Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations 

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the information set forth under the caption entitled “Item 6. Selected Financial Data” and the consolidated financial statements and related notes included in the 2010 Form 10-K.


Company Overview


Below is an update of our entire business, from our most recent entry into podcasting and apps, where we expect most of our future growth to occur, to our legacy businesses of offering core speech engine tools for software developers and technology solutions for the healthcare industry.  Currently, our healthcare operations make up 56% of our revenue, but we expect our Media business to become our largest revenue generator at some point in the near future, and provide the largest revenue growth and profits.  We believe this due to the size of our podcast operations, our market leadership position, our substantial presence in iTunes and the potential monetization of the content we distribute through our publishing platform, advertising sale of Apps and paid subscriptions for content.  The network growth of our media operation has occurred faster than initially expected and it is Management’s opinion that we are still in the early stages of growth for this industry as we are seeing the flow of quality content coming to the Internet increase at a rapid pace and advertisers and audiences showing increased interest in the medium.  Wizzard believes that our network and relevance in our industry will continue to grow by leaps and bounds and that Wizzard is positioned to be one of the leading companies in the podcast monetization business.  


1.     WIZZARD MEDIA


Wizzard Media is the four-year old division for our digital media and entertainment business.  Wizzard Media is currently the industry’s largest network of independent and professional digital media publishers utilizing RSS (podcasting) as a distribution method for episodic, audio and video shows.  The Wizzard Media Network received over 450 million download requests for shows in 2006, 1 billion download requests in 2007, 1.2 billion download requests in 2008, 1.4 billion download requests in 2009, and 1.6 billion in 2010 to approximately 50 million total audience members throughout the year.  In the fourth quarter of 2010, the Wizzard Network received 465,701,849 download requests for episodes vs. 316,271,369 download requests in the fourth quarter of 2009.  Wizzard's publishing platform grew to an adjusted 14,913 shows in 2010. Management believes that Wizzard Media offers the best podcast publishing platform in the industry and is one of only a few podcast publishing platforms that are able to charge publishers for use of the service.  The majority of podcast publishing platforms offer their service for free, in hopes of making money exclusively from advertising sales.  Management believes that our ability to charge for the services we provide is a testament to the quality of service.  The total number of episodes on the Wizzard Network grew to 1,215,661 in 2010, all of which are available for immediate distribution.  With the continuing success of iPods, iPhones, iPads, Android’s mobile phones, Blackberry’s smartphones, we expect the number of content



publishers using our service and the number of consumers watching the shows to continue to grow rapidly on an annual basis.  Wizzard's LibsynPRO Enterprise service had 137 network publishers in 2010.  As Wizzard Media derives a portion of its revenues through data transfer from PRO customers, launching a new, feature rich version of the PRO publishing platform provides Management with the tools to grow the number of PRO publishers and thereby revenues associated with our data transfer business.  Throughout 2010, revenue from data transfer totaled $216,744.  Below is a more detailed breakout of the information above.


WIZZARD MEDIA – PUBLISHING SERVICES


     Hosting, Distribution Network, Content, Platform Development


In 2010 the Wizzard Media Network received approximately 1.6 billion download requests for podcast episodes vs. 1.4 billion download requests in 2009, from a wide variety of distribution outlets to which Wizzard syndicates content.  The Wizzard Media network received over 4.47 million requests for shows per day throughout 2010.  Our network reaches over 19 million people around the world, creating what Management believes is a strong media asset and a very compelling platform for advertisers as well as smartphone App sales.  Download requests are calculated by counting the number of shows requested for download by audience members.  Wizzard works to generate profits by inserting advertisements in the shows in partnership with the show’s publishers, charging for the use of our publishing platform and through the sale of Apps.  As the online digital media industry is in the emerging stages, the majority of these shows are distributed without advertising and the total download requests listed above are provided to give an understanding of the potential size of advertising inventory available for Wizzard’s third party advertising partners and its in-house advertising sales team to fill.  


Currently, Wizzard Media distributes digital shows for our producers to a variety of web portals and content aggregators (approximately 27 in all), for both download and video streaming.  Approximately 70% of the shows Wizzard distributes reach audiences using Apple’s iTunes platform which includes iTunes on the computer, iPods, iPads, iPhones and Apple TV.  It is Management’s opinion that the Wizzard Media Network’s substantial presence in the iTunes Podcast Store is one of the Company’s most valuable assets as consumers using iTunes are early adopters and spend money regularly on digital media. We believe this provides Wizzard with a unique offering for advertisers seeking that type of consumer and provides Wizzard with monetization opportunities for its podcast publishers through the sale of individual and network wide Apps.


Wizzard Media's technical development team continues to make significant accomplishments in terms of maintaining and expanding our publishing platform.  In 2010, Wizzard’s development team launched the Libsyn3 platform.  We migrated Libsyn Indie users to the new platform throughout 2010.  The migration was completed in early 2011 and represents a significant milestone in the upgrade of the features offered to our Producers.  In migrating the 5 year old Libsyn Indie customers to the new Libsyn3 platform we were able to ‘clean up’ many non paying, in-active accounts.  As a result, we now have 14,913 active podcast accounts.  While this number is down from 16,767 reported in the third quarter, the number does not represent a drop in paying customers or revenue; it is solely a more accurate count of our active accounts.


In 2010, the development team created the Wizzard Media Podcast App for sale in the Android App platform.  With this App Wizzard expanded the sale of individual podcast Apps for our paying podcast clients.  This App allows publishers to generate additional revenues for their show.  In addition to creating the core App, the development team released multiple updates throughout 2010.  The development team also released backend support for the Android App as well as for iPad functionality.


WIZZARD MEDIA - APPS


In the first quarter of 2009, Management took note of the extremely successful launch of the iTunes App Store by Apple.  Apps are small software applications that users can purchase and download to their iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices with relative ease.  During 2010, there were over 250,000 Apps in the App Store that have been downloaded by consumers over 2 billion times.  App categories include video games, sports, productivity, entertainment, education and health & fitness. Some of these Apps are free, while others have to be purchased.  These Apps range in price from $.99 to $100.00, with the average price under $4.99.  During 2010, Wizzard aggressively entered the Apps market on several using its podcast network and active podcasters to promote the Apps to consumers.  Apple and Google retain 30% of all App sales to cover the cost of running the App Store and App owners/developers receive 70% of the sales proceeds.  Wizzard believes it is an obvious expansion of our podcasting business and the ways Wizzard believes it can generate revenue through the iTunes Store, Google Market Place and Amazon App Store are briefly outlined below.  



Sale of Podcast Apps


Wizzard created Apps that work on the iPhone and Android platforms and are currently for sale in the iTunes App Store, Google’s Market Place and coming soon, Amazon’s App Store. Wizzard currently has approximately 1,000 Apps for sale in these two App Stores.  Podcasters then market their very own App to their show’s audience, many of whom use iPhones, iPods and Android phones.  Management believes podcasters can be very successful marketing Apps to their audience, as they know their audience better than anyone else and are great influencers of their audience.  The reasons Management believes an audience member would want to purchase Apps are: 1) Easier, faster access to the content.  2) Bonus content exclusively for App users. 3) Inexpensive and easy way to support their favorite podcasts.  4) Social communication features.


Wizzard now offers this App as a free monetizational tool to podcasters on the Wizzard Network as long as they have a qualifying monthly account.  Currently, there are approximately 14,913 shows on the Wizzard Network and approximately 19 million audience members who consume podcasts.  Wizzard submits each App for approval, which is not guaranteed and is based on the respective terms of service and approval process of the App Store, and manages the collecting of the revenue and distribution of the podcaster’s share of the revenues.  Wizzard expects to retain approximately 35% of the sale price that ranges from $.99 to $4.99 in most cases.  During 2010, Wizzard submitted 1,120 podcast Apps and has received approval for 1,002 Apps.  These Apps are currently being sold around the world via Apple’s App Store and Google Market Place. Throughout 2010, revenue from App sales totaled $189,277.


At the suggestion of Apple, Wizzard developed a “Network App” which allows for hundreds of podcast Apps, inside one fully functional App.  This is very similar to Amazon’s Kindle App that includes tens of thousands of books inside one App.  This Network App, if accepted into the various App stores, allows us to: 1) continue our business plan to offer App monetization tools to all producers in a streamlined, efficient process; 2) comply with the continually evolving and sometimes inconsistent App approval standards and their desire not to have ‘cookie-cutter’ Apps for all 250,000 podcasts in iTunes in the App Store causing approval delays and rejections; 3) have more control over the actual marketing of the podcast Apps through expanded distribution of the Network App and cross promotional opportunities; 4) focus more time and attention on podcast shows with larger audiences that sell more apps than the smaller podcast shows.  As a result of this change in ‘go to market’ strategy for iPhone Apps, Wizzard believes it could enhance revenues going forward due to the fact that we will have more control over the marketing of, wider distribution and more opportunities to generate revenues with a Network App.  For example, we could include widespread targeted promotions for Groupon or provide offers allowing people to earn Facebook credits.  For our Android Google and Amazon App products, we plan to continue to create individual Apps for podcasts on our network and off network, focusing on podcasts with the largest audiences.  As the Android Market continues to evolve, we may consider an option to create a Network App as the business model dictates.


Sale of Podcast Subscriptions and Episodes Via Custom Podcast Apps


Once a podcaster has successfully marketed an App to its audience and has created a significant install base, Management believes that from time to time the podcaster can offer new content on a subscription basis or release a special episode, in addition to its normal podcast episodes, and charge a nominal fee ($1 - $3) for that episode to its audience.  By having a successful, extremely easy to use micropayment platform in iTunes/iPhone/iPod Touch, Android and Google, Management believes that podcast audiences will be willing to pay a nominal fee ($1.99), from time to time, for special episodes of their favorite podcast and even sign up for inexpensive subscriptions ($.99 a month; $8.99 for 12 months) of new content.  Wizzard earns a portion of the subscription and episode revenue for administering the App account and delivering the content to the consumer.


   WIZZARD MEDIA - ADVERTISING


In 2010, Wizzard executed multiple national brand advertising campaigns for companies including Audible and JC Penney. These campaigns run across multiple shows, bringing the total number of advertising campaigns launched to date to 115, with 26 different advertisers, resulting in $257,994 in 2010 advertising revenue.  In the fourth quarter of 2010, Wizzard had its best quarter in Wizzard Media history in terms of advertising impressions delivered with 27 million ads delivered vs. 22.4 million ads delivered in the fourth quarter of 2009.


Wizzard’s Alchemy system is able to handle the insertion of advertisements into audio and video shows with geographical targeting capabilities, which was used for multiple advertising campaigns throughout 2010.  Using the new


system, the Wizzard Media Network had the capability to deliver 2,499,004,001 advertisements in 2010 if 2.5 advertisements were placed in every podcast request downloaded from the network.  In order to increase the percentage of filled advertising inventory we must continue to execute on our advertising sales strategy, integrate third party ad networks and portals and create relationships with more advertising agencies and their clients.  The advertising capabilities number mentioned above and the tables for download inventory (below) demonstrates to advertisers the reach of the Wizzard Media Advertising Network as most advertisers want to see the opportunity for large advertising campaigns when considering a new medium for their marketing plans.  Management believes that most advertisers prefer to deal with a few companies with large reach rather than many companies with smaller reach as it makes their advertising ‘buys’ and tracking easier to monitor.


Client results of our largest advertising execution to date were excellent in Management's opinion and we expect more buys from the client in the future. We have now had multiple advertisers renew campaigns with Wizzard including one advertiser that is on its 36th campaign, demonstrating what Management believes is excellent back-end ad operational customer service on Wizzard's part and a satisfactory ROI for our clients.  


Wizzard Media currently has 22 distinct ad categories we take to market.  As the number of publishers joining Wizzard’s Advertising Network grows, so does the available advertising inventory for Wizzard’s advertising sales team to sell.


     

Month

 

Potential Ad Impressions

January 2010

*

201,637,695

February 2010

*

185,522,557

March 2010

 

205,149,312

April 2010

 

200,965,025

May 2010

 

190,728,225

June 2010

*

185,024,483

July 2010

*

209,683,995

August 2010

*

217,246,837

September 2010

 

221,408,310

October 2010

 

229,233,365

November 2010

 

229,114,522

December 2010

*

223,289,675


*

December and January are historically strong months for downloads. June, July and August are historically slower months for downloads.  Management believes that the above numbers demonstrate to advertisers the reach of the Wizzard Media network as most advertisers want to see the opportunity for large advertising campaigns.  Management believes that most advertisers prefer to deal with a few companies with large reach rather than many companies with smaller reach as it makes their advertising ‘buys’ and tracking easier to monitor.  Formula: Nielsen certified downloads x 2.5 (to take into account pre-roll and post-roll position, and 50% of all downloads capable of handling 1 mid-roll ad).  While there can be no future pricing guarantees, the industry is currently charging, and plans to continue to charge, between $.01 and $.005 per downloaded ad.  The advertisements tend to be no longer than 15 to 30 seconds and several ads can be inserted in one twenty-minute episode.  


     

Nielsen Certified Downloads for Ad Network

Month

 

Downloads

January 2010

**

80,655,078

February 2010

 

74,209,023

March 2010

 

82,059,725

April 2010

 

80,386,010

May 2010

 

76,291,290

June 2010

**

74,009,793

July 2010

 

83,873,598

August 2010

 

86,898,735

September 2010

 

88,563,324

October 2010

 

91,693,346

November 2010

 

91,645,809

December 2010

 

89,315,870


 

**

December and January are historically strong months for downloads. June, July and August are historically slower months for downloads. While there can be no future pricing guarantees, the industry average is $.01 and $.005 per downloaded ad.  In order to win new business, at times, our ad sales force will give first time discounts in the per download price.  The advertisements tend to be no longer than 15 to 30 seconds and several ads can be inserted in one twenty-minute episode.


2.     WIZZARD TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES GROUP  


Wizzard Software's legacy Technology & Services Group sells and licenses speech programming tools, related speech products and services, and distributable speech engines in over 13 languages worldwide.  Wizzard receives the majority of its sales leads through arrangements with IBM and AT&T, as well as through our own Internet marketing efforts through Google, Yahoo and other major Internet search engines.


In 2010, our T&S Group saw a 3.0% decrease in revenue over 2009.  The T&S Group continues to focus its efforts on core assistive application, website audio and alert systems.  The website audio file distribution category currently shows the most promise for expanded business going forward.  


The Speech Technology and Services Group's immediate focus is to increase revenue and be a preferred supplier for speech technologies to large businesses worldwide, emphasize great technologies, competitive prices, and high quality support to the speech development community and offer non-technical hosted speech conversion services to companies that have subscriber base in fast growing market segments. There can be no guarantee that customers will be willing to pay Wizzard for these services.


3.   WIZZARD HEALTHCARE


Based in Casper, Wyoming and Billings, Montana, Interim Health Care of Wyoming has been serving its community for 17 years and is part of the fast growing home health segment of the healthcare industry, providing a wide range of visiting nurse services to the elderly, wounded and sick. It is one of the 300 home health agencies that comprise Interim Health Care, the largest home healthcare franchise in the United States.  Wizzard currently derives the bulk of its revenues, 56%, from its home healthcare and staffing operations.


As was the case with most industry segments, the medical industry felt the slowing of the economy in 2009.   As a result, our staffing business in Billings, Montana experienced a significant decrease in utilization of our services from the hospitals and nursing homes.  This is driven by a decrease in the census (number of patients) utilizing these facilities.  We continue to take the necessary steps to position ourselves in preparation of an upturn in the census for these facilities as the economy recovers resulting in an increase in the use of our services.  At the same time our home healthcare service continued to be strong and provided a consistent stream of revenue through 2010.  While we have not yet returned to the levels achieved prior to the down turn in the economy, we have seen an increase in revenue for staffing services in Billings, Montana, and an increase in revenue over the prior year within our Home Healthcare segment.  Our home healthcare services continued to be strong and provided a consistent stream of revenue during 2010.


In 2011, as with most businesses in today’s economy, we are approaching our healthcare business with skeptical optimism.  As for our operations in Billings, Montana and its focus on the medical staffing industry, we anticipate a possible modest increase in the demand for our medical staffing services during the upcoming year.  As such, we will continue to evaluate opportunities to expand the realm of services we offer.  Promotional activities are being managed as the offices experience fluctuations in the day-to-day operations and as we embark on new business opportunities.  


Our home healthcare business continues to be a substantial revenue generator for our Company as our country's population ages and new methods of patient data capture become critical components for delivering high quality, affordable healthcare services in a patient's home.  Although this has been a gradual process, we believe that we are building a solid business that will offer a complimentary package of new technology and traditional services.



Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates


Revenue Recognition - Revenue is recognized when earned. The Company's revenue recognition policies are in compliance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 605, 985 Software — Revenue Recognition and the Securities and Exchange Commission Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 101 and 104.


The Company recognizes revenue from providing podcast hosting services when the services are provided and the sale of apps when collection is received.   The Company recognizes revenue from the providing of healthcare services when the services are provided and collection is probable.  The Company sells packaged and custom software products and related speech recognition product development consulting.  Software product revenues are recognized upon shipment of the software product only if no significant Company obligations remain, the fee is fixed or determinable, and collection is received or the resulting receivable is deemed probable. Revenue from package software products are recorded when the payment has been received and the software has been shipped.  Revenue is recognized, net of discount and allowances, at the time of product shipment.  Revenue from non-recurring programming, engineering fees, consulting service, support arrangements and training programs are recognized when the services are provided.


Accounts Receivable – We evaluate the creditworthiness of our customers based on their financial information, if available, as well as information obtained from suppliers and past experiences with customers.  In some instances, we require new customers to make prepayments.  Accounts receivable consist of trade receivables arising in the normal course of business. Any allowance established is subject to judgment and estimates made by management.  The Company determines the allowance based on known troubled accounts, historical experience, and other currently available evidence. We established an allowance for doubtful accounts of $34,200 and $34,200 at December 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively.


Goodwill and Definite-life intangible assets - The Company accounts for Goodwill and definite-life intangible assets in accordance with provisions of the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 350, Intangibles, Goodwill and Other.  Goodwill and intangible assets acquired in a purchase business combination and determined to have an indefinite useful life are not amortized, but instead are tested for impairment at least annually in accordance with the provisions of Topic 350.  Impairment losses arising from this impairment test, if any, are included in operating expenses in the period of impairment.  Topic 350 requires that definite intangible assets with estimable useful lives be amortized over their respective estimated useful lives, and reviewed for impairment in accordance with Topic 360, criteria for recognition of an impairment of Long-Lived Assets.


Stock-based compensation - The Company accounts for options in accordance with the provisions of Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) ASC Topic 718, Compensation – Stock Compensation.  For the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009, the Company recorded stock-based employee compensation expense of  $52,164 and $38,371, respectively,  and stock –based compensation expense to employees and consultants of $103,555 and $491,592, respectively, for options that were issued and immediately exercised. The remaining estimated pretax amortization on unvested options will be recognized during 2011.  The plans are more fully described in Note 8 of our consolidated financial statements.


Estimating the fair value of options granted requires us to utilize valuation models and to establish several underlying assumptions. The fair value of option grants was estimated using the Black-Scholes option valuation model based on the following weighted average assumptions:


       

 

2010

 

2009

Dividend yield

0 %

 

0 %

Expected life

3 yrs

 

3 yrs

Expected volatility

87.8%

 

84.7%

Risk-free interest rate

1.4%

 

1.6%


The risk-free interest rate is the implied yield available for zero-coupon U.S. government issues with a remaining term equal to the expected life of the options.



The expected lives of the options are determined based on the Company’s expectations of individual option holders anticipated behavior and the term of the option.


Volatility is based upon price performance of the Company over an equivalent term of the issued options to determine potential volatility of the issued options.

 

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