OVERVIEW OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Mar. 31, 2019

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

The accompanying unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements and information have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) and in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and disclosures required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, these financial statements contain all normal and recurring adjustments considered necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for the periods presented. The results for interim periods presented are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year due to the seasonality of our business, which has been historically impacted by higher consumer spending during the fourth quarter. These condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included on our Annual Report on Form 10-K ("Annual Report") for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements. Significant items subject to such estimates and assumptions include revenue recognition, internal-use software development costs, income taxes, stock-based compensation, allowance for doubtful accounts, income tax valuation allowance and contingencies. We base our estimates on historical experience and on assumptions that we believe are reasonable. Changes in facts or circumstances may cause us to change our assumptions and estimates in future periods and it is possible that actual results could differ from our current or revised future estimates.

Internal-Use Software Development Costs

During 2019, we began capitalizing costs related to the development of new technology for building and launching marketing campaigns. In March 2020, we redesigned certain elements of this project and wrote off development costs totaling $0.8 million recognized in depreciation and amortization expense on our condensed consolidated statement of operations.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) to increase the transparency and comparability among organizations as it relates to lease assets and lease liabilities, by requiring lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and lease liability for all leases with terms of more than 12 months, with exceptions. Effective January 1, 2020, we early adopted this guidance using a modified retrospective approach, which was required for all leases that exist at or commence after the date of the initial application with an option to use certain practical expedients. We have elected to use these practical expedients, which allow us to treat all components of our leases as a single component, not to reassess lease classification or whether an arrangement is or contains a lease and not to reassess its initial accounting for direct lease costs. The adoption of the new lease standard at January 1, 2020 resulted in the recognition of right-of-use assets and lease liabilities of $10.3 million and $13.5 million, respectively, consisting primarily of operating leases related to the rental of office and data center space. The adoption of this guidance did not have a significant impact on our condensed consolidated statements of operations or cash flows.

On January 1, 2020, we adopted ASU 2015-05, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other—Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Fees Paid in a Cloud Computing Arrangement, to help entities evaluate the accounting for fees paid by a customer in a cloud computing arrangement (hosting arrangement) by providing guidance for determining when the arrangement includes a software license. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material effect on our condensed consolidated financial statements.

Except for the adoption of ASU 2016-02 and ASU 2015-05, there have been no changes to our accounting policies, and these unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a basis consistent with that used to prepare our audited annual consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019, and include, in the opinion of management, all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring items, necessary for the fair statement of the condensed consolidated financial statements.

Revenue

Cardlytics Direct is our proprietary native bank advertising channel that enables marketers to reach consumers through the FIs' trusted and frequently visited online and mobile banking channels. Working with the marketer, we design a campaign that targets customers based on their purchase history. The consumer is offered an incentive to make a purchase from the marketer within a specified period. We use a portion of the fees that we collect from marketers to provide these consumer incentives to our FIs’ customers after they make qualifying purchases ("Consumer Incentives"). Leveraging our powerful purchase intelligence platform, we are able to create compelling Consumer Incentives that have the potential to increase return on advertising spend for marketers and measure the effectiveness of the advertising. Consumer Incentives totaled $22.6 million and $22.3 million during the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively. We generally pay our FI partners an FI Share, which is a negotiated and fixed percentage of our billings to marketers less any Consumer Incentives that we pay to FIs’ customers and certain third-party data costs.

Cardlytics Direct is priced predominantly in two ways: (1) Cost per Served Sale (“CPS”), and (2) Cost per Redemption (“CPR”).

•

CPS. Our primary pricing model is CPS, which we created to meet the media buying preferences of marketers. We generate revenue by charging a percentage of all purchases from the marketer by consumers (1) who are served marketing and (2) subsequently make a purchase from the marketer during the campaign period, regardless of whether consumers select the marketing and thereby becomes eligible to earn the applicable Consumer Incentive. We set CPS rates for marketers based on our expectation of the marketer’s return on spend for the relevant campaign. Additionally, we set the amount of the Consumer Incentives payable for each campaign based on our estimation of our ability to drive incremental sales for the marketer.

•

CPR. Under our CPR pricing model, marketers specify and fund the Consumer Incentive and pay us a separate negotiated, fixed marketing fee for each purchase that we generate. We generate revenue if the consumer (1) is served marketing, (2) selects the marketing and thereby becomes eligible to earn the applicable Consumer Incentive and (3) makes a qualifying purchase from the marketer during the campaign period. We set the CPR fee for marketers based on our estimation of the marketers’ return on spend for the relevant campaign.