Catena Media has celebrated EBITDA growth for the full year 2025, crediting its reduced headcount and increased focus on core products for the improved results.
Catena generated total revenue of €46.6m in 2025, reflecting a reduction of 6.1% year-on-year.
However, the business showed improved profitability over 2024, with adjusted EBITDA rising from €5.4m to €9.9m as margins rose from 11% to 21%.
Those figures came amid a 17.2% drop in the number of new depositing customers (NDCs) Catena referred during the year, to 106,510.
The business also demonstrated growing momentum throughout the course of the year, however, with revenue totalling €9.8m in Q1, €9.6m in Q2, €11.6m in Q3 and €15.6m in Q4.
The improving results came amid a year of organisational transition for the business, which it said drove steady operational improvement in the second half.
Building on a strategic framework previously established in 2024, this year Catena focused on strengthening performance across its three core strategic pillars of people, product and profit.
People…
In terms of people, Catena made “difficult decisions” early in 2025 to reduce headcount across the business.
This “rightsizing” exercise saw the company reshape the organisation with a view to creating a more agile platform for growth and a leaner operating model, with employees given greater ownership over their product areas under a flatter management structure.
The benefits of these changes became visible after summer 2025, Catena said, in the shape of more consistent delivery, better collaboration internally and improved revenue and margins.
Catena CEO Manuel Stan commented: “Headcount reductions are painful and were the most challenging part of this process. At the same time, it was essential to adapt the operating model to better support a consolidated product portfolio and to drive clearer accountability and a shared direction.”
Reductions in headcount were credited with delivering annual cost savings of €4.5m-€5m.
…Product and profit
In terms of product improvements, Catena put emphasis on sharpened focus and increased scalability. It concentrated its investments throughout the year on a smaller number of its best-performing products, enabling teams to focus more clearly on delivering results.
The official September launch of its Mrktplays subaffiliation platform was also cited as an important step towards a more diversified revenue base.
“Market interest and take-up by partner publishers exceeded expectations and demonstrated the value of investing in scalable, product-led solutions,” Stan said.
Looking ahead, Catena said that organic search remains the backbone of its business and that it continues to invest heavily in this area.
“We will continue to invest where we see clear returns, while maintaining tight control over costs and complexity. The second half of 2025 sets a baseline on which we can build to achieve the high performance we are striving for,” Stan added.
