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.

Of course, it's not available for Windows Mobile 5

You know the routine. You go to your favorite bar or restaurant, grab a chair, and then ask for a Playmaker so that you can participate in the NTN Buzztime trivia competition.

Well, certain people can cut out the third step above, as Paul Ryburn notes:

There’s a Mobile Playmaker app available for free. Just search for “Buzztime, Inc.” in the app store. It will turn your iPhone into a little blue crack box, and you can play at any location that offers both Buzztime and Wi-Fi....

Read the rest here.

It's been a while...

Wow. This is my first post in this blog in over a month. Let's do some catching up:

• No, I ended up NOT heading out to Haight-Asbury to play NTN Buzztime trivia during Oracle OpenWorld. I was running across so much in the SOMA area that I never left.


• I was going to play trivia the next week, during our own company user conference, and took the opportunity to do so one afternoon when I had to leave the hotel to go to work. I consulted the NTN Buzztime web site and found that there was a Buffalo Wild Wings on my route back to work, but when I drove there, I couldn't find the Buffalo Wild Wings.

I'll make it into trivia-land at some point.

In the meantime, NTN Buzztime still goes on, still getting revenue even when I don't show up, and still accruing costs. If you want to know more about these kinds of things, you can find out in a few days:

NTN Buzztime, Inc. (NYSE
Amex: NTN), today announced it will conduct a conference call to discuss its
financial results for the third quarter of 2009 at 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday,
November 12, 2009....

Hosting the call will be CEO, Terry Bateman and CFO, Kendra Berger.

To access the conference call, please dial (866) 360-7027, if calling from the
United States or Canada, or (706) 643-3291, if calling internationally, and
use passcode 40060420.

A replay will be available on November 12, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. ET until November
19, 2009, which can be accessed by dialing (800) 642-1687, if calling from the
United States or Canada, or (706) 645-9291, if calling internationally. Please
use passcode 40060420 to access the replay.

The call will also be accompanied live by webcast over the Internet and
accessible at the Company's Web site at http://www.buzztime.com.