CuriosityStream Inc. - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021

or

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from _____ to _____

Commission File Number: 001-39139

CURIOSITYSTREAM INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(301) 755-2050

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

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

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

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

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 ☒

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 ☐

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 ☐

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.

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. ☐

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 report. ☐

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

As of June 30, 2021, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common stock held by non-affiliates, computed by reference to the closing sales price of $13.64 reported on The NASDAQ Capital Market, was approximately $384.4 million.

As of March 29, 2022, there were 52,761,542 shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, issued and outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement relating to its annual meeting of stockholders to be held in 2022 (the “2022 Annual Meeting”), expected to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on April 28, 2022 (and, in any event, not later than 120 days after the close of our last fiscal year), are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the extent stated herein. Except with respect to information specifically incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, such proxy statement is not deemed to be filed as part hereof.

CURIOSITYSTREAM INC.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I

CERTAIN DEFINED TERMS

Each of the terms the “Company,” “we,” “our,” “us,” and similar terms used herein refer collectively to CuriosityStream Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless otherwise stated.

In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless otherwise stated or unless the context otherwise requires:

“App Services” means applications developed for iOS, Android, streaming media players and smart tv operating systems.

“Board” means the board of directors of the Company.

“Bundled MVPD Business” refers to our ability to convey a broad scope of rights, including 24/7 “linear” channels, on-demand content library, mobile rights and/or pricing and packaging flexibility, in exchange for an annual fixed fee or fee per subscriber as part of a multi-year agreement.

“Bundled MVPD Partners” means affiliate relationships with MVPDs, broadband and wireless companies in the U.S. and international territories.

“Business Combination” means the acquisitions and transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement.

“Bylaws” means the Amended and Restated Bylaws of CuriosityStream Inc.

“Charter” means the Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of CuriosityStream Inc.

“Common Stock” means the Common Stock of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share.

“Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

“CSR” means corporate and social responsibility.

“Legacy CuriosityStream” means Curiosity Inc., a Delaware corporation (formerly named CuriosityStream Operating Inc., and prior to the consummation of the Business Combination, CuriosityStream Inc.).

“DGCL” means the Delaware General Corporation Law.

“Direct Service” or “Direct to Consumer Business” means App Services together with O&O Service.

“Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

“GAAP” means United States generally accepted accounting principles, consistently applied, as in effect from time to time.

“IPO” means SAQN’s initial public offering of Units consummated on November 22, 2019.

“JOBS Act” means the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, as amended.

“LIBOR” means the London Interbank Offered Rate.

“Merger” means the merger of Merger Sub with and into Legacy CuriosityStream.

“Merger Sub” means CS Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

“MVPDs” means multichannel video programming distributors.

“NASDAQ” means The NASDAQ Capital Market.

“O&O Service” means our owned and operated website.

“Omnibus Incentive Plan” means our 2020 Omnibus Incentive Plan.

“Partner Direct Service” or “Partner Direct Business” means, collectively, MVPDs that include Comcast and Cox, and vMVPDs and digital distributors that include Amazon Prime Video Channels, Roku Channels, Sling TV and YouTube TV.

“PIPE” means the issuance and sale to the PIPE Investors, an aggregate of 2,500,000 shares of Common Stock for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000,000 pursuant to Subscription Agreements between the Company and the PIPE Investors.

“PIPE Investors” means certain third-party investors in the PIPE.

“PIPE Warrants” means the 353,000 warrants issued to PIPE Investors in connection with our Business Combination.

“Private Placement Warrants” means the 3,676,000 warrants issued to Software Acquisition Holdings LLC in a private placement that closed concurrently with our IPO.

“Program Sales Business” means CuriosityStream’s program sales.

“Public Warrants” means the 7,475,000 warrants sold as part of the Units in the IPO.

“SAQN” means Software Acquisition Group Inc. prior to the consummation of the Business Combination.

“Sarbanes-Oxley Act” means the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended.

“SEC” means the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Securities Act” means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

“Sponsor” means the Company’s former sponsor, Software Acquisition Group LLC.

“Sponsorship & Advertising Business” means the Company’s business of developing integrated digital brand partnerships.

“SVoD” means subscription video on-demand.

“Trust Account” means the trust account established in connection with the IPO.

“Units” means the units of SAQN, each consisting of one share of Common Stock and one-half of one Warrant, with each such Public Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of Common Stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments. On October 14, 2020, the Company’s Common Stock and Public Warrants were listed on NASDAQ under the new trading symbols of “CURI” and “CURIW,” respectively, and all of SAQN’s units separated into their component parts of (i) one share of Common Stock and (ii) one-half (1/2) of one warrant and ceased trading on NASDAQ.

“vMVPDs” means virtual MVPDs.

“Warrants” means the Private Placement Warrants, the PIPE Warrants and Public Warrants.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains certain forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, regarding the Company’s future financial performance, as well as the Company’s strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues, and losses, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. When used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the words “could,” “should,” “will,” “may,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions about future events and are based on currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. The Company cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of the Company, incident to its business.

These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any subsequent date. Although the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws, you are advised to consult any additional disclosures the Company makes in its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K include, but are not limited to, statements about the ability of the Company to:

As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, the Company’s actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include:

RISK FACTOR SUMMARY

Our business operations are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those outside of our control, that could cause our results to vary from expectations. You should carefully consider these risks and uncertainties when investing in our securities. The principal risks and uncertainties affecting our business include, but are not limited to, the following:

Item 1. Business

Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this section to “we,” “us,” “our,” or the “Company” refer to CuriosityStream and its subsidiaries prior to and following the consummation of the Business Combination. All references in this section to Software Acquisition Group Inc. and SAQN are references to the registrant prior to the consummation of the Business Combination.

Corporate History and Background

On October 14, 2020 (the “Closing Date”), CuriosityStream Inc., a Delaware corporation (formerly named Software Acquisition Group Inc.), consummated a merger pursuant to that certain Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”), dated August 10, 2020, by and among Software Acquisition Group Inc., CS Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of Software Acquisition Group Inc. (“Merger Sub”), CuriosityStream Operating Inc., a Delaware corporation (which has been re-named Curiosity Inc. following the Business Combination) (“Legacy CuriosityStream”), and Hendricks Factual Media LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“HFM”). The transactions consummated pursuant to the Merger Agreement are referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as the “Business Combination.” Upon the consummation of the Business Combination, Merger Sub merged with and into Legacy CuriosityStream, with Legacy CuriosityStream surviving the merger in accordance with the Delaware General Corporation Law as a wholly owned subsidiary of Software Acquisition Group Inc. (the “Merger” and, the completion of the Merger, the “Closing”). In connection with the Closing, the registrant changed its name from “Software Acquisition Group Inc.” to “CuriosityStream Inc.”

SAQN, a blank check company, was incorporated as a Delaware corporation on May 9, 2019 for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses.

CuriosityStream LLC, Legacy CuriosityStream’s predecessor, was formed in the State of Delaware in June 2008. CuriosityStream LLC officially launched its subscription service to U.S. based customers in March 2015 and to international customers in September 2015.

Business Overview

Created by John Hendricks, founder of the Discovery Channel and former Chairman of Discovery Communications, we are a media and entertainment company that offers premium video programming across the principal categories of factual entertainment, including science, history, society, nature, lifestyle and technology. Our mission is to provide premium factual entertainment that informs, enchants and inspires. We are seeking to meet demand for high-quality factual entertainment via SVoD platforms, as well as via bundled content licenses for SVoD and linear offerings, partner bulk sales, brand partnerships and content sales. We are well-positioned for growth as a digital-native video platform monetizing content across this broad revenue stack.

Through the rapid expansion of our library of high-quality titles and by exploiting multiple channels to monetize our programming, we believe that we have achieved global leadership in factual content streaming and are well positioned to capitalize on favorable ongoing industry trends to create value for our shareholders and other stakeholders.

Curiosity Stream’s award-winning video content library features thousands of nonfiction episodes, including more than 1,000 original, commissioned or co-produced documentaries, of short-form, mid-form and long-form duration. Our films are produced, co-produced or commissioned by us, or licensed through one of our content partnerships, such as with NHK in Japan, ZED in France and Terra Mater in Austria. Our programs are hosted by and feature scientists, experts and celebrities, such as Stephen Hawking, Sir David Attenborough, Sigourney Weaver and Patrick Aryee. Our programs have received four Emmy nominations, including an Emmy Award win for Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places. Every title on our platform is available on-demand and, other than historical footage or classic documentaries, in high definition or 4K quality.

Through our acquisition in 2021 of One Day University, we also acquired more than 500 lectures from some of the most popular and acclaimed college and university professors in the United States, on topics ranging from American history to Broadway shows. In addition, through our acquisition of Learn25, we acquired approximately 5,000 episodes of audio content and about 1,250 video episodes, packaged as courses on factual topics ranging from religion to biographies to psychology. These acquisitions enable us to expand our offering of factual content into audio and educational courses, as well as package our products in special bundles for consumers and business customers.

In 2021, the Company entered into an enhanced strategic partnership with and investment into Nebula, an SVOD streaming service owned by Standard Broadcast LLC and its affiliated YouTube creators.  Nebula has more than 450,000 paying subscribers and over 140 creators with a combined more than 120 million YouTube subscribers.

Also in 2021, the Company partnered with SPIEGEL TV to accelerate international expansion of Curiosity Stream services, taking a one-third stake in the German joint venture owned by a German media company Spiegel and a German documentary producer Autentic.  The joint venture includes distribution of linear cable channel Curiosity Channel and a localized CuriosityStream SVOD service in German-speaking Europe.

Our Curiosity Stream video content, approximately one-third of which is originally produced with the remaining two-thirds consisting of licensed programming, is available directly through our O&O Service and App Services. Our App Services enable access to CuriosityStream on almost every major consumer device, including streaming media players like Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, all major smart TV brands (e.g., LG, Vizio, Samsung, Sony) and gaming consoles like Xbox. Our service is available in more than 175 countries to any household with a broadband connection for $2.99 per month or $19.99 per year. We also provide a premium service for $9.99 per month or $69.99 per year. Over 85% of subscribers select annual subscription plans, which has reduced subscriber churn and facilitates our ability to learn and serve consumer preferences.

In addition, we have affiliate agreement relationships with, and our service is available directly from, MVPDs that include Comcast and Cox, and vMVPDs and digital distributors that include Amazon Prime Video Channels, Roku Channels, Sling TV and YouTube TV, which we refer to as our “Partner Direct Service” or “Partner Direct Business.” The MVPD, vMVPD and digital distributor partners making up our Partner Direct Business pay us a license fee for sales to individuals who subscribe to CuriosityStream via the partners’ respective platforms.

The technology associated with our Partner Direct Business is designed to facilitate a consistent user experience across the different interface platforms and operating system applications. We provide value for both our users and ourselves through our analytics algorithm and data collection system. Leveraging our database of anonymized user preferences, ratings and behavior, we are constantly refining our content recommendation engine to suggest and serve content to our customers.

In addition to our Partner Direct Services and Businesses, we have affiliate relationships with our Bundled MVPD Partners — MVPDs, broadband and wireless companies in the US and international territories to whom we can offer a broad scope of rights, including 24/7 “linear” channels, our on-demand content library, mobile rights and pricing and packaging flexibility, in exchange for an annual fixed fee or fee per subscriber as part of a multi-year agreement. This Bundled MVPD Business offers us the advantages of long-cycle and recurring revenue and the potential to access hundreds of millions of paying subscribers globally. As a young and digital-native company, we are not laden with some of the overhead costs nor over-dependent on lines of business that may hamper the growth of legacy media companies. We are consequently able to offer Bundled MVPD Partners more attractive rates than well-known conglomerates, meeting the Bundled MVPD Partners’ need to cut costs in their business without losing quantity or quality of factual content.

Our Sponsorship & Advertising Business consists of developing integrated digital brand partnerships designed to offer the chance to be associated with CuriosityStream content in a variety of forms, including short and long form program integration, branded social media promotional videos, broadcast advertising spots, and digital display ads.

Our Program Sales Business is focused on providing factual content to entertainment media companies. We have the opportunity to provide a turnkey, financially attractive “factual solution” to meet this business demand. We are able to sell to certain media companies a collection of our existing titles in a traditional program sales deal. We are also able to sell selected rights (such as in territories or on platforms that are lower priority for us) to content we create before we even begin production. This latter model reduces risk in our content development decisions and creates program sales revenue.

Our Corporate & Association Partnership business has been comprised primarily of selling subscriptions in bulk to companies and organizations that in turn offer these subscriptions to their employees and members as an employment benefit or “gift of curiosity.”

Our business model relies on the collaboration of (1) our content team, which works with more than 150 production companies and distributors across the world to create and acquire programming, (2) our legal and finance teams, which structure and formalize agreements, (3) our creative services and content operations teams, which develop all of the marketing materials, metadata and other assets associated with a piece of content, and (4) our content operations and technology teams, which then deliver our content and services to all manner of devices and streaming platforms for our Direct, Partner Direct, Bundled MVPD and other businesses.

Our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $71.3 million. Our net loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $37.6 million.

Please see “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a more detailed discussion of our product and service lines and channels through which we generate revenue.

Competition

We compete for the time and attention of our users across different forms of media, including traditional broadcast, cable, satellite and internet-delivered video, other providers of SVoD services (e.g., Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Netflix), other providers of in-home and mobile entertainment such as radio, music streaming services, and social media and networking websites. Many consumers maintain simultaneous relationships with multiple in-home entertainment providers and can easily shift spending from one provider to another.

We compete to attract, engage, and retain users with other content providers based on several factors, including: the user experience, content range and quality, ease of use of our platform, price, accessibility, perceptions of advertising load, brand awareness and reputation.

Many of our competitors enjoy competitive advantages such as greater brand recognition, legacy operating histories and larger marketing and content budgets, as well as greater financial, technical, human and other resources. However, we currently face limited competition in the factual SVoD category.

Seasonality

Our membership growth exhibits a seasonal pattern that reflects variations when consumers buy internet-connected screens and when they tend to increase their viewing. Historically, the first quarter represents our greatest streaming membership growth. In addition, our membership growth can be impacted by our content release schedule and changes to pricing.

Intellectual Property

Our success depends upon our ability to protect our technologies and intellectual property. To accomplish this, we rely on a combination of intellectual property rights, including trade secrets, copyrights and trademarks, as well as contractual restrictions. We have confidentiality and proprietary rights arrangements with our employees, consultants and business partners, and we control access to, and distribution of, our proprietary information.

Our registered trademarks in the United States include “Curiosity,” “CuriosityStream” and “One Day University.”

We are the registrant of the internet domain name for our website, www.curiositystream.com, as well as others. We own rights to proprietary processes and trade secrets, including those underlying the CuriosityStream service.

Government Regulation

As a company conducting business on the internet, we are subject to several foreign and domestic laws and regulations relating to information and network security, data protection, privacy, and governmental access to data, among other things. Many of these laws and regulations are still evolving and could be interpreted, updated, or new laws passed in ways that could harm our business. In the area of information and network security and data protection, the laws in the United States, the European Union (the “EU”), and other jurisdictions globally can require specified actions to maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of networks and data. Additionally, laws in many U.S. states require companies to implement specific information security controls to protect certain types of personally identifiable information. Likewise, U.S. states, the EU, China, and other jurisdictions have laws in place requiring companies to notify users, regulators, and sometimes law enforcement if there is a security breach that compromises certain categories of information, including personal information and personally identifiable information.

We may also be subject to U.S. federal and state, EU and other foreign laws regarding privacy, the collection of data of minors, and the privacy of customer data. Our privacy policy and terms of use describe our practices concerning the use, transmission and disclosure of customer information and are posted on our website. Any failure to comply with our posted privacy policy or privacy-related laws, obligations, or regulations globally could result in proceedings against us by governmental authorities, individuals, or others. Further, any failure by us to adequately protect the privacy or security of our customers’ information could result in a loss of confidence in our service among existing and potential customers, and ultimately, in a loss of customers and advertisers.

Privacy Policy

We collect and use certain types of information from our customers in accordance with the privacy policy that is posted on our website. We collect personally identifiable information directly from customers when they register to use our service and sign up to receive email newsletters. We may also obtain information about our customers from other customers and third parties. Our policy is to use the collected information to customize and personalize advertising and content for customers and to enhance the customer experience when using our service.

We also use automated data collection technology, such as tracking cookies, to collect non-personally identifiable information to help us track customer interactions with our service. Third-party advertisers and service partners may also use tracking technologies to collect non-personally identifiable information regarding use of our platforms.

We have implemented commercially reasonable physical and electronic security measures to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of personally identifiable information. No security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and we may be unable to anticipate or prevent unauthorized access to our customers’ personally identifiable information.

Employees and Human Capital

In 2021 and 2020, we had approximately 83 and 54 total, full-time employees on average, respectively. As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately 92 full-time employees, all of whom were located in the U.S. We have one location, a corporate office plus filming studio and edit suites, in Silver Spring, Maryland (the “Office”). Our human capital resources objectives include, as applicable, identifying, recruiting, retaining, incentivizing and integrating our existing and new employees, advisors and consultants. Our ability to attract, retain and improve the effectiveness of our employees is a critical factor for executing our growth strategy. We strive to recruit the best people for the job regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender, religion, or other differences.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion as well as equitable pay within our workforce. To further some of these initiatives, following our Business Combination, we retained Willis Towers Watson, a leading global advisory firm, to review our compensation structure. Our compensation program is designed to attract, retain, and motivate highly qualified employees and executives and is comprised of a mix of competitive base salary, bonus and equity compensation awards, as well as other employee benefits. Almost all current employees have received equity grants with vesting conditions designed to facilitate the retention of personnel and the opportunity to benefit financially from the Company’s growth and profitability. Our 401(k) Retirement Plan includes a Company match of up 100 percent of contributions up to 3 percent of the employee’s compensation and a 50 percent Company match of contributions between 3 percent and 5 percent of the employee’s compensation. In 2022, we expect to engage a recruiting firm, or adopt a recruiting tool, that specializes in diversity candidates to assist us in our endeavor to attract and employ diverse applicants to open positions. In addition, as part of a broader initiative to establish and maintain a culture and set of shared values, we intend to survey our employees as to diversity-related topics, including requesting that they supply demographic information about themselves and their interest in participating in diversity and inclusion programs.

Our human resource strategy is overseen by our Chief Operating Officer and executive team, which aims to provide regular updates to our Board. Our employees are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement, and we consider our relations with our employees to be good.

In addition, the health and safety of our employees and communities are of primary concern to us. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken significant steps to protect our workforce, including:

Item 1A. Risk Factors

If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Relating to the Company’s Business

If our efforts to attract and retain users are not successful, our business will be adversely affected.

We have experienced significant user growth over the past several years. Our ability to continue to attract users will depend in part on our ability to effectively market our service, consistently provide our users with compelling content choices, as well as a quality experience for selecting and viewing factual entertainment. Furthermore, the relative service levels, content offerings, pricing and related features of competitors to our service may adversely impact our ability to attract and retain users. Competitors include other entertainment video providers, such as MVPDs and SVoD services. If consumers do not perceive our service offering to be of value, including if we introduce new or adjust existing features, adjust pricing 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 users. In addition, we believe that many of our users rejoin our service or originate from word-of-mouth advertising from existing users. If our efforts to satisfy our existing users are not successful, we may not be able to attract users, and as a result, our ability to maintain and/or grow our business will be adversely affected. Users may cancel our service for many reasons, including: a perception that they do not use the service sufficiently, the need to cut household expenses, selection of content is unsatisfactory, competitive services provide a better value or experience and customer service issues are not satisfactorily resolved. Membership growth is also impacted by seasonality with the first quarter historically representing our greatest growth, also affecting the timing of our content release schedules. We must continually add new users both to replace cancelled users and to grow our business beyond our current user base. If we do not grow as expected, we may not be able to adjust our expenditures or increase our per user revenues commensurate with the lowered growth rate, such that our margins, liquidity and results of operations may be adversely impacted, and our ability to operate at a net-loss may be strained. If we are unable to successfully compete with current and new competitors in both retaining our existing users and attracting new users, our business will be adversely affected. Further, if excessive numbers of users cancel our service, we may be required to incur significantly higher marketing expenditures than we currently anticipate to replace these users with new users.

The ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the various responses to contain it has harmed our industry, disrupted our business, increased our costs, led to delays in content releases and may continue to impact our business and results of operations, as well as our ability to raise additional capital.

The ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the various responses to contain it have created significant volatility, uncertainty and economic disruption. In response to government mandates, health care advisories and in otherwise responding to employee and vendor concerns, we have altered certain aspects of our operations. Our workforce has had to spend a significant amount of time working from home, which impacts their productivity. International and domestic travel has been severely curtailed, which required the cancellation of dozens of partner and potential partner meetings and the rescheduling to virtual and telephonic forums for other such meetings. Many content productions were paused or adjusted, including productions of third parties who supply us with content. Other partners have similarly had their operations altered or temporarily suspended, including distribution partners and those partners that we use for our operations as well as development, production and post-production of content. To the extent the resulting economic disruption is severe, we could see some partners and vendors go out of business, resulting in reduced demand from distributors and consequent reduction in forecasted revenue, as well as supply constraints and increased costs or delays to our productions. Such production pauses have caused us and may cause us in the future to temporarily have less new content available on our service, which could negatively impact consumer demand for and member retention to our service and the number of paid memberships. 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.

The full extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic and the various responses to it impacts our business, operations and financial results continues to depend on numerous evolving 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 and ability to pay for our services; increased competition with alternative media platforms and technologies; disruptions or restrictions on our employees’ ability to work and travel; 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. We will continue to actively monitor the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and may take further actions that alter our business operations, including distribution, partnerships and content production, as may be required by federal, state, local or foreign authorities, or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers, partners and stockholders. It is not clear what potential effects any such alterations or modifications may have on our business, including the effects on our customers, suppliers or vendors, or on our financial results.

In addition to the potential direct impacts to our business, the global economy may continue to be impacted as a result of the actions taken in response to COVID-19, including through elevated inflation, supply chain disruptions and a sensitive and evolving labor market. To the extent that such a weakened global economy impacts consumers’ ability or willingness to pay for our service or vendors’ ability to provide services to us, especially those related to our distribution and content productions, our business and results of operation may be negatively impacted.

Labor shortages could adversely affect our results of operations.

In 2021, many companies experienced labor shortages and other labor-related issues, which were pronounced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of factors may adversely affect the labor force available to us or increase labor costs, including high employment levels, federal unemployment subsidies, increased wages offered by other employers, vaccine mandates and other government regulations and our responses thereto. As more employers offer remote work, we may have more difficulty recruiting for jobs that require on-site attendance. We have recently observed an overall tightening and increasingly competitive labor market. If we are unable to hire and retain employees capable of performing at a high level, our business could be adversely affected. A sustained labor shortage, lack of skilled labor, or increased turnover within our employee base, caused by COVID-19 or as a result of general macroeconomic factors, could have a material adverse impact on our business and operating results. 

We have a limited operating history and history of net losses, and we anticipate that we will experience net losses for the foreseeable future.

You should consider our business and prospects in light of the risks, expenses and difficulties encountered by companies in their early stage of development. CuriosityStream LLC, our predecessor, was formed as a Delaware limited liability company in June 2008. CuriosityStream LLC officially launched its subscription service to U.S. based customers in March 2015 and to international customers in September 2015. Accordingly, we have a limited operating history upon which to base an evaluation of our business and prospects.

We have experienced significant net losses since our inception and, given the significant operating and capital expenditures associated with our business plan, anticipate continuing to incur net losses for the foreseeable future. If we do achieve profitability, we cannot be certain that we will be able to sustain or increase such profitability. We incurred a net loss of approximately $37.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. We have not generated positive cash flow from operations, we may not be able to operate at a net loss indefinitely, and we cannot be certain that we will be able to generate positive cash flow from operations in the future. To achieve and sustain profitability, we must accomplish numerous objectives, including broadening and stabilizing our sources of revenue and increasing the number of paying subscribers to our service. Accomplishing these objectives will require significant capital investments. We cannot assure you that we will be able to achieve these objectives.

Our operating results are expected to be difficult to predict based on a number of factors that also may affect our long-term performance.

We expect our operating results to fluctuate significantly in the future based on a variety of factors, many of which are outside our control and difficult to predict. As a result, period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be a good indicator of our future or long-term performance. The following factors may affect us from period-to-period and may affect our long-term performance:

If we are not able to manage our growth, our business could be adversely affected.

We have expanded rapidly since we launched our subscription service in March 2015. We anticipate that further expansion of our operations will be required to achieve significant growth in our products, lines of business and user base and to take advantage of favorable market opportunities. Any future expansion will likely place significant demands on our managerial, operational, administrative and financial resources. If we are not able to respond effectively to new or increased demands that arise because of our growth, or, if in responding, our management is materially distracted from our current operations, our business may be adversely affected. In addition, if we do not have sufficient breadth and depth of content necessary to satisfy increased demand arising from growth in our user base, our user satisfaction may be adversely affected.

We are continuing to expand our operations internationally, scaling our service to effectively and reliably handle anticipated growth in both users and features related to our service and ramping up our ability to produce original content. As our offerings evolve, we are managing and adjusting our business to address varied content offerings, consumer customs and practices, different technology infrastructure, different markets for factual video content, as well as differing legal and regulatory environments. As we scale our service, we are developing technology and utilizing third-party “cloud” computing services. Currently, approximately a third of our content is originally produced, and as we ramp up our original content production, we are building out expertise in a number of disciplines, including creative, marketing, legal, finance, licensing and other resources related to the development and physical production of content. If we are not able to manage the growing complexity of our business, including improving, refining or revising our systems and operational practices related to our operations and original content, our business may be adversely affected.

Our business could be adversely impacted by costs and challenges associated with strategic acquisitions and investments.

From time to time, we acquire or invest in businesses, content, and technologies that support our business. The risks associated with such acquisitions or investments include the difficulty of integrating solutions, operations, and personnel; inheriting liabilities and exposure to litigation; failure to realize anticipated benefits and expected synergies; and diversion of management’s time and attention, among other acquisition-related risks. We may not be successful in overcoming such risks, and such acquisitions and investments may negatively impact our business.

In addition, a significant portion of the purchase price of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquire goodwill, which must be assessed for impairment at least annually. If our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we may be required to take charges to our operating results based on this impairment assessment process. Acquisitions also could result in dilutive issuances of equity securities or the incurrence of debt, which could adversely affect our operating results.

Furthermore, if we do not integrate an acquired business successfully and in a timely manner, we may not realize the benefits of the acquisition to the extent anticipated. If an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, our operating results, business and financial condition may suffer. Acquisitions and investments may contribute to fluctuations in our quarterly financial results. These fluctuations could arise from transaction-related costs and charges associated with eliminating redundant expenses or write-offs of impaired assets recorded in connection with acquisitions and investments, which could negatively impact our financial results.

Certain of our growth strategies are untested, unproven or not yet fully developed.

We intend to increase our revenues through expanding our subscriber base by, among other things, continuing to expand into international markets, expanding into the mobile video market, expanding into the corporate social responsibility market, expanding into the branded partnerships market, developing our Program Sales Business and developing our in-house production studio, Curiosity Studios. Our content is primarily in the English language with subtitling or dubbing in Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Swedish, German, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Slovenian in parts of our library and the world where demand exists and we have the language version rights. Our rights to the international distribution of portions of our co-produced or licensed content are subject to certain geographic and platform or media restrictions. However, we intend to seek partnerships with strong platforms in international territories, subject, in each case, to any then-existing geographic and media restrictions on the distribution of any of our content. There can be no assurance that these international partnerships will be successful or result in our meeting revenue targets.

We believe there is an opportunity for us to commission or create content for other program providers. However, there can be no assurance that these partners will, or will continue to, engage us for co-productions or commissioned content, or that we will earn the margins that we expect on such projects.

If we expand into new markets or increase certain operations in connection with our growth strategies, we may be required to comply with new regulatory requirements that could cause us to incur additional expenses, increase our cost of doing business, impose additional burdens on us or otherwise negatively affect our business. In pursuing these growth strategies, we expect to incur significant operating and capital expenditures and, as a result, we expect to continue to experience net losses in the future. It is possible that we will not be able to grow our revenues through these strategies, or if growth is achieved, that it will be maintained for any significant period, or at all.

If we experience excessive rates of user churn, our revenues and business will be harmed.

In order to increase our revenues, we must minimize the rate of loss of existing users while adding new users to our DTC subscription service. Our experience during our operating history indicates that there are many variables that impact churn, including the type of plan selected, user engagement with the platform and length of a user’s subscription to date. As a result, in periods of rapid user growth, we believe that our average churn is likely to increase as the average length of subscription to date decreases. Similarly, in periods of slow user growth, we believe that our average churn is likely to decrease since our average user duration is longer. However, these estimates are subject to change based on a number of factors, including the percentage of users selecting monthly vs. annual plans, increased rates of subscription cancellations and decreased rates of user acquisition. We cannot assure you that these estimates will be indicative of future performance or that the risks related to these estimates will not materialize. Users may cancel their subscription to our service for many reasons, including, among others, a perception that they do not use the service sufficiently, or the belief that the service is a poor value or that customer service issues are not satisfactorily resolved. We must continually add new users both to replace users who cancel and to continue to grow our business beyond our current user base. If too many of our users cancel our service, or if we are unable to attract new users in numbers sufficient to grow our business, our operating results will be adversely affected. Further, if excessive numbers of users cancel our service, we may be required to incur significantly higher marketing expenditures than we currently anticipate in order to replace these users with new users.

If our efforts to build a strong brand identity and improve user satisfaction and loyalty are not successful, we may not be able to attract or retain users, and our operating results may be adversely affected.

The CuriosityStream brand is only seven years old, and we must continue to build a strong brand identity. To succeed, we must continue to attract and retain a large number of new users. We may be required to incur significantly higher advertising and promotional expenditures than we currently anticipate to attract large numbers of new users. We believe that the importance of brand loyalty will increase with the continued proliferation of SVoD subscription services. If our branding efforts are not successful, however, our ability to attract and retain users will be affected adversely, which may negatively impact our future operating results.

We may be unable to compete successfully against current and future competitors, and competitive pressures could harm our business and prospects.

Our industry is intensely competitive, and we expect competition to increase in the future as current competitors improve their content offerings and as new participants enter the market. Competition may result in pricing pressures, reduced profit margins, loss of market share or greater difficulty in acquiring attractive content, any of which could substantially harm our business and results of operations. Many of the companies that are participating in the United States and global SVoD media sector have longer operating histories, larger and broader user bases, significantly greater financial, human, technical and other resources and greater name recognition than we do. These companies, which include Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, CBS, ABC, NBC, BBC, PBS, Fox Networks, Discovery Communications, HBO, Disney and others, provide a broader range of content, and could redirect and apply considerable resources to acquired and original factual content. During the COVID-19 pandemic, both established companies and new competitors have increasingly begun developing and creating their own original factual content. In addition, many titles in our content library are subject to non-exclusive licenses, and as a result, our competitors may be able to license many of our popular titles to expand their reach into factual entertainment. If this were to occur, users that already subscribe to these services for other types of content may determine that they do not need to also subscribe to our service. There may also be other competitors, including non-profit and educational organizations and other knowledge sharing focused institutions, that choose to focus on factual content that could directly compete with our SVoD offerings. Well-funded competitors may be better able to withstand economic downturns and periods of slow economic growth and the associated periods of reduced customer spending and increased pricing pressures. Some competitors are able to devote substantially more resources to website and systems development or to investments or partnerships. We may be unable to compete successfully against current and future competitors, and competitive pressures could harm our business and prospects.

We face risks, such as unforeseen costs and potential liability, in connection with content we acquire, produce, license and/or distribute through our service.

As a producer and distributor of content, we face potential liability for negligence, copyright and trademark infringement, or other claims based on the nature and content of materials that we acquire, produce, license and/or distribute. We also may face potential liability for content used in promoting our service, including marketing materials. We are devoting more resources toward the development, production, marketing and distribution of original programming. We believe that original programming can help differentiate our service from other offerings, enhance our brand and otherwise attract and retain users. To the extent our original programming does not meet our expectations, in particular, in terms of costs, viewing and popularity, our business, including our brand and results of operations, may be adversely impacted. As we expand our original programming, we have become responsible for production costs and other expenses. We also take on risks associated with production, such as completion risk. To the extent we create and sell physical or digital merchandise relating to our original programming, and/or license such rights to third parties, we could become subject to product liability, intellectual property or other claims related to such products. We may decide to remove content from our service, not to place licensed or produced content on our service or discontinue or alter production of original content if we believe such content might not be well received by our users or could be damaging to our brand.

To the extent we do not accurately anticipate costs or mitigate risks, including for content that we obtain but ultimately does not appear on or is removed from our service, or if we become liable for content we acquire, produce, license and/or distribute, our business may suffer. Litigation to defend these claims could be costly and the expenses and damages arising from any liability or unforeseen production risks could harm our results of operations. We may not be indemnified against claims or costs of these types and we may not have insurance coverage for these types of claims.

We rely upon a number of partners to make our service available on their platforms and devices.

We currently offer users the ability to receive streaming content through a host of screens and devices, including televisions, set-top boxes, computers, streaming media players, game consoles and mobile devices. We have executed a number of distribution and licensing agreements with MVPDs, vMVPDs and digital distributors including Amazon, YouTube TV, Roku, Comcast, Cox Communications, Sling TV, Dish and others, as well as with our Bundled Distribution Partners, including Multichoice and TataSky, among others. The future performance of our distribution partners under these distribution agreements is uncertain and we can provide no assurance that our distribution partners can generate the number of paying subscribers to our SVoD service in an amount adequate to produce the revenue required to maintain business operations. In many instances, our agreements also include provisions by which the distribution partner bills consumers directly for the CuriosityStream service or otherwise offers services or products in connection with offering our service. We intend to continue to broaden our relationships with existing partners and to increase our capability to stream our content to other platforms, partners and territories over time. If we are not successful in maintaining existing and creating new relationships, or if we encounter technological, content licensing, regulatory, business or other impediments to delivering our streaming content to our users via these devices and platforms and in these territories, our ability to increase our subscriber base and grow our business, as well as retain existing users, could be adversely impacted.

Our agreements with our partners are typically between one and three years in duration and our business could be adversely affected if, upon expiration, a number of our partners do not continue to provide access to our service or are unwilling to do so on terms acceptable to us, which terms may include the degree of accessibility and prominence of our service. Furthermore, while devices are manufactured and sold by entities other than CuriosityStream, the connection between these devices and CuriosityStream may nonetheless result in consumer dissatisfaction toward CuriosityStream and such dissatisfaction could result in claims against us or otherwise adversely impact our business. In addition, technology changes to our streaming functionality may require that partners update their devices. If partners do not update or otherwise modify their devices, our service and our users’ use and enjoyment of our content could be negatively impacted.

We are subject to payment processing risk.

Our users pay for our service using a variety of different payment methods, including credit and debit cards, gift cards, direct debit and online wallets. We rely on third parties to process payment. Acceptance and processing of these payment methods are subject to certain rules and regulations and require payment of interchange and other fees. To the extent there are disruptions in our payment processing systems, increases in payment processing fees, material changes in the payment ecosystem, such as large re-issuances of payment cards, delays in receiving payments from payment processors and/or changes to rules or regulations concerning payment processing, our revenue, operating expenses and results of operation could be adversely impacted. In addition, the recent military invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces and the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other nations on Russia, Belarus and certain Russian organizations and individuals may disrupt payments we receive for distribution of our content in Russian territories. In certain instances, we leverage third parties such as our MVPDs and other partners to bill subscribers on our behalf. If these third parties become unwilling or unable to continue processing payments on our behalf, we would have to find alternative methods of collecting payments, which could adversely impact user acquisition and retention. In addition, from time to time, we encounter fraudulent use of payment methods, which could impact our results of operation and if not adequately controlled and managed could create negative perceptions of our service.

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

We will not always control the timing and manner in which our licensed distributors distribute our content offerings. However, their decisions regarding the timing of release and promotional support are important in determining success. Any decision by those distributors not to distribute or promote our content or to promote our competitors’ content to a greater extent than they promote our content could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

If we fail to maintain or, in newer markets establish, a positive reputation with consumers concerning our service, including the content we offer, we may not be able to attract or retain users, and our operating results may be adversely affected.

We believe that a positive reputation with consumers concerning our service is important in attracting and retaining users who have many choices when it comes to where to obtain video entertainment. To the extent our content is perceived as low quality, offensive or otherwise not compelling to consumers, our ability to establish and maintain a positive reputation may be adversely impacted. To the extent our content is deemed controversial or offensive by government regulators, we may face direct or indirect retaliatory action or behavior, including being required to remove such content from our service, and our entire service could be banned and/or become subject to heightened regulatory scrutiny across our business and operations. In light of the recent military invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces and the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other nations on Russia, Belarus and certain Russian organizations and individuals, our contracts to sell and distribute our content to Russian distributors in Russian territories may cast us in a negative light with consumers, governmental authorities, business partners or other stakeholders and injure our reputation. Furthermore, to the extent our marketing, customer service and public relations efforts are not effective or result in negative consumer reaction, our ability to establish and maintain a positive reputation may likewise be adversely impacted. Lastly, to the extent we suffer any security vulnerabilities, bugs, errors or other performance failures, our ability to establish and maintain a positive reputation may be adversely impacted. With newer markets, we also need to establish our reputation with consumers and to the extent we are not successful in creating positive impressions, our business in these newer markets may be adversely impacted.

Changes in competitive offerings for video entertainment, including the potential rapid adoption of piracy-based video offerings, could adversely impact our business.

The market for video entertainment is intensely competitive and subject to rapid change. Through new and existing distribution channels, consumers have increasing options to access video entertainment. The various economic models underlying these channels include subscription, transactional, ad-supported and piracy-based models. All of these have the potential to capture meaningful segments of the video entertainment market. Piracy, in particular, threatens to damage our business. Piracy’s fundamental proposition to consumers is compelling and difficult to compete against, as virtually all content is free. Further, in light of the compelling consumer proposition, piracy services are subject to rapid global growth. In addition, traditional providers of video entertainment, including broadcasters and cable network operators, as well as internet-based e-commerce or video entertainment providers are increasing their internet-based video offerings. Several of these competitors have long operating histories, large customer bases, strong brand recognition and significant financial, marketing and other resources. They may secure better terms from suppliers, adopt more aggressive pricing 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 video entertainment.

Companies 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 will be adversely affected, and we may not be able to increase or maintain market share and revenues or achieve profitability.

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

The adoption or modification of laws or regulations relating to the internet, telecommunications or other areas of our business could limit or otherwise adversely affect the manner in which we currently conduct our business. As our service and others like us gain traction in international markets, governments are increasingly looking to introduce new or extend legacy regulations to these services, in particular those related to broadcast media, content obligations or restrictions, treatment of intellectual property, net neutrality or payment for transmission and tax. For example, recent changes to European law enables individual member states to impose levies and other financial obligations on media operators located outside their jurisdiction. It is also currently unknown how the recent military invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces and the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other nations on Russia, Belarus and certain Russian organizations and individuals may affect us in the future. We anticipate that several jurisdictions may, over time, impose greater financial and regulatory obligations on us. 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. 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 business model.

Changes in laws or regulations that adversely affect the growth, popularity or use of the internet, including laws impacting net neutrality, could decrease the demand for our service and increase our cost of doing business. Certain laws intended to prevent network operators from discriminating against the legal traffic that traverse their networks have been implemented in many countries, including across the EU. In others, the laws may be nascent or non-existent. Furthermore, favorable laws may change, including for example, in the United States where net neutrality regulations were somewhat recently repealed. Given uncertainty around these rules, including changing interpretations, amendments or repeal, coupled with potentially significant political and economic power of local network operators, we could experience discriminatory or anti-competitive practices that could impede our growth, cause us to incur additional expense or otherwise negatively affect our business.

Changes in how we market our service, or increases in our advertising rates, could adversely affect our marketing expenses and user levels may be adversely affected.

We utilize a broad mix of marketing and public relations programs, including social media sites, to promote our service to potential new users. We may limit or discontinue use or support of certain marketing sources or activities if advertising rates increase or if we become concerned that users or potential users deem certain marketing practices intrusive or damaging to our brand. If the available marketing channels are curtailed, our ability to attract new users may be adversely affected.

Companies that promote our service and/or host our advertisements may decide that we negatively impact their business or may make business decisions that in turn negatively impact us. For example, if they decide that they want to compete more directly with us, enter a similar business or exclusively support our competitors, we may no longer have access to their marketing channels or they may charge us higher advertising rates, preventing us from advertising at competitive and/or reasonable rates. We also acquire a number of users who rejoin our service after having previously cancelled their subscription. If we are unable to maintain or replace our sources of subscriptions with similarly effective sources, or if the cost of our existing subscription increases, our subscription levels and marketing expenses may be adversely affected.

We utilize marketing to promote our content and drive viewing by our users. To the extent we promote our content inefficiently or ineffectively, we may not obtain the expected acquisition and retention benefits and our business may be adversely affected.

Emerging industry trends in digital advertising may pose challenges for our ability to forecast or optimize our advertising inventory, which may adversely impact our ability to capture advertising spend.

The digital advertising industry is introducing new ways to measure and price advertising inventory. For example, a significant portion of advertisers are in the process of moving from purchasing advertisement impressions based on the number of advertisements served by the applicable ad server to a new “viewable” impression standard (based on number of pixels in view and duration) for select products. In the absence of a uniform industry standard, agencies and advertisers have adopted several different measurement methodologies and standards. In addition, measurement services may require technological integrations, which are still being evaluated by the advertising industry without an agreed-upon industry standard metric. As these trends in the industry continue to evolve, our sponsorship and advertising fees may be adversely affected by the availability, accuracy and utility of the available analytics and measurement technologies as well as our ability to successfully implement and operationalize such technologies and standards.

Our user metrics and other estimates are subject to inherent challenges in measurement, and real or perceived inaccuracies in those metrics may seriously harm and negatively affect our reputation and our business.

We regularly review key metrics related to the operation of our business, including, but not limited to monthly active users (“MAUs”) and user churn, to evaluate growth trends, measure our performance, and make strategic decisions. These metrics are calculated using internal company data and have not been validated by an independent third party. While these numbers are based on what we believe to be reasonable estimates of our user base for the applicable period of measurement, there are inherent challenges in measuring how our service is used across populations globally.

Errors or inaccuracies in our metrics or data could result in incorrect business decisions and inefficiencies. For instance, if a significant understatement of churn or overstatement of MAUs were to occur, we may expend resources to implement unnecessary business measures or fail to take required actions to attract a sufficient number of users to satisfy our growth strategies.

Some of our demographic data also may be incomplete or inaccurate because users self-report their personal information. Consequently, the personal data we have may differ from our users’ actual information. If sponsors, advertisers, partners or investors do not perceive our user, geographic or other demographic metrics to be accurate representations of our user base, or if we discover material inaccuracies in our user, geographic, or other demographic metrics, our reputation may be seriously harmed. See “— We are at risk of attempts at unauthorized access to our service, and failure to effectively prevent and remediate such attempts could have an adverse impact on our business, operating results, and financial condition.”

We rely on subscription data provided by our third-party distributors and platform partners that has not been independently verified and inaccuracies in that data may seriously harm and adversely affect our reputation and our business.

Our calculation of total paying subscribers includes the subscribers who are accessing our service via a third-party distributor or platform partner. We rely on these third-party distributors and platform partners to provide us with subscriber data. This data is based on verbal, unpublished or confidential reports and has not been validated by us or an independent third party. We use this data, among other things, to evaluate growth trends, measure our performance and make strategic decisions. Reliance on such unconfirmed or unpublished data could lead us to make incorrect calculations, incorrect business decisions or inefficiencies, particularly if these third parties provide inaccurate or incomplete data. If any of the foregoing were to occur, our reputation and business could be seriously harmed or adversely affected.

Our business emphasizes rapid innovation and prioritizes long-term user engagement over short-term financial condition or results of operations, which strategy could have an adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our business is growing and becoming more complex, and our success depends on our ability to quickly develop and launch new and innovative services. We believe our culture fosters this goal. Our focus on complexity and quick reactions could result in unintended outcomes or decisions that are poorly received by our users, advertisers, sponsors or partners. Our culture also prioritizes our long-term user engagement over short-term financial condition or results of operations. We frequently make decisions that may reduce our short-term revenue or profitability if we believe that the decisions benefit the aggregate user experience and will thereby improve our financial performance over the long-term. For example, in August 2018, we reduced our monthly and annual subscription prices for our HD service from $5.99 and $59.99 to $2.99 and $19.99, respectively. We also regularly run promotions discounting our service plans from their published prices. For example, in 2021 we ran promotions for annual subscriptions from time to time varying from a 25 percent to a 40 percent discount on the $19.99 price for the first year of an annual subscription. No assurance can be provided that such price reductions will produce an increase in subscribers to a level adequate to support sponsorship sales or generate revenue in an amount required to maintain business operations. These decisions may not produce the long-term benefits that we expect, in which case, our user growth and engagement, our relationships with advertisers, sponsors and partners, as well as our business, operating results and financial condition could be seriously harmed.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

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

Our ability to provide our users with content they want to watch depends on 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, upon terms acceptable to us. While the license periods and the terms and conditions of such licenses vary, a significant portion of our content is subject to license for a given period. As of December 31, 2021, approximately 70% of our SVOD titles were subject to licenses, approximately 20% of which expire in 2022 and approximately 22% of which expire in 2023. Of the titles that expire in 2022 and 2023, some may be renewed for a one- or two-year term at our unilateral option. If the 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 deliver particular items of content to our subscribers will be adversely affected and/or our costs could increase. Certain licenses for content provide for the content providers to withdraw content from our service relatively quickly, and such content providers could decide that we negatively impact their business or may make business decisions that in turn negatively impact us. For example, certain content providers could decide that they want to compete more directly with us, enter a similar business or exclusively support our competitors, and in such event we may no longer have access to their content at all or only at higher rates. Because of these provisions as well as other actions we may take, content available through our service can be withdrawn on short notice. As competition increases, we may see the cost of programming increase. As we seek to differentiate our service, we are increasingly focused on securing certain exclusive rights when obtaining content, including original content. We are also focused on programming an overall mix of content appealing to our users in a cost-efficient manner. Within this context, we are selective about the titles we add and renew to our service. If we do not maintain a compelling mix of content, our user acquisition and retention may be adversely affected.

Music and certain authors’ performances contained within content we distribute may require us to obtain licenses for such distribution. In this regard, we engage in negotiations with collection management organizations (“CMOs”) that hold certain rights to music and/or other interests in connection with streaming content into various territories. If we are unable to reach mutually acceptable terms with these organizations, we could become involved in litigation and/or could be enjoined from distributing certain content, which could adversely impact our business. Additionally, pending and ongoing litigation, as well as negotiations between certain CMOs and other third parties in various territories, could adversely impact our negotiations with CMOs, or result in music publishers represented by certain CMOs unilaterally withdrawing rights, thereby adversely impacting our ability to negotiate licensing agreements reasonably acceptable to us. Failure to negotiate such licensing agreements could expose us to potential liability for copyright infringement or otherwise increase our costs.

If our trademarks and other proprietary rights are not adequately protected to prevent use or appropriation by our competitors, the value of our brand and other intangible assets may be diminished and our business may be adversely affected.

We rely and expect to continue to rely on a combination of confidentiality and license agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties with whom we have relationships, as well as trademark and copyright laws, to protect our proprietary rights. We may also seek to enforce our proprietary rights through court proceedings or other legal actions. We have filed and we expect to file from time to time for trademark applications. Nevertheless, these applications may not be approved, third parties may challenge any copyrights or trademarks issued to or held by us, third parties may knowingly or unknowingly infringe our intellectual property rights, and we may not be able to prevent infringement or misappropriation without substantial expense to us. If the protection of our intellectual property rights is inadequate to prevent use or misappropriation by third parties, the value of our brand and other intangible assets may be diminished, competitors may be able to more effectively mimic our service and methods of operations, the perception of our business and service to users and potential users may become confused in the marketplace, and our ability to attract users may be adversely affected.

We currently hold various domain names relating to our brand, including www.curiositystream.com. Failure to protect our domain names could adversely affect our reputation and brand and make it more difficult for users to find our website and our service. We may be unable, without significant cost or at all, to prevent third parties from acquiring domain names that are similar to, infringe upon or otherwise decrease the value of our trademarks and other proprietary rights.

Intellectual property claims against us could be costly and result in the loss of significant rights related to, among other things, our website, streaming technology, our recommendation and promotion capabilities, title selection processes and marketing activities.

Trademark, copyright and other intellectual property rights are important to us and other companies. Our intellectual property rights extend to our technology, business processes and the content we produce and distribute through our website. We use the intellectual property of third parties in creating some of our content and marketing our service through contractual and other rights. From time to time, third parties may allege that we have violated their intellectual property rights. If we are unable to obtain sufficient rights, successfully defend our use, or develop non-infringing technology or otherwise alter our business practices on a timely basis in response to claims against us for infringement, misappropriation, misuse or other violation of third-party intellectual property rights, our business and competitive position may be adversely affected. Many companies are devoting significant resources to developing patents that could potentially affect many aspects of our business. There are numerous patents that broadly claim means and methods of conducting business on the internet. We have not searched patents relative to our technology. Defending ourselves against intellectual property claims, whether they are with or without merit or are determined in our favor, results in costly litigation and diversion of technical and management personnel. It also may result in our inability to use our current website, streaming technology, our recommendation and promotion capability or inability to market our service. We may also have to remove content from our service. As a result of a dispute, we may have to develop non-infringing technology, enter into royalty or licensing agreements, adjust our content, marketing activities or take other actions to resolve the claims. These actions, if required, may be costly or unavailable on terms acceptable to us.

Risks Related to Liquidity

We may find it difficult to successfully compete without significant capital investment or loans beyond what is available to us in current and future capital raising efforts.

Competing in the global media marketplace requires considerable financial resources, especially in the direct-to-consumer SVoD business sector, which requires substantial advertising and marketing expenditures to build widespread brand awareness to a level that produces subscribers. For example, Netflix alone spent approximately $2.5 billion on marketing in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. In a global media marketplace with competitors spending greater amounts on programming and marketing than we do, we may find it difficult to successfully compete without significant capital investment or loans beyond what is available to us in current and future capital raising efforts. No assurance can be provided that we can successfully acquire the amount of capital resources required to successfully compete and survive as a business.

We have a substantial amount of obligations, including streaming content obligations, which, together with any debt we may incur in the future, could adversely affect our financial position.

We have a substantial amount of obligations, including streaming content obligations. Moreover, we expect to incur substantial indebtedness in the future and to incur other obligations, including additional streaming content obligations. As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately $9.7 million of total content liabilities as reflected on our consolidated balance sheet. Such amount does not include streaming content commitments that do not meet the criteria for liability recognition, the amounts of which are significant. For more information on our streaming content obligations, including those not on our balance sheet, see Note 13 in the accompanying notes to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our obligations, including streaming content obligations, may:

Our streaming obligations to licensors include large multi-year commitments. As a result, we may be unable to react to any downturn in the economy or reduction in our cash flows from operations by reducing our streaming content obligations in the near-term. This could result in our needing to access the capital markets at an unfavorable time, which may negatively impact our business.

The long-term and fixed cost nature of our content commitments may limit our operating flexibility and could adversely affect our liquidity and results of operations.

In connection with licensing content, we typically enter into multi-year commitments with content providers. We also enter into multi-year commitments for content that we produce, either directly or through third parties, including elements associated with these productions such as non-cancellable commitments under talent agreements. The payment terms of these agreements are not tied to usage or the size of our user base but may be determined by costs of production or tied to such factors as titles licensed. Such commitments, to the extent estimable under accounting standards, are included in Note 13 in the accompanying notes to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Given the multiple-year duration and largely fixed cost nature of content commitments, if user acquisition and retention do not meet our expectations, our margins may be adversely impacted. Payment terms for certain content commitments, such as content we directly produce, will typically require more up-front cash payments than other content licenses or arrangements whereby we do not cash flow the production of such content. To the extent user and/or revenue growth do not meet our expectations, our liquidity and results of operations could be adversely affected as a result of content commitments and accelerated payment requirements of certain agreements. In addition, the long-term and fixed cost nature of our content commitments may limit our flexibility in planning for or reacting to changes in our business and the markets in which we operate. If we license and/or produce content that is not favorably received by consumers in a territory, or is unable to be shown in a territory, acquisition and retention may be adversely impacted and given the long-term and fixed cost nature of our content commitments, we may not be able to adjust our content offering quickly and our results of operation may be adversely impacted.

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service our obligations and any debt we may incur in the future.

Our ability to make payments on our obligations and any debt we incur in the future 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. In each of the last three years, our cash flows from operating activities have been negative. We may be unable to attain a level of cash flows from operating activities or maintain the level of liquidity sufficient to permit us to pay our obligations, including amounts due under our streaming content obligations, and the principal, premium, if any, and interest on any debt we incur. We may or may not be able to accurately predict the ultimate impact on our levels of liquidity from our cash flows and such predictions are subject to change.

If we are unable to service our obligations, including any debt we may incur in the future, 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 obligations, including any debt we may incur in the future, 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 then-existing 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.

If our cash flows are insufficient to service our obligations, including any debt we may incur in the future, and we are unable to refinance or restructure these obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems and may be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures or to sell material assets or operations to meet our then-existing 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.

Risks Related to Information Technology

Any significant disruption in or unauthorized access to our computer systems or those of third parties that we utilize in our operations, including those relating to cybersecurity or arising from cyber-attacks, could result in a loss or degradation of service, unauthorized disclosure of data, including user and corporate information, or theft of intellectual property, including digital content assets, which could adversely impact our business.

Our reputation and ability to attract, retain and serve our users is dependent upon the reliable performance and security of our computer systems, mobile and other user applications, and those of third parties that we utilize in our operations. These systems may be subject to cyber incident, damage or interruption from earthquakes, adverse weather conditions, lack of maintenance due to human error or oversight, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, power loss or telecommunications failures. Interruptions in, destruction or manipulation of these systems, or with the internet in general, could make our service unavailable or degraded or otherwise hinder our ability to deliver streaming content. Service interruptions, errors in our software or the unavailability of computer systems used in our operations, delivery or user interface could diminish the overall attractiveness of our user service to existing and potential users.

Our computer systems, mobile and other applications and systems of third parties we use in our operations are vulnerable to cybersecurity risks, including cyber-attacks and loss of confidentiality, integrity or availability, both from state-sponsored and individual activity, such as hacks, unauthorized access, computer viruses, denial of service attacks, physical or electronic break-ins and similar disruptions and destruction. Such systems may periodically experience directed attacks intended to lead to interruptions and delays in our service and operations as well as loss, misuse or theft of data or intellectual property. Any attempt by hackers to obtain our data (including user and corporate information) or intellectual property (including digital content assets), disrupt our service, or otherwise access our systems, or those of third parties we use, if successful, could harm our business, be expensive to remedy, expose us to potential liability and damage our reputation. We have implemented certain systems and processes to thwart hackers and protect our data and systems. From time to time, we have experienced an unauthorized release of certain digital content assets, however, to date these unauthorized releases have not had a material impact on our service or systems. There is no assurance that hackers may not have a material impact on our service or systems in the future. Our insurance does not cover expenses related to such disruptions, losses or unauthorized access. Efforts to prevent hackers from disrupting our service or otherwise accessing our systems are expensive to implement and may limit the functionality of or otherwise negatively impact our service offering and systems. Any significant disruption to our service or access to our systems could result in a loss of users, liability and adversely affect our business and results of operation.

We utilize our own communications and computer hardware systems located either in our facilities or in that of a third-party web hosting provider. In addition, we utilize third-party “cloud” computing services in connection with our business operations. We also utilize our own and third-party content delivery networks to help us stream factual entertainment in high volume to CuriosityStream users over the internet. Problems faced by us or our third-party Web hosting, “cloud” computing, or other network providers, including technological or business-related disruptions, as well as cybersecurity threats, could adversely impact the experience of our users, resulting in a loss of users, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We rely upon Amazon Web Services (“AWS”) to operate certain aspects of our service and any disruption of or interference with our use of AWS would impact our operations and our business would be adversely affected.

AWS provides a distributed computing infrastructure platform for business operations, or what is commonly referred to as a “cloud” computing service. We have architected our software and computer systems so as to utilize data processing, storage capabilities and other services provided by AWS. Currently, we run the vast majority of our computing on AWS. In addition, Amazon’s retail division competes with us for users, and Amazon could use, or restrict our use of, AWS to gain a competitive advantage against us. Because we rely heavily on AWS for computing infrastructure and we cannot easily switch our AWS operations to another cloud provider, any disruption of or interference with our use of AWS would impact our operations and our business would be adversely affected.

If the technology we use in operating our business fails, is unavailable, or does not operate to expectations, our business and results of operation could be adversely impacted.

We utilize a combination of proprietary and third-party technology to operate our business. This includes the technology that we have developed to recommend and promote content to our consumers as well as enable fast and efficient delivery of content to our users and their various consumer electronic devices. If our recommendation and promotion capabilities do not enable us to predict and recommend titles that our users will enjoy, our ability to attract and retain users may be adversely affected. We also utilize third-party technology to help market our service, process payments and otherwise manage the daily operations of our business. If our technology or that of third parties we utilize in our operations fails or otherwise operates improperly, including as a result of “bugs” in our development and deployment of software, our ability to operate our service, retain existing users and add new users may be impaired. In addition, any harm to our users’ personal computers or other devices caused by software used in our operations could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Interruptions or delays in service arising from our own systems or from our third-party vendors could impair the delivery of our service and harm our business.

We rely on systems housed at our own premises and at those of third-party vendors, including network service providers and data center facilities, to enable viewers to stream our content in a dependable and efficient manner. We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, periodic service interruptions and delays involving our own systems and those of our third-party vendors. We do not currently maintain live fail-over capability that would allow us to instantaneously switch our streaming operations from AWS to another cloud provider in the event of a service outage at AWS. We house the primary, current copy of our library database at our main premises. We update copies of our content on a weekly basis and house these copies offsite. Both our own facilities and those of our third-party vendors are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunications failures and similar events. They also are subject to break-ins, hacking, denial of service attacks, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism, terrorist acts, natural disasters, human error, the financial insolvency of our third-party vendors and other unanticipated problems or events. The occurrence of any of these events could result in interruptions in our service and the unauthorized access to, or alteration of, the content and data contained on our systems and that these third-party vendors store and deliver on our behalf.

We do not exercise complete control over our third-party vendors, which makes us vulnerable to any errors, interruptions, or delays in their operations. Any disruption in the services provided by these vendors could have a significant adverse impact on our business reputation, customer relations and operating results. Upon expiration or termination of any of our agreements with third party vendors, we may not be able to replace the services provided to us in a timely manner or on terms and conditions, including service levels and cost, that are favorable to us, and a transition from one vendor to another vendor could subject us to operational delays and inefficiencies until the transition is complete.

Some of our services and technologies may use open source software, which may restrict how we use or distribute our service or require that we release the source code of certain services subject to those licenses.

Some of our services and technologies may incorporate software licensed under open source licenses. Such open source licenses often require that source code subject to the license be made available to the public and that any modifications or derivative works to open source software continue to be licensed under open source licenses. Few courts have interpreted open source licenses, and the manner in which these licenses may be interpreted and enforced is therefore subject to some uncertainty. We rely on multiple employee and non-employee software programmers to design our proprietary technologies, and since we may not be able to exercise complete control over the development efforts of all such programmers we cannot be certain that they have not incorporated open source software into our products and services without our knowledge, or that they will not do so in the future. In the event that portions of our proprietary technology are determined to be subject to certain open source licenses, we may be required to publicly release the affected portions of our source code, be forced to re-engineer all or a portion of our technologies, or otherwise be limited in the licensing of our technologies, each of which could reduce the value of our services and technologies and materially and adversely affect our ability to sustain and grow our business.

Changes in how network operators handle and charge for access to data that travel across their networks could adversely impact our business.

We rely upon the ability of consumers to access our service through the internet. If network operators block, restrict or otherwise impair access to our service over their networks, our service and business could be negatively affected. To the extent that network operators implement usage-based pricing, including meaningful bandwidth caps, or otherwise try to monetize access to their networks by data providers, we could incur greater operating expenses and our user acquisition and retention could be negatively impacted. Furthermore, to the extent network operators create tiers of internet access service and either charge us for or prohibit us from having our content available through these tiers, our business could be negatively impacted.

Most network operators that provide consumers with access to the internet also provide these consumers with multichannel video programming. As such, many network operators have an incentive to use their network infrastructure in a manner adverse to our continued growth and success. To the extent that network operators are able to provide preferential treatment to their data as opposed to ours or otherwise implement discriminatory network management practices, our business could be negatively impacted.

We are at risk of attempts at unauthorized access to our service, and failure to effectively prevent and remediate such attempts could have an adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition.

We may be impacted by attempts of third parties to manipulate and exploit our software for the purpose of gaining unauthorized access to our service. If in the future we fail to successfully detect and address such issues, it may have artificial effects on our key performance indicators, such as advertising reach. It should be noted that since unauthorized access to our service may in the future happen through exploitation of software vulnerabilities, once a new method of doing so is developed by third parties, the level of unauthorized access (and attendant negative financial impact described above, if at all) may increase over time as third parties share the method until we find a way to prevent the unauthorized access, assuming we are able to do so at all. Additionally, individuals using unauthorized versions of our application are unlikely to subscribe to our paid CuriosityStream service. Moreover, once we detect and correct such unauthorized access and any key performance indicators it affects, investor confidence in the integrity of our key performance indicators could be undermined. All of the above consequences of unauthorized access to our service could have material and adverse effects on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Risks Related to Privacy

Privacy concerns could limit our ability to collect and leverage our user data and disclosure of user data could adversely impact our business and reputation.

In the ordinary course of business and in particular in connection with content acquisition and merchandising our service to our users, we collect and utilize data supplied by or obtained from our users. We are subject to laws, rules and regulations in the U.S. and in other countries relating to privacy and the collection, use and security of personal information, including, but not limited to, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation or the “GDPR,” the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”). Credit card networks may also require us to employ certain security and privacy controls, and failure to comply with these obligations may lead to significant liabilities. The GDPR imposes strict requirements for processing personal data of individuals within the European Economic Area (“EEA”). Companies that must comply with the GDPR face increased compliance obligations and risk, including more robust regulatory enforcement of data protection requirements and potential fines for noncompliance. Data privacy laws in the EU are developing rapidly. In July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union limited how organizations could lawfully transfer personal data from the EEA to the United States by invalidating the Privacy Shield, and following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EEA and the EU, companies must also comply with the GDPR as incorporated into United Kingdom national law. The relationship between the United Kingdom and the EU in relation to certain aspects of data protection law remains unclear, including with respect to how data can lawfully be transferred between each jurisdiction. Further, the CCPA imposes new data privacy obligations on covered companies and provides expanded privacy rights to California residents. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action with statutory damages for certain data breaches, which may increase the frequency and likelihood of data breach litigation. Further, the CPRA will impose additional data protection obligations on covered businesses and also create a new California data protection agency authorized to issue substantive regulations and could result in increased privacy and information security enforcement. The majority of the CPRA’s provisions will go into effect on January 1, 2023.

The global data protection landscape is rapidly evolving, and we are or may become subject to numerous state, federal and foreign laws, requirements and regulations governing the collection, use, disclosure, retention, and security of personal data. Implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future, and we cannot yet determine the impact future laws, regulations, standards, or perception of their requirements may have on our business. This evolution may create uncertainty in our business, affect our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions or to collect, store, transfer, use and share personal information, necessitate the acceptance of more onerous obligations in our contracts, result in liability or impose additional costs on us. The cost of compliance with these laws, regulations and standards is high and is likely to increase in the future. Any actual or perceived failure to comply with the GDPR, the CCPA, the CPRA, other data privacy laws or regulations, or related contractual or other obligations, or any perceived privacy rights violation, could lead to investigations, claims, and proceedings by governmental entities and private parties, damages for contract breach, and other significant costs, penalties, and other liabilities, as well as harm to our reputation and market position.

Other businesses have been criticized by privacy groups and governmental bodies for attempts to link personal identities and other information to data collected on the internet regarding users’ browsing and other habits. Increased regulation of data utilization practices, including new and evolving laws globally, self-regulation, or findings under existing laws that limit our ability to collect, transfer and use information and other data, could have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, if we were to disclose information and other data about our users in a manner that was objectionable to them, our business reputation could be adversely affected, and we could face potential legal claims, reputational loss, or enforcement actions that could impact our operating results. Internationally, we may become subject to additional and/or more stringent legal obligations concerning our treatment of customer and other personal information, and data generally, such as laws regarding data localization and/or restrictions on data export. Failure to comply with these obligations could subject us to liability, and to the extent that we need to alter our business model or practices to adapt to these obligations, we could incur additional expenses.

Our reputation and relationships with users would be harmed if our user data, particularly billing data, were to be accessed by unauthorized persons.

We maintain personal data regarding our users, including names and email addresses. This data is maintained on our own systems as well as that of third parties we use in our operations. With respect to billing data, such as credit card numbers, we and our subscribers rely on third parties to collect and secure such information. We take measures to protect against unauthorized intrusion into our users’ data. Despite these measures we, our payment processing services or other third-party services we use such as AWS, Stripe or PayPal, could experience an unauthorized intrusion into our users’ data. We also may be required to notify regulators about any actual or perceived data breach (including the EU Lead Data Protection Authority) as well as the individuals who are affected by the incident within strict time periods. In the event of such a breach, current and potential users may become unwilling to provide the information to us necessary for them to become users. Additionally, we could face legal claims or regulatory fines or penalties for such a breach. The costs relating to any data breach could be material, even though we currently carry insurance against the risk of a data breach. We also maintain employment and personal information concerning our employees. Should an unauthorized intrusion into our users’ or employees’ data occur, our business could be adversely affected and our broader reputation with respect to data protection could be negatively impacted.

Risks Related to International Operations

We could be subject to economic, political, regulatory and other risks arising from our international operations.

Operating in international markets requires significant resources and management attention and will subject us to regulatory, economic and political risks that may be different from or incremental to those in the United States. In addition to the risks that we face in the United States, our international operations involve risks that could adversely affect our business, including:

Our failure to manage any of these risks successfully could harm our international operations and could have an adverse effect on our overall business and results of operations.

We are potentially subject to taxation related risks in multiple jurisdictions, and changes in U.S. tax laws, in particular, could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flow, results of operations or financial condition.

We are a U.S.-based company potentially subject to tax in multiple U.S. and non-U.S. tax jurisdictions. Significant judgment will be required in determining our global provision for income taxes, deferred tax assets or liabilities and in evaluating our tax positions on a worldwide basis. While we believe our tax positions are consistent with the tax laws in the jurisdictions in which we conduct our business, it is possible that these positions may be overturned by jurisdictional tax authorities, which may have a significant impact on our global provision for income taxes.

Tax laws are dynamic and subject to change as new laws are passed and new interpretations of the law are issued or applied. In particular, the United States recently enacted significant U.S. federal income tax reform, and certain provisions of this new U.S. federal income tax law may adversely affect us. This new U.S. federal income tax law requires complex computations that were not previously provided for under U.S. tax law. Furthermore, this new U.S. federal income tax law requires significant judgments to be made in interpretation of the law and significant estimates in the calculation of the provision for income taxes. Additional interpretive guidance may be issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of the Treasury or another governing body that may significantly differ from the Company’s interpretation of this new U.S. federal income tax law, which may result in a material adverse effect on our business, cash flow, results of operations or financial condition. In addition, governmental tax authorities are increasingly scrutinizing the tax positions of companies. Many countries in the EU, as well as a number of other countries and organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, are actively considering changes to existing tax laws that, if enacted, could increase our tax obligations in countries where we do business. If U.S. or non-U.S. tax authorities change applicable tax laws, our overall taxes could increase, and our business, financial condition or results of operations may be adversely impacted.

Risks Related to Human Resources

We may lose key employees or may be unable to hire qualified employees.

We rely on the continued service of our senior management and other key individuals, our Chairman and the founder of our predecessor CuriosityStream LLC, John Hendricks and our President and Chief Executive Officer, Clint Stinchcomb, members of our executive team and other key employees and the hiring of new qualified employees. In our industry, there is substantial and continuous competition for highly skilled business, product development, technical and other personnel. We may not be successful in recruiting new personnel and in retaining and motivating existing personnel, which may be disruptive to our operations. In addition, from time to time, there may be changes in our management team that may be disruptive to our business. If our management team, including any new hires that we make, fails to work together effectively and to execute our plans and strategies on a timely basis, our business could be harmed. Our effort to retain and develop personnel may also result in significant additional expenses, which could adversely affect our profitability.

Risks Relating to Ownership of Our Common Stock

Our stock price may change significantly and you could lose all or part of your investment as a result.

The trading price of our Common Stock is likely to be volatile. The stock market recently has experienced extreme volatility. This volatility often has been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. You may not be able to resell your shares at an attractive price due to a number of factors such as those listed in “— Risks Relating to the Company’s Business” and the following:

These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our Common Stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, price volatility may be greater if the public float and trading volume of our Common Stock is low. Declines in the market price of our common stock or failure of the market price to increase could also harm our ability to retain key employees, reduce our access to capital, incur impairment charges and otherwise harm our business.  In the period following December 31, 2021, there has been a decline in the Company’s market capitalization, based upon the Company’s publicly quoted share price, below the Company’s carrying or book value. As a result, if this decline in our share price is sustained, this would require us to perform impairment testing of our content assets, goodwill, definite-lived intangible assets, and other long-lived assets and it may result in an impairment charge related to such assets.

In the past, following periods of market volatility, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation. If we were involved in securities litigation, it could have a substantial cost and divert resources and the attention of executive management from our business regardless of the outcome of such litigation.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they downgrade our stock or our sector, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Common Stock relies in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We do not control these analysts. In addition, some financial analysts may have limited expertise with our model and operations. Furthermore, if one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our stock or industry, or the stock of any of our competitors, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

Because there are no current plans to pay cash dividends on our Common Stock for the foreseeable future, you may not receive any return on your investment in our Common Stock unless you sell your shares of our Common Stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

We intend to retain future earnings, if any, for future operations, expansion and debt repayment (for any debt we may incur in the future) and there are no current plans to pay cash dividends on shares of our Common Stock for the foreseeable future. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends on shares of our Common Stock will be at the sole discretion of our Board. Our Board may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and results of operations, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax, and regulatory restrictions, implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders or by our subsidiaries to us and such other factors as our Board may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to pay dividends is limited by covenants of our existing and outstanding indebtedness and may be limited by covenants of any future indebtedness we incur. As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in our Common Stock unless you sell your shares of our Common Stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

Future sales, or the perception of future sales, by us or our stockholders in the public market could cause the market price for our Common Stock to decline.

The mass sale of shares of our Common Stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could harm the prevailing market price of shares of our Common Stock. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that it deems appropriate.

Pursuant to the Investor Rights Agreement, dated October 14, 2020, by and among the Sponsor, SAQN, HFM, Legacy CuriosityStream and the officers and directors of Legacy CuriosityStream party thereto, the officers and directors party to the agreement have the right, subject to certain conditions, to require us to register the sale of their shares of our Common Stock under the Securities Act. By exercising their registration rights and selling a large number of shares, these stockholders could cause the prevailing market price of our Common Stock to decline. In addition, the shares of our Common Stock reserved for future issuance under our Omnibus Incentive Plan will become eligible for sale in the public market once those shares are issued, subject to provisions relating to various vesting agreements, lock-up agreements and, in some cases, limitations on volume and manner of sale applicable to affiliates under Rule 144, as applicable, and the general availability of Rule 144 to such affiliates. A total of 7,725,000 shares of our Common Stock were reserved for issuance under our Omnibus Incentive Plan at inception. In the future, we may also issue our securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of shares of our Common Stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then-outstanding shares of Common Stock. Any issuance of additional securities in connection with investments or acquisitions may result in additional dilution to our stockholders.

Certain of our stockholders may engage in business activities that compete with us or otherwise conflict with our interests.

Certain of our stockholders are in the business of making investments in companies and may from time to time acquire and hold interests in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. Our Charter provides that none of the stockholder parties, any of their respective affiliates or any director who is not employed by us (including any non-employee director who serves as one of our officers in both his director and officer capacities) or his or her affiliates will have any duty to refrain from engaging, directly or indirectly, in the same business activities or similar business activities or lines of business in which we operate. The stockholder parties also may pursue acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to our business and, as a result, those acquisition opportunities may not be available to us.

We are an “emerging growth company,” and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make our Common Stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and may remain an emerging growth company for up to five years following our initial public offering. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted and plan to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Section 404, not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, the information we provide stockholders will be different than the information that is available with respect to other public companies. For example, in the proxy for our upcoming annual meeting, we will not include all of the executive compensation related information that would be required if we were not an emerging growth company. We cannot predict whether investors will find our Common Stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our Common Stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our Common Stock, and our stock price may be more volatile. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of the IPO, or (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period and (3) the date on which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer under the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).

In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards.

NASDAQ may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

Our Common Stock and Warrants are listed on the NASDAQ. We cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on the NASDAQ in the future. In order to continue listing our securities on the NASDAQ, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and stock price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum amount in stockholders’ equity (generally $2,500,000 for companies trading on the NASDAQ) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 public holders).

If NASDAQ delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Since our Common Stock and Warrants are listed on the NASDAQ, they are covered securities. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of covered securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. If we were to be no longer listed on the NASDAQ, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.

An active, liquid trading market for our Common Stock may not be sustained, which may make it difficult for you to sell the Common Stock you purchased.

We cannot predict the extent to which investor interest in us will sustain a trading market or how active and liquid that market may remain. If an active and liquid trading market is not sustained, you may have difficulty selling any shares of our Common Stock that you purchase at a price above the price you purchased it or at all. The failure of an active and liquid trading market to continue would likely have a material adverse effect on the value of our Common Stock. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital to continue to fund operations by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other companies or technologies by using our shares as consideration.

Anti-takeover provisions in our organizational documents could delay or prevent a change of control.

Certain provisions of our Charter and Bylaws may have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, defer or prevent a merger, acquisition, tender offer, takeover attempt or other change of control transaction that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares held by our stockholders.

These provisions provide for, among other things:

These anti-takeover provisions could make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire us, even if the third-party’s offer may be considered beneficial by many of our stockholders. As a result, our stockholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their shares. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other stockholders to elect directors of your choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions you desire.

Our Charter designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or stockholders.

Our Charter provides that, subject to limited exceptions, any (1) derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (2) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, stockholder or employee to us or our stockholders, (3) action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our Charter or Bylaws, or (4) action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be exclusively brought in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or, if such court does not have subject matter jurisdiction thereof, another state or federal court located within the State of Delaware. Our Charter provides that the federal district courts of the United States shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the exclusive forum provision shall not apply to claims seeking to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the provisions of our Charter described above. 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 our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our Charter inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

General Risk Factors

Our Private Placement Warrants are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our Private Placement Warrants could have a material effect on our financial results.

On April 12, 2021, the SEC Staff issued a statement, expressing its view that certain terms and conditions common to SPAC warrants may require the warrants to be classified as liabilities on the balance sheet as opposed to equity (“the SEC Staff Statement”).

After considering the SEC Staff Statement, we re-evaluated our historical accounting of our Warrants and concluded that we must amend the accounting treatment of our Private Placement Warrants. Based on our reassessment, we determined that the Private Placement Warrants should have been classified as liabilities measured at fair value on the closing date of the Merger, with subsequent changes in fair value reported in the consolidated statements of operations each reporting period. We also concluded that a portion of the transaction costs which directly related to the Merger, which were previously charged to stockholders’ equity (deficit), should be allocated to the warrant liability based on their relative fair value to the total fair value of the Private Placement Warrants and other equity securities issued by us in connection with the Merger, and recognized as transaction costs in the consolidated statement of operations.

As a result, we included the derivative liabilities related to the embedded features contained within our Private Placement Warrants on our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 815-40, Derivatives and Hedging, Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity, provides for the remeasurement of the fair value of such derivatives at each balance sheet date, with a resulting non-cash gain or loss related to the change in the fair value being recognized in earnings in the consolidated statements of operations. As a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our consolidated financial statements and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly, based on factors which are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we have recognized quarterly, since we filed with the SEC our amended Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2020, and will continue to recognize, the non-cash gains or losses on our Private Placement Warrants each reporting period and the amount of such gains or losses could be material.

From time to time, we may be engaged in legal proceedings that could cause us to incur unforeseen expenses and could occupy a significant amount of our management’s time and attention.

From time to time, we may be subject to litigation or claims that could negatively affect our business operations and financial position. As we have grown, we have seen a rise in the number of litigation matters brought against us. These matters have included or could in the future include copyright infringement and other claims related to our content, use of music, patent infringements, employment claims, claims about our platform’s compliance with disability accommodation, data collection and privacy law, as well as consumer and securities class actions, each of which are typically expensive to defend. Litigation disputes could cause us to incur unforeseen expenses, result in content unavailability, service disruptions and otherwise occupy a significant amount of our management’s time and attention, any of which could negatively affect our business operations and financial position.

We incur significant costs as a result of operating as a public company.

We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, the listing requirements of the NASDAQ and other applicable securities laws and regulations, and, as a result, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur prior to becoming a public company. These expenses incurred by public companies generally for reporting and corporate governance purposes have been increasing. We expect these rules and regulations to continue to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more difficult, time-consuming and costly. The demands associated with being a public company may disrupt regular operations of our business by diverting the attention of some of our senior management team away from revenue producing activities to management and administrative oversight, adversely affecting our ability to attract and complete business opportunities and increasing the difficulty in both retaining professionals and managing and growing our businesses. Furthermore, if we are unable to satisfy our obligations as a public company, we could be subject to delisting of our Common Stock, fines, sanctions and other regulatory action and potentially civil litigation. Any of these effects could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act require substantial financial and management resources.

The standards required for a public company under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls. For as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. However, in the event we are deemed to be an accelerated filer or a large accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, we will be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The maintenance of the internal control system to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may impose obligations on us and require substantial additional financial and management resources. Further, weaknesses in our disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting have been discovered in the past and may be discovered in the future. For example, in 2021, we concluded that it was appropriate to restate our previously issued audited financial statements as of and for the period ended December 31, 2020, and as part of such process, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. We reevaluated the accounting treatment of the Private Placement Warrants, and determined to classify the Private Placement Warrants as liabilities measured at fair value, with subsequent changes in fair value reported in the consolidated statements of operations each reporting period.

We cannot assure you that there will not be additional material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting now or in the future. Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines that we have a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our securities could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the NASDAQ, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 2. Properties

Our principal operational offices are located in Silver Spring, Maryland, where we lease approximately 15,500 square feet of office space, under a lease expiring in February 2033, pursuant to which we currently pay approximately $48,000 per month escalating annually to $57,000 per month through the end of the lease term. We believe that this facility is adequate to meet our current and near-term needs.

Our computing needs are primarily serviced from our cloud infrastructure provided by Amazon Web Services. We retain backup copies of our content on our own data center infrastructure. The backup sites enable additional fault tolerance and will support our continued growth.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

From time to time, we may become involved in legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business. We are not presently a party to any legal proceedings that, if determined adversely to us, we believe would individually or in the aggregate have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

Part II

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

Market Information

Our Common Stock and Warrants are traded on NASDAQ under the symbols “CURI” and “CURIW,” respectively.

Dividends

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our Common Stock. We currently intend to retain earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business. We do not expect to pay any cash dividends on our Common Stock in the foreseeable future. Payment of future dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our Board and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, restrictions contained in current or future financing instruments, provisions of applicable law, and other factors our Board deems relevant.

Holders

As of March 29, 2022, there were approximately 133 holders of record of our Common Stock, and 9 holders of record of our Warrants. The actual number of holders of our Common Stock is greater than this number of record holders and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners but whose shares of our Common Stock are held in street name by banks, brokers and other nominees.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Equity Securities

None.

Use of Proceeds

Not Applicable.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

None.

Item 6. [Reserved]

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

On October 14, 2020, we acquired Legacy CuriosityStream. The Business Combination was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 805, Business Combinations. Under this method of accounting, Software Acquisition Group Inc., which was the legal acquirer in the Business Combination, was treated as the “acquired” company for financial reporting purposes and Legacy CuriosityStream was treated as the accounting acquirer. Except as otherwise provided herein, our financial statements presentation includes (1) the results of Legacy CuriosityStream as our accounting predecessor for periods prior to the completion of the Business Combination, and (2) the results of the Company for periods after the completion of the Business Combination.

The following discussion and analysis provides information that management believes is relevant to an assessment and understanding of our results of operations and financial condition. The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the Company’s financial statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements for many reasons, including the risks faced by us described in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” to “we,” “us,” “our,” and “the Company” are intended to mean the business and operations of Legacy CuriosityStream prior to the Business Combination and to CuriosityStream Inc. following the closing of the Business Combination.

Overview

CuriosityStream is a media and entertainment company that offers premium video programming across the principal categories of factual entertainment, including science, history, society, nature, lifestyle and technology. Our mission is to provide premium factual entertainment that informs, enchants and inspires. We are seeking to meet demand for high-quality factual entertainment via SVoD platforms, as well as via bundled content licenses for SVoD and linear offerings, partner bulk sales, brand partnerships and content sales. We are well-positioned for growth as a digital-native video platform monetizing content across this broad revenue stack.

We operate our business as a single operating segment that provides premium streaming content through multiple channels, including the use of various applications, partnerships and affiliate relationships. We generate our revenue through six products and services: Direct to Consumer Business, Partner Direct Business, Bundled Distribution, Program Sales, Corporate & Association Partnerships and Other. The table below shows our revenue generated through each of the foregoing products and services for the years ended December 31, 2021, and 2020:

Our award-winning video content library features thousands of nonfiction episodes, including more than 1,000 original, commissioned or co-produced documentaries, of short-form, mid-form and long-form duration. Our content, approximately one-third of which is originally produced with the remaining two-thirds consisting of licensed programming, is available directly through our O&O Service and App Services. Our App Services enable access to CuriosityStream on almost every major consumer device, including streaming media players like Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, all major smart TV brands (e.g., LG, Vizio, Samsung, Sony) and gaming consoles like Xbox. Our Direct Service is available to any household in the world with a broadband connection for $2.99 per month or $19.99 per year. We also provide a premium service for $9.99 per month or $69.99 per year.

The MVPD, vMVPD and digital distributor partners making up our Partner Direct Business pay us a license fee for sales to individuals who subscribe to CuriosityStream via the partners’ respective platforms. We have affiliate agreement relationships with, and our service is available directly from, major MVPDs that include Comcast, Cox, Dish and vMVPDs and digital distributors that include Amazon Prime Video Channels, Roku Channels, Sling TV and YouTube TV.

In addition to our Direct to Consumer Business and Partner Direct Business, we have affiliate relationships with our Bundled MVPD Partners and MVPDs, which are broadband and wireless companies in the U.S. and international territories to whom we can offer a broad scope of rights, including 24/7 “linear” channels, our on-demand content library, mobile rights and pricing and packaging flexibility, in exchange for an annual fixed fee or fee per subscriber.

In our Program Sales Business, we sell to certain media companies a collection of our existing titles in a traditional program sales deal. We also sell selected rights (such as in territories or on platforms that are lower priority for us) to content we create before we even begin production. This latter model reduces risk in our content development decisions and creates program sales revenue.

Our Corporate & Association Partnerships business is comprised primarily of selling subscriptions in bulk to companies and organizations that in turn offer these subscriptions to their employees and members as an employment benefit or “gift of curiosity.” To date, over 27 companies have purchased annual subscriptions at bulk discounts for their employees.

In the future, we also hope to continue developing integrated digital brand partnerships with advertisers. These sponsorship campaigns offer companies the chance to be associated with CuriosityStream content in a variety of forms, including short and long form program integration, branded social media promotional videos, broadcast advertising spots, and digital display ads. We believe the impressions accumulated in these multi-faceted campaigns would roll up to verifiable metrics for the clients. We executed one such advertising agreement in 2021 with Nebula. We executed on two such sponsorships in 2020: one in the financial services sector as well as a brand in the health and fitness sector.

Prior to the Business Combination, Software Acquisition Group Inc. was a blank check company, incorporated as a Delaware corporation on May 9, 2019, and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Until the consummation of the Business Combination, Software Acquisition Group Inc. did not engage in any operations nor generate any revenue. On October 14, 2020, upon the consummation of the Business Combination, Legacy CuriosityStream became Software Acquisition Group Inc.’s direct subsidiary and in connection with the Closing, we changed our name from “Software Acquisition Group Inc.” to “CuriosityStream Inc.”

Recent Developments

Acquisitions

On May 11, 2021, the Company consummated the acquisition of 100% of One Day University for the aggregate consideration of $4.5 million. One Day University provides access to talks and lectures from professors at colleges and universities in the United States.

On August 13, 2021, the Company consummated the acquisition of 100% of Learn25 for fixed cash consideration of approximately $1.5 million in addition to an earnout capped at $0.6 million. Learn25 provides access to hundreds of audio and video programs on history, science, psychology, health, religion, and other topics from various professors and subject-matter experts around the world.

Each of these acquisitions complements and enhances the Company’s offering of premium factual content and provides additional long-term revenue and promotional opportunities by connecting directly with new audiences in new formats.

Partnership with SPIEGEL TV

On July 29, 2021, the Company acquired a 32% ownership in Spiegel TV Geschichte und Wissen GmbH & Co. KG (Spiegel Venture) for $3.3 million, expanding its European footprint through a partnership with SPIEGEL TV, the subsidiary of the German media conglomerate SPIEGEL, and its partner, Autentic, a factual content producer and distributor. Germany is the Company’s top non-English-speaking market, and the partnership expands the Company’s reach through the addition of hundreds of hours of German-dubbed programming to the Company’s SVoD service as well as a rebranded linear channel in German-speaking Europe.

Nebula Investment

On August 23, 2021, the Company purchased a 12% ownership interest in Watch Nebula LLC (Nebula) for $6.0 million with the commitment to purchase an additional 13% ownership interest for a total 25% stake, for a total of $12.5 million (through eight quarterly payments of $0.8 million). The additional equity investment can be made or declined on a quarterly basis or accelerated at any time. The Company obtained 25% representation on Nebula’s board of directors, providing the Company with significant influence, but not a controlling interest.

COVID-19 Pandemic

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic, which continues to spread throughout the United States and globally. The full extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, operations and financial results will depend on numerous evolving factors that we may not be able to accurately predict. See Item 1A: “Risk Factors” section set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional details. In an effort to protect the health and well-being of our employees, our workforce has had and continues in most instances to spend a significant amount of time working from home, and international travel has been severely curtailed. Our other partners have similarly had their operations disrupted, including those partners that we use for our operations as well as development, production, and post-production of content. While we and our partners have resumed productions and related operations in many parts of the world, our ability to produce content remains affected by the pandemic.

The widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines and corresponding rates of vaccination generally have been effective in curtailing rates of infection in many parts of the United States, mitigating many of the adverse social and economic effects of the pandemic. COVID-19 vaccinations have continued to increase, including as a result of the approval of vaccine boosters, access to the vaccine for school-aged children, and the implementation of vaccine requirements by certain public sector and private sector employers. Notwithstanding, there remains significant resistance to vaccination in certain geographies and among certain groupings of people. Additionally, regulators have approved oral antiviral treatment pills, which have proven effective in reducing severe illness from COVID-19. In many locations throughout the United States, the spread of COVID-19 decreased substantially throughout the spring and summer of 2021, and, as a result, certain activity restrictions were lifted in whole or in part; however, due in large part to the increased spread of new, more transmissible coronavirus variants, the number of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 increased substantially at the end of 2021 and early 2022.

We anticipate that these actions and the global health crisis caused by COVID-19, including any resurgences, such as by the “delta” and “omicron” variants of the virus, will continue to negatively impact business activity across the globe. We will continue to actively monitor the situation and may take further actions that alter our business operations as may be required by federal, state, local or foreign authorities, or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers, partners, and stockholders. It is not clear what potential effects any such alterations or modifications may have on our business, including the effects on our customers, suppliers, or vendors, or on our financial results.

Key Factors Affecting Results of Operations

Our future operating results and cash flows are dependent upon a number of opportunities, challenges, and other factors, including our ability to efficiently grow our subscriber base and expand our service offerings to maximize subscriber lifetime value. In particular, we believe that the following factors significantly affected our results of operations over the last two fiscal years and are expected to continue to have such significant effects:

Revenues

Currently, the main sources of our revenue are (i) subscriber fees from the Direct to Consumer Business and Direct Subscribers, (ii) license fees from affiliates who receive subscriber fees for CuriosityStream from such affiliates’ subscribers (“Partner Direct Business” and “Partner Direct Subscribers”), (iii) bundled license fees from distribution affiliates (“Bundled MVPD Business” and “Bundled MVPD Subscribers”), and (iv) license fees from program sales arrangements. As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately 23 million total paying subscribers, including Direct Subscribers, Partner Direct Subscribers and Bundled MVPD Subscribers.

Since our founding in 2015, we have generated the majority of our revenues from Direct Subscribers in the form of monthly or annual subscription plans. We charge $2.99 per month or $19.99 dollars per year for our standard Direct Service, or $9.99 per month or $69.99 per year for our premium Direct Service. We may in the future increase the price of our subscription plans, which may have a positive effect on our revenue from this line of our business. The MVPD, vMVPD and digital distributor partners making up our Partner Direct Business pay us a license fee. We recognize subscription revenues ratably during each subscriber’s monthly or yearly subscription period. We pay a fixed percentage distribution fee to our partners for subscribers accessing our platform via App Services to compensate these partners for access to their customer and subscriber bases. Our MVPD, vMVPD and digital distributor partners host and stream our content to their customers via their own platforms, such as set top boxes in the case of most MVPDs. We do not incur billing, streaming or backend costs associated with content distribution through our MVPD, vMVPD and digital distributor partners.

Operating Costs

Our primary operating costs relate to the cost of producing and acquiring our content, the costs of advertising and marketing our service, personnel costs, and distribution fees. As of December 31, 2021, licensed content represented 2,884 titles and original titles represented 1,043 titles. Producing and co-producing content and commissioned content is generally more costly than content acquired through licenses.

The Company’s business model is subscription based as opposed to a model generating revenues at a specific title level. Content assets (licensed and produced) are predominantly monetized as a group and therefore are reviewed in aggregate at a group level when an event or change in circumstances indicates a change in the expected usefulness of the content or that the fair value may be less than unamortized cost. If such changes are identified, the aggregated content library will be stated at the lower of unamortized cost or fair value. In addition, unamortized costs for assets that have been, or are expected to be, abandoned are written off. For a discussion of the accounting policies for content impairment write-down and management estimates involved therein, see “— Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates” below.

Further, our advertising and marketing expenditures and personnel costs constitute primary operating costs for our business. These costs may fluctuate based on advertising and marketing objectives and personnel needs. In general, we intend to focus marketing dollars on efficient customer acquisition. With respect to personnel costs, we focus on revenue-generating personnel, such as sales staff and roles that support the improvement, maintenance and marketing of our Direct Service.

Results of Operations

The financial data in the following table sets forth selected financial information derived from our audited financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 and shows our results of operations as a percentage of revenue or as a percentage of costs, as applicable, for the periods indicated. We conduct business through one operating segment, CuriosityStream.

n/m – percentage not meaningful

Revenue

Revenue for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was $71.3 million and $39.6 million, respectively. The increase of $31.6 million, or 80% is due to a $8.3 million increase in subscription revenue, a $20.8 million increase in license fee revenue, and a $2.5 million increase in other revenue.

The increase in subscription revenue resulted from a $8.3 million increase in subscriber fees received by us from Direct Subscribers for annual plans which resulted from increased brand awareness from greater advertising and marketing spending. The increase in license fees of $20.8 million resulted primarily from a $19.1 million increase in license fees related to a larger volume of program sales arrangements, including due to a new distribution agreement with Spiegel Venture during 2021 when compared to 2020, a $0.6 million increase in revenue from Bundled MVPD partners due to new agreements launched during 2021, and a $1.1 million increase in license fees from our Partner Direct Business due to an increase in the number of subscribers. The increase in other revenue of $2.5 million is primarily due to new services agreements entered into with the Spiegel Venture and Nebula in 2021 for $1.3 million each with no comparable transactions during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Operating Expenses

Operating expenses for the years ended December 31, 2021, and 2020 were $123.7 million and $78.3 million, respectively. This increase of $45.3 million, or 58%, primarily resulted from the following:

Cost of Revenues: Cost of revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021 increased to $36.7 million from $15.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Cost of revenues primarily includes content amortization, hosting and streaming delivery costs, payment processing costs and distribution fees, commission costs and subtitling and broadcast costs. This increase of $21.3 million, or 138%, is primarily due to the increase in content amortization of $18.2 million, which is primarily driven by the increase in program sales arrangements resulting in a significant accelerated amortization, as well as an increase in the number and cost of titles published during 2021 compared to 2020. The balance of the increase in cost of revenues is due to increases in revenue share expense related to bundled and premier tier arrangements with other streaming services (increase of $1.8 million), hosting and streaming delivery costs (increase of $0.3 million), distribution fees and commission costs (increase of $0.1 million), subtitling and broadcast costs (increase of $0.7 million), and advertising and sponsorship costs (increase of $0.2 million). The increase of cost of revenues increased at a faster rate than the increase in revenue mainly due to increased amortization costs related to program sales during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Advertising & Marketing:  Advertising and marketing expenses for the year ended December 31, 2021, increased to $52.2 million from $42.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. This increase of $10.0 million, or 24% is primarily due to an increase in digital advertising of $9.5 million, an increase in radio advertising of $5.1 million, and an increase in agency fees of $1.8 million, partially offset by a decrease of $5.6 million in TV advertising and a decrease of $0.8 million in partner platforms and brand awareness advertising compared to the prior year.

General and Administrative:  General and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2021, increased to $34.9 million from $20.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. This increase of $14.0 million, or 67%, is primarily attributable to $4.2 million for incremental salaries and benefits and $2.7 million for increased stock-based compensation expense due to higher volume and the fair value of the grants made to key executives, as well as incrementally increased headcount. In addition, an increase of $3.1 million is primarily attributable to finance and legal professional fees related to becoming a public company, an increase of $1.4 million due to additional insurance incurred necessary for a public company, an increase of $0.9 million related to subscriptions, an increase of $0.3 million related to the amortization of intangible assets, and an increase of $0.2 million related to corporate taxes. The increase is also due to the recognized benefit from the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) Loan we received in May 2020 of $1.2 million, which reduced salaries and benefits expense by $1.2 million, with no comparable offset in 2021. We expect to incur additional expenses in future periods as we continue to invest in corporate infrastructure to support the Company’s activities as a public company, including adding personnel and systems to our administrative and revenue-generating functions.

Operating Loss

Operating loss for the years ended December 31, 2021, and 2020 was $52.5 million and $38.8 million, respectively. The increase of $13.7 million, or 35%, in operating loss resulted from the increase in revenue of $31.6 million, or 80%, offset by the increase in operating expenses of $45.3 million, or 58%, in each case during the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, as described above.

Change in Fair Value of Warrant Liability

For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recognized a $15.2 million gain related to the change in fair value of the warrant liability, which was due to a decrease in the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants for the year. This compared to a loss of $10.2 million recognized during the year ended December 31, 2020, which was due to an increase in the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants in the prior year.

Interest and other income (expense)

Interest and other income for the year ended December 31, 2021 was comparable to the year ended December 31, 2020.

Equity Interests Loss

 For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recorded $0.5 million equity interests loss related to the equity investments in the Spiegel Venture and Nebula with no comparable income or loss in the year ended December 31, 2020.

Provision for Income Taxes

Due to generating a loss before income taxes in each of the years ended December 31, 2021, and 2020, we had a provision for income taxes of $360 thousand and $179 thousand, respectively. This increase of $181 thousand, or 101%, was primarily due to an increase in foreign withholding tax expense due to an increase in contracts executed with parties in foreign jurisdictions. The Company’s provision for income taxes differs from the federal statutory rate primarily due to the Company being in a full valuation allowance position and not recognizing a benefit for either federal or state income tax purposes.

Net Loss

Net loss for the years ended December 31, 2021, and 2020 was $37.6 million and $48.6 million, respectively. The decrease of net loss of $11.0 million, or 23%, is primarily due to a gain on the change in the fair value of the warrant liability that resulted in a gain of $15.2 million in 2021 compared to a loss of $10.1 million in 2020 and the increase in revenue, partially offset by higher operating expenses and equity interest loss, in each case during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, as described above.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash, of $17.5 million. In addition, the Company had available for sale investments in debt securities totaling $81.2 million, of which $65.8 million was classified as short-term investments. All of the Company’s investments in debt securities can be readily converted to cash to meet the Company’s ongoing operating cash flow needs. For the year ended December 31, 2020, we incurred a net loss of $37.6 million and used $73.2 million of net cash in operating activities, used $74.9 million of net cash in investing activities, while financing activities provided $148.3 million of net cash.

Through the date of the Merger, we financed our operations primarily from the net proceeds of our sale of Series A Preferred Stock in November and December 2018.

In connection with the Merger, we received net cash proceeds of approximately $41.5 million, prior to the payment of $5.7 million of transaction costs. On February 8, 2021, we consummated the Offering (as defined below). The net proceeds from the Offering were $94.1 million, after deducting $6.8 million in underwriting discounts and commissions. We also incurred offering expenses in connection with the Offering of $0.7 million. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we received funds of approximately $54.9 million for the exercise of 4.8 million Public Warrants.

On February 8, 2021, we consummated an underwritten public offering (the “Offering”) of 6,500,000 shares of Common Stock plus an over-allotment option to purchase up to 975,000 additional shares of Common Stock granted to the underwriters who participated in the Offering, which over-allotment option was exercised by the underwriters in full on February 5, 2021. The net proceeds to us from the Offering were $94.1 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and transaction expenses. The Offering was made pursuant to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, filed with the SEC on February 1, 2021, and declared effective on February 3, 2021.

We believe that our cash flows from financing, combined with our current cash levels and investments in debt securities that are readily convertible to cash will be adequate to support our ongoing operations, capital expenditures and working capital for at least the next twelve months, as evidenced by our cash flows from financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2021 and our cash and investment in debt securities balances at December 31, 2021. We believe that we have access to additional funds, if needed, through the capital markets to obtain further financing under the current market conditions.

Our principal uses of cash are to acquire content, promote our service through advertising and marketing, and provide for working capital to operate our business. We have experienced significant net losses since our inception, and, given the significant operating and capital expenditures associated with our business plan, we anticipate that we will continue to incur net losses.

Cash Flows

The following table presents our cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:

Cash Flow from Operating Activities

Cash flow from operating activities primarily consists of net losses, changes to our content assets (including acquisitions and amortization), and other working capital items.

During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we recorded a net cash outflow from operating activities of $73.2 million and $53.5 million, respectively, or an increased outflow of $19.7 million, or 37%. The increased outflow from operating activities was primarily due to an increase in the investment of content assets of $39.6 million, increase in the change in fair value of warrant liability of $24.7 million (from a loss of $9.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to a gain of $15.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2021), and an increase in the change in accounts receivable of $10.8 million, partially offset by an increase in amortization of content assets of $18.2 million, increase in the change in deferred revenue of $4.3 million, increase in the change in content liabilities of $8.8 million, increase in stock-based compensation expense of $2.7 million, increase in the change in accrued expenses and other liabilities of $6.6 million, increase in amortization of premiums and accretion of discounts associated with investments in debt securities of $2.9 million, and a decrease in net loss of $11.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020.

Cash Flow Provided by (Used in) Investing Activities

Cash flow from investing activities consists of purchases, sales and maturities of investments, business acquisitions and equity investments and purchases of property and equipment.

During the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we recorded a net cash outflow from investing activities of $74.9 million and a net cash inflow from investing activities of $25.5 million, respectively, or an increased cash outflow of $100.4 million. The increase in cash outflow from investing activities was primarily due to the purchases of available for sale investments of $151.9 million, partially offset by sales and maturities of $50.4 million and $41.9 million, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to the purchase of available for sale investments of $28.1 million, and sales and maturities of investments of $43.2 million and $10.7 million, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2020. The Company also had cash outflows of $5.4 million related to the acquisition of Learn25 and One Day University and outflows of $9.6 million related to the equity investments in Spiegel Venture and Nebula for the year ended December 31, 2021, with no comparable activity during the year ended December 31, 2020

Cash Flow from Financing Activities

During the year ended December 31, 2021, we recorded net cash inflow from financing activities of $148.3 million, which was attributable to the receipt of proceeds from the Offering of $94.1 million (net of $6.8 million of underwriting discounts and commissions) and the exercise of warrants of $54.9 million and exercise of stock options of $0.5 million, partially offset by the payments of transaction costs related to the Offering of $0.7 million and payments related to tax withholdings of $0.5 million related to vesting of restricted stock units incurred during the year ended December 31, 2021. During the year ended December 31, 2020, financing cash activities were limited to reverse merger acquisition proceeds of $41.5 million, payments of reverse merger acquisition offering costs of $5.1 million, borrowings and repayments of $9.7 million on the Line of Credit and proceeds from exercise of stock options of $0.3 million.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, we received funds of approximately $55 million for the exercise of 4.8 million Public Warrants.

Capital Expenditures

Going forward, we expect to make expenditures for additions to our content assets, and purchases of property and equipment. The amount, timing and allocation of capital expenditures are largely discretionary and within management’s control. Depending on market conditions, we may choose to defer a portion of our budgeted expenditures until later periods to achieve the desired balance between sources and uses of liquidity and prioritize capital projects that we believe have the highest expected returns and potential to generate cash flow. Subject to financing alternatives, we may also increase our capital expenditures significantly to take advantage of opportunities we consider to be attractive.

Off Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of December 31, 2021, we had no off-balance sheet arrangements.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operation is based upon our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Certain amounts included in or affecting the financial statements presented in this Annual Report and related disclosure must be estimated, requiring management to make assumptions with respect to values or conditions which cannot be known with certainty at the time the financial statements are prepared. Management believes that the accounting policies set forth below comprise the most important “critical accounting policies” for the Company. A critical accounting policy is one which is both important to the portrayal of a company’s financial condition and results of operations and requires management’s most difficult, subjective or complex judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. Management evaluates such policies on an ongoing basis, based upon historical results and experience, consultation with experts and other methods that management considers reasonable in the particular circumstances under which the judgments and estimates are made, as well as management’s forecasts as to the manner in which such circumstances may change in the future.

Content Assets

The Company acquires, licenses and produces content, including original programming, in order to offer customers unlimited viewing of factual entertainment content. The content licenses are for a fixed fee and specific windows of availability. Payments for content, including additions to content assets and the changes in related liabilities, are classified within “Net cash used in operating activities” on the consolidated statements of cash flows.

The Company recognizes its content assets (licensed and produced) as “Content assets, net” on the consolidated balance sheets. For licenses, the Company capitalizes the fee per title and records a corresponding liability at the gross amount of the liability when the license period begins, the cost of the title is known, and the title is accepted and available for streaming. For productions, the Company capitalizes costs associated with the production, including development costs, direct costs, and production overhead.

Based on factors including historical and estimated viewing patterns, the Company previously amortized the content assets (licensed and produced) in “Cost of revenues” on the consolidated statements of operations on a straight-line basis over the shorter of each title’s contractual window of availability or estimated period of use, beginning with the month of first availability. Starting July 1, 2021, the Company amortizes content assets on an accelerated basis in the initial two months after a title is published on the Company’s platform, as the Company has observed and expects more upfront viewing of content, generally as a result of additional marketing efforts. Furthermore, the amortization of original content is more accelerated than that of licensed content. We review factors that impact the amortization of the content assets on a regular basis and the estimates related to these factors require considerable management judgment. The Company continues to review factors impacting the amortization of content assets on an ongoing basis and will also record amortization on an accelerated basis when there is more upfront use of a title, for instance due to significant program sales.

The Company’s business model is generally subscription based as opposed to a model generating revenues at a specific title level. Content assets (licensed and produced) are predominantly monetized as a group and therefore are reviewed in aggregate at a group level when an event or change in circumstances indicates a change in the expected usefulness of the content or that the fair value may be less than unamortized cost. If such changes are identified, the aggregated content assets will be stated at the lower of unamortized cost or fair value. In addition, unamortized costs for assets that have been, or are expected to be, abandoned are written off.

Revenue recognition

Subscriptions — O&O Service

The Company generates revenue from monthly subscription fees from its O&O Service. CuriosityStream subscribers enter into month-to-month or annual subscriptions with the Company. The Company bills the monthly subscriber on each subscriber’s monthly anniversary date and recognizes the revenue ratably over each monthly membership period. The annual subscription fees are collected by the Company at the start of the annual subscription period and are recognized ratably over the subsequent twelve-month period. Revenues are presented net of the taxes that are collected from subscribers and remitted to governmental authorities.

Subscriptions — App Services

The Company also earns subscription revenues through its App Services. These subscriptions are similar to the O&O Service subscriptions, but are generated based on agreements with certain streaming media players as well as with Smart TV brands and gaming consoles. Under these agreements, the streaming media player typically bills the subscriber directly and then remits the collected subscriptions to the Company, net of a distribution fee. The Company recognizes the gross subscription revenues when earned and simultaneously recognizes the corresponding distribution fees as an expense. The Company is the principal in these relationships as the Company retains control over service delivery to its subscribers.

License Fees — Affiliates

The Company generates license fee revenues from MVPDs such as Altice, Comcast and Cox as well as from vMVPDs such as Amazon and Sling TV (MVPDs and vMVPDs are also referred to as affiliates). Under the terms of the agreements with these affiliates, the Company receives license fees based upon contracted programming rates and subscriber levels reported by the affiliates. In exchange, the Company licenses its content to the affiliates for distribution to their subscribers. The Company earns revenue under these agreements either based on the total number of subscribers multiplied by rates specified in the agreements or based on fixed fee arrangements. These revenues are recognized over the term of each agreement when earned.

License Fees — Program Sales

The Company has distribution agreements which grant a licensee limited distribution rights to the Company’s programs for varying terms, generally in exchange for a fixed license fee. Revenue is recognized once the content is made available for the licensee to use.

The Company’s performance obligations include (1) access to its SVoD platform via the Company’s O&O Service and App Services, (2) access to the Company’s content assets, and (3) licenses of specific program titles. In contracts containing the right to access the Company SVoD platform, the performance obligation is satisfied as access to the SVoD platform is provided post any free trial period. In contracts which contain access to the Company’s content assets, the performance obligation is satisfied as access to the content is provided. For contracts with licenses of specific program titles, the performance obligation is satisfied as that content is made available for the customer to use.

Recently Issued Financial Accounting Standards

As an emerging growth company (“EGC”), the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (“JOBS Act”) allows the Company to delay adoption of new or revised accounting pronouncements applicable to public companies until such pronouncements are applicable to private companies. The Company has elected to use this extended transition period under the JOBS Act until such time as the Company is no longer considered to be an EGC.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which requires lessees to recognize lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet for those leases classified as operating leases under current U.S. GAAP. ASU 2016-02 requires a lessee to recognize a lease liability and a right-of-use asset for each lease with a term longer than twelve months. The new guidance also requires additional qualitative and quantitative disclosures related to the nature, timing and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases. The Company will adopt the new standard effective January 1, 2022, using a modified retrospective approach. The Company is continuing its evaluation of the impact of the adoption and currently estimates the recognition of lease liabilities on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet for its operating leases in the range of approximately $5.0 million to $6.0 million with a corresponding right-of-use assets balance, net of existing lease incentives, of approximately $3.5 million to $4.5 million, and no material impact on its consolidated statements of operations or cash flows.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments — Credit Losses (Topic 326), which requires that an entity measure and recognize expected credit losses for financial assets held at amortized cost and replaces the incurred loss impairment methodology in current U.S. GAAP with a methodology that requires consideration of a broader range of information to estimate credit losses. The guidance also modifies the impairment model for available-for-sale debt securities. ASU 2016-13 is effective for the Company’s fiscal year beginning January 1, 2023. The Company does not expect the implementation of ASU 2016-13 to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Not applicable.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Index to Audited Financial Statements of CuriosityStream Inc. as of and for the Years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of CuriosityStream Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of CuriosityStream Inc. (the Company) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive loss, redeemable convertible preferred stock and stockholders’ equity (deficit) 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 “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at 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 U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s 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/ Ernst & Young LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2019.

Baltimore, Maryland

March 31, 2022

CuriosityStream Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

(in thousands, except par value)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

CuriosityStream Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Operations

(in thousands, except for per share data)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

CuriosityStream Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss

(in thousands)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

CuriosityStream Inc.

Consolidated Statement of Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock and Stockholder’s Equity (Deficit)

(in thousands)