue in the quarter was $34.7 million, representing 101% growth year-over-year and 85% sequential growth from the third quarter. Perfit said the sequential increase was “heavily influenced” by seasonal consumer spending around the holidays.
CMS media margin was $10.4 million, or 30% of CMS revenue, compared with $6.8 million, or 39% of revenue, in the fourth quarter of 2024. Perfit also discussed CMS gross profit margin of 33%, which he said was aided by a $4.3 million one-time benefit tied to an early termination settlement with a media partner; he emphasized that the benefit is excluded from media margin.
Full-year 2025 reflects intentional legacy runoff
For full-year 2025, Fluent reported revenue of $208.8 million, down 18% from 2024, which Patrick described as consistent with a managed transition away from legacy revenue streams. Gross profit was $51.2 million, down 15.8% year-over-year, and adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $9.0 million, representing -4.3% of revenue.
CMS revenue for the full year totaled $82.3 million, up 99% year-over-year, and CMS media margin increased 48% year-over-year, according to management. Patrick said CMS delivered double- to triple-digit year-over-year growth for eight consecutive quarters.
Operating expenses were $15.4 million in the fourth quarter, down from $16.9 million a year earlier. For the full year, operating expense was $61.0 million compared with $72.3 million in 2024, a 16% reduction. Interest expense in the fourth quarter fell to $781,000 from $1.0 million in the prior-year period due to a lower average loan balance, Perfit said.
Run-rate growth, partnerships, and product investments
Management said CMS reached an annual run rate exceeding $105 million as of year-end 2025, up from $85 million at the end of the third quarter. Patrick pointed to partner momentum and new verticals as key drivers, citing partnerships during 2025 that included Authentic Brands Group, DICK’S Sporting Goods, and Michaels.
Fluent also highlighted its Rebuy partnership and the launch of “Rebuy Monetize, powered by Fluent,” which Patrick said brings Fluent’s AI-powered advertiser marketplace and demand generation capabilities to merchants on Shopify. In Q&A, Patrick said AI has been embedded in Fluent’s solutions for a long time and that “whatever we work on across the platform goes across all of our partners.” He added that the company has been focused on embedding AI into workflows for efficiency and operating leverage, including what he described as “agentic AI with fast ROI.”
Patrick also addressed how the company’s owned-and-operated business supports Commerce Media, emphasizing Fluent’s first-party “self-declared” data and campaign data built over 15 years. He said that foundation helps Fluent create valuable audience sets, bring new advertisers into its network, and optimize bidding and return on ad spend across partners.
2026 outlook: growth resumes, but investment pressures EBITDA
Looking ahead, Fluent said it expects consolidated revenue growth to return in 2026, driven by the continued scaling of CMS. Perfit said the company believes it is “well-positioned to deliver double-digit consolidated revenue growth” on an aggregate continuing-business basis, alongside improved full-year adjusted EBITDA versus 2025.
Patrick offered additional cadence, saying that after the divestiture of the Call Solutions business, Fluent expects “relatively flat” year-over-year total company revenue in the first quarter, followed by acceleration to double-digit year-over-year growth in the second half, with double-digit growth for the full year on continuing businesses.
However, management also revised its profitability expectations. Patrick said the company is choosing to invest more capital into growth near term and therefore “no longer expect[s] to be adjusted EBITDA positive in 2026,” though it still expects adjusted EBITDA to improve compared with 2025.
On CMS specifically, Patrick told investors the company expects “very strong double-digit growth” in 2026, but said an early termination with a media partner reduced expectations versus a prior view that CMS might double again. In response to an analyst question, Patrick bracketed CMS growth as “greater than 50% and lower than 100” for 2026. CFO Perfit said CMS gross margins are expected to normalize after the fourth quarter’s one-time settlement benefit and ultimately return to the “mid-twenties” over the course of 2026 as newer partnerships move beyond early-term incentive periods.
Balance sheet actions and portfolio focus
Fluent ended 2025 with $12.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, up from $9.4 million at year-end 2024. Net debt was $30.8 million, compared with $31.9 million at the end of 2024.
Perfit said the company raised over $19 million in equity capital during 2025, including a $10.3 million placement in August that added new institutional investors. In November, Fluent entered into a new financing agreement that replaced its prior credit facility; Perfit said the new facility has no financial covenants and provides expanded borrowing availability. In January 2026, Fluent sold its Call Solutions business, which management described as non-core, and noted that 2026 guidance is being discussed on a continuing-business basis excluding that unit.
During the call, management also signaled continued investment in “strategic adjacencies” to CMS, including loyalty and pre-checkout solutions, while remaining “deliberately quiet” on details for competitive reasons. Patrick said some of the adjacent opportunities the company is pursuing are comparable in total addressable market to post-transaction commerce media, and some are larger, with more specifics expected after the second quarter as pilots progress.
About Fluent (NASDAQ:FLNT)
Fluent, Inc is a performance marketing and customer acquisition platform that helps consumer brands drive leads and sales through data-driven digital campaigns. The company specializes in direct-response marketing, executing campaigns across multiple channels including email, display, paid search, social media and native advertising. By focusing on measurable outcomes such as cost per acquisition and return on ad spend, Fluent tailors solutions to meet the specific objectives of its clients.
The company’s proprietary technology leverages first-party data sourced from its network of consumer-facing digital properties and programmatic partnerships.
