CuriosityStream Inc (CURI) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. My name is Briana, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the CuriosityStream second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)

午安.我叫 Briana，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。現在，我歡迎大家參加 CuriosityStream 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。請注意，今天的通話正在錄音。所有線路均已靜音，以防止任何背景噪音。演講者發言後，將進行問答環節。（操作員說明）

I will now turn the call over to Tia Cudahy, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel. You may begin your conference.

我現在將把電話轉給首席營運長兼總法律顧問 Tia Cudahy。您可以開始您的會議了。

Welcome to CuriosityStream's discussion of its second quarter 2024 financial results. Leading the discussion today are Clint Stinchcomb, CuriosityStream's Chief Executive Officer; and Brady Hayden, CuriosityStream's Chief Financial Officer. Following management's prepared remarks, we'll be happy to take your questions. But first, I'll review the safe harbor statement.

歡迎參加 CuriosityStream 對其 2024 年第二季財務表現的討論。今天主持討論的是 CuriosityStream 執行長 Clint Stinchcomb；和 CuriosityStream 財務長 Brady Hayden。在管理層準備好的發言之後，我們很樂意回答您的問題。但首先，我將回顧安全港聲明。

During this call, we may make statements related to our business that are forward-looking statements under the federal securities laws. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, but rather are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results could differ materially from expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements. Please be aware that any forward-looking statements reflect management's current views only and the company undertakes no obligation to revise or update these statements or to make additional forward-looking statements in the future.

在本次電話會議中，我們可能會根據聯邦證券法做出與我們業務相關的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述並不是對未來績效的保證，而是受到各種風險、不確定性和假設的影響。我們的實際結果可能與任何前瞻性陳述中反映的預期有重大差異。請注意，任何前瞻性陳述僅反映管理階層目前的觀點，本公司不承擔修改或更新這些陳述或在未來做出其他前瞻性陳述的義務。

For a discussion of the material risks and other important factors that could affect our actual results, please refer to our SEC filings available on the SEC website and on our Investor Relations website, as well as the risks and other important factors discussed in today's press release. Additional information will also be set forth in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, when filed.

有關可能影響我們實際業績的重大風險和其他重要因素的討論，請參閱 SEC 網站和投資者關係網站上提供的 SEC 文件，以及今天新聞稿中討論的風險和其他重要因素。其他資訊也將在我們提交的截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的季度的 10-Q 表格季度報告中列出。

In addition, reference will be made to non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP measures can be found on our website at investors.curiositystream.com. Unless otherwise stated, all comparisons will be against our results for the comparable 2023 period.

此外，也將參考非公認會計準則財務指標。這些非 GAAP 衡量標準與可比較 GAAP 衡量標準的對帳可在我們的網站 Investors.curiositystream.com 上找到。除非另有說明，所有比較都將針對我們 2023 年可比較期間的結果。

Now I'll turn the call over to Clint.

現在我將把電話轉給克林特。

Thank you, Tia, and good afternoon, everyone. In addition to Tia, our COO and General Counsel, our CFO, Brady Hayden, is on our call today. I appreciate everyone joining us today for this milestone quarterly report. In light of well-directed hard and efficient work by a tight talent dense team of people. We generated our highest ever quarterly adjusted free cash flow. Specifically, we generated $2.5 million in adjusted free cash flow in the second quarter, a year-over-year improvement of about $7 million, and an over 100% improvement from Q1 2024. This marks our seventh consecutive quarter of adjusted free cash flow improvement.

謝謝蒂亞，大家下午好。除了 Tia、我們的營運長兼總法律顧問之外，我們的財務長 Brady Hayden 今天也參加了我們的電話會議。我感謝今天大家加入我們這份具有里程碑意義的季度報告。鑑於人才密集的團隊的精心指導和艱苦高效的工作。我們產生了有史以來最高的季度調整自由現金流。具體來說，我們在第二季產生了 250 萬美元的調整後自由現金流，年增約 700 萬美元，較 2024 年第一季成長超過 100%。這標誌著我們連續第七個季度調整後的自由現金流改善。

We also increased our top line revenue sequentially. I'm happy to say, and I would like to make it abundantly clear that Curiosity is generating cash. I know that sometimes accounting terms like EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA can be confusing, which is why I'm using this very concrete language about generating cash. Even as we paid a significant dividend, our cash position from Q1 to Q2 increased. We believe we're well positioned to grow top line revenue to generate meaningful adjusted free cash flow and to continue to pay our dividend from surplus cash.

我們的營收也連續增加。我很高興地說，我想非常清楚地表明，好奇號正在產生現金。我知道有時像 EBITDA、調整後 EBITDA 這樣的會計術語可能會令人困惑，這就是為什麼我使用這種關於產生現金的非常具體的語言。即使我們支付了大量股息，我們的現金部位從第一季到第二季仍然有所增加。我們相信，我們有能力增加營收，產生有意義的調整後自由現金流，並繼續以盈餘現金支付股利。

In Q2, we increased our direct subscription revenue sequentially and year-over-year. At approximately $10 million in direct revenue for the quarter, our annualized direct revenue alone now exceeds our current annualized operating expenses, including our more variable categories like content and marketing. As we have considerable flexibility around our marketing and content investments, we do have the ability to lever up our marketing and acquisition spend based on seasonality, key promotables and other relevant company and industry dynamics.

第二季度，我們的直接訂閱收入環比和年增長。本季的直接收入約為 1000 萬美元，僅我們的年化直接收入現在就超過了我們當前的年化營運支出，包括內容和行銷等更多可變類別。由於我們在行銷和內容投資方面具有相當大的靈活性，因此我們確實有能力根據季節性、關鍵促銷品以及其他相關公司和行業動態來提高行銷和收購支出。

While our overall licensing and bundled revenue was up slightly sequentially, I would like to note that we did expand into some new categories of licensing partners in Q2 and granted some rights that we had never explicitly granted. As licensing can be lumpy, these new categories will not necessarily reduce spikes, but they will certainly help to increase our floor.

雖然我們的整體許可和捆綁收入環比略有上升，但我想指出的是，我們確實在第二季度擴展到了一些新類別的許可合作夥伴，並授予了一些我們從未明確授予的權利。由於許可證可能不穩定，這些新類別不一定會減少高峰，但它們肯定有助於增加我們的底線。

We are achieving new heights and critical milestones while continuing to thoughtfully rationalize our cost base. Simple way for companies to cut costs is to just slash marketing. Now that's the easy way out and that can have a damaging long-term impact on growth. We've not done that. We believe our cash marketing spend in 2024 will be roughly equivalent to what it was in 2023.

我們正在實現新的高度和重要的里程碑，同時繼續深思熟慮地合理化我們的成本基礎。公司削減成本的簡單方法就是削減行銷。現在這是最簡單的出路，但可能會對成長產生破壞性的長期影響。我們還沒有這樣做。我們相信 2024 年我們的現金行銷支出將大致相當於 2023 年。

We've done the harder work in reducing annualized overall operational costs by more than 30%. We've renegotiated vendor relationships, consolidated vendors, leverage certain emerging productivity tools and like other profitable companies, properly incentivized cost containment across the organization.

我們付出了更多努力，將年化整體營運成本降低了 30% 以上。我們重新協商了供應商關係，整合了供應商，利用某些新興的生產力工具，並像其他獲利公司一樣，在整個組織內適當地激勵成本控制。

On the content front, we launched several new programming initiatives, including Earth Month, anchored by the premier of our landmark original series, The Sun. The Jaws & Claws Week, anchored by the premier of our three-part original series Tracker's Diary: Tigers of Nepal, and our extensive new Summer Doc-busters campaign, with a premier of groundbreaking original series Fateful Planet.

在內容方面，我們推出了多項新的節目計劃，包括由我們具有里程碑意義的原創劇集《太陽》首播主持的地球月。《大白鯊與爪子週》以我們的三部分原創系列《追踪者日記：尼泊爾之虎》的首播和我們廣泛的全新夏季Doc-busters 活動為主導，其中首映的是開創性的原創系列《命運星球》。

Throughout the quarter, we continued to premiere many other original series and specials across the full spectrum of factual, including original series like Taste: The Flavor of Life, a great look at the evolutionary role of deliciousness, and Wings: World War Two in the Skies, a two-part special chronicling the air-wars in Europe and the pacific released for the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.

在整個季度中，我們繼續首播了許多其他原創劇集和特別節目，涉及全方位的事實，包括原創劇集《味道：生活的味道》，深入探討了美味的進化作用，以及《翅膀：第二世界大戰》 《天空》是一部記錄歐洲和太平洋空戰的兩集特輯，為紀念諾曼第登陸 80 週年而發行。

In closing, I'm delighted to again reinforce that for the quarter, we generated $2.5 million in adjusted free cash flow, and we ended the period with nearly $40 million in cash and equivalents and zero debt. We believe our strong balance sheet and projected 2024 positive cash flow make us stand out in the current environment.

最後，我很高興再次強調，本季度我們產生了 250 萬美元的調整後自由現金流，並且在本季度結束時我們擁有近 4000 萬美元的現金和等價物，且債務為零。我們相信，我們強勁的資產負債表和預計 2024 年的正現金流使我們在當前環境中脫穎而出。

Moreover, we continue to believe that our global appeal, our direct subscriber base and direct platforms, our broad and deep content library of tens of thousands of licensable audio and video programs and raw footage, as well as monetizable data sets like images, transcripts, code and text, our multi-year third-party agreements, our public company currency and our rationalized cost structure are uniquely favorable attributes that provide us with sustainable long-term strength and exceptional flexibility.

此外，我們仍然相信，我們的全球吸引力、我們的直接訂戶基礎和直接平台、我們廣泛而深入的內容庫（包含數以萬計的可授權音頻和視頻節目和原始材料）以及可貨幣化的資料集（例如圖像、文字記錄）、程式碼和文字、我們的多年第三方協議、我們的上市公司貨幣和我們合理化的成本結構都是獨特的有利屬性，為我們提供了可持續的長期實力和卓越的靈活性。

I'd now like to pass the baton to my friend and colleague, Brady Hayden.

現在我想把接力棒交給我的朋友兼同事布雷迪·海登。

Thank you, Clint, and good afternoon, everyone. First of all, let me just say that I'm grateful to be taking the reins of the finance organization at such a pivotal time in the company's history. Having successfully reinforced the financial foundation of the company, we are now squarely focused on creating shareholder value through profitable growth and prudent capital allocation.

謝謝克林特，大家下午好。首先，我想說，我很高興能夠在公司歷史上如此關鍵的時刻接管財務部門。在成功鞏固公司的財務基礎後，我們現在專注於透過獲利成長和審慎的資本配置來創造股東價值。

We have already demonstrated clear progress on this journey. In each of the past two quarters, we have increased our cash balances even after returning cash to shareholders through our dividend and share repurchases. And thanks to our strong balance sheet and positive cash flow profile, we see a wealth of possibilities moving forward.

我們已經在這過程中取得了明顯的進展。在過去兩個季度中，即使透過股利和股票回購向股東返還現金，我們的現金餘額仍然增加。由於我們強勁的資產負債表和積極的現金流狀況，我們看到了未來的大量可能性。

As Clint said, we achieved another milestone in the second quarter as adjusted free cash flow of $2.5 million came in at the high end of our guidance range. This also represented the highest quarterly adjusted free cash flow in the company's history, and our seventh straight quarter of sequential improvement in this metric.

正如克林特所說，我們在第二季度實現了另一個里程碑，調整後的自由現金流達到 250 萬美元，達到了我們指導範圍的上限。這也代表了公司史上最高的季度調整後自由現金流，也是我們該指標連續第七個季度連續改善。

Revenue for the second quarter was $12.4 million compared to $14.1 million a year ago and near the midpoint of our guidance range. Adjusted EBITDA improved by $5.5 million, and our adjusted free cash flow improved by $6.8 million as we continued our intense focus on the bottom line.

第二季營收為 1,240 萬美元，而去年同期為 1,410 萬美元，接近我們指引範圍的中點。隨著我們繼續高度關注利潤，調整後的 EBITDA 增加了 550 萬美元，調整後的自由現金流增加了 680 萬美元。

Second quarter gross margin of 52% increased from 30% a year ago, driven by lower content amortization as well as significant reductions in our cash based cost of revenues. Our gross margin, excluding content amortization, which really gets at the cash cost of delivering services was 89% in the quarter compared to 75% a year ago.

由於內容攤銷下降以及基於現金的收入成本大幅下降，第二季毛利率從一年前的 30% 上升至 52%。我們的毛利率（不含內容攤銷）在本季為 89%，去年同期為 75%。

Our largest revenue category in the quarter was our direct business, which generated $9.8 million, up [70%] from a year ago and 3% from the first quarter, as we continued to benefit from the price increase we began rolling out last year. Our additional revenue categories, content licensing, bundled distribution, and other generated $2.6 million in the quarter compared to $5.7 million a year ago. This change was driven mostly by the timing of content licensing deals as this continues to be an inherently lumpy part of the business.

我們本季最大的收入類別是我們的直接業務，產生了 980 萬美元，比去年同期增長了 [70%]，比第一季增長了 3%，因為我們繼續受益於去年開始推出的價格上漲。我們的額外收入類別、內容授權、捆綁發行和其他收入在本季創造了 260 萬美元，而去年同期為 570 萬美元。這項變更主要是由內容授權交易的時機所推動的，因為這仍然是業務中固有的不穩定部分。

Turning back to second quarter expenses. G&A was $6 million, down 25% from a year ago as we continue to realize the benefits of our planned spending reductions as well as our finance transformation and workforce optimization efforts. Second quarter advertising and marketing expense of $3 million declined 29% from $4.2 million a year ago, as we increased our efficiency in deploying our customer acquisition dollars.

回到第二季的支出。G&A 為 600 萬美元，比一年前下降 25%，因為我們繼續實現計劃中的支出削減以及財務轉型和勞動力優化工作的好處。第二季廣告和行銷費用為 300 萬美元，比一年前的 420 萬美元下降了 29%，因為我們提高了部署客戶獲取資金的效率。

Adjusted EBITDA loss was $1 million in the quarter compared to a loss of $6.5 million a year ago. While we don't provide guidance with regard to this metric, we believe that breakeven adjusted EBITDA is within our reach as we expect margins to continue to improve in the coming quarters. And as we mentioned earlier, adjusted free cash flow was $2.5 million in the quarter compared with a negative $4.3 million a year ago.

本季調整後 EBITDA 損失為 100 萬美元，而去年同期為損失 650 萬美元。雖然我們沒有提供有關該指標的指導，但我們相信，盈虧平衡調整後的 EBITDA 是在我們的能力範圍內，因為我們預計未來幾季的利潤率將繼續改善。正如我們之前提到的，本季調整後的自由現金流為 250 萬美元，而一年前為負 430 萬美元。

We, of course, paid our first dividend of $1.3 million in April, and we ended June with total cash and equivalents of $39.6 million and no outstanding debt. We believe our balance sheet remained in great shape with $91 million of assets, $26 million of liabilities and book value of $65 million or approximately $1.21 per share.

當然，我們在 4 月份支付了 130 萬美元的首次股息，截至 6 月份，我們的現金及等價物總額為 3,960 萬美元，沒有未償債務。我們相信我們的資產負債表仍保持良好狀態，資產為 9,100 萬美元，負債為 2,600 萬美元，帳面價值為 6,500 萬美元，約每股 1.21 美元。

One final note on the second quarter. On June 11, we announced that our Board had approved a share repurchase plan for up to $4 million. And through the end of June, we had repurchased 22,000 shares of our common stock and we will continue to strategically buy back shares going forward.

關於第二季的最後一點。6 月 11 日，我們宣布董事會已批准一項高達 400 萬美元的股票回購計畫。截至 6 月底，我們已回購了 22,000 股普通股，未來我們將繼續策略性地回購股票。

Moving to third quarter guidance. We expect revenue in the range of $12 million to $14 million and adjusted free cash flow in the range of $1.5 million to $3 million.

轉向第三季指引。我們預計收入將在 1,200 萬美元至 1,400 萬美元之間，調整後的自由現金流將在 150 萬美元至 300 萬美元之間。

With that, operator, we can open the call to questions.

接線員，這樣我們就可以開始提問了。

Thank you. We will now open the line for questions. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。我們現在將開通提問熱線。（操作員說明）

Laura Martin, Needham & Company.

勞拉馬丁，李約瑟公司。

Thanks. Okay. So just you gave a long list of the assets you own. Have you thought about doing anything in trying to license the rights that you own to generative AI large language model by chance?

謝謝。好的。所以你剛剛列出了你擁有的資產的一長串清單。你有沒有想過做一些事情來嘗試授權你擁有的生成人工智慧大語言模型的權利？

Thank you for that question, Laura. And we have, I think, we started reading about a lot of the publishing agreements that have been entered to over the last three to five months between companies like Google and Reddit and Runway and Getty Images and Microsoft and Informa and OpenAI and Shutterstock. And clearly, there is an interest from many of the generative AI companies in licensing various data sets to train their models. And I would say that we feel really good about the position that we're in as it relates to that.

謝謝你提出這個問題，蘿拉。我認為，我們已經開始閱讀過去三到五個月 Google 和 Reddit、Runway 和 Getty Images、微軟和 Informa、OpenAI 和 Shutterstock 等公司之間簽訂的許多出版協議。顯然，許多生成人工智慧公司都有興趣授權各種資料集來訓練他們的模型。我想說的是，我們對我們所處的位置感覺非常好，因為它與此相關。

When we consider the scope of assets that well over 100,000 hours of raw footage. We have over 10,000 finished programs. We have 7,000 plus audio programs. We have a lot of code. We have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of images, review questions, test, and a lot of content that we understand is rather appealing. So I think just as we try to negotiate fair and good value exchange with the traditional licensing partners, and we're well aware of the opportunity that exists in licensing for training purposes and I think even down the road for derivative exchanges and other exchanges.

當我們考慮資產範圍時，遠超過 10 萬小時的原始素材。我們有超過 10,000 個已完成的程序。我們有 7,000 多個音頻節目。我們有很多程式碼。我們有成百上千的圖片、複習題、測試，還有很多我們認為相當吸引人的內容。因此，我認為，正如我們試圖與傳統許可合作夥伴談判公平和良好的價值交換一樣，我們很清楚出於培訓目的許可中存在的機會，我認為甚至在衍生品交易所和其他交易所的道路上也是如此。

So yes, it's certainly something that we're focused on right now, obviously, not at the exclusion of continuing to grow our direct business, but we really do see that as a meaningful opportunity. And we'll likely talk much more about that on our next call.

所以，是的，這當然是我們現在關注的事情，顯然，不排除繼續發展我們的直接業務，但我們確實認為這是一個有意義的機會。我們可能會在下次電話會議上詳細討論這一點。

Okay. That's super helpful. And then really great cost control. Are you offshoring any of your FTEs?

好的。這非常有幫助。然後是真正出色的成本控制。您是否將任何 FTE 外包？

Well, we are offshoring some of our engineering activity. They're not FTEs. But yeah, I think that our Head of Engineering has done a terrific job over the last nine months and really reimagining what that organization should look like, and leveraging just some really talented people around the world.

嗯，我們正在將一些工程活動外包。他們不是 FTE。但是，是的，我認為我們的工程主管在過去九個月裡做得非常出色，真正重新構想了該組織應該是什麼樣子，並利用了世界各地一些真正有才華的人。

Okay. So they don't show up at the full time headcount, they're like contractors basically. Is that the idea?

好的。所以他們不會以全職員工的身份出現，他們基本上就像承包商一樣。是這個想法嗎？

That's right. I mean, obviously, as part of sort of optimizing the workforce. There were some people who were FTEs whose functions are now replaced by offshore engineers and the like.

這是正確的。顯然，我的意思是，作為優化勞動力的一部分。有些人曾經是 FTE，其職能現在被離岸工程師等取代。

Okay. Super helpful. Thank you very much.

好的。超有幫助。非常感謝。

Thank you, Laura.

謝謝你，勞拉。

Jim Goss, Barrington Research.

吉姆‧戈斯，巴靈頓研究中心。

All right. Thanks. The first couple of quarters, your revenue comps were down at least a little bit from a year ago and third quarter guidance looks to be the same. Could you talk a little about what's driving that? Obviously, you've made up for with the cost controls. What is behind the revenue declines?

好的。謝謝。前幾季度，您的收入比較比一年前至少下降了一點，第三季度的指導看起來是相同的。您能談談是什麼推動了這個趨勢嗎？顯然，您已經透過成本控制進行了彌補。收入下降的背後是什麼？

I think if you look actually, Jim, at our cash revenue for 2024, we think that will actually exceed our cash revenue from 2023 with non-cash revenue in 2023, as do all companies. And I think the good news is, really, we've put some roots in the ground. We put some real, I think, helpful guardrails around various parts of our spending. And we're confident that we're going to continue to grow our direct revenue and continue to grow our licensing revenue. We're trying to be relatively conservative in how we project that today.

吉姆，如果你實際上看看我們 2024 年的現金收入，我們認為 2023 年的非現金收入實際上將超過我們 2023 年的現金收入，就像所有公司一樣。我認為好消息是，我們確實已經紮根了。我認為，我們在支出的各個部分設置了一些真正有用的護欄。我們有信心繼續增加我們的直接收入並繼續增加我們的授權收入。我們今天的預測方式試圖保持相對保守。

Okay. And if you look, maybe you might update a little on the VIZIO FAST channel, how that is working out and to the extent that JVs are becoming more commonplace, is that one of the areas you're focusing on getting other partnerships that you think could work for you?

好的。如果你看一下，也許你可能會在VIZIO FAST 頻道上更新一點，它是如何運作的，以及合資企業變得越來越普遍，這是你關注的領域之一，以獲得你認為的其他合作夥伴關係可以為你工作嗎？

Yeah. Thank you for asking that, Jim. It's a great question. And yes, we launched with VIZIO in the US in late June. And I will tell you that just in the last few weeks, we've rolled out our AVOD content with Tubi in the UK, with Pluto in the US and even with Samsung in several countries in Europe. So as you know, those deals take a long time to do, and then it can take a long time to get your content published or your channel launched even after an agreement is in place. So there's a bit of a lag there.

是的。謝謝你這麼問，吉姆。這是一個很好的問題。是的，我們在 6 月底在美國推出了 VIZIO。我要告訴你的是，就在過去幾週，我們已經在英國的 Tubi、美國的 Pluto、甚至歐洲多個國家的三星推出了 AVOD 內容。如您所知，這些交易需要很長時間才能完成，即使在達成協議後，發布您的內容或啟動您的頻道也可能需要很長時間。所以這裡有一點滯後。

But we're excited about what's happening there and what's possible over time. We even turned on PayTV advertising recently with our PayTV channel in Australia with our partner, Fetch there. So that advertising revenue will continue to grow and will be durable and certainly more predictable than it's been in the past. There's just a pretty healthy lag from getting a deal done with companies and then getting all of the content to them and then having them actually publish it on their platforms.

但我們對那裡正在發生的事情以及隨著時間的推移可能發生的事情感到興奮。最近，我們甚至與我們的合作夥伴 Fetch 在澳洲的付費電視頻道開啟了付費電視廣告。因此，廣告收入將繼續增長，並且將是持久的，而且肯定比過去更可預測。從與公司達成交易，然後將所有內容提供給他們，然後讓他們在自己的平台上實際發布，這之間存在相當大的滯後。

In regard to JVs, I mean, well, I would characterize it necessarily as a JV. We did work and we are working with Estrella, excuse me, top Hispanic media organizations in the US and the world, quite frankly. And Samsung is launching three of our channels that we've developed with them, Curiosity Espanol, Curiosity Motores and Curiosity Animales. So we're excited about that.

關於合資企業，我的意思是，我必然將其定性為合資企業。坦白說，我們確實做了工作，而且正在與 Estrella 合作，對不起，我們是美國和世界頂級的西班牙裔媒體組織。三星正在推出我們與他們共同開發的三個頻道：Curiosity Espanol、Curiosity Motores 和 Curiosity Animales。所以我們對此感到興奮。

And we work with partners where it makes sense. We have various partners that, whose content we incorporate into our broader structure for exploitation on AVOD for exploitation on FAST and even in various licensing agreements. So I think we've been quietly doing a lot of work in that area. We're quite optimistic that, that will bear fruit here over time.

我們會在有意義的情況下與合作夥伴合作。我們有各種合作夥伴，我們將其內容納入我們更廣泛的結構中，以便在 AVOD 上利用，在 FAST 上利用，甚至在各種授權協議中。所以我認為我們一直在該領域默默地做了大量工作。我們非常樂觀地認為，隨著時間的推移，這將在這裡取得成果。

Okay. One last one, the theatrical exhibitors have focused a bit more on alternative content than has historically been the case. So that might be getting pushed back as fresh content starts to come in to a greater extent. But I was curious if you think any of the content that you have might lend itself to either an alternative content series or edited to fit like one or two, theatrical films? And what is the video or audio quality of the content you have? Would it be applicable to a theatrical setting?

好的。最後一點是，戲劇放映商比以往更加關注替代內容。因此，隨著新內容開始更大程度地出現，這一點可能會被推遲。但我很好奇，您是否認為您擁有的任何內容可能適合替代內容系列或經過編輯以適合一兩部戲劇電影？您所擁有的內容的視訊或音訊品質如何？它適用於戲劇場景嗎？

Yeah. I think that as far as the quality of content that we have, I don't think anybody can take issue with that, I think, by any objective standard of measurement, extremely high quality. And sort of going back to a question that Laura asked, when you talk to the large generative AI companies, what they will tell you is, what they are looking for is really kind of three things, and that is quality of the video, meaning, is it 4K HD, or in our case, we have content in 5K. We have content that's in 8K. They're also looking for volume, which we have and they're also looking for diversity of imagery, which is something that, obviously, we're blessed to have, having built a library that we do.

是的。我認為，就我們所擁有的內容品質而言，我認為沒有人可以對此提出異議，我認為，透過任何客觀的衡量標準，品質都非常高。回到勞拉問的一個問題，當你與大型生成人工智慧公司交談時，他們會告訴你的是，他們正在尋找的實際上是三件事，那就是視頻的質量，這意味著，是4K高清，還是在我們的例子中，我們有5K 內容。我們有 8K 內容。他們也在尋找我們擁有的數量，他們也在尋找圖像的多樣性，顯然，我們很幸運擁有這一點，因為我們建立了一個圖書館。

In regard to doing some sort of theatrical release, we've looked at a few opportunities to do that. It's been hard to figure out a way to make the money work based on the amount of time that we would have to put in. But what I will say is, like, we're constantly looking at new areas to license our content into. And one example from the last quarter is we did two licensing deals with in the confinement space where I think our content is well suited. And we also licensed a new asset class of content to a partner in Q2, that being raw footage, which was interesting. So we're looking at all those.

關於進行某種戲院上映，我們已經考慮了一些機會。根據我們必須投入的時間量，很難找出讓金錢發揮作用的方法。但我要說的是，我們一直在尋找新的領域來授權我們的內容。上個季度的一個例子是，我們在限制領域達成了兩項授權協議，我認為我們的內容非常適合。我們也在第二季向合作夥伴授權了一個新的內容資產類別，即原始素材，這很有趣。所以我們正在研究所有這些。

And the last thing I'll say there, Jim, is that we did licensing deals with six companies with whom we never worked with last quarter, confinement, public broadcaster, tech category, we'll talk more about a couple of partners in Asia. So always looking at the best ways to display and license our content. And if we can figure out the right economic exchange there, it's something that we would take a hard look at.

吉姆，我要說的最後一件事是，我們與上個季度從未合作過的六家公司達成了許可協議，涉及禁閉、公共廣播公司、科技類別，我們將更多地討論亞洲的幾個合作夥伴。因此，始終尋找展示和授權我們內容的最佳方式。如果我們能夠在那裡找到正確的經濟交流，我們就會認真考慮這一點。

All right. Thanks very much.

好的。非常感謝。

David Marsh, Singular Research.

大衛馬什，奇異研究。

Hey, guys. Thank you for taking the questions. With regards to your revenue guidance for the next quarter, can you just talk about what the puts and takes are that would allow you to get towards the top end of the range? And can you give us a sense of your feeling in terms of how much recurring revenue might help support kind of the bottom end of the range, please?

嘿，夥計們。感謝您提出問題。關於下個季度的收入指導，您能否談談哪些看跌期權和看跌期權可以讓您達到該範圍的上限？您能否告訴我們您對經常性收入可能有助於支持該範圍底部的程度有多少感覺？

Yeah. I think that that's a great question. Thank you, and I'll let Brady fill in here. But as I mentioned at the beginning of my remarks, our direct revenue continues to grow, and we believe that it will continue to grow next quarter as well. And that in and of itself today on an annualized basis, is at a stage where it covers that alone on an annualized basis covers our annualized operating cost. And so you say, okay, everything above that is margin. And in our case, we have a robust content licensing business is no surprise to anybody.

是的。我認為這是一個很好的問題。謝謝，我會讓布雷迪來填補這裡。但正如我在發言開頭提到的，我們的直接收入持續成長，我們相信下個季度也將繼續成長。如今，按年化計算，其本身正處於這樣一個階段：僅按年化計算，就涵蓋了我們的年化營運成本。所以你說，好吧，高於此的一切都是保證金。就我們而言，我們擁有強大的內容授權業務，這對任何人來說都不足為奇。

We're in a number of conversations with great partners around the world, and there is just a there's a broad range of outcomes there. Like, we're really enthusiastic about the ultimate outcomes of many of these, but what's a little harder to predict is, okay, which of those will close by September 30, like, that's the calculus. And so if some come in a little bit earlier, then we're at the top end and even potentially above. If they come in later, then we're maybe not at the top end, I guess, it's a good way to say it. What would you say, Brady?

我們正在與世界各地的優秀合作夥伴進行多次對話，並且取得了廣泛的成果。就像，我們對其中許多項目的最終結果非常熱衷，但有點難以預測的是，好吧，其中哪些項目將在 9 月 30 日之前結束，就像，這就是微積分。因此，如果有些人早一點進入，那麼我們就處於頂端，甚至可能高於頂端。如果他們來得晚，那麼我們可能還沒有達到頂峰，我想，這是一個很好的表達方式。你會說什麼，布雷迪？

Yeah. No. I think, Dave, you're spot on with the question. If you take just our direct business, including both DTC and partner direct, bundled distribution is pretty easy or easier to predict. And even in the other categories, some of the advertising revenue, I would certainly say has become recurring, that probably gets you near the bottom of the range, it's the content licensing and the timing of those transactions that would push it to the top of the range or perhaps even above it.

是的。不。我認為，戴夫，你的問題問得很對。如果您只考慮我們的直接業務（包括 DTC 和合作夥伴直接業務），則捆綁分銷非常容易或更容易預測。即使在其他類別中，我肯定會說，一些廣告收入已經成為經常性的，這可能會讓你接近該範圍的底部，內容許可和這些交易的時間安排將把它推到頂部。於該範圍。

Okay. That is really super helpful. I appreciate that. And then the other question, I mean, I guess, just to echo Laura's comments, the cost control is amazing, and just looking at gross margin, I mean, this is like a super, super gross margin quarter relative to as we look back the last couple of years. Is this gross margin rate sustainable going forward and what would be types of things that might cause it to retrench kind of back into the mid-40s?

好的。這真的非常有幫助。我很欣賞這一點。然後另一個問題，我的意思是，我想，只是為了呼應勞拉的評論，成本控制是驚人的，只要看看毛利率，我的意思是，相對於我們回顧起來，這就像一個超級超級毛利率季度過去幾年。這個毛利率未來是否可持續？

Yeah. just having been here a little bit longer than Brady, I'll take that, Dave. and then hand over to Brady for any additional color. But without a doubt, we continue to do work on the cost side. And we have a handful of vendor agreements coming up over the next six months that could help us improve there relatively significantly. And just as we see a really interesting revenue opportunities as it relates to the emergence of AI, we're already seeing efficiency tools that are available there, in editing, in marketing, in some other areas that that can help enhance our margin as well.

是的。只是我在這裡比布雷迪長一點，我會接受的，戴夫。然後交給 Brady 取得任何其他顏色。但毫無疑問，我們會繼續在成本方面做工作。我們將在未來六個月內達成一些供應商協議，這可以幫助我們相對顯著地改善這一點。正如我們看到與人工智慧的出現相關的非常有趣的收入機會一樣，我們已經看到在編輯、行銷和其他一些領域中可用的效率工具也可以幫助提高我們的利潤。

And whereas we tend to focus really hard on cash accounting internally, because we think that yields ultimately the best results. I think that you'll see, based on our content amortization levels, like, you'll see our profile even from a an EBITDA standpoint just continue to improve over the next many quarters.

而我們內部往往非常注重現金會計，因為我們認為這最終會產生最好的結果。我認為，根據我們的內容攤銷水平，您會看到，即使從 EBITDA 的角度來看，您也會看到我們的概況，在接下來的多個季度中將繼續改善。

Yeah. I would just say we would anticipate that our content amortization would continue to decline over the next few months. Obviously, we will acquire and publish new content, which essentially would keep that number flat at some level, there's a floor there at some point. But yeah, certainly, both on the content side and on our cash-based cost of sales, we've seen some improvements there.

是的。我只想說，我們預計我們的內容攤銷將在未來幾個月繼續下降。顯然，我們將獲取並發布新內容，這基本上會使這個數字保持在一定水平上，在某個時候會有一個下限。但是，是的，當然，無論是在內容方面還是在我們基於現金的銷售成本方面，我們都看到了一些改進。

Great job there, guys. Keep up the good work, and we'll talk to you again.

幹得好，夥計們。繼續努力，我們會再次與您交談。

Thank you, Dave.

謝謝你，戴夫。

Thanks, Dave.

謝謝，戴夫。

This will conclude our question-and-answer session. And with that, we will conclude today's conference call. Thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我們將結束今天的電話會議。感謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。