ZETA Global's Strong 2025: A Landmark Year of Record Revenue, EBITDA, and FCF Growth
ZETA Global (NASDAQ: ZETA), a leading data-driven marketing technology company, closed out 2025 with an exceptionally strong financial performance, marking a pivotal year of record-breaking growth across key metrics. Investors and industry observers alike are taking note as the company delivered its eighteenth consecutive "beat-and-raise" quarter, showcasing robust operational efficiency and a clear trajectory towards sustained profitability. The latest Zeta Global earnings report reveals impressive surges in revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow, alongside a significant milestone: achieving positive GAAP net income in the fourth quarter of 2025.
This stellar performance underscores Zeta's strategic prowess in leveraging its proprietary Data Cloud and AI capabilities to empower enterprises with intelligent marketing solutions. As businesses increasingly rely on hyper-personalization and precise audience engagement, Zeta's platform continues to drive measurable value, translating directly into its compelling financial results.
A Banner Year for Zeta Global Earnings: Unpacking the 2025 Success
The full-year 2025 financial figures paint a picture of accelerated growth and operational excellence. Zeta Global reported full-year revenue of an impressive $1,305 million, representing a substantial 30% increase year-over-year. This top-line expansion was complemented by even faster growth in profitability metrics.
- Adjusted EBITDA soared to $279 million for the full year, a remarkable 44% jump compared to 2024, achieving a healthy 21.4% margin. The fourth quarter alone saw adjusted EBITDA reach $95 million, demonstrating strong momentum with a 24.1% margin.
- Free Cash Flow (FCF) also delivered a standout performance, reaching $199 million for 2025, an impressive 49% increase year-over-year. This represented a 13% margin and a 59% conversion rate, highlighting Zeta's ability to translate earnings into tangible cash. Q4 FCF margin stood even stronger at 14%.
Perhaps one of the most significant achievements of 2025 was the company's ability to achieve positive GAAP net income in the fourth quarter. While historical financial reports, particularly for metrics like Pretax Income, showed negative figures (e.g., -€6.24 million for 2025 TTM Pretax Income, and -€51.24 million in 2024), this Q4 milestone signals a critical inflection point in Zeta's journey. It demonstrates that the company's growth is not just top-line driven but is now translating into bottom-line statutory profitability. This shift is a powerful indicator of a maturing and highly efficient business model, poised for sustainable long-term success.
For investors, this shift to GAAP profitability is a strong signal of financial health and operational discipline. It indicates that Zeta Global is not only expanding its market footprint but also effectively managing its costs and optimizing its business processes to generate real earnings.
Driving Growth: Key Metrics Beyond the Top Line
Zeta Global's 2025 success wasn't merely about impressive headline numbers; it was built on robust underlying fundamentals and strategic execution. Several key metrics underscore the quality and sustainability of the company's growth:
- Record Net Revenue Retention (NRR): Zeta achieved an unprecedented 120% NRR in 2025, a significant increase from 114% in 2024. This metric is a powerful indicator of customer satisfaction and the company's ability to grow existing client relationships, either through increased usage of its platform or cross-selling additional services. An NRR above 100% signifies that existing customers are spending more over time, a highly efficient way to fuel growth.
- Scaled Customer Expansion: The company grew its scaled customer count by 14% year-over-year, reaching 602. More impressively, super-scaled customers—those representing the largest revenue contributions—increased by 24% to 184, now accounting for nearly 90% of Zeta's total revenue. This concentration on high-value clients demonstrates Zeta's focus on serving large enterprises with complex marketing needs, where its integrated platform can deliver maximum impact.
- Doubling RFP Volume: The volume of Request for Proposals (RFPs) more than doubled year-over-year. This surge in inbound interest highlights increasing market demand for Zeta's solutions and its growing brand recognition and competitive advantage.
- Strategic Acquisition Integration: The integration of Marigold, a significant acquisition, is progressing exceptionally well. Marigold is expected to be accretive to both free cash flow and adjusted EBITDA in its first year, showcasing Zeta's ability to successfully integrate acquired assets and extract synergistic value. This strategic move expands Zeta's market reach and enriches its platform capabilities, further solidifying its position in the competitive martech landscape.
Practical Tip for Businesses: Zeta's success with Net Revenue Retention underscores the critical importance of customer success and value delivery. Businesses should focus on understanding customer needs deeply, providing continuous value, and having robust upsell/cross-sell strategies. Building strong, lasting relationships with key clients, as Zeta has done with its super-scaled customers, creates a stable and predictable revenue stream.
Forward Momentum: Ambitious 2026 Guidance and 2028 Targets
Building on the incredible momentum of 2025, Zeta Global has provided compelling guidance for 2026 and raised its long-term targets for 2028, signaling continued confidence in its growth trajectory.
- 2026 Revenue Guidance: Zeta has raised its 2026 revenue guidance to a midpoint of $1,755 million, implying a robust 35% growth year-over-year. Even excluding the impact of the Marigold acquisition and political revenue, the company projects a strong 21% organic growth, demonstrating underlying strength.
- 2026 Adjusted EBITDA Guidance: Adjusted EBITDA for 2026 is projected to reach $391 million, representing a 40% year-over-year increase and a 22.3% margin. This indicates continued leverage and efficiency gains as the company scales.
- 2026 Free Cash Flow Guidance: Free cash flow is expected to rise to $231 million in 2026, marking another 40% increase with a 59% conversion of adjusted EBITDA.
Crucially, Zeta Global anticipates achieving positive GAAP net income for the full-year 2026. This is a monumental step for the company, solidifying its transition from a high-growth, investment-phase business to one that consistently generates statutory profits. This milestone will undoubtedly attract a broader base of investors and further validate its business model. For more on this pivotal shift, explore our detailed analysis here: Zeta Global (ZETA) Shifts to Profit: Positive GAAP Net Income & 2026 Outlook.
Looking further ahead, Zeta Global has also raised its ambitious 2028 targets:
- 2028 Revenue: A target of $2.3 billion.
- 2028 Adjusted EBITDA: Aiming for $573 million, with a robust 25% margin.
- 2028 Free Cash Flow: Projecting $371 million.
These revised long-term targets reflect Zeta's confidence in its scalable platform, its differentiated data assets, and its ability to capitalize on the massive opportunities in the digital marketing landscape. The continued investment in AI and its proprietary Data Cloud will be key drivers of this sustained growth. For further insights into Zeta's long-term vision and its impressive "beat-and-raise" streak, refer to our article: Zeta Global (ZETA) Extends Beat-and-Raise Streak: Eyeing $2.3B Revenue by 2028.
Conclusion
Zeta Global's 2025 performance represents a significant inflection point, showcasing not only robust growth in revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow but also a crucial transition to GAAP net income profitability. The company’s consistent "beat-and-raise" track record, combined with record customer retention and strategic acquisitions like Marigold, positions it strongly for future success. With ambitious guidance for 2026, including expected full-year GAAP profitability, and compelling long-term targets for 2028, Zeta Global is demonstrating its capacity to deliver sustainable value for shareholders while continuing to innovate and lead in the dynamic digital marketing technology sector. The company's focus on leveraging data and AI to drive personalized customer experiences continues to be a winning strategy, making its Zeta Global earnings reports a compelling read for anyone interested in the future of marketing.