Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)

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Director*

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

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For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

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For the transition period from                                 to

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Commission File Number:  001-38125

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CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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855-398-0443

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, including Area Code)

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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined by Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes   No ⌧

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes   No ⌧

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ⌧ No 

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ⌧ No 

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit reports. ☐

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ⌧

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As of June 30, 2021, the aggregate market value of the shares of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates was approximately $277.4 million.

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The number of shares of Common Stock outstanding as of March 30, 2022 totaled 15,368,498 as follows:

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*Each share convertible into one share of Class A common stock at the direction of the holder at any time.

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Documents Incorporated by Reference

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Portions of the registrant’s Proxy Statement for Registrant’s 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed at a later date are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Table of Contents

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Annual Report”) contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: our core strategy; operating income and margin; seasonality; liquidity, including cash flows from operations, available funds and access to financing sources; free cash flows; revenues; net income; profitability; stock price volatility; future regulatory changes; pricing changes; the impact of, and the company's response to new accounting standards; action by competitors; user growth; partnerships; user viewing patterns; payment of future dividends; obtaining additional capital, including use of the debt market; future obligations; our content and marketing investments, including investments in original programming; amortization; significance and timing of contractual obligations; tax expense; recognition of unrecognized tax benefits; and realization of deferred tax assets. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ. A detailed discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from such forward-looking statements is included throughout this filing and particularly in Item 1A: "Risk Factors" section set forth in this Annual Report. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on information available to us on the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to revise or publicly release any revision to any such forward-looking statement, except as may otherwise be required by law.

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In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “target,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predicts,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.

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The forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report are based on current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on our company and its subsidiaries. There can be no assurance that future developments will be those that have been anticipated. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. You should read this Annual Report and the documents we have filed as exhibits to this Annual Report completely and with the understanding our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect, or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may make.

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SUMMARY RISK FACTORS

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Our business involves various risks. Many of these risks are discussed in this Report under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors.” If any of these risks occur, our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, prospects and ability to make interest payments to our noteholders and distributions to our shareholders could be materially and adversely affected. In that case, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you may lose a portion or your investment. These risks include:

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PART I

Our company, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc., is referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as “CSSE,” the Company,” or “we” or similar pronouns. References to:

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ITEM 1. Business

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Overview of our Business

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. is a leading streaming video-on-demand (VOD) company. We operate Crackle Plus, a portfolio of ad-supported VOD streaming services (AVOD) and free ad-supported television linear channels (FAST), as well as Screen Media, Halcyon Television, the newly formed Chicken Soup for the Soul Television Group, and a number of affiliates that collectively enable us to acquire, produce, co-produce and distribute content, including our original and exclusive content, all in support of our streaming services.

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Crackle Plus is comprised of unique curated streaming services, each delivering popular and original premium content focused on specific themes such as drama, comedy, horror, paranormal, documentaries, and sports. Through our recently launched Chicken Soup for the Soul streaming service, we offer lifestyle, family and kids content. Our Crackle Plus portfolio of streaming services are branded and includes Crackle (among the most watched ad-supported independent VOD streaming services), Chicken Soup for the Soul, Popcornflix, Popcornflix Kids, Truli, Españolflix and FrightPix. As of December 31, 2021, Crackle Plus served more than 40 million monthly active visitors through many distribution platforms including Roku, Amazon Fire, Vizio and others. These visitors viewed content produced through our various television production affiliates, acquired by Screen Media, or licensed from Sony Pictures Television (SPT), Lionsgate, Paramount Global, Fox, Warner Media and more than 100 other production and distribution companies, as well as through our media partners. Crackle Plus networks have access to approximately 14,500 films and 24,000 television episodes of licensed or company-owned original or exclusive programming. The acquisition of 1091 Pictures in March of 2022, added approximately 4,000 films and episodes of licensed content as well as established FAST and AVOD channels in genre specific verticals with approximately 1 billion yearly ad-impressions.

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Screen Media manages one of the industry’s largest independently owned television and film libraries consisting of approximately 20,000 films and television episodes. Screen Media also acquires between approximately 10 and 20 new feature films each year and a few hundred genre titles. Screen Media provides content for the Crackle Plus portfolio and also distributes its library to other exhibitors and third-party networks to generate additional revenue and operating cash flow. Our Halcyon Television subsidiary manages the extensive film and television library we acquired from Sonar Entertainment in 2021. This library is distributed by Screen Media and contains more than 1,000 titles, and 4,000 hours of programming, ranging from classics, including The Little Rascals, Laurel & Hardy and Blondie (produced by Hal Roach Studios), to acclaimed epic event mini-series such as Lonesome Dove and Dinotopia. Our Halcyon library titles have received 446 Emmy Award nominations, 105 Emmy Awards and 15 Golden Globe Awards. In March of 2022, Screen Media acquired 1091 Pictures that provides a diverse library of approximately 4,000 movies and television series.  

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Chicken Soup for the Soul Television Group, which was formed in the fourth quarter of 2021, houses our film and television production activities and produces or co-produces original content for Crackle Plus as well as content for other third-party networks. This group’s production efforts are conducted through a number of affiliates, including Landmark Studio Group, Chicken Soup for the Soul Studios, APLUS.com, the recently acquired Locomotive Global Inc., and Halcyon Studios, which was formed in connection with our acquisition of the assets of Sonar Entertainment. Halcyon Studios develops, produces, finances and distributes high-caliber content for our company for all platforms across a broad spectrum in the U.S. and internationally, including shows such as Hunters (Amazon Prime) and Mysterious Benedict Society (Disney+).

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Collectively, Screen Media and Chicken Soup for the Soul Television Group enable us to acquire, produce, co-produce and distribute content, including our original and exclusive content, in support of our streaming services. We believe that we are the only independent, AVOD business with the proven capability to acquire, create and distribute original programming, and that we have one of the largest libraries of company-owned and third-party content in the AVOD industry. We believe this differentiation is important as consumers materially shift their viewing habits from network-scheduled viewing to individual, personal on-demand viewing in response to the ever-growing availability of high-speed content delivery across devices.

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According to industry projections, the U.S. market for AVOD network revenue is expected to increase from $26.6 billion in 2020 to $53.5 billion in 2025.  At the same time, advertising spending on traditional linear television networks is expected to decline as more viewers transition from pay television subscriptions to online video viewing. For these reasons, interest in the AVOD business model is increasing, evidenced by traditional linear network operators increasingly seeking to acquire or launch AVOD networks to maintain access to viewers making this transition. We believe AVOD networks will continue to grow rapidly, particularly as consumers seek affordable programming alternatives to multiple SVOD offerings.

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Since our inception in January 2015, our business has grown rapidly. For the full year 2021, our net revenue was $110.4 million, as compared to the full year 2020 net revenue of $66.4 million. Our 2021 Adjusted EBITDA was approximately, $21.8 million, as compared to 2020 Adjusted EBITDA of $11.8 million. We had net losses of approximately $59.4 million in 2021, as compared to net losses of $44.6 million in 2020. As described below in “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measure”, we use Adjusted EBITDA as an important metric for management. See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition” and “Item 8. Financial Statements” for more information.

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Our Strategy

We believe our company is in a differentiated position within the growing and evolving AVOD industry. We identified the trends favoring growth of AVOD streaming services in 2015 and began building our offering in 2017, including the development of our original content production strategy. Since then, we have built a premier ad-supported streaming service that delivers utility and value to viewers and advertisers. We believe our company has the advantage of being unencumbered by the often conflicting strategic choices and priorities faced by diversified media companies that own both legacy linear television networks and VOD streaming services intended to compete with legacy networks. We are singularly focused on building leading VOD streaming services that feature a range of mass-appeal and thematic content,

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with a focus on original and exclusive content, and which employ innovative user platforms and data analytics to deliver more personalized viewing experiences and more engaging advertising. We are executing on our strategy in three ways:

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Competition

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We are in a highly competitive business. The market for streaming entertainment is rapidly changing. We face competition from companies within the entertainment business and from alternative forms of leisure entertainment, such as travel, sporting events, outdoor recreation, video games, the internet and other cultural and computer-related activities. We compete for viewers and programming with companies such as Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Fox, and major film and television studios. We also compete with numerous independent motion picture and television distribution and production companies, television networks, pay television systems and online media platforms for viewers, subscribers, and the services of performing artists, producers and other creative and technical personnel and production financing, all of which are essential to the success of our businesses.

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In addition, our video content competes for media outlet and audience acceptance with video content produced and distributed by other companies. As a result, the success of any of our video content is dependent not only on the quality and acceptance of a particular production, but also on the quality and acceptance of other competing video content available in the marketplace at or near the same time.

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Given such competition, and our stage of development, we emphasize a lower cost structure, risk mitigation, reliance on financial partnerships and innovative financial strategies. We rely on our flexibility and agility as well as the entrepreneurial spirit of our employees, partners and affiliates, in order to provide creative, desirable video content.

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Intellectual Property

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We are party to the “CSS License Agreement,” (as defined) through which we have been granted the perpetual, exclusive, worldwide license by CSS to exclusively exhibit, produce and distribute video content using the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand and related content, such as stories published in the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Chicken Soup for the Soul and related names are trademarks owned by CSS. We have the proprietary rights (including copyrights) in all company-produced content and believe the Brand provides a competitive advantage in attracting advertisers and entertainment talent. As a result of the acquisitions of Screen Media, Crackle, the assets of Sonar Entertainment, 1091 Pictures and the licensing of other libraries we now own copyrights or long-term distribution rights and AVOD rights to approximately 110,000 programming assets totaling over 94,000 programming hours.

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We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures, contractual provisions and other similar measures to protect our proprietary information and intellectual property rights. Our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights is subject to certain risks and from time to time we encounter disputes over rights and obligations concerning intellectual property, which are described more fully in the section titled “Risk Factors”.

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Human Capital Management

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At Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, we aim to bring out the best of our employees and consultants. We are committed to developing our employees and encourage and facilitate the development of our employees through our People Operations department. We depend on a highly educated and skilled workforce. We seek to advance a diverse, equitable and inclusive work environment for all employees. Our ability to attract, develop and retain the best talent, is critical for us to execute our strategy and grow our businesses.

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As of December 31, 2021, we had 151 direct employees. The services of certain personnel, including our chairman and chief executive officer, vice chairman and chief strategy officer, our senior brand advisor and director, and chief financial officer, among others, are provided to us under the Management Services Agreement dated May 12, 2016, between us and CSS (“CSS Management Agreement”). We also utilize consultants in the ordinary course of our business and hire additional personnel on a project-by-project basis. We believe that our employee and labor relations are good, and we are committed to inclusion and strict policies and procedures to maintain a safe work environment. We have taken measures to protect our workforce in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including allowing employees to work from home when possible and implementing safety protocols to support our employees required to work onsite.

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We value our employees and invest in them and their communities. Recently, we joined a growing group of companies working with Good Today to enable our employees to participate in supporting non-profit organizations to support initiatives that have a positive global impact.

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ITEM 1A. Risk Factors

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Unless the context otherwise requires, references herein to VOD include both our AVOD and FAST streaming services.

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Risks Relating to COVID-19

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Our business, results of operations, and financial condition may be impacted by the evolution of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

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The global spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the various attempts to contain it created significant volatility, uncertainty and economic disruption in 2021. In response to government mandates, health care advisories, and employee and vendor concerns, we altered certain aspects of our operations during the pandemic, including implementing a work from home policy for all our employees. We are now engaged in a “return to office” program under which our employees are returning to our offices for most work days. It is possible, however, that currently improving Covid-related conditions reverse course, including as result of the emergence of new strains of the virus, which could force us to return to remote operations in whole or part. Although we believe we transitioned our operations to handle remote working conditions efficiently, requirements to implement remote working policies in the future could adversely impact our productivity and the internal controls over our operations.

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Although our operations have been returning to normal conditions, our business and results were affected in 2021 by COVID-19 and our financial results and metrics may not be indicative of results for future periods. In addition to production delays experienced by our company and third-party producers, we also saw material decreases, for a time, in advertising expenditures as a result of general economic conditions. At the same time, we experienced increases in our user base during the height of the pandemic. Our increase in user additions may reflect the acceleration of our growth that we would have seen in subsequent periods or it may have resulted, in part, from more people remaining indoors during the pandemic. Although we continually seek to build and retain our user base through the introduction of new content and improved user experiences, user growth could slow or reverse as government and other restrictions are relaxed.

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Any resurgence of COVID-19, including variants thereof, or an outbreak of other highly contagious viruses, could disrupt our business in material ways, including disruptions similar to those experienced during the pandemic as well as additional disruptions. During the pandemic, from time to time, the production of our content by our company and third-party producers was halted or slowed, limiting our ability to introduce new content as previously scheduled. To the extent any future economic disruption resulting from COVID-19 or similar pandemics is severe, we could see some vendors go out of business, resulting in supply constraints and increased costs or delays to our productions. Such production pauses may cause us temporarily to have less new content available on our service in subsequent quarters, which could negatively impact consumer demand for and user retention to our service. Temporary production pauses or permanent shutdowns in production could result in content asset impairments or other charges and will change the timing and amount of cash outflows associated with production activity.

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The full extent to which any future or continued outbreaks of COVID-19 or other viruses impact our business, operations and financial results will depend on numerous factors that we may not be able to accurately predict, including: the duration and scope of the pandemic; governmental, business and individuals’ actions that have been and continue to be taken in response to the pandemic; the availability and cost to access the capital markets; the effect on our customers and customer demand for our services; disruptions or restrictions on our employees’ ability to work and travel; our ability to hire and retain qualified personnel as a result of increased competition for such personnel; our ability to access resources, including technology related resources needed for maintenance, modification, and improvement of our platforms, in the face of supply scarcity and supply pipeline delays; interruptions or restrictions related to the provision of streaming services over the internet, including impacts on content delivery networks and streaming quality; and any stoppages, disruptions or increased costs associated with our development, production, post-production, marketing and distribution of original programming.

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Risks Relating to Our Business

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We have incurred operating losses in the past, may incur operating losses in the future, and may never achieve or maintain profitability.

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As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had an deficit of approximately $136.5 and $77.2 million, respectively, and for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had a net loss of approximately $59.4 and $44.6 million, respectively. We expect our operating expenses to increase in the future as we continue to expand our operations. If our revenue and gross profit do not grow at a greater rate than our operating expenses, we will not be able to achieve and maintain profitability. Although we believe we have adequate sources of liquidity to meet our anticipated requirements for working capital, capital expenditures, cash dividend payments on our 9.75% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock (“Series A Preferred Stock”), and cash interest payments on our outstanding publicly traded notes (“Notes”), credit facilities, and other debt obligations, there can be no assurance that our cash flow from operations will be sufficient to service our debt, which may require us to borrow additional funds for that purpose, restructure or otherwise refinance our debt. Additionally, we may encounter unforeseen operating or legal expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other factors that may result in losses in future periods. If our expenses exceed our revenue, we may never achieve or maintain profitability and some or all aspects of our business operations may need to be modified or curtailed.

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We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service our debt and other obligations.

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Our ability to make payments on our debt, including our cash dividend payments on our Series A Preferred Stock, and interest payments on our outstanding Notes, our credit facilities, and our other debt obligations, will depend on our financial and operating performance, which is subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business and other factors beyond our control. We may be unable to attain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay all of our obligations as and when due.

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If we are unable to service our debt and other obligations from cash flows, we may need to refinance or restructure all or a portion of such obligations prior to maturity. Our ability to refinance or restructure our debt and other obligations will depend upon the condition of the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. Any refinancing or restructuring could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. If our cash flows are insufficient to service our debt and other obligations, we may not be able to refinance or restructure any of these obligations on commercially reasonable terms or at all and any refinancing or restructuring could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition.

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If our cash flows are insufficient to fund our debt and other obligations, and we are unable to refinance or restructure these obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay investments or to sell material assets or operations to meet our debt and other obligations. We cannot assure you that we would be able to implement any of these alternative measures on satisfactory terms or at all or that the proceeds from such alternatives would be adequate to meet any debt or other obligations then due. If it becomes necessary to implement any of these alternative measures, our business, results of operations, or financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

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We may not realize the advantages we expect from our acquisitions.

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Part of our growth strategy has been and will continue to be the acquisition of scalable assets to build our business. Our relatively recent acquisitions of the assets of Crackle, Sonar, 1091 Pictures and others, require time-consuming and costly integration efforts. We may not be successful in the efficient integration of assets into our operations as we acquire them, and may not realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions. As we grow as a result of acquisitions, we will need to hire additional qualified personnel and may need to secure additional debt or equity financing to fund all or a portion of the cost of acquisitions or the post-closing integration and operation of these assets. The incurrence of additional debt or issuance of additional equity would result in additional leverage of our company and dilution of ownership interests therein. Our operating results may fluctuate form period to period due to the costs and expenses of acquiring and managing our acquisitions.

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We are subject to numerous other risks associated with acquisitions, business combinations, or joint ventures.

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As part of our growth strategy, we regularly engage in discussions with respect to possible acquisitions, sale of assets, business combinations, and joint ventures intended to complement or expand our business, some of which may be significant transactions for us. Regardless of whether we consummate any such transaction, the negotiation of a potential transaction could require us to incur significant costs and cause diversion of management’s time and resources.

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Integrating any business that we acquire may be distracting to our management and disruptive to our business and may result in significant costs to us. We could face several challenges in the consolidation and integration of information technology, accounting systems, personnel and operations. Any such transaction could also result in impairment of goodwill and other intangibles, development write-offs and other related expenses. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

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If our efforts to attract and retain VOD viewers are not successful, our business may be adversely affected.

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Our success depends in part on attracting viewers, retaining them on our VOD services, and ultimately monetizing our VOD services and content offerings. As such, we are seeking to expand our viewer base and increase the number of hours that are streamed across our platforms to create additional revenue opportunities. To attract and retain viewers, we need to be able to respond efficiently to changes in consumer tastes and preferences and to offer our viewers access to the content they enjoy on terms that they accept. Effective monetization may require us to continue to update the features and functionality of our VOD offerings for viewers and advertisers.

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Our ability to attract viewers will depend in part on our ability to effectively market our services, as well as provide a quality experience for selecting and viewing TV series and movies. Furthermore, the relative service levels, content offerings, pricing and related features of competitors as compared to our service will determine our ability to attract and retain viewers. Competitors include other streaming entertainment providers, including those that provide AVOD and SVOD offerings, and other direct-to-consumer video distributors and more broadly other sources of entertainment that our viewers could choose in their moments of free time. If consumers do not perceive our service offerings to be of value, including if we introduce new or adjust existing features or service offerings, or change the mix of content in a manner that is not favorably received by them, we may not be able to attract and retain consumers. In addition, many of our consumers originate from word-of-mouth advertising from existing viewers. If we do not grow as expected, we may not be able to adjust our expenditures or increase our revenues commensurate with the lowered growth rate such that our margins, liquidity and results of operation may be adversely impacted. If we are unable to successfully compete with current and new competitors in both retaining our existing viewers and attracting new viewers, our business may be adversely affected.

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Changes in competitive offerings for entertainment video could adversely impact our business.

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The market for entertainment video is subject to rapid change. Through new and existing distribution channels, consumers have increasing options to access entertainment video. The various economic models underlying these channels include subscription, transactional, and ad-supported models. All of these have the potential to capture meaningful segments of the entertainment video market. Traditional providers of entertainment video, including broadcasters and cable network operators, as well as internet-based e-commerce or entertainment video providers are increasing their streaming video offerings. Several of these competitors have long operating histories, large customer bases, strong brand recognition, exclusive rights to certain content and significant financial, marketing and other resources. Competitors may secure better terms from content suppliers and devote more resources to product development, technology, infrastructure, content acquisitions and marketing. New entrants may enter the market or existing providers may adjust their services with unique offerings or approaches to providing entertainment video. Our competitors also may enter into business combinations or alliances that strengthen their competitive positions. If we are unable to successfully or profitably compete with current and new competitors, our business may be adversely affected, and we may not be able to increase or maintain market share, revenues or profitability.

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Our long-term results of operations are difficult to predict and depend on the commercial success of our VOD platforms as well as successful monetization of our video content in other ways and the continued strength of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Brand.

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Video streaming is a rapidly evolving industry, making our business and prospects difficult to evaluate. The growth and profitability of this industry and the level of demand and market acceptance for our VOD platforms and content offerings are subject to a high degree of uncertainty. We believe that the continued growth of streaming as an entertainment alternative will depend on the availability and growth of cost-effective broadband internet access, the quality of broadband content delivery, the quality and reliability of new devices and technology, the cost for viewers relative to other sources of content, as well as the quality and breadth of content that is delivered across streaming platforms. These technologies, products and content offerings continue to emerge and evolve. In addition, many advertisers continue to devote a substantial portion of their advertising budgets to traditional advertising, such as linear TV, radio and print. The future growth of our business depends on the growth of digital advertising, and on advertisers increasing their spend on such advertising. We cannot be certain that they will do so. If advertisers do not perceive meaningful benefits of digital advertising, the market may develop more slowly than we expect, which could adversely impact our operating results and our ability to grow our business.

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In addition, monetization of content that we produce and acquire from sources other than our AVOD network is an essential element of our strategy. Our ability in the long-term to obtain sponsorships, licensing arrangements, co-productions and tax credits and to distribute our original programming and acquired video content will depend, in part, upon the commercial success of the content that we initially produce and distribute and, in part, on the continued strength of the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand (the “Brand”). We cannot ensure that we will produce, acquire, and distribute successful content. The continued strength of the Brand will be affected in large part by the operations of our parent company, Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC (“CSS”), the owner of the Brand, and its other business operations, none of which we control. CSS utilizes the Brand through its other subsidiaries for various commercial purposes, including the sale of books (including educational curriculum products), pet foods and other consumer products. Negative publicity relating to CSS or its other subsidiaries or the brand, or any diminution in the perception of the Brand could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects. We cannot assure you that we will manage the production and distribution of all of our video content successfully, that all or any portion of our video content will be met with critical acclaim or will be embraced by audiences on a one-time or repeated basis, or that the strength of the Brand will not diminish over time.

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We may not be successful in our efforts to further monetize our VOD services

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Our AVOD platforms generate revenue primarily from digital advertising and audience development campaigns that run across our streaming platform and from content distribution services. Our ability to deliver more relevant advertisements to our viewers and to increase our platform’s value to advertisers and content publishers depends on the collection of user engagement data, which may be restricted or prevented by a number of factors. Viewers may decide to opt out or restrict our ability to collect personal viewing data or to provide them with more relevant advertisements. While we have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, growth in our revenue from advertising, our efforts to monetize our streaming platform through the distribution of AVOD content are still developing and our advertising revenue may not grow as we expect.  Accordingly, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in monetizing our streaming platform through the distribution of ad-supported content.

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In addition, with the recent spread of the coronavirus throughout the United States and the rest of the world, companies advertising plans and amounts available for advertising may be significantly restricted or discontinued which could also impact our ability to monetize our AVOD platform.

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Our reliance on third parties for content, production and distribution could limit our control over the quality of the finished video content.

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We currently have limited production capabilities and rely on relationships with third parties for much of these capabilities. Working with third parties is an integral part of our strategy to produce video content on a cost-efficient basis, and our reliance on such third parties could lessen the control we have over the projects. Should the third-party producers we rely

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upon not produce completed projects to the standards we expect and desire, critical and audience acceptance of such projects could suffer, which could have an adverse effect on our ability to produce and distribute future projects. In particular, due to the global spread of COVID-19, and in response to government mandates and healthcare advisories, we experienced delays in new content delivery as certain of our vendors and partners halted or diminished their operations. Further, during any continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic or after it fully subsides, we cannot be assured of entering into favorable agreements with third-party content producers on economically favorable terms or on terms that provide us with satisfactory intellectual property rights in the completed projects.

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An integral part of our strategy is to initially minimize our production, content acquisition and distribution costs by utilizing funding sources provided by others, however, such sources may not be readily available.

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The production acquisition and distribution of video content can require a significant amount of capital. As part of our strategy, we seek to fund the production, content acquisition, and distribution of our video content through co-productions, tax credits, film acquisition advances, upfront fees from sponsors, licensors, broadcasters, cable and satellite outlets and other producers and distributors, as well as through other initiatives. Such funding from the aforementioned sources or other sources may not be available on attractive terms or at all, as and when we need such funding. To the extent we are not able to secure agreements of this sort, we may need to curtail the amount of video content being produced or acquired by us or use our operating or other funds to pay for such video content, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects. Due to the effect of the coronavirus, sponsors may not have the interest or ability to enter into and invest in co-production agreements on terms that are attractive to the Company or at all.

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As we grow, we may seek to fund and produce more of our video content directly, subjecting us to significant additional risks.

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Our current strategy of funding the production, acquisition, and distribution of our video content through the payment of upfront fees by third parties may limit the backend return to us. If we should determine to use our own funds to produce, acquire, and distribute more of our video content in order to capture greater backend returns, we would face significant additional risks, such as the need to internally advance funds ahead of revenue generation and cost recoupment and the need to divert some of our resources and efforts away from other operations. In order to reduce these risks, we may determine to raise additional equity or incur additional indebtedness. In such event, our stockholders and our Company will be subjected to the risks associated with issuing more equity or increasing our debt obligations.

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If studios, content providers or other rights holders are unable or refuse to license content or other rights upon terms acceptable to us, our business could be adversely affected.

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Our ability to provide content depends on studios, content providers and other rights holders licensing rights to distribute such content and certain related elements thereof, such as the public performance of music contained within the content we distribute. If studios, content providers and other rights holders are not or are no longer willing or able to license us content upon terms acceptable to us, our ability to provide content will be adversely affected and/or our costs could increase. Increasingly, studios and other content providers have been developing their own streaming services, and may be unwilling to provide us with access to certain content so that they can give exclusive access to their own streaming services. Under a limited number of our license agreements, content owners can withdraw content from us relatively quickly and with short notice. If we do not maintain content that our viewers are interested in, our viewership may decrease and our business could be adversely effected.

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Certain conflicts of interest may arise between us and our affiliated companies and we have waived certain rights with respect thereto.

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Our certificate of incorporation includes a provision stating that we renounce any interest or expectancy in any business opportunities that are presented to us or our officers, directors or stockholders or affiliates thereof, except as may be set forth in any written agreement between us and any of the CSS Companies (such as the CSS License Agreement under which CSS has agreed that all video content operations shall be conducted only through our company). This provision also states that, to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law, our officers, directors and employees shall not be liable to us

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or our stockholders for monetary damages for breach of any fiduciary duty by reason of any of our activities or any activities of any of the CSS Companies. As a result of these provisions, there may be conflicts of interest among us and our officers, directors, stockholders or their affiliates, including the CSS Companies, relating to business opportunities, and we have waived our right to monetary damages in the event of any such conflict.

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We are required to make continuing payments to our affiliates, which may reduce our cash flow and profits.

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In consideration for use of the Brand, and the provisions of key operational resources to our company, we are required to make significant payments to our affiliates as described under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Related Party Resources and Obligations” in this Form 10-K. Accordingly, in the aggregate, 10% of our net revenue is paid to our affiliates on a continuous basis and will not be otherwise available to us. As we grow our revenues, these payments could become materially more costly than building and acquiring the same resources directly within our company. Similarly, as we build our business and operations in areas outside of the Brand, the value received from licensing the Brand could diminish on absolute and relative terms.

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If a project we are producing incurs substantial budget overruns, we may have to seek additional financing from outside sources to complete production or fund the overrun ourselves.

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If a production we are funding incurs substantial budget overruns, we may have to seek additional financing from outside sources to complete production or fund the overrun ourselves. We cannot be certain that any required financing will be available to us on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or that we will be able to recoup the costs of overruns. Increased costs incurred with respect to a project may result in the production not being ready for release at the intended time, which could cause a decline in the commercial performance of the project. Budget overruns could also prevent a project from being completed or released at all and adversely affect our operating results.

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Our operating results may fluctuate.

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Our operating results are dependent, in part, on management’s estimates of revenue to be earned over the life of a project. We will regularly review and revise our revenue estimates. This review may result in a change in the rate of amortization and/or a write-down of the video content asset to its estimated realizable value. Results of operations in future years depend upon our amortization of our video content costs. Periodic adjustments in amortization rates may significantly affect these results. Further, as many of our third-party relationships will be on a project-by-project basis, the profits, if any, generated from various projects will fluctuate based on the terms of the agreements between us and our third-party producers and distributors.

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Variations in our quarterly and year-end operating results are difficult to predict and our income and cash flows may fluctuate significantly from period to period, which may impact our board of directors’ willingness or legal ability to declare and pay the dividends on our preferred stock. Specific factors that may cause fluctuations in our operating results include:

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As a result of the foregoing and other factors, our results of operations may fluctuate significantly from period to period, and the results of any one period may not be indicative of the results for any future period.

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Distributors’ failure to promote our video content could adversely affect our revenue and could adversely affect our business results.

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We will not always control the timing and way in which the distributors to which we license our content will distribute our video content offerings. However, their decisions regarding the timing of release and promotional support are important in determining our success. Any decision by those distributors not to distribute or promote our video content or to promote our competitors’ video content to a greater extent than they promote our content could adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

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We are smaller and less diversified than many of our competitors.

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Some of the AVOD services, and many of the producers and studios, with which we compete are part of large diversified corporate groups with a variety of other operations, including television networks, cable channels and other diversified companies, such as Amazon or Apple, which can provide both the means of distributing their products, content flow, and stable sources of earnings that may allow them to better offset fluctuations in the financial performance of their operations. In addition, the major studios have more resources with which to compete for ideas, storylines and scripts created by third parties as well as for actors, and other personnel required for production. The resources of the major producers and studios may also give them an advantage in acquiring other businesses or assets, including video content libraries, that we might also be interested in acquiring.

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We face risks from doing business internationally.

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We intend to increase the distribution of our video content outside the U.S. and thereby derive significant revenue in foreign jurisdictions. As a result, our business is subject to certain risks inherent in international business, many of which are beyond our control. These risks include:

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Events or developments related to these and other risks associated with international trade could adversely affect our revenue from non-U.S. sources, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

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The effects on our business of the war in Ukraine, or the direct military involvement of the United States in such conflict, or any similar conflicts anywhere in the world, and the ramifications of sanctions against Russia or other counties, are unknown and could be material.

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Our business could be materially affected by hostilities in other countries. Adverse effects could arise from reduced viewership in our international content offerings, disruptions in Internet availability, heightened risks of cyberattacks perpetrated by government actors, or slow downs or halts in the production of content being created in other countries. The effects on our business of any specific conflicts, including the current war in Ukraine and any escalation of such war to neighboring countries, or the direct military involvement of the United States in such conflict, or any similar conflicts anywhere in the world, cannot be predicted, but could be material and adverse. Direct US military involvement could heighten international and other risks we already face. Similarly the ramifications of sanctions put in place by the United States against Russia or other counties on our business are unknown and could be material.  Our business could be harmed by retaliatory sanctions or actions taken by a country in response to US sanctions, and significant as a result of numerous circumstances arising from same, including prohibitions on the dissemination of US-based video services in certain countries, military actions, cyber-attack initiatives, and other measures that cannot be predicted.  

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Protecting and defending against intellectual property claims may have a material adverse effect on our business.

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Our ability to compete depends, in part, upon successful protection of our intellectual property relating to our video content, including our copyrighted content, and the protection of the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand. We protect proprietary and intellectual property rights to our productions through available copyright and trademark laws and licensing and distribution arrangements with reputable international companies in specific territories and media. Under the terms of the CSS License Agreement, CSS has the primary right to take actions to protect the Brand, and, if it does not, and we reasonably deem any infringement thereof is materially harmful to our business, we may elect to seek action to protect the Brand ourselves. Although in the former case, we would equitably share in any recovery, and in the latter case, we would retain the entirety of any recovery, should CSS determine not to prosecute infringement of the Brand, we could be materially harmed and could incur substantial cost in prosecuting an infringement of the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand.

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Others may assert intellectual property infringement claims against us.

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It is possible that others may claim from time to time that our productions and production techniques misappropriate or infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties with respect to their previously developed content, stories, characters and other entertainment or intellectual property. Additionally, although CSS is obligated to indemnify us for claims related to our use of the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand in accordance with the CSS License Agreement, we could face lawsuits with respect to claims relating thereto. Irrespective of the validity or the successful assertion of any such claims, we could incur significant costs and diversion of resources in defending against them, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

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Our business involves risks of liability claims for video content, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

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As a producer and distributor of video content, we may face potential liability for defamation, invasion of privacy, negligence and other claims based on the nature and content of the materials distributed. These types of claims have been brought, sometimes successfully, against producers and distributors of video content. Any imposition of liability that is not covered by insurance or is in excess of insurance coverage could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

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Piracy of video content may harm our business.

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Video content piracy is extensive in many parts of the world, including South America, Asia, and certain Eastern European countries, and is made easier by technological advances and the conversion of video content into digital formats. This trend facilitates the creation, transmission and sharing of high-quality unauthorized copies of video content on DVDs, Blu-ray discs, from pay-per-view through set-top boxes and other devices and through unlicensed broadcasts on free television and the internet. The proliferation of unauthorized copies of our video content could have an adverse effect on our business.

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Any significant disruption in our technology backbone or the computer and data systems of third parties that we utilize in our operations could result in a loss or degradation of service and could adversely impact our business.

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Our business involves 24-hour per day availability and delivery of video content. We utilize proprietary and third-party computer and data systems for the storage and delivery of our content, placement and delivery of our advertising inventory, and the creation of the user experience. Our reputation and ability to attract, retain and serve our viewers is dependent upon the reliable performance of these computer and data systems. These systems may be subject to damage or interruption from earthquakes, adverse weather conditions, other natural disasters, terrorist attacks, power loss, telecommunications failures, computer viruses, computer denial of service attacks or other attempts to harm these systems. Interruptions in these systems or to the internet in general, could make our content unavailable or impair our ability to deliver such content.

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Our online activities are subject to a variety of laws and regulations relating to privacy, which, if violated, could limit our ability to collect and use customer data and subject us to an increased risk of litigation and regulatory actions.

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In addition to our websites, we use third-party applications, websites, and social media platforms to promote our video content offerings and engage consumers, as well as monitor and collect certain information about consumers. There are a variety of laws and regulations governing individual privacy and the protection and use of information collected from such individuals, particularly in relation to an individual’s personally identifiable information. Laws relating to data privacy and security continue to proliferate, often with little harmonization between jurisdictions and limited guidance. A number of existing bills are pending in the U.S. Congress and other government bodies that contain provisions that would regulate, how companies can use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect, use and share user information. The United States is seeing the adoption of state-level laws governing individual privacy. This includes the California Consumer Protection Act, Massachusetts General Law 93H and regulations adopted thereunder, and the New York SHIELD Act. Many foreign countries and supranational organizations have adopted similar laws governing individual privacy, such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), some of which are more restrictive than similar United States laws. If our online activities or the activities of the third parties that we work with were to violate any applicable current or future laws and regulations that limit our ability to collect, transfer, and use data, we could be subject to litigation from both private rights of action, class action lawsuits, and regulatory actions, including fines and other penalties. Internationally, we may become subject to evolving, additional and/or more stringent legal obligations concerning our treatment of customer and other personal information, such as laws regarding data localization and/or restrictions on data export. Failure to comply with these obligations could subject us to liability and/or reputational damage, and to the extent that we need to alter our business model or practices to adapt to these obligations, we could incur additional expenses.

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If government regulations relating to the internet or other areas of our business change, we may need to alter the way we conduct our business or incur greater operating expenses.

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The adoption or modification of laws or regulations relating to the internet or other areas of our business could limit or otherwise adversely affect the way we currently conduct our business. In addition, the continued growth and development of the market for online commerce may lead to more stringent consumer protection laws, which may impose additional burdens on us such as the EU’s GDPR. If we are required to comply with new regulations or legislation or new interpretations of existing regulations or legislation, this compliance could cause us to incur additional expenses or alter our operations.

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If we experience rapid growth, we may not manage our growth effectively, execute our business plan as proposed or adequately address competitive challenges.

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We anticipate continuing to grow our business and operations rapidly. Our growth strategy includes organic initiatives and acquisitions. Such growth could place a significant strain on the management, administrative, operational and financial infrastructure we utilize, a portion of which is made available to us by our affiliates under the Management Agreement. Our long-term success will depend, in part, on our ability to manage this growth effectively, obtain the necessary support and resources under the CSS Management Agreement, and grow our own internal resources as required, including internal management and staff personnel. To manage the continued growth of our operations and personnel, we also will need to increase our internal operational, financial and management controls, and our reporting systems and procedures. Failure to effectively manage growth could result in difficulty or delays in producing our video content, declines in overall project quality and increases in costs. Any of these difficulties could adversely impact our business financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

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Our exclusive license to use the Chicken Soup for the Soul Brand could be terminated in certain circumstances.

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We do not own the Chicken Soup for the Soul Brand. The Brand is licensed to us by CSS under the terms of the CSS License Agreement. CSS controls the Brand, and the continued integrity and strength of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Brand will depend in large part on the efforts and businesses of CSS and how the Brand is used, promoted and protected by CSS, which will be outside of the immediate control of our Company. Although the license granted to us under the CSS License Agreement is perpetual, it may be terminated by CSS upon the cessation of our business, our bankruptcy, liquidation, or insolvency, or if we fail to pay any sums due or otherwise fail to perform under the License Agreement within 30 days following delivery of a second written notice by CSS.

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We may not be able to realize the entire book value of goodwill and other intangible assets from our acquisitions.

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As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had net intangible assets of $30.2 million and $31.5 million, respectively, and goodwill of $40.0 million and $21.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, primarily related to the formation of Crackle Plus, the acquisition of the Crackle assets, Sonar assets and other acquisitions. We assess goodwill and other intangible assets for impairment at least annually and more frequently if certain events or circumstances warrant. If the book value of goodwill or other intangible assets is impaired, any such impairment would be charged to earnings in the period of impairment. If we determine that goodwill and other intangible assets are impaired in the future, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Claims against us relating to any acquisition or business combination may necessitate our seeking claims against the seller for which the seller may not indemnify us or that may exceed the seller’s indemnification obligations.

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There may be liabilities assumed in any acquisition or business combination that we did not discover or that we underestimated in the course of performing our due diligence. Although a seller generally may have indemnification obligations to us under an acquisition or merger agreement, these obligations usually will be subject to financial limitations, such as general deductibles and maximum recovery amounts, as well as time limitations. In certain circumstances we obtain representation and warranties insurance related to our acquisitions, but these too have limitations and conditions that could prevent recovery in certain circumstances. We cannot assure you that our right to indemnification from any seller will be enforceable, collectible or sufficient in amount, scope or duration to fully offset the amount of any unknown or underestimated liabilities that we may incur. Any such liabilities, individually or in the aggregate, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

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We may require and not be able to obtain additional funding and may be unable to raise such funding when needed, which could force us to delay, reduce, eliminate, or abandon growth initiatives.

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We intend to continue making investments to support the growth of our business, including organic growth and growth through acquisitions. Our ability to grow through acquisitions, business combinations and joint ventures, and our ability to fund our operating expenses after one or more acquisitions may depend upon our ability to obtain funds through equity financing, debt financing (including credit facilities), or the sale or syndication of some or all of our interests in certain

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projects or other assets or businesses. Our issuance of additional debt instruments or the sale of preferred stock could result in the imposition of operational limitations and other covenants and payment obligations (in addition to those we already have in place), any of which may be burdensome to us and may have a material adverse impact on our ability to implement our business plan as currently formulated. The sale of equity securities, including common or preferred stock, may result in dilution to the current stockholders’ ownership and may be limited by the number of shares we have authorized and available for issuance. If we do not have access to financing arrangements, and if funds do not become available on terms acceptable to us, or at all, we may have to delay, reduce, eliminate, or abandon certain aspects of our business plan, including planned acquisitions. We may also have to reduce our licensing, marketing, customer support or other core business services. Such actions could result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

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Our success depends on our management and relationships with our affiliated companies.

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Our success depends to a significant extent on the performance of our management personnel and key employees, including production and creative personnel, made available to us through the CSS Management Agreement. The loss of the services of such persons or the resources supplied to us by our affiliated companies could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

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To be successful, we need to attract and retain qualified personnel.

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Our success will depend to a significant extent on our ability to identify, attract, hire, train and retain qualified professional, creative, technical and managerial personnel. Competition for the caliber of talent required to produce and distribute our video content continues to increase, and for certain personnel has become extremely difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in identifying, attracting, hiring, training and retaining such personnel in the future. If we were unable to hire, assimilate and retain qualified personnel in the future, such inability could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

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Since our content is digitally stored and distributed online, and we accept online payments for various subscription services, we face numerous cybersecurity risks.

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We utilize information technology systems, including third-party hosted servers and cloud-based servers, to host our digital content, as well as to keep business, financial, and corporate records, communicate internally and externally, and operate other critical functions. If any of our internal systems or the systems of our third-party providers are compromised due to computer virus, unauthorized access, malware, and the like, then sensitive documents could be exposed or deleted, and our ability to conduct business could be impaired.

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Cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. These incidents can include, but are not limited to, unauthorized access to our systems, computer viruses or other malicious code, denial of service attacks, malware, ransomware, phishing, SQL injection attacks, human error, or other events that result in security breaches or give rise to the manipulation or loss of sensitive information or assets. Cyber incidents can be caused by various persons or groups, including disgruntled employees and vendors, activists, organized crime groups, and state-sponsored and individual hackers. Cyber incidents can also be caused or aggravated by natural events, such as earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, and telecommunications failures.

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To date, we have not experienced any material losses relating to cyber-attacks, computer viruses, or other systems failures. Although we have taken steps to protect the security of data maintained in our information systems, it is possible that our security measures will not be able to prevent the systems’ improper functioning or the improper disclosure of personally identifiable information, such as in the event of cyber-attacks. In addition to operational and business consequences, if our cybersecurity is breached, we could be held liable to our customers or other parties in regulatory or other actions, and we may be exposed to reputation damages and loss of trust and business. This could result in costly investigations and litigation, civil or criminal penalties, fines, and negative publicity.

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Certain information relating to our customers, including personally identifiable information and credit card numbers, is collected and maintained by us, or by third parties that do business with us or facilitate our business activities. This

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information is maintained for a period of time for various business purposes, including maintaining records of customer preferences to enhance our customer service and for billing, marketing, and promotional purposes. We also maintain personally identifiable information about our employees. The integrity and protection of our customer, employee and company data is critical to our business. Our customers and our employees expect that we will adequately protect their personal information, and the regulations applicable to security and privacy are increasingly demanding. Privacy regulation is an evolving area and compliance with applicable privacy regulations may increase our operating costs or adversely impact our ability to service our customers and market our properties and services.

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The occurrence of natural or man-made disasters could result in declines in business that could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

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We are exposed to various risks arising out of natural disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, floods, landslides, tornadoes, typhoons, tsunamis, hailstorms, explosions, climate events or weather patterns and pandemic health events (such as the recent pandemic spread of the novel corona virus known as COVID-19 virus, duration and full effects of which are still uncertain), as well as man-made disasters, including acts of terrorism, military actions, cyber-terrorism, explosions and biological, chemical or radiological events. The continued threat of terrorism and ongoing military actions may cause significant volatility in global financial markets, and a natural or man-made disaster could trigger an economic downturn in the areas directly or indirectly affected by the disaster. These consequences could, among other things, result in a decline in business. Disasters also could disrupt public and private infrastructure, including communications and financial services, which could disrupt our normal business operations. A natural or man-made disaster also could disrupt the operations of our partners and counterparties or result in increased prices for the products and services they provide to us.

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We are an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our securities less attractive to investors.

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We are an “emerging growth company”, as defined in the JOBS Act, and we take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We cannot predict if investors will find our securities less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our Class A common stock, Series A Preferred Stock, and publicly traded notes and the trading price of such securities may be more volatile.

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In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We take advantage of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is not an emerging growth company difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

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We will remain an “emerging growth company” for up to five years, although we will lose that status sooner if our revenue exceeds $1.07 billion, if we issue more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt in a three-year period, or if the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of June 30 of any year.

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Our certificate of incorporation provides, subject to limited exceptions, that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for certain stockholder litigation matters, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or stockholders.

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Our certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against directors, officers and employees for breach of fiduciary duty and other similar actions may be brought

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only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware (or if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, another state court located within the State of Delaware, or if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located within the State of Delaware and to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our certificate of incorporation.

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This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers or employees, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. We cannot be certain that a court will decide that this provision is either applicable or enforceable, and if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

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Our certificate of incorporation provides that the exclusive forum provision is applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. As a result, we anticipate that the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act, the Securities Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction and the exclusive forum provision is not intended to waive our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder or bar claims properly brought thereunder.

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Risks Related to Our Securities

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Our Common Stock

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Our chairman and chief executive officer effectively controls our Company.

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We have two classes of common stock — Class A Common Stock, each share of which entitles the holder thereof to one vote on any matter submitted to our stockholders, and Class B Common Stock, each share of which entitles the holder thereof to ten votes on any matter submitted to our stockholders. Our chairman and chief executive officer, William J. Rouhana, Jr., has control over the vast majority of all the outstanding voting power as represented by our outstanding Class B and Class A Common Stock and effectively controls CSS Holdings and CSS, which controls CSS Productions, and, in turn, our Company. Further, our bylaws provide that any member of our board may be removed with or without cause by the majority of our outstanding voting power, thus Mr. Rouhana exerts significant control over our board. This concentration of ownership and decision making may make it more difficult for other stockholders to effect substantial changes in our Company and may also have the effect of delaying, preventing or expediting, as the case may be, a change in control of our Company.

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A substantial number of shares of our Class A Common Stock may be issued upon exercise of outstanding warrants, which could adversely affect the price of our publicly traded securities.

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A substantial number of shares of Class A Common Stock may be issued upon the exercise of outstanding warrants, including the following:

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If all of the outstanding warrants are exercised for cash we will be required to issue an aggregate of 4,649,471 shares of Class A Common Stock, or approximately 60% of our Class A Common Stock outstanding as of March 30, 2022. The warrant holders will likely exercise the warrants only at a time when it is economically beneficial to do so. Accordingly, the exercise of these warrants will significantly dilute our other equity holders and may adversely affect the market price of our publicly traded securities.

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We utilize At the Market Issuance Sales Agreements, pursuant to which we may offer and sell, from time to time, shares of Class A Common Stock and shares of Series A Preferred Stock, which may adversely affect the price of our Class A Common Stock and series A Preferred Stock .

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We utilize At the Market Issuance Sales Agreement (“ATM Agreements”) pursuant to which we may issue shares of Class A Common Stock and Series A Preferred Stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $1,000,000,000. The sale of Class A Common Stock will dilute our other equity holders and may adversely affect the market price of the Class A Common Stock. Issuance of shares of our Series A Preferred Stock will increase our dividend payment obligations and increase the liquidation preference. Under our currently existing ATM Agreement with Virtu Americas and B. Riley, as of March 30, 2022, we have sold an aggregate of 50,404 shares of Series A Preferred Stock, generating net proceeds to us of $1.2 million.

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Only a limited market exists for our Class A Common Stock, Series A Preferred Stock and Notes, which could lead to price volatility.

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Our Class A Common Stock, Series A Preferred Stock and Notes trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbols “CSSE,” “CSSEP” and CSSEN,” respectively. However, trading volume for our Class A Common Stock has historically been relatively limited. The limited trading market for our securities may cause fluctuations in the market value of these securities to be exaggerated, leading to price volatility in excess of that which would occur in a more active trading market for our securities.

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We currently do not plan to pay any dividends on our Class A Common Stock.

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The payment of cash dividends on our Class A Common Stock in the future will be dependent upon our revenue and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition, our obligation to pay dividends on our Series A Preferred Stock and make quarterly interest payments on the Notes, the laws and regulations of the State of Delaware and will be within the discretion of our board of directors. As a result, any gain you may realize on our Class A Common Stock may result solely from the appreciation of such shares. If our securities become subject to the SEC’s penny stock rules, broker-dealers may have trouble in completing customer transactions and trading activity in our securities may be adversely affected.

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If at any time our securities become subject to the “penny stock” rules promulgated under the Exchange Act our securities could be adversely affected. Typically, securities trading under a market price of $5.00 per share and that do not meet certain exceptions, such as national market listing or annual revenue criteria, are subject to the penny stock rules. Under these rules, broker-dealers who recommend such securities to persons other than institutional accredited investors must:

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​

If our securities become subject to these rules, broker-dealers may find it difficult to effectuate customer transactions and trading activity in our securities may be adversely affected. As a result, the market price of our securities may be depressed, and you may find it more difficult to sell our securities. Nasdaq could delist our Class A Common Stock from quotation on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to sell and purchase our shares and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

​

Our Class A Common Stock is currently listed on Nasdaq, a national securities exchange. If our Class A Common Stock is not listed on Nasdaq or another national securities exchange at any time after the date hereof, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

​

​

Our Series A Preferred Stock

​

We may redeem the Series A Preferred Stock.

​

On or after June 27, 2023, we may, at our option, redeem the Series A Preferred Stock, in whole or in part, at any time or from time to time. Also, upon the occurrence of a Change of Control prior to June 27, 2023, we may, at our option, redeem the Series A Preferred Stock, in whole or in part, within 120 days after the first date on which such Change of Control occurred. We may have an incentive to redeem the Series A Preferred Stock voluntarily if market conditions allow us to issue other preferred stock or debt securities at a rate that is lower than the dividend rate on the Series A Preferred Stock. If we redeem the Series A Preferred Stock, then from and after the redemption date, dividends will cease to accrue on shares of Series A Preferred Stock, the shares of Series A Preferred Stock shall no longer be deemed outstanding and all rights as a holder of those shares will terminate, except the right to receive the redemption price plus accumulated and unpaid dividends, if any, payable upon redemption.

​

We must adhere to prescribed legal requirements and have sufficient cash in order to be able to pay dividends on our Series A Preferred Stock.

​

In accordance with Section 170 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, we may only declare and pay cash dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock if we have either net profits during the fiscal year in which the dividend is declared and/or the preceding fiscal year, or a “surplus”, meaning the excess, if any, of our net assets (total assets less total liabilities) over our capital. We can provide no assurance that we will satisfy such requirements in any given year. Further, even if we have the legal ability to declare a dividend, we may not have sufficient cash to pay dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock. Our ability to pay dividends may be impaired if any of the risks described herein actually occur. Also, payment of our dividends depends upon our financial condition and other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant from time

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to time. We cannot assure you that our businesses will generate sufficient cash flow from operations or that future borrowings will be available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to pay dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock.

​

A holder of Series A Preferred Stock has extremely limited voting rights.

​

The voting rights for a holder of Series A Preferred Stock are limited. Our shares of Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock vote together as a single class and are the only class of our securities that carry full voting rights. Mr. Rouhana, our chairman of the board and chief executive officer, beneficially owns the vast majority of the voting power of our outstanding common stock. As a result, Mr. Rouhana exercises a significant level of control over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, amendment of our certificate of incorporation, and approval of significant corporate transactions. This control could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of the Company or changes in management and will make the approval of certain transactions difficult or impossible without his support, which in turn could reduce the price of our Series A Preferred Stock.

​

Voting rights for holders of the Series A Preferred Stock exist primarily with respect to the ability to elect, voting together with the holders of any other series of our preferred stock having similar voting rights, two additional directors to our board of directors in the event that eighteen monthly dividends (whether or not consecutive) payable on the Series A Preferred Stock are in arrears, and with respect to voting on amendments to our certificate of incorporation, including the certificate of designations relating to the Series A Preferred Stock, that materially and adversely affect the rights of the holders of Series A Preferred Stock or authorize, increase or create additional classes or series of our capital stock that are senior to the Series A Preferred Stock.

​

The market price of the Series A Preferred Stock could be substantially affected by various factors.

​

The market price of the Series A Preferred Stock depends on many factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not be directly related to our operating performance. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:

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The Series A Preferred Stock ranks junior to all our indebtedness and other liabilities.

​

In the event of our bankruptcy, liquidation, dissolution or winding-up of our affairs, our assets will be available to pay obligations on the Series A Preferred Stock only after all our indebtedness and other liabilities have been paid. The rights of holders of the Series A Preferred Stock to participate in the distribution of our assets will rank junior to the prior claims of our current and future creditors and any future series or class of preferred stock we may issue that ranks senior to the Series A Preferred Stock. Also, the Series A Preferred Stock effectively ranks junior to all existing and future indebtedness and to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our existing subsidiaries and any future subsidiaries. Our existing subsidiaries are, and future subsidiaries would be, separate legal entities and have no legal obligation to pay any amounts to us in respect of dividends due on the Series A Preferred Stock.

​

We have incurred and may in the future incur substantial amounts of debt and other obligations that will rank senior to the Series A Preferred Stock. As of the date of this filing, our total liabilities (excluding contingent consideration) equaled approximately $144.1 million. If we are forced to liquidate our assets to pay our creditors, we may not have sufficient assets to pay amounts due on any or all the Series A Preferred Stock then outstanding.

​

Market interest rates may materially and adversely affect the value of the Series A Preferred Stock.

​

One of the factors that will influence the price of the Series A Preferred Stock is the dividend yield on the Series A Preferred Stock (as a percentage of the market price of the Series A Preferred Stock) relative to market interest rates. Increases in market interest rates may lead prospective purchasers of the Series A Preferred Stock to expect a higher dividend yield (and higher interest rates would likely increase our borrowing costs and potentially decrease funds available for dividend payments). Thus, higher market interest rates could cause the market price of the Series A Preferred Stock to materially decrease.

​

Holders of the Series A Preferred Stock may be unable to use the dividends-received deduction and may not be eligible for the preferential tax rates applicable to “qualified dividend income.”

​

Distributions paid to corporate U.S. holders of the Series A Preferred Stock may be eligible for the dividends-received deduction, and distributions paid to non-corporate U.S. holders of the Series A Preferred Stock may be subject to tax at the preferential tax rates applicable to “qualified dividend income,” only if we have current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Additionally, we may not have sufficient current earnings and profits during future fiscal years for the distributions on the Series A Preferred Stock to qualify as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If the distributions fail to qualify as dividends, U.S. holders would be unable to use the dividends-received deduction and may not be eligible for the preferential tax rates applicable to “qualified dividend income.” If any distributions on the Series A Preferred Stock with respect to any fiscal year are not eligible for the dividends-received deduction or preferential tax rates applicable to “qualified dividend income” because of insufficient current or accumulated earnings and profits, it is possible that the market value of the Series A Preferred Stock might decline.

​

A reduction in the credit rating of our Series A Preferred Stock could adversely affect the pricing and liquidity of such stock.

​

Any downward revision or withdrawal of the credit rating on our Series A Preferred Stock could materially adversely affect market confidence in such stock and could cause material decreases in the market price of such stock and could diminish market liquidity. Egan-Jones has initially rated our Series A Preferred Stock as BBB(-). Neither Egan-Jones nor any other agency is under any obligation to maintain any rating assigned to our Series A Preferred Stock and such rating could be revised downward or withdrawn at any time for reasons of general market changes or changes in our financial condition or for no reason at all.

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The Series A Preferred Stock is not convertible into Class A Common Stock, including in the event of a change of control, and investors will not realize a corresponding upside if the price of the Class A Common Stock increases.

​

The Series A Preferred Stock is not convertible into shares of Class A Common Stock and earns dividends at a fixed rate. Accordingly, an increase in market price of our Class A Common Stock will not necessarily result in an increase in the market price of our Series A Preferred Stock. The market value of the Series A Preferred Stock may depend more on dividend and interest rates for other preferred stock, commercial paper and other investment alternatives and our actual and perceived ability to pay dividends on, and in the event of dissolution satisfy the liquidation preference with respect to, the Series A Preferred Stock.

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Our Notes

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The Notes are unsecured and therefore are effectively subordinated to any secured indebtedness we have incurred or may incur in the future.

​

The Notes are not secured by any of our assets. As a result, the Notes are effectively subordinated to all of our existing and future secured indebtedness, such as any new loan facility or other indebtedness to which we grant a security interest, including our $10,210,000 film acquisition advance from Great Point Media Limited which is secured by territorial licenses and distribution rights in certain films and productions owned or to be acquired by Screen Media, but only to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness. In any liquidation, dissolution, bankruptcy or other similar proceeding, the holders of any of our existing or future secured indebtedness may assert rights against the assets pledged to secure that indebtedness in order to receive full payment of their indebtedness before the assets may be used to pay other creditors, including the holders of the Notes.

​

The Notes are structurally subordinated to the existing and future indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries.

​

The Notes are obligations exclusively of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc., and not any of our subsidiaries. In addition, the Notes are not guaranteed by any third-party, whether an affiliate or unrelated to us. None of the assets of our subsidiaries will be directly available to satisfy the claims of holders of the Notes. Except to the extent we are a creditor with recognized claims against our subsidiaries, all claims of creditors of our subsidiaries will have priority over our equity interests in such entities (and therefore the claims of our creditors, including holders of the Notes) with respect to the assets of such entities. Even if we are recognized as a creditor of one or more of these entities, our claims would still be effectively subordinated to any security interests in the assets of any such entity and to any indebtedness or other liabilities of any such entity senior to our claims. Consequently, the Notes are structurally subordinated to all indebtedness and other liabilities of any of our subsidiaries.

​

The indenture under which the Notes are issued contains limited protection for holders of the Notes.

​

The indenture under which the Notes are issued offers limited protection to holders of the Notes. The terms of the indenture and the Notes do not restrict our ability to engage in, or otherwise be a party to, a variety of corporate transactions, circumstances or events that could have a material adverse impact on your investment in the Notes. In particular, except in limited circumstances, the terms of the indenture and the Notes do not restrict our ability to:

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​

In addition, the indenture does not require us to offer to purchase the Notes in connection with a change of control or any other event (but does afford us the right to redeem the Notes prior to the prescribed redemption date upon the consummation of certain transactions).

​

Similarly, the terms of the indenture and the Notes do not protect holders of the Notes in the event that we experience changes (including significant adverse changes) in our financial condition, results of operations or credit ratings, if any.

Our ability to recapitalize, incur additional debt and take a number of other actions that are not limited by the terms of the Notes may have important consequences for holders of the Notes, including making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to the Notes or negatively affecting the trading value of the Notes.

​

Other debt we issue or incur in the future could contain more protections for its holders than the indenture and the Notes, including additional covenants and events of default. For example, the indenture under which the Notes are issued does not contain cross-default provisions. The issuance or incurrence of any indebtedness with incremental protections could affect the market for and trading levels and prices of the Notes. Additionally, even if we issue indebtedness that ranks equally with the Notes, the holders of such indebtedness will be entitled to share ratably with the noteholders in any proceeds distributed in connection with any insolvency, liquidation, reorganization, or dissolution, which may have the effect of reducing the amount of proceeds paid to our noteholders. Incurrence of additional debt would also further reduce the cash available to invest in operations, as a result of increased debt service obligations, and may cause a cross-default on our other obligations, as described elsewhere in these Risk Factors. If new debt is added to our current indebtedness, the related risks that we now face could be compounded.

​

An increase in market interest rates could result in a decrease in the value of the Notes.

​

In general, as market interest rates rise, notes bearing interest at a fixed rate decline in value. Consequently, if you purchase the Notes, and the market interest rates subsequently increase, the market value of your Notes may decline. We cannot predict the future level of market interest rates.

​

An active trading market for the Notes may not be sustained, which could limit your ability to sell the Notes or the market price of the Notes.

​

Although the Notes are listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the trading symbol “CSSEN,” we cannot provide any assurances that an active trading market will develop or be maintained for the Notes or that you will be able to sell your Notes. The Notes may trade at a discount from their initial offering price depending on prevailing interest rates, the market for similar securities, our credit ratings, if any, general economic conditions, our financial condition, performance and prospects and other factors. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that a liquid trading market for the Notes will be sustained, that you will be able to sell your Notes at a particular time or that the price you receive when you sell will be favorable. To the extent an active trading market is not sustained, the liquidity and trading price for the Notes may be harmed. Accordingly, you may be required to bear the financial risk of an investment in the Notes for an indefinite period of time.

​

We may choose to redeem the Notes when prevailing interest rates are relatively low.

​

On or after July 31, 2022, we may choose to redeem the Notes from time to time, especially when prevailing interest rates are lower than the rate borne by the Notes. If prevailing rates are lower at the time of redemption, you would not be able

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to reinvest the redemption proceeds in a comparable security at an effective interest rate as high as the interest rate on the Notes being redeemed. Our redemption right also may adversely impact your ability to sell the Notes as the optional redemption date or period approaches.

​

If we default on our obligations to pay our other indebtedness, we may not be able to make payments on the Notes.

​

Any default under the agreements governing our existing or future indebtedness that is not waived by the required lenders, and the remedies sought by the holders of such indebtedness, could make us unable to pay principal and interest on the Notes and substantially decrease the market value of the Notes. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow and are otherwise unable to obtain funds necessary to meet required payments of principal and interest on our indebtedness, or if we otherwise fail to comply with the various covenants, including financial and operating covenants, in the instruments governing our indebtedness, we could be in default under the terms of the agreements governing such indebtedness, including the Notes. In the event of such default, the holders of such indebtedness could elect to declare all the funds borrowed thereunder to be due and payable, together with accrued and unpaid interest. In addition, the lenders under any loan facility or other financing that we may obtain in the future could elect to terminate their commitment, cease making further loans and institute foreclosure proceedings against our assets, and we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation. Any such default may constitute a default under the Notes, which could further limit our ability to repay our indebtedness, including the Notes. If our operating performance declines, we may in the future need to seek to obtain waivers from our existing lenders at the time to avoid being in default. If we breach any loan covenants, we may not be able to obtain such a waiver from the lenders. If this occurs, we would be in default under the credit arrangement that we have, the lender could exercise its rights as described above, and we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation. If we are unable to repay indebtedness, lenders having secured obligations could proceed against the collateral securing their debt. Because any future credit facilities will likely have, customary cross-default provisions, if the indebtedness under the Notes, or under any future credit facility is accelerated, we may be unable to repay or finance the amounts due.

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We are not obligated to contribute to a sinking fund to retire the Notes and the Notes are not guaranteed by a third-party.

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We are not obligated to contribute funds to a sinking fund to repay principal or interest on the Notes upon maturity or default. The Notes are not certificates of deposit or similar obligations of, or guaranteed by, any depositary institution. Further, no private party or governmental entity insures or guarantees payment on the Notes if we do not have enough funds to make principal or interest payments.

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A downgrade, suspension or withdrawal of the credit rating assigned by a rating agency to us, the July 2025 Notes, or the Notes, if any, could cause the liquidity or market value of the Notes to decline significantly.

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Our credit rating is an assessment by third parties of our ability to pay our obligations. Consequently, real or anticipated changes in our credit rating will generally affect the market value of the Notes. Our credit rating, however, may not reflect the potential impact of risks related to market conditions generally or other factors discussed above on the market value of or trading market for the Notes. Credit ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security, and may be revised or withdrawn at any time by the issuing organization in its sole discretion.

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The Notes have received a rating of BBB from Egan-Jones Ratings Company. An explanation of the significance of ratings may be obtained from the rating agency. Generally, rating agencies base their ratings on such material and information, and such of their own investigations, studies and assumptions, as they deem appropriate. Neither we nor any underwriter undertakes any obligation to maintain our credit rating or to advise holders of the Notes of any changes in our credit rating. There can be no assurance that our credit rating will remain for any given period of time or that such credit rating will not be lowered or withdrawn entirely by the rating agency if in their judgment future circumstances relating to the basis of the credit rating, such as adverse changes in our company, so warrant.

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Our Class W and Class Z Warrants

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No public market exists for our Class W Warrants or Class Z Warrants.

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We intend to apply for quotation of the Class W Warrants on the OTCQB Market and the Class Z Warrants on the OTC Pink Market under the proposed symbols “CSSEW” and “CSSEZ”, respectively, but we cannot guarantee that our Class W Warrants or Class Z Warrants will be approved for quotation or listing on any market. Further, even if listed or quoted, an active trading market may never develop or, if developed, may not be sustained. The over-the-counter market is a significantly more limited market than Nasdaq, due to factors such as the reduced number of investors that will consider investing in securities traded over the counter, the reduced number of market makers in the securities, and the reduced number of securities analysts that follow such securities. As a result, holders of our Class W Warrants and Class Z Warrants may find it difficult to resell their warrants at prices quoted in the market or at all. You may be unable to sell Class W Warrants or Class Z Warrants unless a market for such securities can be established or sustained.

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Holders of our Class W Warrants and Class Z Warrants will have no rights as a common stockholder until such warrants are exercised.

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Until holders of our Class W Warrants and Class Z Warrants acquire shares of our Class A Common Stock upon exercise of the Class W Warrants or Class Z Warrants, as applicable, holders of Class W Warrants and Class Z Warrants will have no rights with respect to the shares of Class A Common Stock underlying such warrants.

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The market price of our Class A Common Stock may fall below the exercise price of the Class W Warrants and Class Z Warrants.

​

The Class W Warrants have an exercise price of $7.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described therein, and may be exercised at any time through June 30, 2023. The Class Z Warrants have an exercise price of $12.00 per share, subject to adjustment as described therein, and may be exercised at any time through June 30, 2024. The market price of our Class A Common Stock may fall below the exercise price of such warrants and remain below such exercise price through their date of expiration. Any Class W Warrants or Class Z Warrants not exercised by their date of expiration will expire worthless and we will be under no further obligation to the warrant holder.

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ITEM 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

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Not applicable.

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ITEM 2. Properties

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Our corporate headquarters is located at 132 East Putnam Avenue – Floor 2W, Cos Cob, Connecticut. Use of this space is provided to us under the terms of the CSS Management Agreement. We also lease facilities in California and New York.

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ITEM 3. Legal Proceedings

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None.

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ITEM 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

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Not applicable.

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PART II

ITEM 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

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Market Information

Our Class A common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “CSSE,” our Series A Preferred Stock is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “CSSEP,” and our 9.50% Notes due 2025 are listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “CSSEN.”

Holders

As of March 31, 2022, we have 27 holders of record of our Class A Common Stock and 1 holder of record of our Class B Common Stock. We believe we have in excess of 300 beneficial holders of our Class A Common Stock.

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Dividend Policy

Series A Preferred Stock Dividends

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Since July 2018, we have declared monthly cash dividends of $0.2031 per share on our Series A Preferred Stock to holders of record as of each month end. The monthly dividends for each month were paid on approximately the 15th day subsequent to each respective month end. The total amount of dividends declared were $9.0 and $4.1 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

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Common Stock Dividends

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We did not pay any dividends on our common stock during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. Any payment of dividends in the future is within the discretion of our board of directors (subject to our obligation to pay dividends on our Series A Preferred Stock and to make quarterly interest payments on our 9.50% Notes due 2025) and will depend on our earnings, if any, our capital requirements and financial condition and other relevant factors.

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Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

None.

Code of Ethics

We have adopted a code of ethics which applies to all our directors, officers, and employees, including our chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and principal accounting officer. The code of ethics is designed to deter wrongdoing and promote honest and ethical conduct, full, fair, accurate, timely, and understandable disclosure in reports that we file or furnish to the SEC and in our other public communications, compliance with applicable government laws, rules, and regulations, and prompt internal reporting of violations of the code. A copy of the code of ethics may be found on our website at ir.cssentertainment.com.

ITEM 6. Selected Financial Data

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Not applicable.

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ITEM 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

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The following discussion and analysis of our consolidated financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Annual Report, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business and related financing, includes forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties and should be read together with the "Risk Factors" section of this Annual Report. Such risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

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Recent Developments

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Acquisition of Sonar Entertainment Assets

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In April 2021, we entered into an asset purchase agreement (“Asset Purchase Agreement”) by and among our company, Halcyon Television, and with respect to certain provisions, Parkside Entertainment Inc., a Canadian company (“Parkside” and, collectively with us and Halcyon Television, the “CSSE Buyer”), on the one hand, and Sonar Entertainment Inc. (“SEI”) and the direct and indirect subsidiaries of SEI identified in the Asset Purchase Agreement (collectively, “Sonar”), on the other hand. On May 21, 2021, pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement, the CSSE Buyer purchased the principal assets of Sonar for $18.9 million in cash and additional consideration of $34.9 million, that will be funded through the seller’s participation in the underlying acquired assets future cash flows. Parkside separately purchased the outstanding equity of Sonar Canada Inc.

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We believe that our acquisition of the Sonar assets accelerates our strategy to build the leading independent AVOD streaming service in four key ways:

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•expanding our original television content development pipeline;

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•improving margins by increasing our IP rights ownership;

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•accelerating our ability to launch the Chicken Soup for the Soul branded AVOD network; and

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•providing a faster path to growing our international television production and distribution activities.

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Stock Repurchase Program

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In November 2021, believing that our current stock price does not reflect the enterprise value of our company or our recent or planned growth, we announced a share repurchase program under which we may purchase from time to time in market or private transactions of our publicly traded Class A common stock. Of the $30.0 million authorized under the stock repurchase program through March 30, 2022, there is approximately $8.9 million of capacity remaining. We believe that the ability to make such repurchases enables us to enhance stockholder value as and when market prices dictate and that the use of any of our capital resources for any such repurchase would have no effect on our ability to adhere to our growth strategies and our on-going operations.  Under the program, we have repurchased 1.6 million shares at an average price of $12.88 per share.

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Acquisition of 1091 Pictures

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On March 4, 2022, the Company acquired the assets of 1091 Media, LLC (“1091 Media”) for approximately $15.6 million.  The purchase price is comprised of $8.0 million in cash, $2.0 million in the form of newly issued shares of the Company’s Series A perpetual preferred stock valued at $25 per share, and 375,000 shares of Class A common stock valued at $14.80 per share. 1091 Picture’s provides a diverse library of approximately 4,000 movies and television series and established FAST and AVOD channels in specific verticals, with approximately 1 billion yearly ad impressions.

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JOBS Act Accounting Election

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards issued subsequent to the enactment of the JOBS Act until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards, and, therefore, will not be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

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Reporting Segment

We operate in one reportable segment, the production, distribution and exhibition of TV and film content for sale to others and for use on our owned and operated video on demand platforms. We distribute films in over 56 countries and territories worldwide and intend to continue to license our video content internationally.

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Seasonality

Our operating results are not materially affected by seasonal factors; however, we may distribute rights to certain films which result in increased revenues and expenses during the period of distribution and revenues from our AVOD networks vary from period to period and will generally be higher in the second half of each year.

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Financial Results of Operations:

Revenue

The following table presents net revenue line items for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 and the year-over-year dollar and percentage changes for those line items:

​

​

Our net revenue increased by $44.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. On May 21, 2021, we completed the acquisition of the principal assets of Sonar Entertainment, Inc. (“Sonar”). The Sonar acquisition contributed $19.2 million or 44% of the revenue increase in the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020.

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VOD and streaming revenue increased $8.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to 2020. The increase includes a $6.0 million increase in TVOD revenues driven by strong performances and sales of various library titles, including $3.6 million from Sonar titles and a $2.1 million increase in advertising revenues related to an increase in viewership, particularly from new Crackle Plus distribution platforms partners, sponsorship revenues and ad representation revenues.

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Licensing and other revenue increased $35.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to 2020. The increase is related to $26.6 million in international licensing sales, including $12.7 million from Sonar titles, a $8.2 million increase in content production primarily driven by production services revenue related to Rana Naidu and executive producer fee revenue related to Hunters Season 2 and Mysterious Benedict Society Season 2. International licensing agreements generally are for a fixed fee for all rights in a territory and therefore, the ultimate composition of the licensee’s revenue generated (e.g., TVOD, SVOD, AVOD, etc.) is not known at the inception of the license when our revenue is recognized.  Management believes the majority of the sub-licensee’s revenues generated under these licenses will relate to VOD and streaming.

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Cost of Revenue

The following table presents cost of revenue line items for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 and the year-over-year dollar and percentage changes for those line items:

​

​

​

Our cost of revenue increased by $27.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. This increase was primarily due to a $19.6 million increase in content amortization and other costs as a result of the $42.3 million increase in film licensing and sponsorship revenue, a $4.2 million increase in revenue share and partner fees primarily related to higher ad representation sales and increased revenues from new Crackle Plus distribution platforms, and a $3.3 million increase in distribution and platform costs primarily related to various technology costs to maintain and enhance our growing Crackle Plus Platform.

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For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Sonar acquisition accounted for $5.6 million or 13% of content amortization and other costs and $1.8 million or 8% of distribution costs included in distribution and platform costs.

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Operating Expenses

The following table presents operating expense line items for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the year-over-year dollar and percentage changes for those line items:

​

* Not meaningful

​

Our total operating expenses were 70% of net revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 89% in the same period in 2020 and increased in absolute dollars by $18.7 million. Excluding amortization, depreciation expense and impairment charges, total operating expenses were 54% and 58% of net revenue for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

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Selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $17.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. The increase is further discussed below in the Selling, General and Administrative section.

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Amortization and depreciation expense decreased by $10.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. The decrease is primarily due to the Crackle Plus customer user base intangible asset being fully amortized during the third quarter of 2020.

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In fourth quarter of 2021, we reorganized our production operations due to the acquisition of Sonar Entertainment and formed Chicken Soup for the Soul Television Group. In connection with this change, we performed an evaluation of shows in development and monetization strategies across our content portfolio, that resulted in the identification of content not consistent with management’s strategy and accelerated amortization associated with changes in the expected monetization of certain programs. As a result, the Company recorded an impairment of $9.8 million and $4.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

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As a result of our principal focus on AVOD services, management determined that our sole SVOD service’s acquired customer intangible base and reporting unit goodwill was impaired during the fourth quarter of 2021.

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We incur fees to CSS equal to 10% of total net revenue related to management services, a brand license and marketing as further described in the Related Party Resources and Obligations section below. The $4.4 million increase is due to increased revenues year over year.

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Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

The following table presents selling, general and administrative expense line items for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 and the year-over-year dollar and percentage changes for those line items:

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Our compensation expense increased by $5.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. This increase is primarily due to a 53% increase in headcount as a result of the continued growth of the Company, including the acquisition of Sonar.

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Share-based compensation expense increased $4.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. This increase is related to a broader issuance of stock options granted under the 2017 Long Term Incentive Plan across our increased employee base, as well as, common stock grants issued to consultants and directors during 2021.

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Professional fees increased by $3.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. This increase is primarily related to an increase in consulting, advisory and legal expense for on-going litigation, capital raising activities and the acquisition of Sonar.

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Public company expenses increased $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. This increase is primarily related to various fees in connection with our recent financing activities.

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Bad debt expense decreased $0.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. This decrease is a result of increased collection efforts in 2021 and certain aged customer balances being reserved in the prior year.

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Other operating expenses increased $4.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. This increase is primarily related to a $3.3 million increase in marketing expenses related to Crackle Plus and other costs to support the growth in our business in 2021.

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Interest Expense

The following table presents interest expense for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:

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Interest expense increased $2.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. The increase is primarily related to a higher average outstanding debt balance during 2021 as compared to 2020.

Other Non-Operating Income, net

For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 other non-operating income was $0.4 million and $6.2 million, respectively. The decrease of $5.8 million was primarily the result of extinguished liabilities as part of a settlement agreement with a technology platform vendor which discontinued operations prior to the completion of the contractual service period during the prior year.

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Provision for Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes consists of federal and state taxes in amounts necessary to align our tax provision to the effective tax rate.  For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we reported tax expense of approximately $0.1 million and $0.1 million, respectively, consisting of state taxes currently payable. The effective tax rate for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was 0% and is significantly impacted by temporary and permanent differences as described below.

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Temporary differences consist primarily of net programming costs and film library acquisition costs that were, for current year additions, amortized over the straight line basis as permitted under the Internal Revenue Code  as well as prior year released USA produced shows having been deducted for tax purposes in the period incurred (under Internal Revenue Code Sections 168(k) and 181 as contrasted to the capitalization and amortization for financial reporting purposes under the guidance of ASC 926 — Entertainment — Films. We also incurred impairment losses that were charged to operations on the financial statements on some of those assets but are not currently deductible for tax purposes. Additionally, the Company amortized, for tax purposes, intangible assets as well as acquisition related costs under Section 197 of the Internal Revenue Code, the amounts of which differ substantially from charges on related assets that are either not for financial reporting amortized, charged to operations in the period incurred or amortized at different rates.

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Permanent differences consist primarily of: (1) amortization for financial reporting purposes of film library properties that were acquired in a transaction in 2017 wherein the tax cost basis as well as the method and rate of amortization are, for tax purposes, governed by the rules of Section 197 of the Internal Revenue Code and (2) option grants under the Company’s Long Term Incentive Plan that are not deductible until exercised.

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Related Party Resources and Obligations

CSS License Agreement

We have a trademark and intellectual property license agreement with CSS, which we refer to as the ‘‘CSS License Agreement.’’ Under the terms of the CSS License Agreement, we have been granted a perpetual, exclusive, worldwide license to produce and distribute video content using the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand and related content, such as stories published in the Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

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We pay CSS an incremental recurring license fee equal to 4% of our net revenue for each calendar quarter, and a marketing fee of 1% of our net revenue

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For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we recorded $5.5 million and $3.3 million, respectively, of license fee expense under this agreement. We believe that the terms and conditions of the CSS License Agreement, which provides us with the rights to use the trademark and intellectual property in connection with our video content, are more favorable to us than any similar agreement we could have negotiated with an independent third party.

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CSS Management Agreement

We have a management services agreement, the ‘‘CSS Management Agreement’’, in which we pay CSS a management fee equal to 5% of our net revenue. Under the terms of the CSS Management Agreement, we are provided with the broad operational expertise of CSS and its subsidiaries and personnel, including the services of our chairman and chief executive officer, Mr. Rouhana, our senior brand advisor and director, Ms. Newmark, and our chief financial officer, Mr. Mitchell. The CSS Management Agreement also provides for services, such as accounting, legal, marketing, management, data access and back-office systems, and provides us with office space and equipment usage. On August 1, 2019, we entered into an amendment to the CSS Management Agreement which removed our obligation to pay sales commissions to CSS in connection with sponsorships for our video content or other revenue generating transactions arranged by CSS or its affiliates. On March 15, 2021, we entered into a further amendment to the CSS Management Agreement which clarified that the term of the CSS Management Agreement is five years, with automatic one-year renewals unless affirmatively terminated by one of the parties.  

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For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we recorded $5.5 million and $3.3 million, respectively, of management fee expense under this agreement. We believe that the terms and conditions of the CSS Management Agreement, as amended, are more favorable and cost effective to us than if we hired the full staff to operate the Company.

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Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measure

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”). We use a non-GAAP financial measure to evaluate our results of operations and as a supplemental indicator of our operating performance. The non-GAAP financial measure that we use is Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA (as defined below) is considered a non-GAAP financial measure as defined by Regulation G promulgated by the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Due to the significance of non-cash, non-recurring, and acquisition related expenses recognized for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the likelihood of material non-cash, non-recurring, and acquisition related expenses to occur in future periods, we believe that this non-GAAP financial measure enhances the understanding of our historical and current financial results as well as provides investors with measures used by management for the planning and forecasting of future periods, as well as for measuring performance for compensation of executives and other members of management. Further, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA enables our board of directors and management to analyze and evaluate financial and strategic planning decisions that will directly affect operating decisions and investments.  We believe this measure is an important indicator of our operational strength and performance of our business because it provides a link between operational performance and operating income. It is also a primary measure used by management in evaluating companies as potential acquisition targets. We believe the presentation of this measure is relevant and useful for investors because it allows investors to view performance in a manner similar to the method used by management. We believe it helps improve investors’ ability to understand our operating performance and makes it easier to compare our results with other companies that have different

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capital structures or tax rates. In addition, we believe this measure is also among the primary measures used externally by our investors, analysts and peers in our industry for purposes of valuation and comparing our operating performance to other companies in our industry.

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The presentation of Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual, infrequent or non-recurring items or by non-cash items. This non-GAAP financial measure should be considered in addition to, rather than as a substitute for, our actual operating results included in our consolidated financial statements.

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We define Adjusted EBITDA as consolidated operating income adjusted to exclude interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization (including tangible and intangible assets), acquisition-related costs, consulting fees related to acquisitions, dividend payments, non-cash share-based compensation expense, and adjustments for other unusual and infrequent in nature identified charges. Adjusted EBITDA is not an earnings measure recognized by US GAAP and does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP; accordingly, Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. We believe Adjusted EBITDA to be a meaningful indicator of our performance that provides useful information to investors regarding our financial condition and results of operations. The most comparable GAAP measure is operating income.

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Adjusted EBITDA has important limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are:

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necessary;

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In evaluating Adjusted EBITDA, you should be aware that in the future we may incur expenses similar to those eliminated in this presentation.

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Reconciliation of Historical GAAP Net Income as reported to Adjusted EBITDA

The following table presents a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, for the periods presented:

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

Overview

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Our primary sources of liquidity are our existing cash and cash equivalents, cash inflows from operating activities and financing activities. As of December 31, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of $44.3 million. Our total debt principal outstanding was $56.7 million as of December 31, 2021, of which $32.9 million is comprised of outstanding principal under our 9.50% Notes due 2025.

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Debt, net of debt issuance costs, increased $13.0 million primarily due to drawing on the Revolving Loan, offset by the repayment of the outstanding principal under the Revolving Credit Facility and partial repayment of the Film Acquisition Advance. The amount of principal and interest due in the next twelve months is approximately $10.2 million. See Note 10, Debt in the accompanying notes to our consolidated financial statements.

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As of December 31, 2021, the Company had $38.6 million of content obligations, including film library acquisition obligations, programming obligations and participation costs, $39.7 million of off balance sheet commitments in 2022 and contingent consideration related to our acquisition of Sonar. See Note 15, Commitments & Contingencies in the accompanying notes to our consolidated financial statements

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During 2021 the Company raised approximately net proceeds of $95.3 million through the sale of Class A common stock, as follows:

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Cash Flows

Our cash and cash equivalents balance was $44.3 million and $14.7 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

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Cash flow information for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 is as follows:

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Operating Activities

Net cash used in operating activities was $30.4 million and $18.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The increase of $12.4 million in cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020 was primarily due to a $13.6 million decrease in net loss adjusted for the exclusion of non-cash items, and a $25.9 million decrease related to the effect of changes in operating assets and liabilities.

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The net loss adjusted for the exclusion of non-cash items was approximately $16.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the net loss adjusted for the exclusion of non-cash items of $2.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease in the net loss adjusted for the exclusion of non-cash items was primarily due to a $23.5 million increase in net non-cash items driven by the amortization and impairment of content assets and amortization of intangible assets, offset by the $9.9 million increase in net loss.

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The effect of changes in operating assets and liabilities was a decrease of $46.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to a decrease of $20.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The most significant drivers contributing to this increase relate to the following:

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Investing Activities

For the years ended December 31, 2021, our investing activities required a net use of cash totaling $15.4 million. This increase was due to $19.4 million of cash used to fund the Sonar and Locomotive Global acquisitions, a $1.6 million in cash used for capital expenditures primarily related to enhancing our technology infrastructure and Crackle Plus platforms. The cash used in investing activities was offset by $5.6 million decrease in our due-from affiliated companies’ balance driven by our parent company’s central cash management system through which from time to time funds are transferred to meet liquidity needs and are settled on an ongoing basis.

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For the years ended December 31, 2020, our investing activities required a net use of cash totaling $2.8 million. This resulted primarily from a $5.5 million increase in capital expenditures primarily related to our ongoing investments, particularly as it relates to enhancing our technology infrastructure and platforms to support our growing operations, partially offset by a $2.0 million decrease in our due from affiliated companies balance and a $0.7 million increase from sales of marketable securities.

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Financing Activities

For the year ended December 31, 2021, our financing activities provided net cash totaling $75.3 million. This increase was primarily due to the $70.5 million in net proceeds related to the July 2021 public common stock offering, $21.4 million in net proceeds related to the January 2021 common stock private placement, $17.8 million in net proceeds related to the revolving loan with Midcap Financial Trust, $3.4 million in net proceeds from the at-the-market common stock offerings during the period, $3.3 million in proceeds from the exercise of stock options and warrants, offset by the repurchase of common stock in the amount of $12.6 million, $8.6 million payment of contingent consideration related to the Sonar acquisition, a $8.7 million payment of dividends to preferred stockholders, purchasing an additional 25,000 units of common equity in Landmark Studio Group for $6.0 million, the $2.5 million repayment of the outstanding principal under the revolving credit facility with Cole Investments VII, LLC, a $2.5 million payment on our film acquisition advance, a $0.7 million payment on our Revolving Loan and a $0.5 million increase in our due-to affiliated companies balance. These financing activities during the period have resulted in the Company improving its liquidity position by increasing cash on-hand to scale and fund the operations of the Company.

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For the year ended December 31, 2020, our financing activities provided net cash totaling $29.1 million. This increase was primarily due to the $31.0 million in net proceeds related to the public offering of the 9.50% notes due 2025, $8.8 million in proceeds from the film acquisition advance, $5.9 million in proceeds from a private placement and at-the-market sale of common stock and $6.7 million in net proceeds from the sale of our preferred stock, offset by the $15.2 million repayment of the Commercial Loan, the $1.6 million repayment of the film acquisition advance, the $4.1 million payment of dividends to preferred stockholders and a $2.5 million payment on our revolving credit facility. These financing

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activities during the period have resulted in the Company improving its liquidity position by increasing cash on hand and

extending future principal payments.

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Anticipated Cash Requirements

We believe that cash flow from operations and cash on hand, together with equity and/or debt financings in 2022, will be adequate to meet our known operational cash needs, minimum programming payments and debt service (i.e., principal and interest payments) requirements for the foreseeable future. We monitor our cash flow liquidity, availability, capital base, operational spending and leverage ratios with the long-term goal of maintaining our credit worthiness. If we are required to access debt or equity financing for our operating needs, we may incur additional debt and/or issue preferred stock or common equity, which could serve to materially increase our liabilities and/or cause dilution to existing holders. There can be no assurance that we would be able to access debt or equity financing if required on a timely basis or at all or on terms that are commercially reasonable to our Company. If we should be required to obtain debt or equity financing and are unable to do so on the required terms, our operations and financial performance could be materially adversely affected.

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Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

The preparation of our financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amount of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate these estimates, which are based on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. The result of these evaluations forms the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities and the reported amount of revenues and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions.

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We consider the following accounting policies to be the most critical as they are important to our financial condition and results of operations and require significant judgment and estimates on the part of management in their application. The risks and uncertainties involved in applying our critical accounting policies are provided below. Unless otherwise noted, we applied our critical accounting policies and estimation methods consistently in all material respects and for all periods presented and have discussed such policies with our Audit Committee. For a summary of our significant accounting policies, see the accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements

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Revenue Recognition

Revenue from contracts with customers is recognized as contractual performance obligations are satisfied; generally, this occurs at the point in time when the customer has the ability to direct the use and obtain substantially all the benefits of that good or service. Our contractual performance obligations include the licensing or sale of content, production services or delivery of online advertisements. Revenue is measured at contract inception as the amount of consideration we expect to receive in exchange for transferring goods or providing services to customers.

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Film Ultimates & Content Amortization

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Original productions, acquired film rights and acquired film libraries are stated at the lower of amortized cost or estimated fair value. The valuation of content is reviewed at the individual title level or acquired library level, when an event or change in circumstances indicates that the fair value may be less than its unamortized cost and the valuation is based on a DCF methodology with assumptions for cash flows. Key inputs employed in the DCF methodology include estimates of a film ultimate revenue and costs as well as a discount rate. The discount rate utilized in the DCF is based on the weighted average cost of capital of the Company plus a risk premium representing the risk associated with acquiring a film.  An impairment charge is recorded in the amount by which the unamortized costs exceed the estimated fair value. Estimates of future revenue involve measurement uncertainties and it is therefore possible that reductions in the carrying value of costs may be required because of changes in management’s future revenue estimates.

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Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

The Company reviews its long-lived assets, principally finite lived intangibles, for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the asset grouping may not be recoverable. If the sum of the expected future cash flows, undiscounted and without interest, is less than the carrying amount of the asset, an impairment loss is recognized as the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset exceeds its fair value.  The expected cash flows are based on assumptions regarding our future business outlook and where appropriate, include a residual value based on a revenue market multiple.  While we continue to review and analyze many factors that can impact our business prospects in the future, our analyses are subjective and are based on conditions existing at and trends leading up to the time the assumptions are made. Actual results could differ from these assumptions.

Goodwill & Indefinite Lived Intangibles

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Goodwill and other intangible assets with indefinite lives are reviewed for impairment on an annual basis or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate the carrying amount may not be recoverable.  If the carrying value of goodwill assigned to a reporting unit or an indefinite-lived intangible asset exceeds fair value, an impairment charge is recognized. The fair value of the Company’s reporting units or indefinite lived intangible asset is based on assumptions regarding our future business outlook. While we continue to review and analyze many factors that can impact our business prospects in the future, our analyses are subjective and are based on conditions existing at and trends leading up to the time the assumptions are made.  Actual results could differ from these assumptions.

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For our annual impairment tests performed at December 31, 2021, we performed a qualitative assessment for our goodwill reporting units and our indefinite lived intangibles that we estimated have fair values that significantly exceed their carrying amounts.  

For our 2021 assessment, we performed a qualitative assessment of our CSS brand license and our Distribution & Production reporting unit and determined that they were not impaired.  We weighed the relative impact of market-specific and macroeconomic factors, as well as factors specific to the reporting unit.  Based on the qualitative assessments, considering the aggregation of the relevant factors, we concluded that it is more likely than not that the fair values of the reporting unit and license are below their carrying values, and therefore, performing a quantitative test was unnecessary.

We performed a quantitative test for our SVOD and our Online Networks reporting units and found that the SVOD reporting unit’s goodwill was impaired as of December 31, 2021, resulting in a charge of $1,300,319.  The Online Networks reporting unit had a negative equity value as of December 31, 2021, and is therefore not deemed to be impaired, as the reporting unit’s fair value exceeds the carrying value.

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We also performed a quantitative assessment for our Popcornflix brand indefinite lived intangible.  We weighed the relative impact of market-specific and macroeconomic factors for the AVOD market, as well as factors specific to the Popcornflix AVOD service. Our assessment included expected future revenue estimates for the Popcornflix service and revenue multiples from publicly traded companies with operations and characteristics similar to Popcornflix.  Based on the results of our quantitative impairment test, we concluded that the estimated fair value exceeded its respective carrying value and therefore no impairment charge was required.  

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Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data - Note 3 “Recent Accounting Pronouncements”.

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ITEM 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

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Not applicable.

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ITEM 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

Board of Directors and Stockholders

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive loss, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2021, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2021, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ Rosenfield and Company, PLLC

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2017.

New York, New York

March 29, 2022

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Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

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See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

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Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Operations

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See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

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Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss