MARKETING, RISK, AND COMMUNICATIONS SOLUTIONS BUSINESS (A BUSINESS OF NEUSTAR, INC.)
NOTES TO COMBINED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Generally, client set-up, implementation, and technology fees are not considered separate performance obligations. Technology fees are charged for access to intellectual property, standard technical support, emergency 24-hour support, and system upgrades on a when-and-if-available basis. The Company incurs certain costs, such as royalties related to third parties. These costs are deferred and recognized in cost of revenue over the contract term.
The Company presents revenue net of taxes collected from customers. Such amounts are excluded from the determination of the transaction price in applying the revenue standard.
The Company recognizes costs to obtain a contract, predominantly sales commissions, as an asset which is amortized on a straight-line basis over a period of benefit estimated to be three years. The period of benefit was determined by taking into consideration the historical and expected duration of customer contracts, the expected useful lives of the Company’s technologies, and other factors. Amortization of deferred sales commissions was $12.3 million for the year ending December 31, 2020 and is included as a component of sales and marketing expenses in the Company’s combined statement of operations. Capitalized commissions are included within prepaid expense and other current assets and other assets, long-term on the Company’s combined balance sheet. As of December 31, 2020, the Company recorded current and long-term assets of $10.6 million and $10.4 million, respectively.
Our contract assets represent unbilled accounts receivable where transfer of a product or service has occurred, but invoicing is conditional upon completion of future performance obligations. Contract assets are included in unbilled receivables in the Company’s combined balance sheet.
Contract liabilities consist of deferred revenue and represent advanced payments against non-cancelable customer orders received prior to revenue recognition. The Company recognized approximately $33.3 million of revenue during the year ended December 31, 2020, that was included in the deferred revenue balance at December 31, 2019.
Disaggregated Revenue
The Company’s services include:
Marketing Solutions. These services empower clients to make informed and high impact decisions in real time to promote their business, increase customer retention, achieve greater campaign success and increase their marketing return on investment. The Company provides authoritative, cloud-based solutions that enable marketers to identify, verify and segment existing and potential customers in real-time. The Company also enables clients to maximize the impact of online targeting for specific prospect audiences and customers. Additionally, the Company offers a platform that enables marketers to plan and allocate their marketing spend across sales channels and media platforms. The Company’s solutions connect proprietary customer data, such as sales, pricing, promotions, and distribution, with external factors, such as macro-economic conditions, competition, and weather, to tailor marketing spending plans and measure the resulting business impact.
Risk Solutions. These services provide clients with access to real-time intelligence to make effective decisions that ensure quality consumer engagements. The Company enables inbound and outbound customer support operations to minimize risk by knowing, who, when and how to call customers, provides clients with the most up-to-date customer information to ensure accurate and efficient outreach, and enables clients to instantly identify and authenticate the person behind a device, both online and in the contact center.
Communications Solutions. The Company provides network services that enable carrier customers to exchange essential operating information with multiple carriers to provision and manage services for their subscribers. Additionally, the Company provides authoritative, accurate and current caller-name data and related information to communications service providers. The Company provides trusted call solutions including the optimization of caller-name data to enterprises.
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