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 日的第一季財報電話會議。我是投資者關係主管 David Hsiao。今天與我一起討論我們的成果的有我們的共同創辦人、執行長兼董事長 Adam Foroughi；以及我們的總裁兼財務長 Herald Chen。請注意，我們的 SEC 文件以及討論第一季業績的股東信可在 investor.applovin.com 上查閱。

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、公司未來財務業績以及我們的應用程式組合的策略審查做出前瞻性陳述。這些聲明是基於我們目前的假設和信念，我們不承擔更新它們的義務，除非法律要求。實際結果可能與預測結果有重大差異。我們鼓勵您查看我們最近提交的截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日財政年度的 10-K 表中的風險因素。其他資訊也將在我們截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日財政季度的 10-Q 表格季度報告中列出。

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.

我們也將討論非公認會計準則財務指標。這些非公認會計準則指標並非旨在取代或優於我們的公認會計準則結果。請務必查看我們投資者關係網站上的股東信中我們 GAAP 和非 GAAP 財務指標的對帳表。

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.

本次電話會議正在錄音，重播將在我們的 IR 網站上提供。我將把話題交給亞當，讓他致一些開場白，然後我們再進行問答。

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，感謝大家今天的參與。我們第一季的軟體平台業務表現強勁，較上季成長顯著。這直接歸因於我們的廣告商看到了我們平台的效果有所改善，並恢復了更多的成長心態，從而使他們更有信心在我們這裡消費。此外，我們一直在說手機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。我們看到的正是這種情況。

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季一直在不懈地努力，專注於幾個關鍵的成長計畫。首先，我們一直致力於對我們的廣告技術進行重大升級。這一直是我們關注的重點，我們已開始從這些努力中看到早期效益。其次，我們一直在努力透過將我們的廣告平台引入 CTV 來釋放收購 Wurl 所帶來的協同效應。雖然我們預計這不會在短期內產生重大的財務影響，但我們對在這一領域看到的早期數據感到興奮。最後，我們透過 Array 業務將我們的行銷解決方案擴展到營運商和 OEM。儘管這仍處於早期階段，但我們對進展感到滿意。同時，我們一直在優化我們的遊戲業務，目前運作效率更高。我們相信該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討論一下 AXON 的改進。我們討論 AXON 2 的開發已經有一年了，並且一直表示，我們最強勁的成長將來自於我們自身技術的進步。解釋這意味著什麼一直很有挑戰性，但隨著面向消費者的人工智慧工具的普及度激增，我們可以得出一個簡單的類比。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技術的進步所驅動。我們對機器學習和人工智慧的增強不是一次性的事情，而是隨著時間的推移而進行的一系列升級。當我們實現這些目標時，收入和現金流就有可能顯著增加。我們目前正處於 AXON 2 的分階段推出之中，我們對這項新技術對我們的合作夥伴和業務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，我們致力於不斷改善我們的業務。

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.

再次感謝您今天的加入我們，我們期待將來與您分享更多更新。說完這些，我就轉交給《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，我要對 Ryan Gee 在過去幾年中對我們 IR 活動的領導表示感謝。此外，我要熱烈歡迎 David Hsiao，他於 21 年初加入 AppLovin，並擔任該公司的 IR 主管。

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.

正如亞當所提到的，我們第一季表現穩健，營收、EBITDA 和現金流均超乎預期。重要的是，除了財務表現之外，我們對本季團隊的專注執行和取得的進展感到滿意，特別是在我們的軟體平台成長計畫方面。

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，我們的收入達到了 7.15 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 達到了 2.74 億美元，超過了我們預期的最高水準。我們的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 38%，這是自 2018 年以來最高的運行率利潤率。我們的軟體平台部門表現出色，季度收入創下 3.55 億美元的記錄，比上一季成長了 16%。此外，我們的軟體平台調整後 EBITDA 較上季成長 18% 至 2.19 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 62%。過去兩年，我們的軟體平台成長強勁，23 年第一季的營收比 21 年第一季的營收高出 4 倍以上。這意味著年複合成長率達到100%。此外，軟體平台調整後的 EBITDA 從 21 年第一季的 5,900 萬美元增至 23 年第一季的 2.19 億美元，複合年增長率高達 90% 以上。正如亞當所說，雖然很難預測我們的軟體平台成長計畫的確切時間和影響，但我們樂觀地認為它們將推動有意義的收入成長和高利潤的現金流。

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.

轉向應用程式部分。我們第一季的營收為 3.61 億美元，比上一季下降 9%，其中包括優化某些工作室資產的影響。 Q1 App 的調整後 EBITDA 為 5,500 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 15%。由於推出了幾款新遊戲，導致用戶獲取支出佔收入的百分比增加，利潤率略低於最近幾季。總體來看，我們很高興地報告，第一季我們擁有 2.83 億美元的強勁自由現金流，部分原因在於我們高利潤的軟體平台業務的成長。我們也受惠於前期幾筆重要客戶的延遲付款以及本期較低的現金稅。

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 年第二季的指引，我們的目標是營收達到 7.1 億至 7.3 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 達到 2.8 億至 3 億美元，相當於調整後 EBITDA 利潤率達到 39% 至 41%。我們預計軟體平台業務將繼續成長，但將在一定程度上受到應用程式業務的抵消。 AXON 2.0 推出的影響將成為本季的關鍵因素。正如我們之前在電話會議上提到的那樣，我們預計自由現金流在正常運行率基礎上約為調整後 EBITDA 的 50% 至 60%，但請注意，在任何特定季度我們可能會與此有所偏差。

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.

從現金角度來看，截至第一季末，我們的資產負債表上有 12 億美元現金，這充分證明了我們強勁的財務狀況和現金創造能力。本季度，我們回購了約 7,600 萬美元的股票。截至 5 月 8 日，今年迄今我們已回購了價值 2.02 億美元的股票，而我們 7.5 億美元的授權回購計畫中還剩下 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，我們決心透過投資團隊、解決方案和關鍵成長計劃來維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創造能力使我們能夠承擔經過計算的風險，做出策略決策，從而讓 AppLovin 保持行業領先地位。對 AppLovin 來說，這是一個令人興奮的時刻，我們對未來的前景充滿期待。

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

現在我請主持人帶領大家進行問答。

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

(操作員指示)我們的第一個問題來自奧本海默的馬丁楊。

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體平台的優勢。那麼 AXON 2 的表現有多好——AXON 2 是否將始終成為該性能的有效驅動因素？

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。實際上，我們討論的 AXON 2 目前正處於分階段推出的過程中，所以這是在本季度之後推出的。在第一季度，我們確實看到了核心技術AXON 1.0版本的改進。而我們技術的持續改進從根本上來說是我們業務的核心。我們也看到，在我們平台上投入資金的廣告商更有信心，因為他們看到了良好的結果。生態系統的思維模式也開始恢復成長。我們也看到了良好的產業發展動能。

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。那麼您是否認為連續的改進更符合市場規律，而不是從別人手中奪取市場份額？

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.

我會根據市場情況來談論它，因為我不認為市場環比增長了 20%。隨著技術效率的提高，我們的廣告商也會更多地投資於自身。我們並不認為這個市場是零和遊戲。因此，這並不是說我們多賺 0.20 美元，而別人卻損失 0.20 美元。我們認為它對市場有補充作用。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。而同行預設也會從中受益。

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是關於谷歌（包括 AppLovin）以及其他三家參與者的公開競價或即時競價。您能否評論一下這件事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。我們對此非常樂觀。我們最初是與 Facebook 合作將 MAX 推向市場的，我們和他們都處於採用競價的早期階段，我們相信這是一種更有效的方式。谷歌現在在其歷史上首次依靠外部解決方案，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推向市場將會為整個市場帶來好處。

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.

因此，我們已經成為他們在這個運動中的合作夥伴一段時間了。現在它向生態系統中的所有出版商開放。顯然，MAX 佔據了遊戲調解的大部分。因此，我們可以非常有效地將他們的需求擴展到大部分手機遊戲發行商，我們對此感到非常興奮。更廣泛地說，我們與Google保持著良好的關係，並且我們將繼續在此基礎上進一步發展。

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

我現在要和威廉·布萊爾一起討論拉爾夫·沙卡特 (Ralph Schackart)。

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，請問我兩個問題。亞當，在信中，你談到了行動廣告市場的部分穩定。您能否談談整個季度看到的穩定線性？與您進入本季時的情況相比，您退出本季時的情況如何？然後我還有一個後續問題。

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，我們總體上看到的是，而且在我與許多手機遊戲開發商的對話中也同樣如此，人們對生態系統更有信心了。我們已經度過了去年，現在經濟似乎更穩定了。我們感覺我們正在到達低谷。因此，行動遊戲開發商開始更加重視成長心態，這對我們的業務非常有利。隨著這些美元的流入，它將帶來成長。而這種信心會隨著時間的推移而增強。因此，您顯然在我們的指導中以及在《先驅報》的評論中看到了這一點，即軟體平台繼續表現良好。這不是一次性事件或設定的功能。我們對這項業務的發展非常有信心。

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。或許這會引領軟體業務。您談到了強勁的成長，現在看來市場正在趨於穩定。我知道您沒有提供全年的指導，但您目前看到的任何情況是否會阻止這種成長率持續到 2023 年？或者從廣義上講，我們該如何看待今年軟體業務的成長？

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.

我們確實正在將其視為一種構建模組。顯然，去年對於整個廣告生態系統和整體經濟來說都是困難的一年。現在我們已經有一個好的季度了。我們今天業務中最大的變化是推出 AXON 2。這是我們核心平台的重大升級，我們對此感到非常興奮。致力於此項工作的團隊非常出色。因此，將其推向市場可以成為我們自身成長的催化劑。

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行動遊戲生態系統中佔據的市場地位相當大。因此，如果我們能夠提高效率，我們就能促進整個產業的成長。這確實是讓我們興奮的事情。我們認為，如果我們在今年剩餘時間內繼續順利推行這項計劃，那麼無論周圍發生什麼，我們都能夠促進這個生態系統的成長。

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

我們接下來將討論 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 MAX 的廣告支出有何期望，以及您是否可以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.

這些並不是我們真正揭露過的數字。我們確實看到 MAX 的良好勢頭。隨著市場變得更加高效並且有更多頭部競價者在線，這通常會導致平台上的發布支出增加。這樣就產生了收益。這些出版商所獲得的 ARPDAU 收益使得他們能夠進一步開拓市場。隨著像我們這樣的系統變得更加高效，它為他們提供了一個更好的行銷場所，創造了成長。因此，我們看到該平台發展勢頭良好，整個出版商群體的黏性非常高。所以 MAX 產品處於非常好的位置。我們只是沒有透露該產品的具體數字。

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

就像 1 個後續行動一樣。您能否大致估算一下目前 RTB 支出佔比是多少？

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.

現在我們已經討論了即時競價已經成為平台的主體，並且隨著該產品的擴展，谷歌將把它變成絕大多數。

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

還有 D.A.戴維森的 Franco Granda 提出了下一個問題。

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 的方式與 AMD 引用其架構的方式相同，即說它們像醇酒一樣陳釀。您是否以類似的方式處理 AXON 2，隨著您不斷迭代，其效率是否會不斷提高？

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，我們今天生活的世界，伴隨著這些人工智慧技術，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。隨著我們轉向 AXON 2，我們可以持續對平台進行漸進式改進。這將為我們的業務提供一段時間的動力。然後是 AXON 3、AXON 4 和 AXON 5 的逐步上升。這些核心專業知識將在很長一段時間內推動我們的業務發展。這些技術只會變得更強大。由於我們在市場上的領先地位，我們的系統中流量非常大，隨著這些技術的發展，其效率的提高將帶來收入的成長。我們一直在談論我們的軟體業務技術如何推動收入和高流通，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。然後談到應用程式業務，似乎應用程式內購買在本季度相對錶現良好，而廣告業務則有所下滑或下降。有什麼趨勢值得注意嗎？只是廣告支出疲軟嗎？

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.

我認為總體而言，第四季度的廣告趨勢有些疲軟，並且有一定的季節性。此外，應用程式方面季度收入的增幅大約有一半實際上來自於我們關閉了一些工作室或剝離了一些工作室。因此，我猜，就混合而言，存在一些可以稱之為一次性的影響。

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

現在讓我們來聽聽 Needham & Company 公司的 Bernie McTernan 的發言。

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 Stefanos Crist，代表 Bernie 打電話。您能否就第三點回顧一下您的成長動力—將行銷平台擴展到營運商和 OEM？是什麼讓您有信心擁有技術和關係來有機地做到這一點？

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，我們的核心業務行銷技術非常出色，而且這個行業還處於起步階段。那裡只有幾個球員。我們最終都必須將類似的遊戲歸類為手機遊戲。在這一類別中，我們擁有市場領先的技術，我們已經證明了這一點很長很長時間了。因此，將核心效率擴展到營運商和 OEM 領域似乎是一件非常明智的事情。除此之外，我們也將向營運商和 OEM 廠商推出一些新產品，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。所以我們對其未來發展感到非常興奮。

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.

我要提醒的是，我們所追求的與核心業務相關的新業務不會在短期內對價值 10 億美元以上的軟體業務產生影響。這些都是我們預期三年後與大家交談時所涉及的業務，我們討論的是業務的大部分內容。但這並非是短期賭注。我們正在對此進行投資，並期望從長遠來看能夠獲得豐厚的回報。

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。那麼說到競爭環境，Unity 和 ironSource 的結合是否帶來了什麼改變？

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.

我們無法真正與同事交談並了解他們在做什麼。我們知道，兩家大公司的合併和整合需要時間。它很難。我們也知道，在這個生態系中，我們需要他們做得好。他們需要我們做得好。所有行銷公司都推動我們合作夥伴的成長。因此，只要每家公司都有效率經營，我們就會看到成長。我們在本季確實實現了很大的成長，因此我們的產品一直非常非常暢銷，我們預計這種趨勢將會持續下去。

Eric Sheridan with Goldman Sachs has the next question.

高盛的 Eric Sheridan 提出了下一個問題。

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.

如果可以的話，也許是 2。回到應用程式業務，您是否認為從現在到 2023 年剩餘時間我們應該關注新遊戲的發布，以便我們更好地了解收入成長和這些遊戲發布背後的投資之間的一些潛在不匹配，以及它可能如何影響利潤率格局？那將是最重要的。

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.

第二，回到更廣泛的廣告領域。聽起來您已經談論過這一點，但我想更深入地探討一下聯網電視的機會，以及您如何看待它幫助您在中長期內進一步擴大平台上潛在的廣告商多樣性和密度。

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。我首先回答應用程式的問題。總的來說，我們很高興看到該應用程式組合的重大優化取得了進展。我們失去了大約 11 個工作室，我們正在對其進行投資。我們確實有許多新遊戲即將推出。我思考著每一個工作室。他們已經制定了推出新遊戲的計劃。我認為我們一直在說，本季的影響將以運行率為基礎達到十幾歲的利潤率。我想我們就待在那裡，艾瑞克。如果我們認為一大堆比賽都非常精彩，那麼這個差距可能會縮小。我認為它仍然會是一個兩位數。但現在，我們看到它確實融入了定期推出遊戲的商業模式。我們認為利潤率應該保持在十幾歲的中間水準。

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——顯然我們在一年多前就投資了 Wurl。他們與許多媒體公司已經建立了合作關係。您可以將它們視為這些公司的 CDN，但它們可以幫助這些公司將內容放到網路上並安排內容，並在分散的空間內各種裝置上的連網電視設備上有效地建立頻道。那些先前存在的關係正是讓我們興奮不已的。他們還有 SSP 業務。所以我們已經進入市場了。我們正在透過他們的 SSP 將我們的 AppDiscovery 解決方案插入到連網電視庫存中。

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.

現在還處於早期階段。因此，我們認為短期內不會對我們的財務表現產生重大影響。但數據強勁。對於行動應用程式開發者來說，這項服務確實很酷。在效能方面，這一類別中從來沒有以這種方式真正實現過基於效能的可擴展解決方案。我們根據績效收費。因此，傾向於此的廣告商正在傾向於此，並且對我們擴大該產品範圍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.

我們還有時間回答另一個問題，這個問題由摩根士丹利的馬特·科斯特 (Matt Cost) 提出。

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?

這是戴夫 (Dave) 取代馬特 (Matt)。如果我之前錯過了這個，請原諒，但是您能否提供 AXON 2 完整發布的時間表？我之前就知道，你說過你正在推出它。我們應該如何看待其財務影響，您能分享一下嗎？

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.

我來談談時間軸。 Herald 可以報道財務影響。但我們正分階段在市場上推出它。這是一次複雜的技術升級，我們對早期的結果感到興奮，並且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，我想我們之前確實說過沒有影響，因為 AXON 2.0 在第一季根本沒有推出。展望未來，仍很難預測該技術推出的時間以及最終對財務的影響。但我們確實知道該技術優於 AXON 1.0。就像亞當在他的腳本中所說的那樣，我們看到了 ChatGPT 從 3 到 4、從 4 到 5 所做的事情。所以我們知道它是更好的技術，更有效，更有效率。因此我們確實相信這將對軟體系列產生重大影響。很難預測它何時會發生。不過，我們也知道，考慮到軟體利潤率，我們確實認為其中很大一部分收入確實流入了底線。因此利潤率的百分比也會大幅增加。

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.

本季的問答環節到此結束。非常感謝大家今天的參與。祝您今天餘下的時光愉快，我們下次再見。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。