PubMatic Revenue Growth Accelerates for Third Straight Quarter

The Tip Desk · November 12, 2026 · 4 min read

Third-quarter revenue reached $79.6 million, up 17%, as adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to $26.0 million and the company swung to GAAP net income.

PubMatic, Inc. (PUBM), the AI-powered ad tech company, reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $79.6 million, up 17% from $67.96 million a year earlier, as year-over-year growth accelerated for a third consecutive quarter after 11% growth in the second quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 133% to $26.0 million, or a 33% margin, from $11.2 million, or a 16% margin, a year earlier. Sequentially, adjusted EBITDA rose from $19.6 million, or a 25% margin, in the second quarter. Gross profit was $55.6 million, or a 70% margin, compared with a 63% gross margin in the year-ago quarter.

GAAP results swung to net income of $5.5 million, or $0.11 a share, from a net loss of $6.5 million, or $(0.14) a share, a year earlier. Non-GAAP net income was $12.6 million, or $0.25 a share, versus $1.6 million, or $0.03 a share, a year earlier. Operating income was $8.7 million.

Chief executive Rajeev Goel said the company delivered revenue and adjusted EBITDA well ahead of guidance. Chief financial officer Steve Pantelick said nearly two-thirds of revenue now comes from high-value channels and formats growing more than 50%.

CTV, mobile app and emerging revenues represented about 64% of total revenue, up from about 60% in the second quarter. Global CTV revenue grew over 30% year-over-year and accounted for about 21% of total revenue; Americas CTV grew over 40% year-over-year. Mobile app revenue grew nearly 40% year-over-year and accounted for about 27% of total revenue. Emerging revenues, which include Activate, Commerce Media, Connect and newly launched AI solutions, more than doubled year-over-year and represented about 18% of total revenue.

Buying activity from Activate grew more than 8 times versus the third quarter of 2025. Activity from mid-market-focused DSPs grew over 40% year-over-year. Supply Path Optimization represented about 55% of total activity on the platform.

Infrastructure optimization and investments drove a 15% year-over-year increase in monetized impressions while impressions processed fell 8% year-over-year. Cost of revenue per million impressions processed decreased 15% on a trailing twelve-month period versus the prior period.

Since launching AgenticOS in January 2026, PubMatic said it has run more than 120 fully autonomous, end-to-end agentic campaigns, up from over 80 a quarter earlier, including all five global agency holding companies. AI-powered deals created on the platform rose to more than 14,000 from over 4,000 a quarter earlier. The company said the platform’s Campaign Insights Agent analyzes campaigns daily and that Decision Fabric, which combines PubMatic models with partner models on its infrastructure, is driving adoption of sell-side targeting. Sony Pictures Entertainment named PubMatic its preferred programmatic advertising partner for LIVE TV on PS5, and Strategus named PubMatic its preferred live sports programmatic partner.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $30.8 million, compared with $32.4 million a year earlier. Free cash flow was $17.6 million, compared with $22.8 million a year earlier. The company ended the quarter with $144.5 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities and no debt. Through September 30, 2026, it had used $226.6 million in cash to repurchase 16.5 million shares of Class A common stock, with $48.4 million remaining under the 2023 program.

On November 9, 2026, the board authorized an additional $150 million of Class A share repurchases through December 31, 2028, bringing remaining authorization to about $198 million. The company said it expects to fund repurchases with existing cash and marketable securities.

For the fourth quarter of 2026, PubMatic expects revenue of $91 million to $93 million, or 15% year-over-year growth at the midpoint, and adjusted EBITDA of $31 million to $33 million, assuming a negative foreign-currency impact predominantly from the euro and pound sterling. For the full year, it expects revenue of $312 million to $314 million, or 11% year-over-year growth at the midpoint, and adjusted EBITDA of $79 million to $81 million, a 30% increase at the midpoint. The outlook assumes general market conditions do not significantly deteriorate.