Rumble: A Rise with Challenges

Rumble's stock has recently caught the attention of investors after its value rose by almost 75 percent over the past twelve months. The online video platform is gaining increasing popularity by carving out a niche among smaller content creators and advocates of free speech. Although Rumble reaches 67 million active users monthly, this is a fraction of the more than 2.5 billion users who access Alphabet's YouTube every month. Furthermore, Rumble lacks the financial backing and robust search capabilities that YouTube has through Google. The question for investors remains whether Rumble will continue to succeed and make 2025 a record year or whether investors should remain skeptical of the company. The Uniqueness of Rumble Chris Pavlovski founded Rumble in 2013 with the aim of providing a platform for smaller content creators. Supporting free speech may have given Rumble a competitive edge. The critical growth spurt occurred during the pandemic when user numbers rose to 36 million in the third quarter of 2021. At that time, Narya Capital and Peter Thiel invested in the company. On September 15, 2022, a special acquisition company took over Rumble and took it public. Since then, the stock has lost about 30 percent in value, even though the user community continues to grow. The increasing popularity allows Rumble to generate more revenue from advertising and licensing fees; it also earns from subscriptions from users who prefer ad-free content and from content creators who upload videos via its SaaS platform. Whether this surge will propel the company to new heights in 2025 remains an open question. Financial Challenges However, Rumble's financial situation could dampen hopes for a record rise in 2025. In the first nine months of 2024, revenue amounted to only 65 million dollars, representing an annual increase of just 8 percent. At the same time, costs of sales were at 104 million dollars, leading to a negative gross margin. Taking into account operating and non-operating expenses, Rumble recorded a net loss of 102 million dollars in the first three quarters of 2024, compared to 87 million dollars in the same period the previous year.