Applovin Corp (APP) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome, everyone, to the AppLovin earnings call for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. I'm David Hsiao, Head of Investor Relations. Joining me today to discuss our results are Adam Foroughi, our Co-Founder, CEO and Chairperson; and Herald Chen, our President and CFO. Please note, our SEC filings as well as our shareholder letter discussing our first quarter performance are available at investors.applovin.com.

歡迎大家參加 AppLovin 截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日的第一季度財報電話會議。我是投資者關係主管 David Hsiao。今天和我一起討論我們的結果的是我們的聯合創始人、首席執行官兼董事長 Adam Foroughi； Herald Chen，我們的總裁兼首席財務官。請注意，我們的 SEC 文件以及討論我們第一季度業績的股東信函可在 investors.applovin.com 上找到。

During today's call, we may be making forward-looking statements regarding future events, market expectations, the future financial performance of the company and the strategic review of our apps portfolio. These statements are based on our current assumptions and beliefs, and we assume no obligation to update them, except as required by law. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted. We encourage you to review the risk factors in our most recently filed Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022. Additional information will also be set forth in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2023.

在今天的電話會議中，我們可能會就未來事件、市場預期、公司未來的財務業績以及我們應用程序組合的戰略審查做出前瞻性陳述。這些陳述基於我們當前的假設和信念，除法律要求外，我們不承擔更新它們的義務。實際結果可能與預測結果存在重大差異。我們鼓勵您查看我們最近提交的截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日的財政年度的 10-K 表格中的風險因素。其他信息也將在我們截至 3 月 31 日的財政季度的 10-Q 表格季度報告中列出, 2023.

We will also be discussing non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP measures are not intended to be a substitute for or superior to our GAAP results. Please be sure to review the reconciliations of our GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures in our shareholder letter available on our Investor Relations site.

我們還將討論非 GAAP 財務指標。這些非 GAAP 措施無意替代或優於我們的 GAAP 結果。請務必在我們的投資者關係網站上提供的股東信中查看我們的 GAAP 和非 GAAP 財務措施的對賬。

This conference call is being recorded, and a replay will be available on our IR website. I'll turn it over to Adam for some opening remarks, then we'll open it up for Q&A.

此電話會議正在錄製中，重播將在我們的 IR 網站上提供。我會把它交給 Adam 做一些開場白，然後我們會打開它進行問答。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We had a strong Q1 on our software platform business with significant growth quarter-over-quarter. This was directly attributable to our advertisers seeing improved performance on our platform and returning to more of a growth mindset, leading them to more confidently spend with us. Further, we've always talked about mobile gaming being a resilient category, and we always believed it would be stable even in weaker economic times. We're seeing just that.

大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。我們的軟件平台業務第一季度表現強勁，環比增長顯著。這直接歸因於我們的廣告商看到我們平台上的性能得到改善，並回歸到更多的成長心態，從而使他們更有信心與我們一起消費。此外，我們一直在談論移動遊戲是一個有彈性的類別，我們始終相信即使在經濟疲軟時期它也會保持穩定。我們正看到這一點。

At AppLovin, our teams have been working tirelessly over the past few quarters, focusing on several key growth initiatives. Firstly, we have been working on significant upgrades to our advertising technology. This has been a major focus for us, and we are starting to see early benefits from these efforts. Secondly, we have been working hard to unlock the synergies from our Wurl acquisition by bringing our advertising platform into CTV. While we don't expect this to have a material financial impact in the near term, we are excited about the early data we are seeing in this area. And finally, we're extending our marketing solutions to carriers and OEMs through our Array business. Although this is still in the early stages, we are pleased with our progress. At the same time, we have been optimizing our gaming business and are now running at a more efficient level. We are confident that this business will be a stable source of cash flow going forward.

在 AppLovin，我們的團隊在過去幾個季度一直在不知疲倦地工作，專注於幾個關鍵的增長計劃。首先，我們一直致力於對我們的廣告技術進行重大升級。這一直是我們的主要關注點，我們開始看到這些努力帶來的早期好處。其次，我們一直在努力通過將我們的廣告平台引入 CTV 來釋放 Wurl 收購的協同效應。雖然我們預計這不會在短期內對財務產生重大影響，但我們對在該領域看到的早期數據感到興奮。最後，我們通過 Array 業務將營銷解決方案擴展到運營商和 OEM。雖然這仍處於早期階段，但我們對我們的進展感到滿意。與此同時，我們一直在優化我們的博彩業務，現在正在以更高效的水平運行。我們有信心這項業務將成為未來穩定的現金流來源。

Now let's talk a little bit more in detail about AXON improvements. We have been discussing the development of AXON 2 for a year now, and have always communicated that our strongest growth would come from advancements in our own technology. It's been challenging to explain what this means, but with the exploding popularity of consumer-facing AI tools, we can draw a simple analogy. Upgrading from AXON 1 to 2 is no different than OpenAI moving from ChatGPT 3 to 4. Our models can always be improved, and our entire business is powered by the evolution of our technology. The enhancements to our machine learning and AI are not a onetime thing, but a series of upgrades over time. As we make these, there is the potential for significant lifts to both revenue and cash flow. We are currently in the midst of a staged rollout of AXON 2, and we are very excited about the long-term potential of this new technology for our partners and our business.

現在讓我們更詳細地談談 AXON 的改進。一年來，我們一直在討論 AXON 2 的開發，並且一直表示，我們最強勁的增長將來自我們自身技術的進步。很難解釋這意味著什麼，但隨著面向消費者的人工智能工具的爆炸式流行，我們可以做一個簡單的類比。從 AXON 1 升級到 2 與 OpenAI 從 ChatGPT 3 升級到 4 沒有什麼不同。我們的模型總是可以改進的，我們的整個業務都由我們的技術發展提供動力。我們的機器學習和人工智能的增強不是一次性的，而是隨著時間的推移進行一系列升級。當我們做這些的時候，收入和現金流都有可能顯著提升。我們目前正在分階段推出 AXON 2，我們對這項新技術為我們的合作夥伴和我們的業務帶來的長期潛力感到非常興奮。

We are extremely pleased with our execution so far this year. We believe that our technology and innovation will continue to be the driving force behind our success, and we are committed to continuously improving our business.

我們對今年迄今為止的執行情況感到非常滿意。我們相信我們的技術和創新將繼續成為我們成功的驅動力，我們致力於不斷改進我們的業務。

Thank you again for joining us today, and we look forward to sharing more updates with you in the future. With that, I'll hand it off to Herald.

再次感謝您今天加入我們，我們期待在未來與您分享更多更新。有了這個，我會把它交給先驅報。

Thanks, Adam, and good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to begin by expressing my gratitude to Ryan Gee for his leadership of our IR activities over the past few years. Additionally, I want to extend a warm welcome to David Hsiao, who joined AppLovin in early '21 and has taken on the Head of IR role for the company.

謝謝，亞當，大家下午好。首先，我要感謝 Ryan Gee 在過去幾年領導我們的 IR 活動。此外，我要熱烈歡迎 David Hsiao，他於 21 世紀初加入 AppLovin，並擔任公司 IR 主管一職。

As Adam mentioned, we had a solid first quarter, exceeding expectations across revenue, EBITDA and cash flow. Importantly, in addition to financial performance, we're just as pleased with the focused execution and progress achieved by our teams during the quarter, in particular, as it pertains to our software platform growth initiatives.

正如 Adam 所提到的，我們第一季度表現穩健，在收入、EBITDA 和現金流方面超出了預期。重要的是，除了財務業績外，我們對我們團隊在本季度的專注執行和取得的進展同樣感到滿意，特別是與我們的軟件平台增長計劃有關。

To touch on a few key financial highlights, in Q1, our revenue reached $715 million, and our adjusted EBITDA hit $274 million, surpassing the high end of our guidance. Our adjusted EBITDA margin was 38%, which was the highest run rate margin we've had since 2018. Our software platform segment was a standout performer, recording record quarterly revenue of $355 million, which is a 16% increase over the prior quarter. What's more, our software platform adjusted EBITDA grew 18% quarter-over-quarter to $219 million, translating to a 62% adjusted EBITDA margin. Our software platform growth over the past 2 years has been robust, with Q1 '23 revenue exceeding Q1 '21 revenue by over 4x. This represents a 100% compounded annual growth rate. Additionally, software platform adjusted EBITDA increased from $59 million in Q1 '21 to $219 million in Q1 '23, a strong 90% plus CAGR. As Adam noted, while it's challenging to predict the precise timing and impact of our software platform growth initiatives, we are optimistic that they will drive meaningful revenue growth and high-margin cash flow.

談談幾個關鍵的財務亮點，在第一季度，我們的收入達到 7.15 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 達到 2.74 億美元，超過了我們指導的上限。我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 38%，這是我們自 2018 年以來的最高運行率利潤率。我們的軟件平台部門表現出色，創紀錄的季度收入達到 3.55 億美元，比上一季度增長 16%。此外，我們的軟件平台調整後 EBITDA 環比增長 18% 至 2.19 億美元，相當於調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 62%。我們的軟件平台在過去兩年中增長強勁，23 年第一季度的收入超過 21 年第一季度的收入超過 4 倍。這代表了 100% 的複合年增長率。此外，軟件平台調整後的 EBITDA 從 21 年第一季度的 5900 萬美元增加到 23 年第一季度的 2.19 億美元，複合年增長率高達 90%。正如 Adam 指出的那樣，雖然預測我們的軟件平台增長計劃的準確時間和影響具有挑戰性，但我們樂觀地認為它們將推動有意義的收入增長和高利潤現金流。

Turning to the App segment. We had $361 million of revenue in Q1, a 9% decline from prior quarter, which includes the impact of optimizing certain studio assets. Q1 App's adjusted EBITDA was $55 million, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 15%. The margin was slightly lower than recent quarters due to the launch of several new games, leading to an increase in user acquisition spend as a percentage of revenue. At a consolidated level, we are pleased to report that we have robust free cash flow of $283 million in Q1, due in part to the growth of our high-margin software platform business. We also benefited from several significant customer payments delayed from prior periods as well as lower cash taxes in the period.

轉向 App 細分市場。我們在第一季度的收入為 3.61 億美元，比上一季度下降 9%，其中包括優化某些工作室資產的影響。 Q1 App 調整後的 EBITDA 為 5500 萬美元，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 15%。由於幾款新遊戲的推出，利潤率略低於最近幾個季度，導致用戶獲取支出佔收入的百分比有所增加。在綜合層面，我們很高興地報告，我們在第一季度擁有 2.83 億美元的強勁自由現金流，部分原因是我們的高利潤軟件平台業務的增長。我們還受益於前幾期延遲的幾筆重要客戶付款以及該期間較低的現金稅。

With regard to guidance for Q2 '23, we are targeting $710 million to $730 million in revenue with $280 million to $300 million in adjusted EBITDA, which equates to a 39% to 41% adjusted EBITDA margin. We anticipate continuing growth from our software platform business, offset to some degree by the apps business. The impact of the AXON 2.0 rollout will be a key factor in the quarter. As previously mentioned on our calls, we expect free cash flow to be approximately 50% to 60% of adjusted EBITDA on a normal run rate basis, noting that we may have some deviations from that in any particular quarter.

關於 23 年第二季度的指導，我們的目標是收入為 7.1 億至 7.3 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 為 2.8 億至 3 億美元，相當於調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 39% 至 41%。我們預計我們的軟件平台業務將持續增長，並在一定程度上被應用程序業務所抵消。 AXON 2.0 推出的影響將是本季度的一個關鍵因素。正如我們之前在電話中提到的那樣，我們預計在正常運行率的基礎上，自由現金流量約為調整後 EBITDA 的 50% 至 60%，並指出我們可能與任何特定季度的數據有一些偏差。

From a cash perspective, at the end of Q1, we had $1.2 billion of cash on the balance sheet, a clear testament to our strong financial position and cash generation. During the quarter, we repurchased approximately $76 million of stock. And year-to-date through May 8, we repurchased $202 million of stock, leaving $210 million on our $750 million authorized buyback program.

從現金的角度來看，在第一季度末，我們的資產負債表上有 12 億美元的現金，這清楚地證明了我們強大的財務狀況和現金生成能力。本季度，我們回購了大約 7600 萬美元的股票。從年初至今到 5 月 8 日，我們回購了 2.02 億美元的股票，為我們 7.5 億美元的授權回購計劃留下了 2.1 億美元。

As we look toward the future, we're determined to maintain our position as a market leader by investing in our teams, solutions and key growth initiatives. Our strong financial position and cash generation allows us to take calculated risks to make strategic decisions to keep AppLovin at the forefront of the industry. It's an exciting time for AppLovin, and we're excited about our future prospects.

展望未來，我們決心通過投資於我們的團隊、解決方案和關鍵增長計劃來保持我們作為市場領導者的地位。我們強大的財務狀況和現金生成能力使我們能夠承擔經過計算的風險來做出戰略決策，從而使 AppLovin 保持在行業的前沿。這對 AppLovin 來說是一個激動人心的時刻，我們對未來的前景感到興奮。

Now I invite the moderator to lead us through Q&A.

現在我請主持人帶領我們進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question is going to come from Martin Yang with Oppenheimer.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自 Martin Yang 和 Oppenheimer。

My first question is on the strength for software platform. And how much did AXON 2 -- will always AXON 2 a meaningful driver for that performance sequentially?

我的第一個問題是關於軟件平台的優勢。 AXON 2 有多少 - AXON 2 將始終成為該性能的一個有意義的驅動程序？

Martin, thanks for the question. And really AXON 2 we talked about, we're now in the midst of a stage rollout, so that came after the quarter. In Q1, we did see improvements in our core technology, the AXON 1.0 version. And incremental improvements in our technology is fundamentally core to our business on an ongoing basis. We also saw more confidence from advertisers spending on our platform as they were seeing good results. And the mindset in the ecosystem is starting to return back to growth. We're seeing good industry momentum as well.

馬丁，謝謝你的提問。我們談到的真正的 AXON 2，我們現在正處於階段性推出之中，所以這是在本季度之後進行的。在第一季度，我們確實看到了核心技術 AXON 1.0 版本的改進。我們技術的漸進式改進從根本上說是我們業務持續發展的核心。我們還看到廣告商在我們平台上的支出更有信心，因為他們看到了良好的結果。生態系統中的心態開始恢復增長。我們也看到了良好的行業勢頭。

Got it. So would you say the sequential improvement was more in line with market as opposed to you're taking share from someone else?

知道了。那麼你會說連續改進更符合市場而不是你從別人那裡獲取份額嗎？

I would talk about it not in line with market because I don't think the market grew 20% quarter-over-quarter. Much more so efficiency gains in technology, our advertisers investing more with theirselves. And we don't really think about this market as zero sum. So it's not a we take an extra $0.20 and someone else loses $0.20. We think about it as additive to the market. So our improved efficiency creates gains in the market for all of our partners. And peers, by default, would benefit from that as well.

我會談論它與市場不符，因為我不認為市場環比增長 20%。更重要的是技術效率的提高，我們的廣告商對自己的投資更多。我們並沒有真正將這個市場視為零和。所以這不是我們多拿 0.20 美元而其他人損失 0.20 美元。我們認為它是對市場的補充。因此，我們提高的效率為我們所有的合作夥伴創造了市場收益。默認情況下，同行也會從中受益。

My second question is more on Google's including AppLovin as well as someone -- 3 other players in their open bidding or real-time bidding. Can you maybe comment on the long-term implication of that and how that help or impact your business?

我的第二個問題更多地是關於谷歌的，包括 AppLovin 以及其他 3 名參與公開競價或實時競價的玩家。您能否評論一下它的長期影響以及它如何幫助或影響您的業務？

Yes. We're super bullish on this. We've been -- we really brought MAX to the market originally with Facebook, both us and them being early stage adopting bidding, believing that it's a much more efficient way to go. And Google now leaning in for the first time in their history to external solutions is a huge win for the ecosystem. We think them bringing their demand more efficiently to the market will create upside for the whole market.

是的。我們對此非常看好。我們一直——我們最初是通過 Facebook 將 MAX 推向市場的，我們和他們都處於採用競價的早期階段，相信這是一種更有效的方式。谷歌現在在他們的歷史上第一次傾向於外部解決方案，這對生態系統來說是一個巨大的勝利。我們認為他們更有效地將需求帶到市場將為整個市場創造上行空間。

So we've been a partner of theirs in this movement for a while. It's now open to all publishers in the ecosystem. MAX, obviously, is the majority share of mediation in gaming. And so we can extend their demand in a very efficient manner to the bulk of mobile gaming publishers, and we're excited about that. More broadly speaking, we've got a great relationship with Google, and we continue to build on that.

所以我們在這場運動中成為他們的合作夥伴已有一段時間了。它現在對生態系統中的所有發布者開放。顯然，MAX 是遊戲中介的主要份額。因此，我們可以以非常有效的方式將他們的需求擴展到大部分移動遊戲發行商，我們對此感到很興奮。更廣泛地說，我們與穀歌建立了良好的關係，並且我們將繼續以此為基礎。

I'm moving on to Ralph Schackart with William Blair.

我將與威廉·布萊爾一起轉向拉爾夫·沙克特。

Two questions, if I could, please. Adam, in the letter, you talked about partial stabilization in the mobile ad market. Can you maybe talk about the linearity that you saw throughout the quarter in stabilization? How did you exit the quarter versus how you entered it? And then I have a follow-up, please.

如果可以的話，請問兩個問題。亞當，在信中，你談到了移動廣告市場的部分穩定。你能談談你在整個季度看到的穩定性的線性嗎？您是如何退出本季度的，又是如何進入本季度的？然後我有一個後續行動，請。

Yes. I mean what we're seeing just generally, and this is true in a lot of my conversations with mobile game developers as well, a lot more confidence in the ecosystem. Now that we've gone through last year, the economy seems a little bit more stable. We feel like we're reaching that trough point. And so mobile gaming developers are starting to be more growth mindset-oriented, which is great for our business. As those dollars come in, it will lead to growth. And that confidence builds over time. So obviously reflected in our guidance, you saw, and in Herald's commentary, a reference to the software platform continuing to perform really well. This isn't a onetime event or a set function. We're very confident where this business is going.

是的。我的意思是我們一般所看到的，在我與手機遊戲開發者的很多對話中也是如此，對生態系統更有信心。現在我們經歷了去年，經濟似乎更加穩定了。我們覺得我們正在達到那個低谷。因此，移動遊戲開發商開始更加以成長心態為導向，這對我們的業務非常有利。隨著這些美元的到來，它將帶來增長。隨著時間的推移，這種信心會建立起來。所以很明顯地反映在我們的指導中，你看到，在先驅報的評論中，提到了軟件平台繼續表現得非常好。這不是一次性事件或集合函數。我們對這項業務的發展方向非常有信心。

Great. Maybe kind of leading to the software business. You talked about the strong growth, and it seems like the market is sort of stabilizing. I know you're not giving full year guidance, but anything that you're seeing currently that would preclude this growth rate sort of persisting through 2023? Or just sort of broadly speaking, how should we think about growth this year on the software business?

偉大的。也許有點導致軟件業務。你談到了強勁的增長，市場似乎正在趨於穩定。我知道你沒有給出全年的指導，但你目前看到的任何東西都會阻止這種增長率持續到 2023 年？或者從廣義上講，我們應該如何看待今年軟件業務的增長？

We're really looking at it to sort of building blocks. Last year, obviously, it was difficult for the whole ad ecosystem and the economy in general. Now we're -- we've got one good quarter in place. The biggest change for us in our business today is we're rolling out AXON 2. It's a material upgrade of our core platform, and we're really excited about it. The team working on this is phenomenal. And so getting this out to market could become a catalyst for our own growth.

我們真的把它看作是構建基塊。很明顯，去年整個廣告生態系統和整體經濟都很困難。現在我們 - 我們已經有了一個很好的季度。今天我們業務的最大變化是我們推出了 AXON 2。這是對我們核心平台的重大升級，我們對此感到非常興奮。從事這項工作的團隊非常出色。因此，將其推向市場可能會成為我們自身發展的催化劑。

But we've always talked about our position in this market is quite large in the mobile gaming ecosystem. So if we're able to become more efficient, we'll create growth across the whole sector. And that's what we're really excited about. We think this -- if it continues to go well as we roll this out throughout the rest of the year, we'll be able to create growth in this ecosystem irregardless of what's going on around us.

但我們一直在談論我們在這個市場中的地位在移動遊戲生態系統中相當大。因此，如果我們能夠變得更有效率，我們將在整個行業創造增長。這就是我們真正感到興奮的地方。我們認為這一點——如果我們在今年餘下時間推出這一計劃時繼續順利進行，我們將能夠在這個生態系統中創造增長，而不管我們周圍發生了什麼。

And we'll move on to David Pang with Stifel.

我們將繼續與 Stifel 的 David Pang。

Great. I was just hoping to see what your expectations are for the ad spend flowing through MAX in '23, and if you could remind us what your near-term and intermediate targets are.

偉大的。我只是希望了解您對 23 年通過 MAX 的廣告支出的期望，以及您能否提醒我們您的近期和中期目標是什麼。

Those are not numbers we've really disclosed. We do see good momentum on MAX. As the market becomes more efficient and you get more header bidders live, that usually creates increases to pub spend on the platform. So that creates gains. Those ARPDAU gains that these publishers get allows them to then go market more. And as systems like ours become more efficient, it gives them a better place to go market themselves, creates growth. So we're seeing good momentum on that platform, very high stickiness across our publisher base. So the MAX product is in a really good spot. We're just not disclosing the exact numbers on that product.

這些不是我們真正披露的數字。我們確實看到了 MAX 的良好勢頭。隨著市場變得更有效率並且您有更多的標頭競標者在場，這通常會增加平台上的酒吧支出。這樣就創造了收益。這些發布商獲得的 ARPDAU 收益使他們能夠進入更多市場。隨著像我們這樣的系統變得更有效率，它為他們提供了一個更好的地方來推銷自己，創造增長。因此，我們在該平台上看到了良好的發展勢頭，在我們的發行商群體中的粘性非常高。所以 MAX 產品處於一個非常好的位置。我們只是沒有透露該產品的確切數字。

Just as 1 follow-up. Could you provide a ballpark of what portion of the spend is currently in RTB?

就像 1 次跟進一樣。您能否大致說明目前在 RTB 中的支出有多少？

Now we've talked about real-time bidding as being the majority of the platform already, and Google taking it to the vast majority as that product scales out.

現在我們已經討論過實時競價已經成為該平台的大部分內容，而隨著該產品的擴展，谷歌將其推向了絕大多數。

And D.A. Davidson's Franco Granda has the next question.

還有 D.A. Davidson 的 Franco Granda 有下一個問題。

I'd like to reference AXON 1 as the same way as AMD references its architectures by saying that they age like fine wine. Are you approaching AXON 2 in a similar way where the efficiency continues to build on top of itself as you continue to iterate on it?

我想引用 AXON 1 就像 AMD 引用其架構一樣，說它們像美酒一樣陳年。您是否以類似的方式接近 AXON 2，在您繼續迭代時效率繼續建立在自身之上？

Yes. I mean the world we live in today with these AI technologies is the fastest evolution and change in technology we've ever seen in our lifetimes. The rate of innovation is just incredible. And so as we go to AXON 2, there's, on an ongoing basis, incremental improvements that we can make to the platform. That will fuel our business for some time. And then there's the incremental uptick to AXON 3 and then AXON 4 and AXON 5. This core expertise is going to drive our business for a very, very long time. These technologies are only going to get more powerful. And because of our market-leading position, we've got so much volume flowing through our systems that efficiency gains from these technologies, as they evolve, will generate lifts to revenue. And we've always talked about how our software business technology drive lifts to revenue and a very high flow-through, and that's what we're excited about.

是的。我的意思是，我們今天生活在這些人工智能技術的世界是我們一生中見過的最快的技術發展和變化。創新的速度令人難以置信。因此，當我們進入 AXON 2 時，我們可以在持續的基礎上對平台進行增量改進。這將在一段時間內推動我們的業務發展。然後是 AXON 3 的增量提升，然後是 AXON 4 和 AXON 5。這種核心專業知識將在非常非常長的時間內推動我們的業務。這些技術只會變得更加強大。由於我們處於市場領先地位，我們的系統流量如此之大，隨著這些技術的發展，效率的提高將帶來收入的提升。我們一直在談論我們的軟件業務技術如何推動收入的提升和非常高的流量，這就是我們感到興奮的地方。

Awesome. And then going to the apps business, it seems like the in-app purchases did well in the quarter on a relative basis, and then the advertising was where it kind of fell off or dipped a little bit. Any trends to note there? Was it just ad spend softness?

驚人的。然後轉到應用程序業務，應用程序內購買似乎在本季度相對錶現良好，然後廣告業務有所下降或略有下降。有什麼趨勢需要注意嗎？僅僅是廣告支出疲軟嗎？

I think in general, there was some ad trend softness and some seasonality coming off the fourth quarter. Also, we -- about half the delta on the revenue from quarter-over-quarter on the app side actually came from us closing down some studios or divesting studios as well. So there's some, I guess, call it, onetime impacts in terms of the mix there.

我認為總的來說，第四季度出現了一些廣告趨勢疲軟和一些季節性。此外，我們 - 應用程序方面的季度環比收入增量的大約一半實際上來自我們關閉一些工作室或剝離工作室。因此，我想，就那裡的混合而言，有一些，稱之為一次性影響。

And we'll now hear from Bernie McTernan with Needham & Company.

我們現在將聽到 Needham & Company 的伯尼·麥克特南 (Bernie McTernan) 的來信。

This is Stefanos Crist calling in for Bernie. Can you just remind us on point number three of your growth drivers extending the marketing platform to carriers and OEMs? What gives you the confidence you have the technology and relationships to do that organically?

我是斯特凡諾斯·克里斯特，正在為伯尼打電話。您能否提醒我們將營銷平台擴展到運營商和原始設備製造商的第三點增長動力？是什麼讓您有信心擁有有機地做到這一點的技術和關係？

Yes. I mean what gives us the confidence there is we're so good on the marketing technologies in our core business, and that industry is quite nascent. There's only a couple of players in there. We all end up having to place a similar game in the mobile gaming category. In that category, we've got the market-leading technologies, and we've proven that for a very, very long time. And so extending that core efficiency out to the carriers and OEM space seem like a very smart thing to do. Incremental to that, we're bringing some new products to the carriers and OEMs, too, that we think will make a material impact to their businesses, and in turn, ours. So we're excited about where that can go.

是的。我的意思是讓我們有信心的是，我們在核心業務的營銷技術方面非常擅長，而且這個行業還處於起步階段。裡面只有幾個玩家。我們最終都不得不將一款類似的遊戲歸入手機遊戲類別。在該類別中，我們擁有市場領先的技術，並且我們已經在非常非常長的時間裡證明了這一點。因此，將核心效率擴展到運營商和 OEM 領域似乎是一件非常明智的事情。除此之外，我們還為運營商和原始設備製造商帶來了一些新產品，我們認為這些產品將對他們的業務產生重大影響，進而對我們的業務產生重大影響。所以我們對它的發展方向感到興奮。

I will caveat it with new businesses that we're going after that are related to our core business aren't going to move the needle on a $1 billion-plus software business in the short term. These are businesses that we expect when we're talking to you all in 3 years, we're talking about big parts of our business. But this is not a short-term bet. This is one that we're investing into and expect to pay off materially in the long term.

我會警告我們正在開展的與我們的核心業務相關的新業務不會在短期內推動價值超過 10 億美元的軟件業務。這些是我們在 3 年後與大家交談時所期望的業務，我們正在談論我們業務的很大一部分。但這不是短期賭注。這是我們正在投資並期望在長期內獲得實質性回報的項目。

Great. And then just speaking of the competitive environment, have you seen any changes there with the combination of Unity and ironSource?

偉大的。然後就競爭環境而言，您看到 Unity 和 ironSource 的結合有什麼變化嗎？

We can't really talk to peers and what they're up to. And we just know that bringing 2 big companies together and integration takes time. It's difficult. We also know that in this ecosystem, we need them to do well. They need us to do well. All marketing companies drive the growth of our partners. And so, so long as every company is operating efficiently, we'll see growth. We did grow a lot in the quarter, and so our products have been very, very sticky, and we expect that to continue.

我們無法真正與同齡人交談以及他們在做什麼。我們只知道將兩家大公司合併整合需要時間。它很難。我們也知道，在這個生態系統中，我們需要他們做好。他們需要我們做好。所有營銷公司都會推動我們合作夥伴的成長。因此，只要每家公司都高效運營，我們就會看到增長。我們在本季度確實增長了很多，因此我們的產品非常、非常有粘性，我們希望這種情況會持續下去。

Eric Sheridan with Goldman Sachs has the next question.

高盛的 Eric Sheridan 有下一個問題。

Maybe 2, if I could. Coming back to the apps business, is there anything you're calling out in terms of new game launches we should be keeping in mind between now and the remainder of 2023, just so we better understand some of the potential mismatches between revenue growth and investing behind those game launches and how it might impact on the margin landscape? That would be number one.

也許 2，如果可以的話。回到應用業務，從現在到 2023 年剩餘時間，您是否應該牢記新遊戲發布方面的任何內容，以便我們更好地了解收入增長與投資之間的一些潛在不匹配這些遊戲發布的背後以及它如何影響利潤率格局？那將是第一。

And then number two, coming back to the broader advertising landscape. It sounded like you talked a little bit about it already, but I wanted to go a little bit deeper into the Connected TV opportunity and how you're thinking about that helping widen out potential further advertiser diversity and density in terms of your platform over the medium to long term.

然後是第二，回到更廣泛的廣告領域。聽起來您已經談到了一點點，但我想更深入地探討聯網電視的機會，以及您如何考慮在您的平台方面幫助擴大潛在的廣告客戶多樣性和密度中長期。

Yes. Thanks, Eric. I'll take the apps question first. Overall, we're very pleased on getting the other side of our major optimization of that portfolio of apps. We're down about 11 studios, which we're investing against. And we do have a number of new game launches coming. I think out of every studio. They've got a game plan to launch new games. And this quarter's impact, I think we've always said, it would be in the mid-teens margin on a run rate basis. I think we remain there, Eric. If there's a whole bolus of games that we thought were really awesome, that margin could come down. I think it will still be a double-digit number. But right now, we see it really building into the business model of regularly launching games. We think the margin should remain in that mid-teens range.

是的。謝謝，埃里克。我先回答應用程序問題。總的來說，我們很高興能從我們對該應用程序組合的主要優化中獲得另一面。我們投資了大約 11 個工作室。我們確實有許多新遊戲即將發布。我想到了每個工作室。他們制定了推出新遊戲的遊戲計劃。而本季度的影響，我想我們一直在說，在運行率的基礎上，它的利潤率將達到十幾歲左右。我想我們留在那裡，埃里克。如果有一大堆我們認為非常棒的遊戲，這個利潤率可能會下降。我認為它仍然是一個兩位數的數字。但現在，我們看到它確實融入了定期發布遊戲的商業模式。我們認為利潤率應該保持在十幾歲左右的範圍內。

On the CTV question, Eric, we're -- we obviously invested in Wurl a little over a year ago. They've got preexisting relationships with a lot of the media companies. And you think of them as like a CDN for these companies, but they help them bring their content online and schedule the content, build effectively channels on the connected TV devices across all the various devices in that fragmented space. Those preexisting relationships were what we were excited about. They also have an SSP business. And so we're already in market. We're plugging in our AppDiscovery solution through their SSP to connected TV inventory.

關於 CTV 的問題，埃里克，我們顯然在一年多前投資了 Wurl。他們已經與許多媒體公司建立了預先存在的關係。你認為它們就像這些公司的 CDN，但它們幫助他們將內容帶到網上並安排內容，在那個分散的空間中跨所有各種設備的連接電視設備上有效地建立頻道。那些預先存在的關係讓我們感到興奮。他們也有 SSP 業務。所以我們已經上市了。我們通過他們的 SSP 將我們的 AppDiscovery 解決方案插入聯網電視庫存。

This is early, early stage. So we talked about no significant impact to our financial performance in the near term. But the data is strong. The offering is really cool for mobile app developers. There hasn't been a scaled performance-based solution in this category really ever in that manner on a performance basis. And we charge for performance. And so the advertisers that are leaning into it are leaning into it and very excited by the potential of us scaling that offering.

這是早期，早期階段。因此，我們談到短期內不會對我們的財務業績產生重大影響。但數據是強大的。該產品對於移動應用程序開發人員來說真的很酷。在此類別中，還沒有真正以這種方式在性能基礎上擴展過的基於性能的解決方案。我們按性能收費。因此，傾向於它的廣告商正在傾向於它，並對我們擴展該產品的潛力感到非常興奮。

And we have time for one additional question, which will come from Matt Cost with Morgan Stanley.

我們還有時間提出另一個問題，該問題將來自摩根士丹利的 Matt Cost。

This is Dave on for Matt. Apologies if I missed this earlier, but are you able to give a sense of time line on the, I guess, full release of AXON 2? I know earlier, you said that you were rolling it out. And how should we think about the financial impact, if you can share any color there?

這是馬特的戴夫。抱歉，如果我之前錯過了這一點，但你能否給出 AXON 2 完整髮布的時間表？我早些時候知道，您說過要推出它。如果您可以在那里分享任何顏色，我們應該如何考慮財務影響？

I'll talk about the time line. Herald can cover financial impact. But we're in market rolling it out in stages. It's a complex technological upgrade that we are excited by the early results, and we've reflected confidence in our guidance going forward.

我來談談時間線。先驅報可以涵蓋財務影響。但我們正在市場上分階段推出。這是一項複雜的技術升級，我們對早期的結果感到興奮，並且我們對未來的指導充滿信心。

Just on impact, I think earlier, we did say that there was no impact because it had not been rolled out at all in the first quarter for AXON 2.0. And then going forward, it is still difficult to predict the timing of the rollout and then ultimately the impact financially of the technology. But what we do know is the technology is superior to AXON 1.0. Just like as Adam said in his script, that we see what ChatGPT does from 3 to 4, 4 to 5. So we know it's better technology, it's more effective, it's more efficient. And so we do believe that there will be a significant impact on the software line. When it hits is difficult to predict. The other thing we also know, though, given the software margins, we do think a significant amount of that revenue does flow through to the bottom line. So it will be a very high percentage increase in the margin as well.

就影響而言，我想早些時候，我們確實說過沒有影響，因為它在第一季度根本沒有推出 AXON 2.0。然後展望未來，仍然很難預測推出的時間以及最終技術的財務影響。但我們所知道的是該技術優於 AXON 1.0。就像亞當在他的劇本中所說的那樣，我們看到了 ChatGPT 從 3 到 4、4 到 5 所做的事情。所以我們知道這是更好的技術，更有效，更有效率。因此，我們確實相信會對軟件產品線產生重大影響。當它命中時很難預測。不過，我們也知道的另一件事是，考慮到軟件利潤率，我們確實認為其中很大一部分收入確實流向了利潤。因此，利潤率也將有很高的百分比增長。

And this does conclude the question-and-answer session for this quarter. We thank you all so much for joining us today. Enjoy the rest of your day, and we will see you next time.

這確實結束了本季度的問答環節。我們非常感謝大家今天加入我們。享受你剩下的一天，我們下次再見。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。