Xperi (NYSE:XPER) executives said the company exited 2025 with what management described as an “inflection point” in its transition toward higher monetization from advertising and data, while continuing to manage expected declines in legacy pay TV and consumer electronics revenue.
On its fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Jon Kirchner and CFO Robert Anderson highlighted significant footprint expansion across the company’s Media Platform and Connected Car offerings, cost reductions implemented during 2025, and a 2026 outlook that anticipates a major acceleration in Media Platform revenue.
Key operating milestones: TiVo One, AutoStage, and IPTV
- TiVo One ad platform: Monthly active users (MAUs) reached 5.3 million at the end of 2025, surpassing a 5 million target and representing over 250% growth during the year.
- DTS AutoStage (Connected Car): Footprint expanded to over 14 million vehicles, up 40% year-over-year.
- Video over broadband (IPTV): Subscriber households increased 25% year-over-year to 3.25 million.
Management positioned IPTV subscription revenue as an offset to declines in older pay TV products and said it expects the pay TV business to “level out over the next several years” as IPTV continues to build.
Fourth-quarter results: revenue down as growth areas offset by CE and pay TV
Xperi reported fourth-quarter consolidated revenue of $117 million, down $6 million year-over-year. Anderson said revenue declined 5% versus the prior-year quarter.
By segment, Anderson said results included:
- Media Platform: 15% revenue growth, driven by “significant growth” in advertising.
- Connected Car: 5% revenue growth, attributed to higher minimum guarantee arrangements completed during the quarter.
- Consumer Electronics: 21% revenue decline, driven by lower customer demand tied to “memory cost and supply chain issues.”
- Pay TV: 7% revenue decline, reflecting minimum guarantee arrangements recorded in the prior year and lower revenue from the end-of-life consumer DVR business.
Profitability metrics reflected cost actions taken during the year. Non-GAAP operating expense improved by $10 million (13%) in the quarter, which management attributed primarily to workforce reductions implemented during 2025. Xperi posted adjusted EBITDA of $22 million, or 19% of revenue, which Anderson said was essentially in line with the prior year.
Non-GAAP diluted EPS was $0.24, down $0.15 year-over-year, which Anderson said was primarily due to lower non-GAAP tax expense in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Full-year 2025: revenue declines, margin improvement, and near-neutral operating cash flow
For full-year 2025, Xperi reported revenue of $448 million, down 9% year-over-year. Anderson attributed the decline primarily to:
- Pay TV revenue down 21%, driven by industry trends, a difficult comparison against a significant multi-year minimum guarantee recorded in 2024, and the ongoing reduction of the consumer DVR business.
- Consumer electronics revenue down 5%, reflecting memory supply disruptions and the comparison against revenue from the Perceive business, which was divested in late 2024.
Anderson said Connected Car revenue grew 12% year-over-year due to higher volume of minimum guarantee arrangements recorded up front, while Media Platform was “essentially flat,” as advertising growth was offset by expected declines in middleware licensing and TiVo Stream 4K device revenue.
On the cost side, non-GAAP adjusted operating expense fell to $274 million, improving by $60 million (18%) year-over-year. Anderson cited headcount reductions, the Perceive divestiture, and shifting certain operating expenses into cost of revenue as newer products began generating revenue. Adjusted EBITDA for 2025 was $77 million, or 17% of revenue, improving by 2 percentage points compared with 2024.
Cash flow also improved. The company ended the fourth quarter with $97 million in cash and cash equivalents. Operating cash flow was $4 million for the quarter. For the full year, operating cash flow was a $0.5 million usage, which Anderson said compared with $55 million of operating cash usage in the prior year.
Advertising and monetization: ARPU dynamics and new partnerships
In Media Platform, Kirchner emphasized continued product and ad-feature development. During the quarter, the company deployed a video-based homepage ad unit and cited additions such as Blacknut cloud gaming and demonstrations of TiVo OS on Mini LED TVs, set-top boxes, and sound bars.
Kirchner said average revenue per user (ARPU) for TiVo One finished the year at $7.80, down slightly sequentially as the user base grew faster than monetization revenue. In Q&A, management explained ARPU can move around early in the ramp due to the trailing-four-quarter calculation and timing lag between new device growth and advertising revenue generation. Anderson said MAUs grew from 4.8 million to 5.3 million sequentially in Q4 (about 10% growth), which pressured ARPU because advertising dollars did not increase at the same pace.
Xperi also highlighted partner and direct sales progress, including new agreements with Titan Ads, OpenGlass, and Inoki, as well as launching FreeWheel as a supply-side demand partner. Management cited homepage ad campaigns for clients including Hallmark Media, Freeform, NBCUniversal, and TNT.
Looking ahead, Kirchner said the company expects Media Platform revenue to double during 2026 and anticipates ARPU will normalize as footprint scales and sales efforts ramp. Management said it expects to exit 2026 with ARPU above $10 and described a longer-term objective of growing “towards $20+.”
Connected Car: Mercedes-Benz win and monetization timeline
In Connected Car, Xperi highlighted a new agreement with Mercedes-Benz to launch DTS AutoStage video service powered by TiVo. Kirchner noted Mercedes will be the first car brand to offer all four of the company’s connected car solutions: HD Radio, DTS:X Immersive Sound, AutoStage Audio, and Video powered by TiVo.
Management also said it added radio broadcasters across multiple geographies (including the U.S., Europe, Australia, Latin America, and Africa), saw new HD Radio model launches from automakers including Toyota, Honda, and Audi, and signed multi-year agreements with tier-one suppliers tied to HD Radio and DTS Audio implementations.
On monetization, Kirchner said Xperi expects early progress “more towards midyear” and indicated the first impact would likely come from data-related monetization before advertising monetization. In response to a question about geographic bias, management said monetization would likely begin more in North America initially, with international elements also expected over time.
2026 outlook: revenue range, EBITDA margin, and cash flow expectations
For 2026, Anderson guided to full-year revenue of $440 million to $470 million, reflecting management’s expectation of doubling Media Platform revenue while factoring in market risks including memory and supply chain challenges and macro uncertainty. The company expects revenue to be “slightly weighted to the back half of the year.”
Xperi guided to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 17% to 19%. Operating cash flow is expected to be $15 million to $25 million and capital expenditures $15 million to $20 million, implying positive free cash flow at the midpoint. Other items included an expected non-GAAP tax expense of approximately $20 million and diluted share count of 48 million to 49 million. The company also expects stock-based compensation expense of approximately $31 million in 2026, down from $41 million in 2025.
During Q&A, management said cost-savings actions are not fully complete, noting there will be additional cash expenses related to headcount reduction initiatives in the first quarter.
About Xperi (NYSE:XPER)
Xperi Inc (NYSE: XPER) is a global technology company that develops and licenses audio, imaging and semiconductor packaging solutions. The company was formed in 2016 through the spin-off of Tessera Technologies’ product divisions and expanded its product portfolio in 2019 with the acquisition of TiVo Corporation. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Xperi’s technologies underpin a range of consumer electronics, automotive, mobile and broadcast products around the world.
In its technology licensing segment, Xperi offers a broad portfolio of semiconductor packaging and interconnect solutions designed to improve performance and energy efficiency in chips and devices.
