Cineverse acquires IndiCue to expand CTV monetization capabilities

Cineverse announced it acquired IndiCue, a connected television monetization platform, as part of its strategy to expand its streaming infrastructure capabilities.

The acquisition integrates IndiCue’s advertising and monetization technology into Cineverse’s Matchpoint platform, creating a unified system spanning content preparation, distribution, monetization, reporting and performance optimization across FAST, AVOD, connected TV and other ad-supported streaming environments, the company said.

The deal follows Cineverse’s recent acquisition of Giant Worldwide and reflects its focus on expanding recurring technology revenue tied to streaming infrastructure.

“This represents a key leap forward for Cineverse, with IndiCue adding a strategically important monetization component that, when combined with our existing Matchpoint platform suite, gives us a near end-to-end technology platform whose high level of automation provides a significant competitive advantage by dramatically lowering costs while providing higher operational efficiency than any competitor out there,” said Chris McGurk, chairman and CEO of Cineverse.

He added, “The acquisitions of IndiCue and Giant Worldwide have largely completed our strategy to build a comprehensive, scalable infrastructure solution for the entertainment industry, and transform our company, which – alongside our studio operations – is now in position to thrive, with a strong balance sheet and high-growth recurring revenue, margin and income profile. IndiCue strengthens the execution layer of our business, adding profitable, recurring monetization infrastructure that scales as volume and complexity increase across the streaming ecosystem.”

Founded in 2023, IndiCue provides ad serving, supply-side platform, demand-side platform and server-side ad insertion capabilities for streaming publishers. The company has more than 40 live clients and 75 additional publishers in onboarding, according to Cineverse.

IndiCue is expected to generate about $38 million in revenue and $9.6 million in EBITDA in calendar year 2026. Cineverse said the business is EBITDA-positive at close and will contribute approximately $38 million in annualized revenue beginning in fiscal year 2027, which starts April 1, 2026.

Customers include IMAX, Freecast, Cannella Media, Loop Media, KTSF and Dial Up Media, along with independent FAST and AVOD platforms.

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“For years, we’ve focused on building advanced, next-generation infrastructure designed to scale the highly complex task of digital video distribution,” said Erick Opeka, president and chief strategy officer of Cineverse. “With IndiCue, Matchpoint becomes a closed loop: distribution, data, and monetization working together as a single system. This gives us a powerful feedback engine that allows us to understand performance in real time and act on it, improving results for our own content and for some of the largest media companies in the world.”

The transaction includes up to $40 million in total potential consideration, consisting of $22 million in base consideration and up to $18 million tied to performance milestones. The acquisition was financed through a combination of cash, deferred consideration and performance-based earnouts.

Cineverse also raised $13 million in convertible notes from existing long-term shareholders to support the transaction and working capital.

IndiCue’s founding team joined Cineverse under multi-year employment and retention agreements. Nicholas Frazee was appointed executive vice president of revenue, Yuriy Gorokhov executive vice president of technology and John Marchesini executive vice president of product and monetization.

“IndiCue was built to improve content monetization and allow programmatic advertising to perform far more efficiently in complex, fragmented environments,” said Nicholas Frazee, chief executive officer of IndiCue and now executive vice president of revenue for Cineverse. “Joining Cineverse allows us to integrate our advanced monetization capabilities directly into an enterprise-grade platform that powers content distribution at significant scale. We are now in the unique position of controlling the entire content and ad pipeline from end-to-end. In addition, as an established ad platform and now first-party publisher, we can be nimble and leverage our complementary industry expertise to focus on building next-generation technology that will define the future of advertising.”