2 months ago
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Digital services company One Great Studio Company Limited, 1GS, says key changes by technology giant Google in how it operates its search engine have resulted in some customers of 1GS no longer paying for some services, resulting in reduced profit for the company over the past six months.
1GS, which listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s junior market in 2023, registered net profit of $24 million for the first six months of 2024, compared with $50 million for the first half of 2023.
CEO of 1GS Djuvane Browne said that although there was a decline in that part of the company’s business, its revenue and number of clients are growing.
“A subset of people who normally pay for SEO (search engine optimisation) service have been impacted by what is happening at Google,” said Browne. “The subset affected is the affiliate and content marketers,” he said during the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.
Browne brushed aside the view that the company’s lower profits were because of the rise of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT.
“It’s not true that the decline at 1GS is attributed to AI,” Browne said. “ChatGPT’s traffic is down significantly year over year. Last June, ChatGPT had about 2.5 billion visits for the month. This June, ChatGPT had 250 million visits.”
He added that despite the changes at Google, that company was still responsible for upwards of 90 per cent of searches on the Internet, and as such, the Google SEO service was still viable.
Explaining the background of the company, Browne said 1GS started out as a design and development agency doing graphics and building websites. It then added services such as content strategy, copyrighting, community management, content production, digital strategy, and SEO, before its IPO and listing last year.
This year, the company is adding quick start products, agency partnerships, video production and social media management to its suite of products.
“People need help navigating the complex digital space,” Browne said. “We build digital assets. We drive traffic to them and optimise those assets for conversions ... we develop social strategies and content that align with client goals.
“We view ourselves as having a lot of potential. We think we are just scratching the surface,” the 1GS chief executive said.
Part of the reason for his optimism is that in 2023, 1GS served 139 clients, with 87 per cent of all revenue coming from retainers. The average client spend was $3.3 million, with revenue for 2023 being $461 million, which was 93 per cent better than year 2022.
Browne emphasised platform diversification as an important element of 1GS’s strategy going forward, saying that a robust digital strategy must include multiple platforms such as Google and Bing search engines, Tik Tok, and other social media.
“There is a huge risk that if the platform chooses to make a change, then that impacts your business. If you put everything on one platform and that platform makes a change, it has a negative effect, and you don’t have a business,” he said.
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