Applovin Corp (APP) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Welcome, everyone, to the AppLovin Earnings Call for the Second Quarter ended June 30, 2023. I'm David Hsiao, Head of Investor Relations. Joining me today to discuss our results are Adam Foroughi, our Founder, CEO and Chairperson; and Herald Chen, our President and CFO. Please note our SEC filings to date as well as our shareholder letter discussing our second quarter performance are available at investors.applovin.com.

歡迎大家參加 AppLovin 截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日的第二季財報電話會議。我是投資者關係主管 David Hsiao。今天與我一起討論我們業績的有我們的創辦人、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，我們迄今為止提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件以及討論第二季度業績的股東信函可在 investor.applovin.com 上查閱。

During today's call, we may be making forward-looking statements regarding our products and services, market expectations, the future financial performance of the company and other future events. These statements are based on our current assumptions and beliefs, and we assume no obligation to update them, except as required by law. Our actual results may differ materially from the results predicted. We encourage you to review the risk factors in our most recently filed Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2023, and in our Form 10-Q for the second quarter, which we expect to file later today.

在今天的電話會議中，我們可能會對我們的產品和服務、市場預期、公司未來財務表現和其他未來事件做出前瞻性陳述。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。我們的實際結果可能與預測的結果有重大差異。我們鼓勵您查看我們最近提交的截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日的財政季度 10-Q 表以及我們預計將於今天晚些時候提交的第二季度 10-Q 表中的風險因素。

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 to 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的 GAAP 與非 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.

本次電話會議正在錄音，重播將在我們的 IR 網站上提供。

I'll turn it over to Adam and Herald for some opening remarks, then we'll open up for Q&A.

我會把話題交給亞當和赫拉爾德，請他們致一些開場白，然後我們開始問答環節。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We had a stellar second quarter, surpassing our revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance, largely due to the expansion of our software platform business. I'm incredibly proud of our dedicated teams who have worked tirelessly to upgrade our advertising algorithms from AXON 1.0 to AXON 2.0.

大家下午好，感謝大家今天的參與。我們第二季的業績表現出色，營收和調整後 EBITDA 都超出預期，這主要歸功於我們軟體平台業務的擴張。我為我們敬業的團隊感到無比自豪，他們不懈努力地將我們的廣告演算法從 AXON 1.0 升級到 AXON 2.0。

We started talking to you a year ago about the benefits we'd achieved, both short and long term, by upgrading our technology, and now we've executed on it. The launch has not only paved the way for a strong quarter, but also provides us with additional opportunities for future growth. The introduction of such a significant change in our technology required many hours of hard work, innovation and risks taken. The result is a true testament to our spirit and commitment and demonstrates that we operate with the same speed and efficiency as we did in our time as a private company. This is what makes me particularly proud of what we have achieved.

一年前，我們就開始與您談論透過升級我們的技術所取得的短期和長期利益，現在我們已經付諸實施。此次發布不僅為本季的強勁表現鋪平了道路，而且為我們未來的成長提供了額外的機會。在我們的技術中引入如此重大的變革需要大量的努力、創新和承擔風險。結果真實地證明了我們的精神和承諾，並表明我們的營運速度和效率與我們作為私人公司時一樣。這讓我對我們所取得的成就感到特別自豪。

With cutting-edge AI technologies at the heart of our core offering, our focus will now shift towards continuous enhancement of our technology, expanding our advertiser base and extending AXON 2.0 to our Wurl and Array businesses. We are optimistic that these measures will fuel growth for years to come.

由於尖端的人工智慧技術是我們核心產品的核心，我們現在的重點將轉向不斷增強我們的技術，擴大我們的廣告商基礎，並將 AXON 2.0 擴展到我們的 Wurl 和 Array 業務。我們樂觀地認為這些措施將推動未來幾年的成長。

In conclusion, we remain committed to providing long-term shareholder value. We are confident in the potential of our team, our technology and our products and our financial strength. We appreciate your trust and support, and we look forward to our journey of growth and innovation with you. Thank you.

總之，我們仍致力於提供長期股東價值。我們對我們的團隊、我們的技術、我們的產品的潛力以及我們的財務實力充滿信心。我們感謝您的信任和支持，並期待與您一起成長和創新。謝謝。

On to Herald to provide you with our financial highlights.

請繼續關注《先驅報》為您提供的財經亮點。

Thanks, Adam, and good afternoon. Based on the incredible efforts from our team this year, in particular, leading the launch of our AXON 2.0 engine, we had a strong quarter financially across the world, with record software platform revenue, high margins, impressive operating leverage and ultimately robust free cash flow.

謝謝，亞當，下午好。基於我們團隊今年的巨大努力，特別是領導推出我們的 AXON 2.0 引擎，我們在本季度在全球取得了強勁的財務業績，創下了軟體平台收入的記錄、高利潤率、令人印象深刻的經營槓桿以及強勁的自由現金流。

Our strong performance in the quarter illustrates that the highly focused plan we articulated about a year ago is working. As a reminder, we said we invest in our core team, improve our AI-based platforms and technology, optimize our apps business, drive free cash flow, and simplify. Simplify, focus and execute against what we do best. That strategy and plan, which is very similar to the fundamentals on which this company was founded, are working, and we're excited about where that can take us.

我們本季的強勁表現表明，我們一年前製定的高度集中計劃正在發揮作用。提醒一下，我們說過，我們會投資我們的核心團隊，改進我們基於人工智慧的平台和技術，優化我們的應用業務，推動自由現金流，並簡化流程。簡化、集中並執行我們最擅長的領域。這項策略和計劃與本公司成立的基本原則非常相似，並且正在發揮作用，我們對其未來發展充滿期待。

Touching on our financial highlights for the quarter. Our total revenue reached $750 million, with adjusted EBITDA of $334 million, both exceeding the high end of our guidance. Our adjusted EBIT margin -- EBITDA margin was 44%, and was the highest EBITDA margin we've had in 5 years. Further, for the quarter, we are pleased to have generated $80 million of positive net income.

談談本季的財務亮點。我們的總收入達到 7.5 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 3.34 億美元，兩者都超過了我們預期的最高水準。我們的調整後息稅前利潤率－息稅折舊攤銷前利潤率為 44%，是我們五年來最高的息稅折舊攤提前利潤率。此外，本季我們很高興實現了 8,000 萬美元的正淨收入。

Our Software Platform segment reached a record revenue of $406 million, which represents 2 quarters with consecutive mid-teens growth and an increase of 28% over the prior year. Software platform adjusted EBITDA grew 39% year-over-year and 25% quarter-over-quarter to $273 million, translating to a 67% adjusted EBITDA margin. Software Platform adjusted EBITDA now represents more than 80% of our company's total adjusted EBITDA. Of note, during the quarter, we were able to increase adjusted EBITDA by an amount slightly higher than the increase in revenue, equating to over 100% flow-through.

我們的軟體平台部門的收入達到了創紀錄的 4.06 億美元，這意味著連續兩個季度實現中等幅度的成長，比上年增長了 28%。軟體平台調整後的 EBITDA 年成長 39%，季增 25%，達到 2.73 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 67%。軟體平台調整後的 EBITDA 目前占我們公司總調整後 EBITDA 的 80% 以上。值得注意的是，在本季度，我們能夠將調整後的 EBITDA 增幅略高於收入增幅，相當於超過 100% 的流通量。

For our flow-through will fluctuate in the future, it does highlight the impressive operating leverage from our Software Platform segment. As our Software Platform revenue continues to grow, we expect high flow-through and further margin improvements for this segment.

由於我們的流通量將來會發生波動，這確實凸顯了我們軟體平台部門令人印象深刻的營運槓桿。隨著我們的軟體平台收入持續成長，我們預計該部門的流通量將大幅增加，利潤率也將進一步提高。

Looking at this segment over the past 2 years, revenue increased by 2.8x, representing a 67% compounded annual growth rate. Over that same period, our Software Platform adjusted EBITDA grew 3x, a 70% CAGR. We continue to remain optimistic about our opportunities within the Software Platform segment as we continue to improve our AI-based technologies as well as invest in our growth initiatives, including Connected-TV and Carrier & OEM.

縱觀過去兩年該領域，營收成長了 2.8 倍，年複合成長率為 67%。在同一時期，我們的軟體平台調整後的 EBITDA 成長了 3 倍，複合年增長率為 70%。我們將繼續改進基於人工智慧的技術，並投資於我們的成長計劃，包括連網電視、營運商和 OEM，我們對軟體平台領域的機會繼續保持樂觀。

Turning to the Apps segment. During the quarter, we continued to focus on balancing profitability with revenue. For Q2, we had $334 million of Apps revenue and $61 million of adjusted EBITDA, a margin of 18%. We continue to invest carefully to drive top line growth, both through new game development and user acquisition marketing, while also managing for overall margin, targeting mid-teen adjusted EBITDA margin range over the medium term.

轉向應用程式部分。在本季度，我們繼續致力於平衡獲利能力和收入。第二季度，我們的應用程式營收為 3.34 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 6,100 萬美元，利潤率為 18%。我們將繼續謹慎投資，透過新遊戲開發和用戶獲取行銷來推動營收成長，同時管理整體利潤率，目標是在中期內將調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率範圍控制在中等水平。

At the consolidated level, we're pleased to report we had free cash flow of $221 million in Q2, a 66% flow-through of adjusted EBITDA to free cash flow. For the first half of '23, we generated over $0.5 billion in free cash flow.

在合併層面，我們很高興地報告，我們第二季度的自由現金流為 2.21 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 轉化為自由現金流的比率為 66%。 23年上半年，我們產生了超過5億美元的自由現金流。

With regard to guidance for Q3 '23, we are targeting another quarter of growth, with revenue between $780 million and $800 million, adjusted EBITDA between $340 million and $360 million and adjusted EBITDA margin between 44% and 45%. We anticipate the first full quarter of revenue contribution from AXON 2.0 to continue driving our growth as well as see steadier Apps performance. As previously mentioned on our calls, we continue to target free cash flow of approximately 50% to 60% of adjusted EBITDA on a normalized run rate basis, noting that we may have deviations from that in a particular quarter.

關於 23 年第三季的指引，我們的目標是再實現一個季度的成長，營收在 7.8 億美元至 8 億美元之間，調整後的 EBITDA 在 3.4 億美元至 3.6 億美元之間，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率在 44% 至 45% 之間。我們預計 AXON 2.0 第一季的營收貢獻將繼續推動我們的成長，同時應用程式的表現也將更加穩定。正如我們之前在電話會議上提到的那樣，我們繼續以標準化運行率為基礎將自由現金流定為調整後 EBITDA 的約 50% 至 60%，並注意到我們可能在特定季度出現偏差。

From a cash perspective, we ended Q2 with $876 million of cash on the balance sheet. In terms of stock buybacks, we repurchased $507 million of our Class A common stock during the quarter. And year-to-date through August 8, we have repurchased $601 million. We have $107 million of authorization remaining under our repurchase program, and we'll be carefully watching the markets.

從現金角度來看，我們第二季末的資產負債表上有 8.76 億美元現金。在股票回購方面，我們在本季回購了 5.07 億美元的 A 類普通股。截至 8 月 8 日，今年迄今我們已回購 6.01 億美元。我們的回購計劃剩餘授權金額為 1.07 億美元，我們將密切關注市場。

We're also watching the leveraged loan markets in real time to see if we can extend, reduce and/or lower the cost of our term loans. If we see an attractive window, we will move quickly to optimize our capital structure.

我們也即時專注於槓桿貸款市場，看是否可以延長、減少和/或降低定期貸款的成本。如果我們看到一個有吸引力的機會，我們將迅速採取行動來優化我們的資本結構。

In conclusion, Q2 was an incredibly strong financially and exemplifies the strength of our business model. Looking forward, our teams continue to be focused on execution and improving our core solutions and technologies. As Adam said, we're very excited about the opportunities in front of us.

總而言之，第二季的財務狀況非常強勁，反映了我們商業模式的實力。展望未來，我們的團隊將繼續專注於執行和改進我們的核心解決方案和技術。正如亞當所說，我們對眼前的機會感到非常興奮。

And now the moderator will take us through Q&A.

現在主持人將帶領我們進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) And we will go first to Morgan Stanley's Matthew Cost.

(操作員指示)我們先請到摩根士丹利的馬修‧科斯特 (Matthew Cost)。

It's Dave on for Matt Cost. And so sorry if I missed this earlier, there were a few technical difficulties with the audio here for those of us dialing in. But with the strength of the ad network results, I think that speaks pretty positively to the company's execution in the quarter. Are you able to give some color on perhaps what portion of the quarter's performance you would find attributable to your own execution versus an overall recovery in the market?

戴夫 (Dave) 取代馬特·科斯特 (Matt Cost)。如果我之前沒有註意到這一點，那麼非常抱歉，對於我們撥入的人來說，這裡的音訊出現了一些技術問題。但鑑於廣告網路業績的強勁，我認為這對該公司本季的業績表現相當積極。您能否詳細說明本季的表現在多大程度上歸功於您自己的執行，而不是市場的整體復甦？

Thanks, Dave, for the question. Market has been steady as we've been talking about for a couple of quarters now. So we attribute the growth in our platform really 100% from the advancements in our core technology. The upgrade made our platform a lot more accurate for advertisers and allows us to really monetize more of a breadth of advertisers.

謝謝戴夫提問。正如我們剛才所說，過去幾季市場一直保持穩定。因此，我們將平台的成長 100% 歸功於我們核心技術的進步。此次升級使我們的平台對廣告主來說更加精準，也讓我們能夠真正從更廣泛的廣告主那裡獲得收益。

So being able to do both things enabled us to really grow our business on the back half of the quarter as we rolled out this technology. And more importantly, we're driving better value to the advertisers. So we expect this not only to contribute to the growth that we have in the short term but also the long term, and that's what gets us really excited.

因此，能夠同時做到這兩點使我們能夠在推出這項技術的同時在本季後半段真正實現業務成長。更重要的是，我們正在為廣告商帶來更高的價值。因此，我們預計這不僅有助於我們短期的成長，也有助於長期的成長，這是讓我們真正興奮的事情。

Great. And maybe just one follow-up, if I could. If we assume that gaming continues along the trajectory, the guide implies 45% to 50% software revenue growth year-over-year. How do you view the sustainability of the gains? And should we anticipate a similar step function that we saw in AXON 1.0?

偉大的。如果可以的話，也許只需要一個後續問題。如果我們假設遊戲繼續沿著這一軌跡發展，該指南意味著軟體收入將年增 45% 至 50%。您如何看待這項收益的可持續性？我們是否應該預期在 AXON 1.0 中看到的類似的階躍函數？

Yes. We do view the Apps side of the business reaching some stability. As we've discussed over the past few quarters that the second half of this year, we do see that, and we're investing in some new games. We're investing more on user acquisition. In particular, given the fact that we're using a lot of our own solutions there, which has become more efficacious. So we do see our ability to drive some growth over the second half of the year.

是的。我們確實看到應用程式方面的業務已經達到了一定的穩定。正如我們過去幾個季度所討論的那樣，今年下半年我們確實看到了這一點，並且正在投資一些新遊戲。我們正在加大對用戶獲取的投入。特別是考慮到我們在那裡使用了許多我們自己的解決方案，這些解決方案變得更加有效。因此，我們確實看到了我們在今年下半年推動一些成長的能力。

In terms of the software side, AXON 2.0 is relatively new. It was launched this last quarter, a full run rate this quarter. And we do see an improvement in growth, and that is built into our guide for the third quarter.

軟體方面，AXON 2.0比較新。它是在上個季度推出的，本季已全面投入營運。我們確實看到了成長的改善，這已經反映在了我們對第三季的預測中。

And we will now hear from Ralph Schackart with William Blair.

現在我們來聽聽威廉·布萊爾和拉爾夫·沙卡特的發言。

Great. Just looking at the really strong margins that you delivered this quarter, I think around 44% and guiding for 44% to 45%, I think, next quarter. Historically, the model has contemplated sort of mid-30s, maybe low 40% or 40% model. Is this the new baseline for margins that we should think about, especially given expectation for further software margin improvement and growth going forward? And then I have a follow-up.

偉大的。如果僅從本季實現的強勁利潤率來看，我認為利潤率約為 44%，而下個季度的利潤率預計為 44% 至 45%。從歷史上看，模型考慮的是 30% 左右，也許是 40% 以下或 40% 左右的模型。這是我們應該考慮的利潤率新基準嗎，尤其是考慮到未來軟體利潤率將進一步提高和成長的預期？然後我有一個後續問題。

Yes. Thanks, Ralph, for the question. On the software side, a 67% margin was a great quarter. As we mentioned in the introduction, we also had very high flow-through. We actually generated more EBITDA than we did relative to the incremental revenue. That doesn't necessarily continue going forward, but it's a very high flow-through model there. So we do believe that the margin will continue to expand on software as we're able to grow the top line over the medium and long term, maybe not quarter-to-quarter, given vagaries due to timing.

是的。謝謝拉爾夫提出這個問題。在軟體方面，67%的利潤率是一個很棒的季度。正如我們在介紹中所提到的，我們的流通量也非常高。與增量收入相比，我們實際上產生的 EBITDA 更高。這不一定會持續下去，但這是一個非常高流通性的模型。因此，我們確實相信，軟體的利潤率將繼續擴大，因為我們能夠在中長期內實現營收成長，考慮到時間的變化，也許不是逐季度增長。

And on the Apps side, we've always said that we target more in the mid-teens range for EBITDA margin, whereas this past quarter, we're in the high teens at 18%. As we invest a bit more on the UA side to grow the games, that will probably bring down that margin down into the mid-teens. So on a blended basis, as software grows, margin expands on the App side, reaching stability with potentially slightly lower margins. That's how we end up at the mid-40s margin target.

在應用程式方面，我們一直表示，我們的目標是將 EBITDA 利潤率控制在 18% 左右，而上個季度，我們的利潤率達到了 18% 左右。隨著我們在 UA 方面加大投資以發展遊戲，利潤率可能會降至十五六成左右。因此，從混合基礎來看，隨著軟體的成長，應用程式方面的利潤率也會擴大，最終達到穩定狀態，但利潤率可能會略低。這就是我們最終實現 40 年代中期利潤目標的原因。

Great. Maybe a question for Adam. Adam, can we maybe get some perspective on AXON 2.0, how it's performing maybe relative to your expectations and any sense of order of magnitude of improvements compared to 1, obviously, very strong results in the quarter, but any more color there would be great.

偉大的。這可能是對亞當的一個問題。亞當，我們能否了解一下 AXON 2.0 的情況，它的表現是否符合您的預期，與 1 相比是否有任何數量級的改進，顯然，本季度的業績非常強勁，但如果能提供更多的細節就更好了。

Yes, for sure. I'd say it's performing at our expectations. We signaled it a year ago as something that was going to be a big upgrade because we just knew that the technology is available to us were dramatically better than the technologies that we were using. We put it into power the entire platform in the quarter, and it was immediate to start seeing much better performance for advertisers.

是的，當然。我想說它的表現符合我們的預期。我們在一年前就表示這將是一次重大升級，因為我們知道我們可用的技術比我們正在使用的技術好得多。我們在本季將其投入整個平台，並立即看到廣告商的業績有了更好的表現。

What that does over time is that all compound and advertisers will be willing to spend more on our platform because they're seeing better return on ad spend on their buys on our platform than they were previously, and that should start to grow over time, get more investment from the base of advertisers we have.

隨著時間的推移，所有複合年收入和廣告商都願意在我們的平台上投入更多，因為他們看到在我們平台上購買的廣告支出回報率比以前更好，而且隨著時間的推移，這種回報率會開始增長，從我們現有的廣告商基礎中獲得更多投資。

But even more exciting for us is the implications that we're going to be able to make a wider breadth of advertisers work with this new technology. It's much more predictive, much more powerful. And if we're able to execute on that, we can really broaden out the advertiser base, service new verticals, and that should really fuel our growth for quarters and years.

但對我們來說更令人興奮的是，我們將能夠讓更廣泛的廣告商使用這項新技術。它的預測能力更強，功能更強大。如果我們能夠做到這一點，我們就能真正擴大廣告商基礎，服務新的垂直產業，這將真正推動我們未來幾季和幾年的成長。

Our next question will come from Franco Granda with D.A. Davidson.

我們的下一個問題來自 D.A. 的 Franco Granda。戴維森。

I have 2 quick ones. So with the market stabilizing here and AXON 2.0 yielding such positive results so early on, are you ready to provide an updated figure on how many dollars you can transact through your platform this year or maybe next? And then for the second one, can you talk about maybe any trends across your Apps portfolio that surprised you in the quarter, perhaps in a category where you outperformed the respective market?

我有 2 個快速的。那麼，在市場趨於穩定且 AXON 2.0 這麼早就取得如此積極成果的情況下，您是否準備好提供一個最新數據，即今年或明年您可以透過您的平台進行多少美元的交易？然後對於第二個問題，您能否談談本季度您的應用程式產品組合中任何令您感到驚訝的趨勢，也許是在某個類別中您的表現優於相應的市場？

Yes. In terms of the scale of the platform, we've never provided that, but the advertising business is on a net revenue basis. And we've talked about typical advertising business margins that are known in the industry, somewhere in the 20s to 30% range. And so you could get to a reasonable guesstimate. The marketplace itself is in the billions of dollars. Obviously, our Software Platform cleared $400 million, and the vast majority of that being advertising networks net revenue in the quarter.

是的。就平台規模而言，我們從來沒有提供過這一點，但廣告業務是以淨收入為基礎的。我們討論過業界已知的典型廣告業務利潤率，大約在 20% 到 30% 之間。這樣你就可以得出一個合理的估計。市場本身的規模達數十億美元。顯然，我們的軟體平台淨收入 4 億美元，其中絕大部分是本季的廣告網路淨收入。

So we're a very large player in the mobile app ecosystem. And if you just size that against the totality of the mobile app ecosystem, understanding a lot of our partners are mobile gaming customers, we're a critical player for almost all of our customers. They really depend on us for growth.

因此，我們是行動應用生態系統中非常重要的參與者。如果你將其與整個行動應用生態系統進行比較，你會發現我們的許多合作夥伴都是行動遊戲客戶，因此對幾乎所有客戶來說，我們都是關鍵的參與者。他們確實依賴我們來實現成長。

So the thing that really gets us excited in our ecosystem is this upgrade in technology not only helps fuel our growth, our customers are spending a better dollar on our platform, and we're usually one of their top 1 or 2 or 3 channels that they invest into. So if they're spending a better dollar on our platform, that will compound for them, too. And so as we go forward, we'll start seeing the market of customers that are working with us growing, hopefully materially better than the market itself and return -- helping to return this category as a whole back to growth.

因此，在我們的生態系統中真正讓我們興奮的是，科技的升級不僅有助於促進我們的成長，我們的客戶也在我們的平台上花費了更多的錢，我們通常是他們投資的前 1、2 或 3 個管道之一。因此，如果他們在我們的平台上投入更多的錢，這對他們來說也會是複合效益。因此，隨著我們不斷前進，我們將開始看到與我們合作的客戶市場不斷成長，希望能夠比市場本身表現得更好，並幫助整個類別恢復成長。

And Franco, on your second question, as you tell our Software Platform is performing well because we're delivering great solutions and delivering advertising that's effective for those customers. And so we're doing the same thing for our Apps portfolio. So I wouldn't say we have any outperformance in the Apps portfolio for the second quarter, but we do believe in the second half of this year as we invest more in user acquisition and more on our own platforms that we should be able to drive additional growth for those apps.

弗朗哥，關於你的第二個問題，正如你所說，我們的軟體平台表現良好，因為我們提供了出色的解決方案並為客戶提供了有效的廣告。我們也對我們的應用程式組合做了同樣的事情。因此，我不會說我們第二季的應用程式組合表現優異，但我們相信，隨著我們在今年下半年加大對用戶獲取和我們自己平台的投資，我們應該能夠推動這些應用程式的額外成長。

And moving on to Martin Yang with Opp Co.

接下來是 Opp Co. 的 Martin Yang。

If AXON has performed in line with your expectation, can you give us a sense of where the outperformance came from in the second quarter results relative to your guidance?

如果 AXON 的表現符合您的預期，您能否告訴我們第二季業績相對於您的指導有何優勢？

Relative to our guidance, we rolled out the technology towards the second part of the quarter, right? So this is a brand-new technology. We thought it was going to be really powerful. It is very, very hard to measure the impact of a new technology to replace -- entirely replace an old one, right?

相對於我們的指導，我們在本季的第二部分推出了這項技術，對嗎？所以這是一項全新的技術。我們認為它將會非常強大。衡量一項新科技對完全取代舊科技的影響是非常非常困難的，對嗎？

So we were very pleased with the short-term impact. We're more excited about the long-term implications on our overall business. And again, this is a -- it's in infancy stage. It's only a couple of months old of the technology. We think it's going to get a lot stronger over time, and we think it's going to be able to fuel our growth for quarters and years, but we're going to be excited to see what that looks like as we go forward.

因此，我們對短期影響非常滿意。我們對其對整體業務的長期影響更為興奮。再說一次，這還處於起步階段。這項技術才誕生幾個月。我們認為隨著時間的推移，它會變得更加強大，我們認為它將能夠推動我們未來幾個季度和幾年的成長，但我們很興奮地看到它在未來會是什麼樣子。

And my follow-up question on AXON 2.0 is throughout -- should we expect a continuous improvement throughout the third quarter? And when you say AXON 2.0 is being fully rolled out, does that mean the performance improvement will may come from better algorithm instead of being implemented across more ad inventories?

我對 AXON 2.0 的後續問題是——我們是否應該期待第三季的持續改善？當您說 AXON 2.0 正在全面推出時，是否意味著效能改進可能來自更好的演算法，而不是透過更多的廣告資源來實現？

Yes. As we go forward, the technology will continue to fuel growth from a couple of different vectors. One is at the level of scale that we operate at, we drive billions of transactions a year. We're able to -- the technology itself will learn and self-improve. Our team, obviously, is working on improving the technology every step of the way. So that also happens in parallel. Obviously, core of our engineering focus is on this part of our stack.

是的。隨著我們不斷前進，科技將繼續從幾個不同的方面推動成長。一是就我們營運的規模而言，我們每年進行數十億筆交易。我們能夠——技術本身能夠學習並自我改進。顯然，我們的團隊正在努力逐步改進技術。所以這也是同時發生的。顯然，我們的工程重點的核心在於堆疊的這一部分。

And then you've got the more interesting long-term dynamic that if this technology is so good that we're one of the largest channels, if not the largest, for all of our gaming partners, and it's now working within gaming and outside of gaming. It opens up the door to the possibility of a lot of advertiser expansion, which will create more density in our auction, create more scale to the business.

然後你會看到更有趣的長期動態，如果這項技術如此優秀，我們將成為所有遊戲合作夥伴最大的管道之一（如果不是最大的管道），而且它現在在遊戲內部和遊戲外部發揮作用。它為大量廣告商擴張打開了大門，從而提高了我們的拍賣密度，擴大了業務規模。

And then to your last point, more inventory will come online as well. We're in a -- we operate with MAX being a core driver, but more broadly in the mobile app ecosystem in a real-time environment. If our systems are better than they were, in theory, we will get more inventory and our systems will be able to predict more accurate transactions. And we're really excited about how all of this will compound over time and create a much bigger opportunity to market for our core business.

然後回到你的最後一點，更多的庫存也將上線。我們以 MAX 為核心驅動力，但更廣泛地應用於即時環境中的行動應用生態系統。如果我們的系統比以前更好，理論上，我們將獲得更多的庫存，我們的系統將能夠預測更準確的交易。我們真的很高興看到這一切會隨著時間的推移而增加，並為我們的核心業務創造更大的市場機會。

We have Bernie McTernan with Needham has the next question.

下一個問題請來了伯尼·麥克特南 (Bernie McTernan) 和尼德漢姆 (Needham)。

Great. On the app discovery announcement that came out on Monday in terms of new products, how should we think about which of those should be most impactful? And then can you just remind us on the sales process or the process of signing up other advertisers outside of mobile games. It's probably pretty clear that as you guys are more successful in increasing return on ad spend for mobile games, they're just going to spend more with you guys. But for a new advertiser to come in, what's that process of getting them on the platform?

偉大的。對於週一發布的新產品應用程式發現公告，我們該如何看待其中哪些產品最具影響力？然後您能否提醒我們銷售流程或簽約手機遊戲以外的其他廣告商的流程？很明顯，隨著你們在提高手機遊戲廣告支出回報率方面取得更大的成功，他們就會在你們身上投入更多。但是對於新的廣告商來說，如何將他們引入該平台呢？

Yes. So on the first question, the release really broke down the whole offering into some of the valuable sub vectors of what we rolled out. But the core product offering is to fully automate the marketing problem and power it with these new AI technologies that we rolled out. In totality, all of the components that we broke down in that article sum up to the value of the whole. And so there's not 1 part of it that's more exciting or not. All of it is exciting to us.

是的。因此，對於第一個問題，該發布實際上將整個產品分解為我們推出的一些有價值的子向量。但核心產品是完全自動化行銷問題，並利用我們推出的這些新人工智慧技術為其提供支援。總的來說，我們在那篇文章中分解的所有組成部分加起來就構成了整體的價值。所以，不存在哪一部分更令人興奮或不更令人興奮。這一切令我們興奮不已。

On the second question, sales cycle for new, in particular, non-gaming is slower than ramping gaming customers that are already used to our platform and have been buying on our platform. They've been live for years, and they see an improvement in the return on ad spend that they're able to achieve on our platform, they'll invest more. That is actually mostly automated as it is today.

關於第二個問題，新客戶的銷售週期，特別是非遊戲客戶的銷售週期，比已經習慣我們的平台並在我們的平台上購買的遊戲客戶的銷售週期要慢。他們已經活躍多年，並且看到在我們的平台上能夠實現的廣告支出回報率有所提高，他們就會投入更多。實際上，就像今天這樣，這基本上已經實現了自動化。

A new customer usually takes a quarter or 2 to ramp up, and we're now seeing a lot more interest in joining the platform because already only a couple of months into this platform rolling out, there's a lot of word-of-mouth spreading amongst app developers, both within gaming and on that our platform is working really well for their peers.

通常一個新客戶需要一兩個季度的時間來發展，現在我們看到越來越多的人對加入我們的平台感興趣，因為這個平台推出才幾個月，應用程式開發者之間就已經有很多口耳相傳，無論是在遊戲領域還是在商業領域，我們的平台都為他們的同行帶來了非常好的效果。

And we will now hear from Vasily Karasyov with Cannonball.

現在我們來聽聽瓦西里·卡拉索夫在《Cannonball》節目中的發言。

All right. Well, we are not getting any response from Vasily, so we can go ahead and move on to David Karnovsky with JPMorgan.

好的。好吧，我們沒有收到瓦西里的任何回复，所以我們可以繼續聯繫摩根大通的大衛卡諾夫斯基。

Adam, I just wanted to see if you could update on whether you see any expected privacy changes either on the iOS or Android side in the next, I don't know, call it, 6 to 12 months that might impact your execution at all? Or from this point on, do you kind of expect just more incremental changes?

亞當，我只是想看看你是否可以更新一下，在未來的 6 到 12 個月內，你是否認為 iOS 或 Android 方面的隱私變化會給你的執行帶來影響？還是從現在起，您是否期待只是更多的漸進式改變？

Yes. I think we've constantly mentioned this, that we think, of course, privacy both on the operating system level and amongst regulators will continue to evolve. It's been something that's been evolving as we've operated this business for the last 5 to 7 years. We don't see anything in the 6- to 12-month term that you referenced that's going to be a material change to how we would be able to operate our business.

是的。我想我們一直在提到這一點，我們認為，無論是在作業系統層面還是在監管機構之間，隱私都將繼續發展。在我們經營這項業務的過去 5 到 7 年間，它一直在不斷發展。我們認為，在您提到的 6 到 12 個月內，不會對我們的業務運作方式產生重大影響。

And one thing that really has defined our company since we launched, we moved really fast. Our core engineering team is really strong. The culture of the company is to operate as a start-up at all times. And so when it comes to these changes, we've always been able to adapt and operate within the boundaries of the guidelines. And that gives us a lot of confidence. No matter what we're facing in the future, we're going to be able to move faster than peers, and we're going to be able to continuously improve what we're offering to the advertiser base we work with.

自從我們公司成立以來，有一個特點一直定義著我們，那就是我們的發展速度非常快。我們的核心工程團隊非常強大。公司的文化是始終以新創企業的方式運作。因此，當談到這些變化時，我們始終能夠適應並在指導方針的界限內運作。這給了我們很大的信心。無論未來面臨什麼，我們都將能夠比同行更快地採取行動，並能夠不斷改進我們為合作的廣告客戶群提供的服務。

And our next question will come from [Luke Matt] with Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 [Luke Matt]。

This is [Luke Matt] on for Josh with Wolfe Research. Just a quick one here. Any update to the competitive dynamics in mediation with the launch of AXON 2.0? Are you seeing any update there or progress or differences?

我是 Wolfe Research 的 Josh 的 [Luke Matt]。這裡只是簡單說一下。 AXON 2.0 的推出對調解領域的競爭態勢有何影響？您看到那裡有任何更新、進展或差異嗎？

Really, in mediation, a couple of things are happening. We referenced this in a prior call, we believe the majority of the mobile gaming market is on our MAX mediation product. We've seen nothing changed there. The company is utilizing our tool set, both on the mediation side and on our app discovery side are seeing better growth than peers in the market because our products work so well, and both sides really come together for the publishers that are utilizing our mediation.

事實上，在調解中，發生了幾件事。我們在先前的電話會議中提到過這一點，我們相信大部分行動遊戲市場都在我們的 MAX 中介產品上。我們沒有看到那裡有任何改變。該公司正在使用我們的工具集，無論是在中介方面還是在應用程式發現方面，都比市場上的同行看到了更好的成長，因為我們的產品運作良好，並且雙方真正為使用我們中介的出版商走到了一起。

So not that we've seen a lot of change because we're already so much of the market but continued strength amongst our publisher base. The other changes coming in mediation is Google bidding. Google as a partner is a close partner of ours, we were a launch partner for their Google bidding product. Over the next few months, we expect that they'll shift entirely to in-app bidding and away from more traditional methods. That will be a benefit to our MAX product and should be a benefit for publishers and the trueness of that auction. And so we're excited as that scales up, that will be a big positive for our business. Hopefully, there is and all of our partners.

因此，並不是說我們看到了很大的變化，因為我們已經佔據了很大的市場份額，但我們的出版商基礎仍然保持著強勁勢頭。中介領域的另一個變化是谷歌競價。谷歌作為我們的合作夥伴，是我們的密切合作夥伴，我們是其穀歌競價產品的發布合作夥伴。在接下來的幾個月裡，我們預計他們將完全轉向應用程式內競價，而不再採用更傳統的方法。這將有利於我們的 MAX 產品，也應該有利於出版商和拍賣的真實性。因此，我們很高興，隨著規模的擴大，這對我們的業務來說將是一個巨大的利好。希望如此，我們所有的合作夥伴也是如此。

Great. And I just had one quick follow-up here. In regards to world, just any update there? And if you plan to continue maybe focusing on some of these areas outside of the core continuing to invest in a further iteration of AXON?

偉大的。我在這裡只想快速跟進一下。關於世界，那裡有任何更新嗎？如果您打算繼續專注於核心以外的某些領域，也許會繼續對 AXON 的進一步迭代進行投資？

Yes, totally. In my talk track, I referenced expanding the technology that we just built AXON 2.0 over the Wurl and Array. And on the Wurl side, when we did the Wurl transaction, we were really excited about the competency of their team and really the relationships that they had with the media companies to be able to get to the Connected-TV landscape and go get inventory and be able to mediate and serve into that inventory, not dissimilar to how we were able to scale on mobile. And the Wurl team has been executing really strongly there.

是的，完全正確。在我的演講中，我提到了在 Wurl 和 Array 上擴展我們剛剛建立的 AXON 2.0 技術。而在 Wurl 方面，當我們進行 Wurl 交易時，我們對他們的團隊的能力以及他們與媒體公司的關係感到非常興奮，他們能夠進入聯網電視領域並獲得庫存，並且能夠調解和服務於這些庫存，這與我們在行動裝置上的擴展方式沒有什麼不同。 Wurl 團隊在那裡表現得非常出色。

Now as we extend AXON 2.0 over to CTV, we think it's a really strong extension point for the advertisers that buy on our platform. And to be able to sell performance media on television is something that people have talked about for years, but very few companies have been able to deliver any sort of solution there. And we do know that our AXON 2.0 offering is cutting-edge and as potent as there is in performance marketing as far as the technology goes. So extending it to Connected-TV could pose a very big growth channel for our business and that of our partners.

現在，隨著我們將 AXON 2.0 擴展到 CTV，我們認為對於在我們平台上購買的廣告商來說，這是一個非常強大的擴展點。在電視上銷售表演媒體是人們多年來一直在談論的事情，但很少有公司能夠提供任何解決方案。我們知道，就技術而言，我們的 AXON 2.0 產品在效果行銷領域是尖端的、最強大的。因此，將其擴展到連網電視可能會為我們的業務和合作夥伴的業務帶來非常大的成長管道。

And we have time for one additional question from Omar Dessouky with BofA.

我們還有時間回答美國銀行的奧馬爾·德蘇基（Omar Dessouky）提出的一個附加問題。

All right. With no response from Omar, that does conclude our question and answer for this quarter, Adam and Herald, thank you so much and to everyone who joined us today. We thank you all for joining us today. Have a great afternoon.

好的。由於奧馬爾沒有回應，本季的問答就到此結束，亞當和《先驅報》，非常感謝你們，也感謝今天加入我們的所有人。我們感謝大家今天的參與。祝您下午愉快。

Thanks, everyone.

謝謝大家。