Direct Digital Holdings Inc (DRCT) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Direct Digital Holdings fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Direct Digital Holdings 2024 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。（操作員指示）

I would now like to turn the conference over to Brett Milotte, Investor Relations. You may begin.

現在我想將會議交給投資者關係部門的 Brett Milotte。你可以開始了。

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Direct Digital Holdings fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 earnings conference call. My name is Brett Milotte and I'm representing Direct Digital Holdings from ICR. On today's call are Direct Digital Holdings Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Walker; and Chief Financial Officer, Diana Diaz.

大家下午好，歡迎參加 Direct Digital Holdings 2024 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。我叫 Brett Milotte，代表 ICR 的 Direct Digital Holdings。參加今天電話會議的有 Direct Digital Holdings 董事長兼執行長 Mark Walker；和財務長戴安娜·迪亞茲（Diana Diaz）。

Information discussed today is qualified in its entirety with the Form 8-K and accompanying earnings release, which has been filed today by Direct Digital Holdings, which may be accessed at the SEC's website and DRCT's website. Today's call is also being webcast and a replay will be posted to DRCT's Investor Relations website. Immediately following the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session.

今天討論的資訊完全符合 Direct Digital Holdings 今天提交的 8-K 表格和隨附的收益報告，可在美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 網站和 DRCT 網站上查閱。今天的電話會議也將進行網路直播，重播將發佈在 DRCT 的投資者關係網站上。演講者演講結束後，將立即進行問答環節。

Please note that the statements made during the call, including any financial projections or other statements that are not historical in nature, may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements are made on the basis of DRCT's views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance at the time they are made. We do not undertake any obligation to update these statements.

請注意，電話會議中所做的陳述，包括任何財務預測或其他非歷史性質的陳述，可能構成前瞻性陳述。這些聲明是基於 DRCT 對未來事件和當時業務表現的看法和假設而做出的。我們不承擔更新這些聲明的任何義務。

Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, which could cause DRCT's actual results to differ from its historical results and forecasts, including those risks set forth in DRCT's filing to the SEC, and you should refer to those for more information. This cautionary statement applies to all forward-looking statements made during this call. During this call, DRCT will be referring to non-GAAP financial measures.

前瞻性陳述受風險影響，可能導致 DRCT 的實際結果與其歷史結果和預測不同，包括 DRCT 向美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 提交的文件中列出的風險，您應參考這些風險以獲取更多資訊。此警告聲明適用於本次電話會議期間所做的所有前瞻性陳述。在本次電話會議中，DRCT 將參考非 GAAP 財務指標。

These non-GAAP measures are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is available in the earnings release that DRCT filed in its Form 8-K today.

這些非公認會計準則指標並非依照公認會計原則編製。非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的對帳表可在 DRCT 今天提交的 8-K 表格收益報告中查閱。

I'll now hand the call over to Mark Walker, Chief Executive Officer. Mark?

我現在將電話交給執行長馬克沃克。標記？

Thanks, Brett, and thank you to everyone joining our fourth quarter and full year of 2024 earnings call.

謝謝，布雷特，也感謝所有參加我們 2024 年第四季和全年財報電話會議的人。

For the full year, I'm pleased that we delivered revenue in line with our significantly revised guidance. 2024 proved to be a challenging year for the company, to say the least, but I'm incredibly proud of the team for responding quickly, initiating a clear strategy, and mobilizing to execute against that strategy.

就全年而言，我很高興我們的收入符合我們大幅修改後的預期。 2024 年對公司來說是充滿挑戰的一年，但我對團隊的快速反應、制定清晰的策略並動員起來執行該策略感到非常自豪。

Today, Direct Digital is rescaling with a significantly strengthened business model for customers, partners, and shareholders alike. Just to remind everyone, at this time last year, Direct Digital Holdings released its Q4 and full-year results for 2023, announcing a top-line revenue guidance target of $170 million to $190 million, representing 15% year-over-year growth at the midpoint.

如今，Direct Digital 正在重新調整規模，為客戶、合作夥伴和股東提供更強化的商業模式。提醒大家，去年此時，Direct Digital Holdings 發布了 2023 年第四季和全年業績，宣布營收預期目標為 1.7 億美元至 1.9 億美元，中位數為年增 15%。

By early May, Direct Digital Holdings' supply-side platform, Colossus SSP, had achieved revenues far ahead of the previously stated guidance, and the company was well on its way to a record quarterly result.

截至 5 月初，Direct Digital Holdings 的供應方平台 Colossus SSP 的收入已遠遠超出了先前的預期，該公司預計將創下季度業績新高。

At that time, we were fighting what we believed was an ongoing short attack since December of 2023, and believed that the worst was behind us. Unfortunately, there was a secondary attack. A second false and defamatory blog post against our supply-side platform, Colossus SSP, in mid-May 2024, caused an unexpected business disruption amongst our partners, advertisers, and clients, due to a major customer pausing its connection with Colossus.

當時，我們正在對抗一場自 2023 年 12 月以來持續不斷的空頭攻擊，並相信最糟糕的時期已經過去。不幸的是，又發生了二次攻擊。2024 年 5 月中旬，第二篇針對我們的供應方平台 Colossus SSP 的虛假誹謗性部落格文章導致我們的合作夥伴、廣告商和客戶出現意外的業務中斷，原因是一個主要客戶暫停了與 Colossus 的連接。

The connection with this major customer, who is an intermediary in the digital ecosystem, has resumed. However, volumes have not yet returned to pre-pause levels, and this caused a meaningful reduction in our FY 2024 revenues and is also expected to impact 2025. That said, despite the challenges faced this past year, we delivered fourth-quarter results in line with our revised revenue guidance range.

與這位數位生態系統中介機構主要客戶的聯繫已經恢復。然而，銷售量尚未恢復到暫停前的水平，這導致我們 2024 財年的營收大幅減少，預計也會影響 2025 年。儘管如此，儘管過去一年面臨挑戰，我們第四季的業績仍符合修訂後的營收預期範圍。

We have been working diligently with our multinational hold co-agency partners, our Fortune 500 brand partners, and demand-side partners to resume business, which many already have. Starting last year, we initiated a plan to, one, further expand our sources of our revenue to create a more diversified business throughout all segments; and two, conduct a cost-savings review, which has resulted in significant operating expense reduction sequentially when compared to the first half of the year.

我們一直在與跨國控股代理合作夥伴、財富 500 強品牌合作夥伴以及需求方合作夥伴密切合作，以恢復業務，其中許多合作夥伴已經恢復了業務。從去年開始，我們啟動了一項計劃，一是進一步擴大我們的收入來源，在各個領域打造更加多元化的業務；二是進行成本節約審核，與上半年相比，營業費用環比大幅下降。

Concerning our diversification strategy, in the third quarter of 2024, we announced the launch of Colossus Connections, an aggressive initiative to accelerate our direct integration efforts with leading demand-side platforms, and we have already signed up two of the leading partners in the marketplace. This initiative will optimize supply-path efficiency for our advertising clients through direct connections with top demand-side platforms, ultimately providing advertisers with improved access to demand and cost savings.

關於我們的多元化策略，我們在 2024 年第三季宣布推出 Colossus Connections，這是一項積極的舉措，旨在加速我們與領先的需求方平台的直接整合工作，並且我們已經簽約了市場上兩家領先的合作夥伴。這項措施將透過與頂級需求方平台的直接連接，為我們的廣告客戶優化供應路徑效率，最終為廣告商提供更好的需求管道並節省成本。

In addition, we are pursuing alternative intermediaries and pathways to send buyer spend to our publishers. We've seen sequential improvement from existing direct connections, and we are expecting to see greater revenue impact as we move through 2025, as alternative pathways are solidified and as integrations are completed in the second half of 2025.

此外，我們正在尋求替代中介機構和途徑，以便將買家的支出發送給我們的出版商。我們已經看到現有直接連接的連續改善，隨著替代路徑的鞏固和 2025 年下半年整合的完成，我們預計到 2025 年，收入影響將更大。

As part of our continuing sell-side strategy, we have worked diligently with our partners to keep our key sell-side relationships intact, while building back ad spend in previous levels. This plan will continue to take shape over time through 2025 as we focus on diversifying, optimizing, and future-proofing our sell-side platform. On the buy-side, since we unified our two divisions, Orange 142 and Huddled Masses, we have been keenly focused on small- and mid-size clients who are increasingly shifting advertising budgets to digital and require support to navigate its complexities and optimize their ad spend.

作為我們持續賣方策略的一部分，我們一直與合作​​夥伴勤勉合作，以保持我們的關鍵賣方關係完好無損，同時恢復先前的廣告支出水準。隨著我們專注於多樣化、優化和麵向未來的賣方平台，該計劃將在 2025 年逐漸成形。在買方，自從我們合併了兩個部門 Orange 142 和 Huddled Masses 以來，我們一直密切關注那些越來越多地將廣告預算轉向數位領域的中小型客戶，這些客戶需要支持來應對其複雜性並優化他們的廣告支出。

Further, we see that small- and mid-size brands are looking for a more high-touch and tailored client-buy-side relationship. These clients are a key focus for our newly combined buy-side operation. We are now better equipped to deliver this level of premium service to our clients as they navigate emerging technologies and high-growth channels, such as AI, connected TV, and retail media.

此外，我們發現中小型品牌正在尋求一種更具接觸性和客製化的客戶與買方關係。這些客戶是我們新合併的買方業務的重點關注對象。當我們的客戶探索新興技術和高成長管道（如人工智慧、連網電視和零售媒體）時，我們現在能夠更好地為他們提供這種水準的優質服務。

We have already brought on clients in new verticals, which are expected to generate additional incremental revenue of $5 million to $10 million in 2025, with full impact starting in the second quarter of 2025.

我們已經在新的垂直領域引入了客戶，預計這些客戶將在 2025 年產生 500 萬至 1000 萬美元的額外增量收入，並將於 2025 年第二季開始產生全面影響。

With that, I will discuss some high-level points related to the fourth quarter, with Diana providing further details about the quarter later in the call. Revenue for the fourth quarter was down as expected compared to the prior year due to continuing negative impact on sell-side revenue resulting from business disruption in May of 2024 and continued impact on the buy side from certain customer spend declines partially offset by new buy-side customer growth and non-recurring political spin on the sell side.

我將討論一些與第四季度相關的要點，戴安娜將在稍後的電話會議中提供有關該季度的更多詳細資訊。第四季營收與前一年相比有所下降，這是由於 2024 年 5 月業務中斷對賣方收入造成持續負面影響，以及某些客戶支出下降對買方造成持續影響，但新買方客戶成長和賣方非經常性政治因素部分抵消了這一影響。

Despite the overall decline in revenue, gross margin increased from 23% in the prior year to 32% in the fourth quarter of 2024 due to a higher mix of buy-side revenue in the current quarter. We realized cost savings and operating expenses of $2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, reflecting the flexibility in our cost structure. In addition to our focus on building back our top line, and as mentioned on our call last quarter, we have undertaken a series of cost savings and operational optimization strategies, which have resulted in a more diversified and efficient business model positioning us for success in the coming years.

儘管整體收入下降，但由於本季買方收入結構增加，毛利率從去年同期的 23% 上升至 2024 年第四季的 32%。我們在 2024 年第四季實現了 210 萬美元的成本節約和營運費用，反映了我們成本結構的靈活性。除了專注於重建我們的營收之外，正如我們在上個季度的電話會議上提到的那樣，我們還採取了一系列成本節約和營運優化策略，從而形成了更加多元化和高效的業務模式，為我們在未來幾年取得成功奠定了基礎。

We were able to withstand the dramatic impact to our revenue through improved gross margin and operating cost savings, which is a testament to our robust business model and the success of our cost-saving initiative.

我們能夠透過提高毛利率和節省營運成本來抵禦收入的巨大衝擊，這證明了我們強大的商業模式和成本節約計畫的成功。

Looking forward into 2025, we're encouraged by the growth we're seeing in segments of the ad tech arena, specifically around curation and data enrichment. We are reiterating revenue guidance of $90 million to $110 million for fiscal 2025, underscoring our confidence in our ability to scale up both our buy-side and sell-side businesses.

展望 2025 年，我們對廣告科技領域各個領域的成長感到鼓舞，特別是在策展和資料豐富方面。我們重申 2025 財年的營收預期為 9,000 萬至 1.1 億美元，這突顯了我們對擴大買方和賣方業務的能力的信心。

In particular, we expect the second half of the year to deliver strong gains as we experience the full effect of new direct sell-side partners coming online, while our first quarter tends to be slower than the fourth quarter related to seasonality in our sell-side business. We are seeing sequential improvement in the first quarter of 2025 over November and December 2024. We believe our streamlined approach will continue to enable us to capture market share and strengthen our leading advertiser marketing technology offerings.

特別是，我們預計下半年將實現強勁成長，因為我們將充分感受到新的直接賣方合作夥伴上線帶來的正面影響，而由於賣方業務的季節性，第一季的成長速度往往低於第四季。我們看到 2025 年第一季的情況比 2024 年 11 月和 12 月有所改善。我們相信，我們的精簡方法將繼續使我們能夠佔領市場份額並加強我們領先的廣告商行銷技術產品。

I will now hand things over to Diana Diaz, our Chief Financial Officer, who will walk through some of the financial highlights in further detail.

現在，我將把事情交給我們的財務長戴安娜·迪亞茲 (Diana Diaz)，她將進一步詳細介紹一些財務亮點。

Thank you, Mark.

謝謝你，馬克。

I'll start with a few more details related to the fourth-quarter 2024 results. Related to revenue, our fourth quarter 2024 revenue was $9.1 million, a decrease of $31.9 million over the $41 million in the same period of 2023. Sell-side revenue fell to $2.7 million for the fourth quarter compared to $33.4 million in the same period of 2023. As stated before, the key driver for this reduction was the suspension by one of our large customers following the defamatory article against the company. This customer, which is an intermediary in the DSP marketplace, has since restored its connection and is continuing to scale, making up about 11% of the fourth-quarter sell-side revenue in 2024.

我將從與 2024 年第四季業績相關的一些細節開始。就營收而言，我們 2024 年第四季的營收為 910 萬美元，比 2023 年同期的 4,100 萬美元減少 3,190 萬美元。第四季賣方收入從 2023 年同期的 3,340 萬美元下降至 270 萬美元。如前所述，此次降價的主要原因是我們的一位大客戶在刊登了針對該公司的誹謗文章後被暫停了業務。該客戶是 DSP 市場的中介機構，目前已恢復連結並持續擴大規模，佔 2024 年第四季賣方收入的 11% 左右。

We were pleased to see a one-time positive bump in sell-side revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024 of about $600,000, driven by outsized political spend in October. However, we'd like to emphasize that while this was a welcome boost, it is not representative of our repositioned business. While this was a non-recurring revenue impact, it demonstrates the opportunistic and dynamic nature of our business model, which was able to move and adapt when opportunities arise.

我們很高興地看到，受 10 月巨額政治支出的推動，2024 年第四季賣方收入出現了一次性正成長，約 60 萬美元。然而，我們想強調的是，雖然這是一個可喜的推動，但它並不代表我們重新定位的業務。雖然這是非經常性收入的影響，但它顯示了我們的商業模式的機會主義和動態性質，當機會出現時，它能夠移動和適應。

On our buy-side for the fourth quarter, we saw revenue decrease to $6.4 million compared to $7.6 million in the same period of 2023. The $1.2 million decrease in buy-side revenue for the quarter was due to a $1.7 million decrease in spending from customers no longer actively purchasing from the company, including about $600,000 from completion of certain one-time campaigns in 2023, partially offset by growth from existing and new customers of 8%.

在我們第四季的買方，我們的營收從 2023 年同期的 760 萬美元下降到 640 萬美元。本季買方收入減少 120 萬美元，是由於不再主動從公司購買產品的客戶支出減少了 170 萬美元，其中包括 2023 年完成某些一次性活動而減少的約 60 萬美元，但現有客戶和新客戶 8% 的成長部分抵消了這一影響。

Due to the decrease in revenue, gross profit dollars decreased to $2.9 million in the fourth quarter from $9.3 million in the prior year. However, because of the change in mix of buy-side and sell-side business, gross margin for the fourth quarter improved from 23% in 2023 to 32% in 2024. Related to operating expenses, our fourth quarter of 2024 operating expenses were $7.7 million, a decrease of $10.4 million over the $18.1 million in the same period of 2023.

由於營收減少，第四季毛利從去年同期的 930 萬美元下降至 290 萬美元。然而，由於買方和賣方業務組合的變化，第四季度的毛利率從 2023 年的 23% 提高到 2024 年的 32%。與營運費用相關，我們 2024 年第四季的營運費用為 770 萬美元，比 2023 年同期的 1,810 萬美元減少了 1,040 萬美元。

Operating expenses for the fourth quarter were negatively impacted in 2023 by an unusual charge for $8.8 million related to payments to a few publishers, and in 2024 by about $400,000 in costs to regain compliance with respect to delinquent SEC filings. Excluding these unusual items, adjusted operating expenses were $7.2 million in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of $2.1 million or 23% over $9.3 million in the same period of 2023.

2023 年第四季的營運費用受到與向幾家出版商付款相關的 880 萬美元異常費用的負面影響，2024 年則受到與拖欠 SEC 文件相關的重新合規成本約 40 萬美元的負面影響。不包括這些不尋常的項目，2024 年第一季的調整後營運費用為 720 萬美元，比 2023 年同期的 930 萬美元減少 210 萬美元，即 23%。

Adjusted operating expenses, which excludes the unusual compliance costs for the second half of 2024 of $13.5 million, decreased by $1.9 million or 12% from $15.4 million for the first half of 2024. Operating loss for the fourth quarter was $4.3 million compared to an operating loss of $8.8 million in the same period of 2023. The unusual operating expense items contributed $400,000 of operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2024 and $8.8 million of impacts to operating income in the same period of 2023.

調整後的營運費用（不包括 2024 年下半年的 1,350 萬美元的異常合規成本）較 2024 年上半年的 1,540 萬美元減少了 190 萬美元，降幅為 12%。第四季營業虧損為 430 萬美元，而 2023 年同期營業虧損為 880 萬美元。這些異常營運費用項目導致 2024 年第四季營運虧損 40 萬美元，並對 2023 年同期營運收入造成 880 萬美元的影響。

Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2024 was a loss of $3.4 million compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $6.6 million in the same period of 2023. Excluding the unusual operating expense items, adjusted EBITDA loss for the fourth quarter was $3 million in 2024 compared to adjusted EBITDA income of $2.2 million in the same period of 2023.

2024 年第四季調整後 EBITDA 虧損 340 萬美元，而 2023 年同期調整後 EBITDA 虧損 660 萬美元。不包括不尋常的營運費用項目，2024 年第四季調整後的 EBITDA 虧損為 300 萬美元，而 2023 年同期調整後的 EBITDA 收入為 220 萬美元。

Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the year with cash-and-cash equivalents of $1.4 million compared to $5.1 million as of the end of 2023. Total cash plus our accounts receivable balance as of year end was $6.4 million compared to $42.3 million as of the end of 2023. We are actively advancing multiple funding and equity financing pathways with the goal that these efforts will restore NASDAQ compliance, strengthen the company's financial position, and support key growth initiatives.

從資產負債表來看，截至 2023 年底，我們的現金和現金等價物為 140 萬美元，而截至 2023 年底則為 510 萬美元。截至年底，現金總額加上應收帳款餘額為 640 萬美元，而截至 2023 年底則為 4,230 萬美元。我們正在積極推動多種融資和股權融資途徑，目標是透過這些努力恢復納斯達克合規性、加強公司的財務狀況並支持關鍵的成長計畫。

Now to touch on our guidance. Our guidance assumes that the US economy does not have any major economic conditions to deteriorate or otherwise significantly reduce advertiser demand. We plan to offer annual guidance and update it throughout the year.

現在來談談我們的指導。我們的指導假設美國經濟不會出現任何重大的經濟狀況惡化或以其他方式顯著減少廣告商的需求。我們計劃提供年度指導並全年更新。

With our visibility today, we are reiterating our fiscal-year 2025 revenue guidance in the range of $90 million to $110 million, underscoring our confidence and our ability to scale up both the buy-side and sell-side businesses. And as Mark said, we expect the second half of the year to deliver strong gains as we experience the full effect of new direct sell-side partners coming online.

憑藉今天的知名度，我們重申 2025 財年的收入預期，即 9000 萬美元至 1.1 億美元，這突顯了我們的信心以及擴大買方和賣方業務的能力。正如馬克所說，隨著我們充分感受到新的直接賣方合作夥伴上線帶來的效應，我們預計下半年將實現強勁成長。

As we continue to refocus the company, our lower cost structure, optimized performance, and focus on driving efficiencies across the business are key to our accelerated path to return to profitability. We continue to be judicious in adding any new costs, and we remain confident in our business to deliver strong performance for our shareholders this year.

隨著我們不斷重新調整公司重點，較低的成本結構、優化的績效以及對提高整個業務效率的關注是我們加速恢復獲利的關鍵。我們將繼續審慎地增加任何新成本，我們仍然相信我們的業務今年將為股東帶來強勁的業績。

And I'd like to turn it back over to Mark for some closing comments.

我想將發言權交還給馬克，請他發表一些結束語。

Thank you, Diana, and thank you to everyone for joining. As always, we appreciate your interest in Direct Digital Holdings and are looking forward to answering your questions. Operator, please open the line.

謝謝你，戴安娜，也謝謝大家的參與。像往常一樣，我們感謝您對 Direct Digital Holdings 的關注，並期待回答您的問題。接線員，請接通線路。

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。我們現在開始問答環節。（操作員指示）

Dan Kurnos, The Benchmark Company.

Dan Kurnos，基準公司。

Yeah, thanks. Good afternoon, Mark, maybe I have several. Let's just start high level. Number one, just in Q4, we know there was a lot of noise in the DB plus arena. Obviously, heard from Trade Desk, Magnite, PubMatic, everybody. Political was kind of a plus.

是的，謝謝。下午好，馬克，也許我有幾個。我們就從高層次開始吧。首先，就在第四季度，我們知道 DB plus 領域有很多噪音。顯然，聽到了 Trade Desk、Magnite、PubMatic 以及所有人的聲音。政治也算是一種優勢。

You guys are recovering from, obviously, the attacks, which you successfully defended against. But it takes a while to scale back. So I'm just trying to understand how we should think about the cadence. I know you said strong growth in the back half of this year, but how much was Q4 impacted by post-election malaise, which we sort of heard about? And how should we think about these clients, these clients spends coming back to you in Q1 and then ramping?

顯然，你們正在從襲擊中恢復過來，你們成功抵禦了襲擊。但縮減規模需要一段時間。所以我只是想了解我們應該如何思考節奏。我知道您說過今年下半年經濟強勁成長，但是我們聽過的選舉後經濟低迷對第四季的影響有多大？我們該如何看待這些客戶，這些客戶的支出在第一季回到您這裡，然後逐漸增加？

Yeah, no, good question, Dan, and good to hear from you, as well. Yeah, I would say, for the first time, especially this cycle, political represented more of a percentage than it historically has. Typically, it had been 10% to 15%. This time it represented probably in the 50% to 60% range of spin that came through. And I think, as you know, based upon what you probably heard from your other peers, political was very strong all the way through November. December was softer than what we would anticipate for Q4.

是的，不，丹，問得好，也很高興收到你的來信。是的，我想說，尤其是在這個週期中，政治所佔的比例第一次就超過了歷史水準。通常情況下，這一比例為 10% 到 15%。這次它可能代表了 50% 到 60% 的旋轉範圍。而且我認為，根據您可能從其他同行那裡聽到的消息，整個 11 月政治形勢都非常強勁。12 月的表現比我們對第四季的預期要疲軟。

And so we were a little bit surprised by that. But what we are seeing, and we're in a different cycle right now since the last four years, we've had steady growth consistently occurring. We're seeing sequential growth month over month in regards to our overall performance.

因此我們對此感到有點驚訝。但我們看到的是，自過去四年以來，我們處於不同的周期，我們一直在穩步成長。我們的整體業績逐月呈連續成長。

But for us, and how we rebuild back, it's really about, it's not about our buyer intent. It's not about our publisher. It's not about our publisher inventory, which, as you've seen by the stats, the numbers are there.

但對我們來說，以及我們如何重建，這實際上與我們的買家意圖無關。這與我們的出版商無關。這與我們的出版商庫存無關，正如您在統計數據中看到的那樣，數字就在那裡。

It's really about us for pathways. And so, we've been working on developing new pathways to connect our buyers and sellers. And that's through the direct connection piece, which we're anticipating to see that come to fruition the back half of the year based upon the contracts that we have signed and the other ones that we're currently negotiating.

這確實與我們的道路有關。因此，我們一直致力於開發連接買家和賣家的新途徑。這是透過直接連接實現的，根據我們已經簽署的合約和目前正在談判的其他合同，我們預計這一目標將在下半年實現。

And then we're also anticipating having alternative pathways for our buyers to actually purchase the inventory that we represent, leveraging different deals and P&Ps that we already have established. So for us, we don't see it as more of an if. It comes back. It's more about when and timing and the quarter. And so we're seeing us getting back to a good, healthy run rate for the last half of the year.

然後，我們也期待為我們的買家提供其他途徑來實際購買我們所代表的庫存，利用我們已經建立的不同交易和 P&P。因此對我們來說，我們並不認為這只是一個如果。它又回來了。這更多的是關於時間、時機和季度。因此，我們看到我們在今年下半年恢復了良好、健康的運作率。

Got it. That's helpful. So let's talk about some of those initiatives, right?

知道了。這很有幫助。那麼讓我們來談談其中的一些舉措，好嗎？

Obviously, a lot of change has happened. We're seeing Google pullbacks on the SSP side as they deal with all the remedy stuff. So the marketplace is in flux. PMax is a mess. You guys doing the direct connecting makes a tonne of sense. We're seeing a bunch of other folks do that.

顯然，已經發生了很多變化。我們看到 Google 在 SSP 方面有所退縮，因為他們正在處理所有補救措施。因此市場處於不斷變化之中。PMax 一團糟。你們進行直接連結非常有意義。我們看到許多其他人也這樣做。

You talked about top DSPs. I wonder, given your inventory and who you represent on the publisher side, if there's not some niche or middle market guys that you could attack. So maybe talk through how we should think about how aggressive you stay on the connection side.

您談到了頂級 DSP。我想知道，考慮到您的庫存以及您在出版商方面所代表的人員，是否存在一些您可以攻擊的利基市場或中端市場。所以也許我們可以討論一下應該如何考慮在連接方面保持多大的積極性。

And I would also love to hear about how you're thinking about curation. It's very topical, but we're not seeing a tonne of money figured out in the marketplace yet. So maybe hit those two topics for us.

我也想聽聽您對策展的看法。這是一個非常現實的話題，但我們還沒有看到市場上出現大量資金。所以也許我們可以討論這兩個主題。

Yeah, absolutely. So for us, we actually see the opportunity. One, we have excellent holdco-partnership relationships. In those dollars, we think we're always going to have access to those dollars coming through our pipes. And so we definitely will continue to nurture and manage those relationships as we see fit. But the opportunity that we also see is really in the middle market, the middle market dollars flowing through our pipes, if you will, our SSP.

是的，絕對是如此。因此對我們來說，我們確實看到了機會。一，我們擁有良好的控股合作關係。我們認為，透過這些資金，我們總是能夠獲得透過我們的管道獲得的資金。因此，我們肯定會繼續以我們認為合適的方式培養和管理這些關係。但我們也看到的機會確實在中端市場，中端市場的資金流經我們的管道，如果你願意的話，也可以稱之為我們的 SSP。

We think that that's actually an opportunity to expand and grow. I think you've seen some DSPs and SSPs really focus on what they call the premium partnerships. We think that there's a ripe opportunity in the middle market. That's really how we've managed the business for the last four years. So actually on the buyer side and also on the sell side, we see that as our sweet spot and we're planning on doubling down into that marketplace. We think it provides us two benefits.

我們認為這實際上是一個擴張和成長的機會。我認為您已經看到一些 DSP 和 SSP 真正專注於他們所謂的優質合作夥伴關係。我們認為中端市場存在著成熟的機會。這確實是我們過去四年來管理業務的方式。因此實際上，無論從買方還是賣方來看，我們都認為這是我們的最佳點，我們計劃加倍投入該市場。我們認為它為我們帶來了兩個好處。

One, diversification, where there's this lack of concentration of dollars. We think that that's a major benefit for us and focus on the middle market. But then also we think it's ripe for additional opportunity. And from what we've seen, that middle market has been a little bit slower to actually transition over to the digital space. So we see it as real greenfield for us in growing and being able to fuel our overall growth strategy and also the repeated CAGR that we've been able to perform over the last five, six years.

第一，多樣化，即資金不再集中。我們認為這對我們來說是一個重大好處，並且我們專注於中端市場。但同時我們也認為它已經具備了獲得更多機會的條件。從我們所看到的情況來看，中端市場向數位領域的實際轉型速度有點慢。因此，我們認為它對我們的發展來說是真正的綠地，能夠推動我們的整體成長策略，並實現過去五、六年中我們實現的複合年增長率。

And the curation piece, Mark? Sorry, I know it was a long question.

還有策展作品嗎，馬克？抱歉，我知道這是一個很長的問題。

No, no, no. Good call. Hey, as it relates to curation, we do think that there is an opportunity for curation and it's something that we're exploring with many of our partners right now. We think that there is an opportunity. We're still working through figuring out what's the best way for us to apply that to our partners. And what we are seeing, at least off the onset, it's a case-by-case basis.

不，不，不。好主意。嘿，由於它與策展有關，我們確實認為策展有機會，而且這是我們現在正在與許多合作夥伴探索的事情。我們認為這是一個機會。我們仍在努力尋找將其應用於合作夥伴的最佳方式。而我們所看到的，至少從一開始，都是根據具體情況而定的。

So that's the strategy that we're looking at curation. We'll be talking about that more so in the future. But the other opportunity that we also see as it relates to curation is really with our buy-side partners.

這就是我們正在考慮的策展策略。我們以後會多談這個問題。但我們也看到與策展相關的另一個機會實際上是與我們的買方合作夥伴相關的。

We work with about 250 different, 225 to 250 different buy-side partners. We think there's a curation opportunity with the middle market. And we think what sets us unique and what also makes us have a competitive advantage in serving the middle market is the fact that our buy-side employees and our sell-side employees talk and have the capability of actually leveraging curation as a competitive advantage that we actually take to the marketplace to interact with our buy-side clients.

我們與大約 250 個不同的買方合作夥伴（225 到 250 個）合作。我們認為中端市場存在策展機會。我們認為，我們的獨特之處以及我們在服務中端市場方面具有競爭優勢的原因在於，我們的買方員工和賣方員工能夠交流，並且能夠真正利用策展作為一種競爭優勢，我們實際上利用這種優勢在市場上與我們的買方客戶進行互動。

So we think that gives us a unique value proposition and selling point. And so you'll see us talking more specifically about curation in the middle market to our buy-side partners as well as on the sell side as capabilities that we have.

因此我們認為這給了我們獨特的價值主張和賣點。因此，您會看到我們更具體地談論中間市場與買方合作夥伴以及賣方的策展能力。

Super helpful. Last one, I promise. Just thoughts on attacking video. I know it's not been a huge component historically. Then we started talking about the whole CPP market's very top heavy at the moment. The bottom side has been challenged but still a great opportunity for programmatic execution. So just curious how you're thinking about attacking that landscape if that's part of the strategy here.

超有幫助。最後一個，我保證。只是關於攻擊影片的想法。我知道從歷史上看它並不是一個重要的組成部分。然後我們開始談論目前整個CPP市場的頭重腳輕。底部已經受到挑戰，但對於程式執行來說仍然是一個絕佳的機會。所以我很好奇，如果這是這裡策略的一部分，您是如何考慮攻擊那個景觀的。

Yeah, it actually is. What we're seeing specifically on the sell-side platform, people are looking for lower-cost CPMs as it relates to the CTV, OTT video space. And from what we have seen in the marketplace, there seems to be a demand for lower-cost CPMs that are on the mid to lower end of the spectrum. And we think that there's an opportunity for Colossus SSP and Direct Digital to be able to fulfill that demand in the marketplace. And so many of the things that we're working to do is really to focus in on that and provide CTV partners and video partners and OTT partners that actually fit in that end of the space, and we think that we can have a competitive advantage there.

是的，確實如此。我們在賣方平台上看到的具體情況是，人們正在尋找與 CTV、OTT 視訊領域相關的低成本 CPM。從我們在市場上看到的情況來看，似乎對中低階低成本 CPM 有需求。我們認為 Colossus SSP 和 Direct Digital 有機會滿足市場的需求。我們正在進行的許多工作實際上都集中於此，並為 CTV 合作夥伴、視訊合作夥伴和 OTT 合作夥伴提供真正適合該領域的服務，我們認為我們可以在此獲得競爭優勢。

Got it. Thank you for all the color, and I apologize for asking so many questions. I apparently blew up your phone, but I will get back in the queue.

知道了。感謝您的解答，很抱歉問了這麼多問題。我顯然打爆了你的電話，但我會回到隊列中。

No, it's all good. Thank you.

不，一切都很好。謝謝。

Michael Kupinski, NOBLE Capital Markets.

NOBLE Capital Markets 的 Michael Kupinski。

Good afternoon, everyone. A couple of questions. Mark, you indicated that some of the revenue initiatives appear to be at least on the buy side of your business, and I was wondering if this represents a shift or maybe a rebalancing on your focus on growing your sell-side business?

大家下午好。有幾個問題。馬克，您表示，一些收入計劃似乎至少在您的業務的買方，我想知道這是否代表您在發展賣方業務方面的轉變或重新平衡？

Yeah. No, good question. Yeah, we definitely have, and this has been our strategy for the last two years. We've been focused on bringing on the buy side of our business and really looking at expanding it. We made some internal investments as it relates to our sales processes in the marketplace, and so what we're starting to see is some of the fruition of that come to bear.

是的。不，好問題。是的，我們確實有，這是我們過去兩年的策略。我們一直致力於吸引買方業務，並真正尋求擴大業務。我們對市場銷售流程進行了一些內部投資，因此我們開始看到一些成果。

Last year, we put all of our sales teams on specific CRM system and made that a lot more uniform, but then also put different sales processes in place in order to try to increase demand into our buy-side business.

去年，我們將所有銷售團隊納入特定的 CRM 系統，使其更加統一，同時也實施了不同的銷售流程，以嘗試增加買方業務的需求。

And so, I think part of what you're seeing right now is the work to actually go after and continue to grow that piece of the business, especially because it's at a higher margin. And we think that in the long run, especially with some of the cost-saving measures we've taken in place, it will help us get back to profitability but also expand profitability once we get the top line higher as it relates to the buy- and the sell-side business. So it's not really a recalibration, but it's been a two-year focus for us, and we're starting to see fruits come from it.

所以，我認為您現在看到的部分實際上是在追求並繼續發展這部分業務，特別是因為它的利潤率更高。我們認為，從長遠來看，特別是我們已經採取的一些成本節約措施，不僅有助於我們恢復盈利能力，而且一旦我們在買方和賣方業務方面獲得更高的營收，盈利能力也會得到擴大。所以這其實不是一次重新調整，但這是我們兩年來的重點，我們開始看到成果。

Got you. And then on the cost side, I was wondering if you obviously said that you've taken out some costs. Can you give us a sense of how much the cost savings will be on an annualized basis, and just trying to get a sense of the amount of fixed costs that you've taken out and if you're including variable costs in your expectation for 2025?

明白了。然後在成本方面，我想知道您是否明確表示您已經削減了一些成本。您能否告訴我們按年計算可以節省多少成本，並試著了解您已扣除的固定成本金額，以及您是否將變動成本納入 2025 年的預期中？

Yeah, what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you our overall comprehensive strategy, and I'm going to turn it over to Diana to actually get more into the details. But the way that we built our business model, and I think you probably have seen it by looking at our balance sheet and our income statement, we have very little CapEx as it relates. And part of the way that we built it, knowing that the ability to scale without increasing your fixed costs was important to us.

是的，我要做的是向你們提供我們的整體綜合策略，然後我會把它交給戴安娜，讓她更詳細地介紹。但是，從我們建立商業模式的方式來看，我想您可能已經透過查看我們的資產負債表和損益表看到了這一點，我們相關的資本支出非常少。在我們建造它的過程中，我們知道在不增加固定成本的情況下進行擴展的能力對我們來說很重要。

And so part of the reason that we've been able to absorb and defend against some of the attacks that we have been is just because of the variability that we've been able to build inside of our structure and our overall business. So we were able to take costs out without cutting what I would say muscle and bone, but cutting a little bit of fat as it relates to the end of last year. And we're going to see benefit of that going through 2025 as well in the way that we've operating our -- the way that we set up our operating structure.

因此，我們之所以能夠吸收和防禦一些攻擊，部分原因在於我們能夠在我們的結構和整體業務中建立可變性。因此，我們能夠降低成本，而無需削減所謂的“肌肉和骨骼”，但與去年年底相比，我們削減了一點“脂肪”。到 2025 年，我們還將看到其對我們運作方式以及我們建立營運結構的方式帶來的好處。

So I'm going to turn it over to Diana to give you some more details around that, and she can tell you what that model looks like on the go forward.

因此，我將把這個任務交給戴安娜，讓她為你們提供更多有關該模型的細節，並且她可以告訴你們該模型未來的樣子。

Sure. We focused in the earnings release and the script on operating expenses because we wanted you to be able to calibrate there. We had some costs that will be non-recurring, $1.7 million of compliance costs related to getting our filings complete. And then we had the first half versus the second half reduction in cost that we wanted to point out. So I would expect there could be another $1.5 million to $2 million of savings that we would see on a full-year basis for 2025. So that's what we're looking at.

當然。我們重點關注收益發布和營運費用腳本，因為我們希望您能夠在那裡進行校準。我們有一些非經常性成本，其中包括與完成備案相關的 170 萬美元合規成本。然後，我們比較了上半年和下半年的成本削減情況，我們想指出這一點。因此，我預計到 2025 年全年我們還能再省下 150 萬至 200 萬美元。這就是我們所關注的。

Thank you for the color. And then, based on your revenue trajectory and your revenue guidance for 2025 and focus on higher margin buy side, can you give us a sense when do you anticipate you might swing towards positive cash flow?

謝謝你的顏色。然後，根據您的收入軌跡和 2025 年的收入指導以及對更高利潤買方的關注，您能否告訴我們您預計何時可以實現正現金流？

As we look at the real gains coming in the second half of the year, that's really where we see us getting back to our more normal cadence, third and fourth quarter.

當我們看到下半年的實際收益時，我們確實看到我們恢復到更正常的節奏，即第三季和第四季。

Okay. All right. Good luck and [Tob] is great.

好的。好的。祝你好運，[Tob] 很棒。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to our CEO, Mark Walker, for closing remarks.

我現在沒有其他問題了。我想請我們的執行長馬克沃克 (Mark Walker) 致最後總結。

If there's no more questions, then we will see you next quarter.

如果沒有其他問題，我們將在下個季度與您見面。

Thank you, presenters. And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

謝謝各位主持人。女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。