Shares of Austin-based MNTN traded at $23.72 as of 1:34 p.m. in New York on Thursday, well above its IPO price of $16 per share—the top of the marketed range. Trading was briefly paused due to volatility following the initial surge.
Based on outstanding shares, MNTN’s market capitalization stands at approximately $1.8 billion. On a fully diluted basis, which includes employee stock options and restricted stock units, the company is valued at around $2.4 billion.
Founded in 2009 by Mark Douglas, MNTN launched its performance TV marketing (PTV) in 2018, which leverages a rapidly accelerating transition from cable to streaming by enabling small and medium businesses to provide targeted performance marketing solutions on internet TVs.
MNTN focuses on helping brands use television to achieve direct-response marketing goals, such as driving conversions, revenue, and website traffic. MNTN’s platform, called “Performance TV” is designed to be optimized for these direct-response goals.
According to market research firm Antenna, 46% of streaming subscriptions are now for ad-supported tiers on services that offer them, representing year-over-year growth of almost 33%. During that same period, subscriptions on ad-free tiers declined 0.1%.
MNTN is hoping on its “self-serve” platform Performance TV, or PTV, which offers ad targeting and measurement capabilities to small- and medium-size businesses.
“The relationship between consumers and content was completely transformed with the introduction of streaming television,” CEO Mark Douglas said in the company’s prospectus. “Cable guides and DVR’s are almost hard to remember how. However, the relationship between TV advertisers and the streaming networks has remained largely unchanged. We launched MNTN Performance TV to bridge that gap, bringing small and medium-sized businesses into the streaming TV ecosystem at scale.”
Douglas told Bloomberg News that the offering was heavily oversubscribed, attracting demand for about 14 times the number of shares available.
The company and its selling shareholders priced 11.7 million shares on Wednesday. Of that, MNTN sold 8.4 million shares, with the remaining 3.3 million sold by existing shareholders.
You may know Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, but the 48-year-old has obtained another title: chief creative officer of a publicly traded software company.
Reynolds serves as MNTN’s chief creative officer, and played a key role in the company’s branding and even participated in presentations to equity capital markets bankers during the IPO roadshow.
According to filings, MNTN has transferred its interest in Reynolds’ creative agency, Maximum Effort, which it acquired in 2021, back to an affiliate of the original owner. However, the two companies have signed a new agreement under which Maximum Effort will continue to provide creative services.
Douglas said MNTN has effectively “created” the market for enabling small and medium-sized businesses to advertise on streaming TV—an alternative to traditional social media ad buys.
“Ninety-six percent of our customers have never advertised on TV before,” Douglas noted. “I don’t think there’s another company in the space with more than 10% first-time TV advertisers.”
Ryan Reynolds says that MNTN “basically Houdini’d one of the most complicated parts of advertising—getting great ads on TV—and made it incredibly simple”. He added, “Maximum Effort and I are not exactly coders, but we can help with creating emotional investment.”
Reynolds also sees MNTN as a way to expand their creative connection with more people and access a tool that can quickly get their ideas into the market. He’s also quoted as saying it’s “the only technology company turning TV into a true performance channel”.
MNTN’s Performance TV platform offers technology-driven tools for targeting, measuring, and automating ad campaigns. The company has partnerships with major streaming platforms owned by Disney, Paramount Global, and Comcast’s NBCUniversal.
The company’s decision to operate like a top tech company has been integral to success, according to its CEO.
“It led to not just creating a product, but creating a segment of the market,” Douglas told Fortune, adding that a third of the company’s 500 team members now work in engineering—including, sometimes, himself. By the end of the year, it’ll be half.
“I consider myself more of a software engineer than I do a CEO,” Douglas says. “I’m not necessarily, in the last two or three years, hands-on keyboard coding. But I’m in the ‘Daily Parking Lot’ every single day,” Douglas says.
The founder doesn’t spend much time coding anymore, his background in tech has made his job far easier, because it helps him understand the possibilities and limitations of his team. Today, 70% of his time is spent focused on product or engineering.
Reynolds has applauded Douglas’ leadership. “Any great leader is made in moments of struggle, not success,” Reynolds says. “The Mark you see on CNBC is the exact same one you get in private, and I’ve seen that calm, confident, and insightful approach up close in some really tough situations. He doesn’t wilt or waver, and that’s exactly what you look for in a business partner.”
MNTN reported total revenue of $225.6 million last year, with a net loss of $32.9 million, narrowed from a net loss of $53.3 million in 2023.
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