NTN Buzztime's third quarter results are out

The good news is that NTN Buzztime now has 305 more sites than they had a year ago.

The bad news is that this is how NTN Buzztime led off its announcement of third quarter results. And when you don't lead your press release with financial results, prepare for a loss.

First off, revenues were lower than the year ago numbers.

Revenues for the third quarter of 2009 were $6.7 million, compared to revenues of $6.8 million for the same period of 2008. The slight decline in revenue was largely due to a slight decrease in average revenue generated per site related to a strategic reduction in pricing, which was partially offset by a higher site count and an increase in advertising revenue.

Price decreases to raise revenue are always a balancing act, and it looks like NTN Buzztime was slightly off balance.

But did they make money? Well, no, but the loss has decreased:

Loss from continuing operations for the third quarter of 2009 was $768,000, or one cent per share, compared to a loss from continuing operations of $1,032,000, or two cents per share, for the same period a year ago.

To be fair, all busineses are struggling with a weakened economy, so perhaps this slightly negative performance was as good as could be expected.

And if NTN Buzztime is profitable in the long term, all will be forgiven.