Viant Technology Inc (DSP) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello again, everyone, and welcome to Viant Technologies Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Webinar. My name is [Kelsey], and I will be your operator today. Well, before I begin the webinar, or turn it over to the Viant leadership team. I'd like to go over just a few housekeeping notes for the program. As a reminder, today's webinar is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) We thank you for joining us today, and I will now turn the webinar over to KC Carey with Viant Technology.

大家好，歡迎來到 Viant Technologies 2023 年第三季財報網路研討會。我的名字是[凱爾西]，今天我將成為您的接線生。好吧，在我開始網路研討會之前，或者將其交給 Viant 領導團隊之前。我想回顧一下該計劃的一些內務筆記。提醒一下，今天的網路研討會正在錄製中。 （操作員說明）感謝您今天加入我們，我現在將網路研討會轉交給 Viant Technology 的 KC Carey。

Good afternoon, and welcome to Via Technologies Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. On the call today are Tim Vanderhook Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer; Chris Vanderhook, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer; and Larry Madden, Chief Financial Officer I'd like to remind you that we will make forward-looking statements on our call today, including, but not limited to, our guidance for Q4 2023 and our platform development initiatives that are based on assumptions and subject to future events, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These forward-looking statements speak only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise these statements, except as required by law. For more information about factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements, and our entire safe harbor statement, please refer to the news release issued today as well as the risks and uncertainties described in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, under the heading Risk Factors and other filings with the SEC. During today's call, we will also present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures.

下午好，歡迎參加 Via Technologies 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。今天參加電話會議的是 Tim Vanderhook 聯合創辦人兼執行長； Chris Vanderhook，共同創辦人兼營運長；我想提醒您，我們將在今天的電話會議上做出前瞻性聲明，包括但不限於我們對 2023 年第四季度的指導以及基於假設和結果的平台開發計劃。受未來事件、風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與預測有重大差異。這些前瞻性陳述僅代表今天的情況，我們不承擔更新或修改這些陳述的義務，除非法律要求。有關可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述存在重大差異的因素以及我們的整個安全港聲明的更多信息，請參閱今天發布的新聞稿以及我們在表格 10- 季度報告中描述的風險和不確定性。截至2023 年9 月30 日的季度Q，標題為「風險因素」和向SEC 提交的其他文件。在今天的電話會議中，我們還將介紹 GAAP 和非 GAAP 財務指標。

Additional disclosures regarding these non-GAAP measures, including a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the news release issued today, which has been posted on the Investor Relations page of the company's website and in our SEC filings. I would now like to turn the call over to Tim Vanderhook, Chief Executive Officer of Viant. Tim?

有關這些非公認會計準則措施的其他揭露，包括非公認會計準則財務措施與最直接可比較的公認會計準則財務措施的調節，已包含在今天發布的新聞稿中，該新聞稿已發佈在公司網站的投資者關係頁面和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。我現在想將電話轉給 Viant 執行長 Tim Vanderhook。提姆？

Thanks, Casey, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. We wrapped up a very strong third quarter with accelerating growth across our business and results that exceeded our guided range on all key metrics. We continue to win larger shares of budgets from our clients, by offering best-in-class products supported by industry-leading AI. We have focused execution and a commitment to enabling mid-market advertisers to get the highest return on their ad spend. As we look to the fourth quarter and beyond, we continue to see a number of favorable drivers of the business.

謝謝凱西，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們的第三季業績非常強勁，業務成長加速，所有關鍵指標的業績都超出了我們的指導範圍。透過提供由業界領先的人工智慧支援的一流產品，我們繼續從客戶那裡贏得更大的預算份額。我們專注於執行並致力於使中端市場廣告商能夠獲得最高的廣告支出回報。展望第四季及以後，我們繼續看到許多有利的業務驅動因素。

Most notably, the ongoing migration and accelerating transition of approximately $60 billion of linear television advertising moving into connected TV. Second is the pending signal loss due to Google's deletion of cookies in 2024; and third is the application of artificial intelligence and generative AI, which we discussed in detail during our inaugural Innovation Day event on October 26. I want to share more on each of those areas and provide more clarity on how we see them driving our long-term growth and profitability. I'll start with the continued shift from traditional linear TV to connected TV. Linear TV represents an additional $60 billion of ad spend coming into the programmatic ad market as this trend accelerates. Our growth is outpacing the market, and we believe a big driver of our success comes from our household ID technology. This enables us to deliver addressable advertising as well as provide attribution and reporting in this cookieless environment. In CTV, household ID is available on over 85% of all ad requests, Q3 saw us deliver another quarter of strong double-digit growth in Connected TV, again, outpacing the market, and Chris will talk more about that growth in this channel later on.

最值得注意的是，價值約 600 億美元的線性電視廣告正在持續遷移並加速過渡到連網電視。其次是由於Google在2024年刪除cookie而導致的懸而未決的訊號遺失；第三是人工智慧和生成式人工智慧的應用，我們在10 月26 日的首屆創新日活動中詳細討論了這一點。我想就這些領域中的每一個領域分享更多信息，並更清楚地說明我們如何看待它們推動我們的長期發展。長期成長和獲利能力。我將從傳統線性電視向連網電視的持續轉變開始。隨著這一趨勢的加速，線性電視意味著程式化廣告市場將額外投入 600 億美元的廣告支出。我們的成長速度超過了市場，我們相信我們成功的一大推動力來自我們的家庭 ID 技術。這使我們能夠在這種無 Cookie 的環境中提供可尋址的廣告以及提供歸因和報告。在 CTV 中，超過 85% 的廣告請求都可以使用家庭 ID，第三季度我們在聯網電視領域又實現了兩位數的強勁增長，再次超過了市場，克里斯稍後將詳細討論該頻道的增長在。

I also want to take a moment to share some of the ways that we're leveraging AI to develop the most advanced DSP in the market. And for anyone who wasn't able to attend our innovation day event, I highly encourage you to check out the video replay, that link is available on our Investor Relations website. The primary objective of our Innovation Day was to highlight the progress we're making in our journey towards our North Star of autonomous advertising. We're bringing the ease of use of advertising on search and social media to the purchase and measurement of advertising in the programmatic ecosystem. We believe we can leverage AI to reduce the friction involved in onboarding a customer into a DSP, saving them days or even weeks of ramp-up time, enabling them to more quickly utilize the full suite of tools and features available on our platform.

我還想花點時間分享一下我們利用人工智慧開發市場上最先進 DSP 的一些方法。對於那些無法參加我們的創新日活動的人，我強烈建議您觀看影片重播，該連結可在我們的投資者關係網站上找到。我們創新日的主要目標是強調我們在實現自主廣告北極星之旅中所取得的進展。我們正在將搜尋和社群媒體上廣告的易用性引入到程序化生態系統中的廣告購買和衡量中。我們相信，我們可以利用人工智慧來減少客戶加入 DSP 所涉及的摩擦，為他們節省幾天甚至幾週的啟動時間，使他們能夠更快地利用我們平台上提供的全套工具和功能。

Our push to further simplify and automate our platform should continue to expand our addressable market to millions of midsized advertisers that can now use our DSP to reach new customers and expand their businesses. I want to highlight how we're helping our customers solve 2 widespread challenges in the programmatic ad market. The first is choice overload and the second is campaign optimization, both of which are tied to the same dilemma. The programmatic ecosystem is moving too fast or even a seasoned trader -- never mind a new entrant entering this space.

我們進一步簡化和自動化平台的努力應該會繼續將我們的目標市場擴展到數百萬中型廣告商，他們現在可以使用我們的 DSP 來接觸新客戶並擴展他們的業務。我想強調我們如何幫助客戶解決程序化廣告市場中的兩個普遍挑戰。第一個是選擇過多，第二個是行銷活動優化，兩者都與相同的困境有關。程序化生態系統發展得太快，即使是經驗豐富的交易者，更不用說新進者進入這個領域了。

How can we use AI to provide a platform that helps ad buyers to easily and efficiently maximize their campaign performance. During our Innovation Day event, we explained what we call choice overload. Traders today are forced to deal with an insurmountable number of options when planning an ad campaign, making decisions across channels, audiences, devices and ad formats. They are faced with countless combinations.

我們如何利用人工智慧提供一個平台，幫助廣告購買者輕鬆有效地最大化其廣告效果。在我們的創新日活動中，我們解釋了所謂的選擇過載。如今，交易者在規劃廣告活動、跨管道、受眾、裝置和廣告格式做出決策時，被迫應對無數的選擇。他們面臨著無數的組合。

One way we've helped to address this challenge is with our recently announced AI recommendations engine, which is capable of processing and optimizing these options at a speed the human brain simply can't match. The result is actionable suggestions that save time while improving campaign performance and ultimately, trader productivity.

我們幫助應對這項挑戰的一種方法是使用我們最近發布的人工智慧推薦引擎，該引擎能夠以人腦無法比擬的速度處理和優化這些選項。其結果是可操作的建議，可以節省時間，同時提高活動績效並最終提高交易者的生產力。

The second topic from our Innovation Day event, I want to highlight is our AI bid optimizer solution. It uses artificial intelligence to analyze historical bid opportunities to predict the lowest media costs for all of these ad opportunities without sacrificing any ad performance. We first announced this new feature over the summer, and I'm pleased to report that adoption to date has far exceeded our expectations. Over half of our customers are currently utilizing AI bid optimizer, and we're continuing to see an average savings of 35% of their CPMs. This is notable for multiple reasons.

我想強調的創新日活動的第二個主題是我們的人工智慧出價優化器解決方案。它使用人工智慧來分析歷史出價機會，以預測所有這些廣告機會的最低媒體成本，而不會犧牲任何廣告效果。我們在夏天首次宣布了這項新功能，我很高興地報告，迄今為止的採用率遠遠超出了我們的預期。目前，我們超過一半的客戶正在使用 AI 出價優化器，我們繼續看到他們的每千次曝光費用平均節省了 35%。出於多種原因，這一點值得注意。

First, it allows our customers to concentrate their time on strategic tasks rather than the time-consuming ones. They don't have to manually adjust their bids and last, it speaks to the advantage of a buy-side only DSP like ours. Any technology provider representing both the buy and sell side of the transaction has an inherent disincentive to drive down CPMs. Our customers recognize this misalignment and this is contributing to our growth.

首先，它使我們的客戶能夠將時間集中在策略任務上，而不是耗時的任務上。他們不必手動調整出價，最後，這說明了像我們這樣的僅限買方的 DSP 的優勢。代表交易買方和賣方的任何技術提供者都具有降低每千次展示費用的內在抑制因素。我們的客戶認識到這種不一致，這有助於我們的成長。

The final driver of our momentum is Google's deletion of cookies, which is reported to begin in Q1 2024. Viant has long been a leader in this space through the use of our patented household ID, a scalable, interoperable and privacy-compliant identifier present in over 80% of ad requests. We believe that Google's deletion of cookies and other identifiers will further accelerate the growth of ad spend flowing through Viant as we offer one of the only scalable and now proven solutions available today in the form of our household ID. We look forward to continuing our growth momentum into the fourth quarter and I now will hand the call over to Chris to discuss more around our products and our customers.

我們動力的最終驅動力是Google 刪除cookie，據報導將從2024 年第一季開始。Viant 長期以來一直是該領域的領導者，透過使用我們的專利家庭ID，這是一種可擴展、可互操作且符合隱私的標識符，存在於超過 80% 的廣告請求。我們相信，Google 刪除 cookie 和其他識別碼將進一步加速 Viant 廣告支出的成長，因為我們以家庭 ID 的形式提供了當今唯一可擴展且現已過驗證的解決方案之一。我們期待第四季度繼續保持成長勢頭，我現在將把電話轉給克里斯，以討論有關我們的產品和客戶的更多資訊。

Thanks, Tim. I want to start to talk about the Viant data platform, which has long been a massive advantage for those customers who have the vision and expertise to leverage its potential. Our data platform offers the ability to safely and seamlessly join first-party data with all the top third-party data providers in a privacy-friendly way. And it should come as no surprise that the insights, reporting and attribution opportunities here are substantial.

謝謝，蒂姆。我想開始談談 Viant 數據平台，對於那些有遠見和專業知識來發揮其潛力的客戶來說，該平台長期以來一直是一個巨大的優勢。我們的資料平台能夠以保護隱私的方式安全、無縫地將第一方資料與所有頂級第三方資料提供者連接。毫不奇怪，這裡的見解、報告和歸因機會是巨大的。

It must also be noted that historically, the barrier of data skills necessary to access these insights has also been very high. At our recent Innovation Day event, we announced a new product called Chat with Data. This product allows our customers to unlock the power of the data platform simply and easily through a natural language set of commands. We believe Chat with Data makes our data platform more accessible for even the most novice data analysts and business people. And more importantly, it means a programmatic trader with no background in data science or engineering can simply and efficiently unlock critical insights from their data in real time ultimately driving a higher return on ad spend as they execute their campaigns.

還必須指出的是，從歷史上看，獲取這些見解所需的數據技能的障礙也非常高。在我們最近的創新日活動中，我們發布了一款名為「與數據聊天」的新產品。該產品使我們的客戶能夠透過一組自然語言命令簡單輕鬆地釋放資料平台的強大功能。我們相信，「與數據聊天」使即使是最新手的數據分析師和業務人員也可以更輕鬆地訪問我們的數據平台。更重要的是，這意味著沒有數據科學或工程背景的程序化交易者可以簡單有效地從數據中即時獲取關鍵見解，最終在執行廣告活動時獲得更高的廣告支出回報。

7 out of our top 10 spending customers rely on the Viant data platform and now Chat with Data will democratize access to the Viant data platform to marketers of all sizes and provide them with a competitive advantage in data. The Viant Data platform is further differentiated by integrations with dozens of industry-leading data providers as well as the top clean room such as Snowflake.

我們的 10 大支出客戶中有 7 個依賴 Viant 數據平台，現在 Chat with Data 將使各種規模的營銷人員對 Viant 數據平台的訪問民主化，並為他們提供數據方面的競爭優勢。 Viant Data 平台透過與數十家行業領先的數據提供商以及 Snowflake 等頂級潔淨室的集成，進一步實現差異化。

These data and clean room integrations, combined with our new chat with data product, unlock the value of first-party data using simple natural language access while providing the required data privacy and protection. The Viant Data platform and Chat with Data are unrivaled and provide for a winning combination. The AI-enabled tools that we are rolling out are designed to allow marketers and their agencies of any size to deliver high-performing campaigns while enabling customers with best-in-class attribution. But where these tools really provide an advantage is in Viant's historical area of strength, the mid-market.

這些資料和無塵室集成，與我們新的資料聊天產品相結合，使用簡單的自然語言存取來釋放第一方資料的價值，同時提供所需的資料隱私和保護。 Viant Data 平台和 Chat with Data 是無與倫比的，是一個成功的組合。我們推出的人工智慧工具旨在幫助任何規模的行銷人員及其代理商提供高效能的行銷活動，同時為客戶提供一流的歸因。但這些工具真正提供優勢的是 Viant 歷史上的優勢領域，也就是中階市場。

There are several reasons why we've been successful within this market segment, and it begins with product performance. Our investments in AI-enabled solutions like AI bid optimizer and our buy-side only strategy has consistently allowed us to deliver lower CPMs than our competitors, and that results in superior campaign performance for our customers. That's important for any customer, but particularly when budgets are more demanding. Similarly, we believe we offer the best attribution and reporting capabilities available. That means better tracking of return on ad spend and ultimately more efficient spending as campaigns can be consistently adjusted to ensure objectives are being met and effective spend -- or excuse me, ineffective spend can be redirected.

我們在這個細分市場中取得成功的原因有很多，首先是產品性能。我們對人工智慧出價優化器等支援人工智慧的解決方案和僅限買方的策略的投資始終使我們能夠提供比競爭對手更低的每千次展示費用，從而為我們的客戶帶來卓越的廣告活動效果。這對任何客戶都很重要，尤其是在預算要求更高的情況下。同樣，我們相信我們可以提供最好的歸因和報告功能。這意味著更好地追蹤廣告支出回報，並最終提高支出效率，因為可以不斷調整廣告活動，以確保實現目標和有效支出——或者對不起，無效支出可以重新定向。

Now add to that a powerful product like the Viant data platform. With the depth of insights it provides a capability many of our mid-market customers have never dreamed of being able to access because of the high data and analytics skill set historically required. And we've now leveled the playing field in a truly unprecedented way.

現在增加一個強大的產品，如 Viant 數據平台。憑藉深度的洞察力，它提供了我們的許多中端市場客戶從未夢想過能夠存取的功能，因為歷史上需要高數據和分析技能。我們現在以一種真正前所未有的方式創造了公平的競爭環境。

Finally, I want to dive into what's become a hot topic in the programmatic advertising industry: Supply path optimization. Put simply, how can the industry streamline the path between advertiser and publisher, and ensure we are removing waste in the middle. As with many topics in the ad tech space, this can be confusing. We often get the question, is Viant trying to develop an SSP or eliminate the SSP, the answer is emphatically no. We're working hard to eliminate the additional cost to advertisers, resulting from the unnecessary reselling of inventory amongst middlemen with our ultimate objective of being -- of providing a tighter connection between advertisers and publishers.

最後，我想深入探討程序化廣告產業的熱門話題：供應路徑優化。簡而言之，行業如何簡化廣告商和發布商之間的路徑，並確保我們消除中間的浪費。與廣告科技領域的許多主題一樣，這可能會令人困惑。我們常被問到，Viant 是想發展 SSP 還是消除 SSP，答案是否定的。我們正在努力消除中間商之間不必要的庫存轉售給廣告商帶來的額外成本，我們的最終目標是在廣告商和發布商之間提供更緊密的聯繫。

Earlier this year, we launched our supply path optimization program called Direct Access, where we partnered with leading CTV publishers, to create a more cost-efficient direct path to premium inventory. These are the largest publishers in the CTV space and represent a majority of the premium inventory available. Direct Access is a program that provides clear benefits to both the buy side and the sell side. The digital supply chain is unnecessarily complicated by resellers who drive up the tech tax while delivering no added value to the customer. With Direct Access, we're removing resellers from the process and delivering lower immediate cost for the advertiser, along with tighter -- or excuse me, higher revenue for the publisher.

今年早些時候，我們啟動了名為「Direct Access」的供應路徑優化計劃，與領先的 CTV 發行商合作，創建更具成本效益的優質庫存直接路徑。這些是 CTV 領域最大的發行商，佔可用優質庫存的大部分。 Direct Access 是一項為買方和賣方提供明顯好處的計劃。經銷商提高了技術稅，卻沒有為客戶帶來任何附加價值，使數位供應鏈變得不必要的複雜化。透過直接訪問，我們將經銷商從流程中剔除，為廣告主提供更低的直接成本，同時為發布商提供更嚴格的收入（或對不起，更高的收入）。

Our primary focus of Direct Access is in CTV. And Q3 saw us again outperform the inherently high-growth CTV market. In Q3, over 25% of our CTV spend was through Direct Access publishers, a figure that continues to grow as we move through the year. Last month, we hosted an industry event in New York called the future of supply-path optimization in CTV. Many of the leading CTV publishers and advertisers were in attendance. and the message could not have been clear from both parties. They want to streamline what has become an unnecessarily complex supply path. That complexity leads to financial waste, higher instances of fraud and less favorable viewing experiences for consumers. And Direct Access is injecting efficiency, transparency and ultimately improvement to the entire ecosystem.

我們 Direct Access 的主要重點是 CTV。第三季我們的表現再次跑贏了本來就高速成長的 CTV 市場。在第三季度，我們超過 25% 的 CTV 支出是透過 Direct Access 出版商進行的，這一數字隨著全年的增長而持續增長。上個月，我們在紐約舉辦了一場名為「CTV 供應路徑優化的未來」的產業活動。許多領先的 CTV 出版商和廣告商都出席了會議。雙方的信息都不清楚。他們希望簡化已經變得不必要的複雜供應路徑。這種複雜性會導致財務浪費、詐欺事件增加以及消費者的觀看體驗較差。 Direct Access 正在為整個生態系統注入效率、透明度並最終得到改善。

Our unique approach with Direct Access enables seamless access to premium CTV inventory at no additional cost to publishers, while other supply path optimization solutions focus on web and display inventory while layering on fees. As part of our program growth, we recently expanded our Direct Access partnership with Disney to include the launch of their biddable CTV inventory, inclusive of Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+. Direct Access is picking up steam with an increasing amount of premium CTV publishers looking to connect directly to our customers' demand, while more and more marketers recognize direct access as a way to maximize the value of their CTV ad spend with Viant.

我們獨特的直接存取方法可以無縫存取優質 CTV 庫存，而無需向發布商支付額外費用，而其他供應路徑優化解決方案則專注於網路和展示廣告庫存，同時收取分層費用。作為我們計劃發展的一部分，我們最近擴大了與迪士尼的 Direct Access 合作夥伴關係，包括推出可競價的 CTV 廣告資源，其中包括 Hulu、ESPN+ 和 Disney+。隨著越來越多的優質CTV 發布商希望直接滿足客戶的需求，Direct Access 正在蓬勃發展，而越來越多的營銷人員認識到直接訪問是透過Viant 實現CTV 廣告支出價值最大化的一種方式。

We will continue to drive innovation and the supply path for our customers as we represent their interest in the market. And with that, I'll close by saying we had an excellent first three quarters of the year. We believe we're well positioned to continue to take share amidst a broader market landscape that is continuing to trend upward. We are focused on delivering best-in-class product solutions and support to our clients, and we believe the gains we've made so far this year will only continue to increase in the coming quarters.

我們將繼續為客戶推動創新和供應路徑，因為我們代表他們在市場上的利益。最後，我要說的是，我們今年前三個季度的表現非常出色。我們相信，我們處於有利地位，可以在繼續呈上升趨勢的更廣闊的市場格局中繼續佔據份額。我們專注於為客戶提供一流的產品解決方案和支持，我們相信今年迄今所取得的成果將在未來幾季繼續增加。

Thank you, and I'll now turn it over to Larry to provide more details on our financial performance.

謝謝，我現在將其轉交給拉里，以提供有關我們財務業績的更多詳細資訊。

Thanks, Chris. Before I begin, I'd like to remind everyone that we have posted a presentation to our Investor Relations website that includes supplemental financial information to accompany today's call. As Tim shared, we delivered a very strong third quarter, exceeding the high end of our guidance on all key metrics. Revenue for the quarter was $59.6 million, an increase of 22% versus the prior year period. Contribution ex-TAC for the quarter was $39.1 million, also an increase of 22% versus the prior year period and 16% higher than Q2. These strong top line results were propelled by our continued success in capturing market share within the mid-market segment.

謝謝，克里斯。在開始之前，我想提醒大家，我們已經在投資者關係網站上發布了一份演示文稿，其中包括今天電話會議的補充財務資訊。正如蒂姆分享的那樣，我們第三季度的業績非常強勁，超過了我們所有關鍵指標指導的上限。該季度營收為 5,960 萬美元，比去年同期成長 22%。該季度扣除 TAC 的貢獻為 3,910 萬美元，也比去年同期成長 22%，比第二季成長 16%。這些強勁的營收業績得益於我們在中端市場領域不斷成功佔領市場。

This success was also bolstered by a steady cadence of new product releases and adoption including the Viant Household ID, our advanced reporting suite, the Viant Data Platform, Direct Access and AI bid optimizer. Customer adoption continued to grow across all of these products in Q3, contributing to meaningful revenue and contribution ex-TAC in the quarter.

這項成功也得益於新產品的穩定發布和採用，包括 Viant Household ID、我們的高級報告套件、Viant 數據平台、Direct Access 和 AI 出價優化器。第三季度，所有這些產品的客戶採用率持續成長，為本季度帶來了可觀的收入和貢獻（不包括 TAC）。

Notably, in Q3, we witnessed record levels of spend, revenue and contribution ex-TAC across our percentage of spend offering further underscoring the growing momentum we are establishing with our mid-market customers. In terms of customer verticals, growth in the quarter was primarily driven by continued gains across our retail, consumer goods and travel customer verticals. From a channel perspective, we delivered another impressive quarter in CTV, again, outpacing the market with robust double-digit growth.

值得注意的是，在第三季度，我們見證了支出、收入和貢獻（不包括 TAC）在我們的支出百分比中創紀錄的水平，進一步凸顯了我們與中端市場客戶建立的不斷增長的勢頭。就客戶垂直領域而言，本季的成長主要是由我們的零售、消費品和旅遊客戶垂直領域的持續成長所推動的。從頻道角度來看，我們在 CTV 領域再次取得了令人印象深刻的季度成績，以兩位數的強勁增長超越了市場。

Our continued success in CTV can be attributed to the widespread adoption and effectiveness of the Viant Household ID in this inherently cookieless environment. Furthermore, the substantial impact of our Direct Access program, as previously highlighted by Chris also played a pivotal role in driving CTV spend during the quarter. Notably, in the third quarter, CTV represented more than 1/3 of total ad spend on our platform, retaining its status as our fastest-growing channel.

我們在 CTV 領域的持續成功可歸因於 Viant 家庭 ID 在這種本質上無 cookie 的環境中的廣泛採用和有效性。此外，正如 Chris 先前強調的那樣，我們的 Direct Access 計劃的重大影響也在推動本季度 CTV 支出方面發揮了關鍵作用。值得注意的是，第三季度，CTV 占我們平台廣告總支出的 1/3 以上，繼續保持其作為我們成長最快的頻道的地位。

Turning to formats, video, which includes both mobile video and CTV, accounted for well over half of the spend on our platform during the quarter, underscoring our strength in this high-growth format. Likewise, streaming audio continues to emerge as a promising category experiencing strong double-digit growth in the quarter once again. Advertiser spend per active customer increased 11% on a trailing 12-month basis, and we ended the quarter with 301 active customers, a net decline of 13 customers during the period.

就格式而言，影片（包括行動影片和 CTV）佔本季我們平台支出的一半以上，凸顯了我們在這種高成長格式中的實力。同樣，串流媒體音訊繼續成為一個有前途的類別，在本季度再次實現兩位數的強勁增長。每個活躍客戶的廣告商支出在過去 12 個月的基礎上增加了 11%，本季末我們的活躍客戶數量為 301 名，期間淨減少了 13 名客戶。

This decline is consistent with our previous communication regarding our customer growth strategy, which focuses on fostering deeper relationships with high-quality customers capable of increased spending levels. As part of our strategy, we are deliberately shifting our focus away from lower spend customer segments while actively attracting and onboarding customers with greater long-term value potential.

這種下降與我們先前關於客戶成長策略的溝通一致，該策略的重點是與能夠提高支出水準的優質客戶建立更深的關係。作為我們策略的一部分，我們有意將重點從低支出客戶群轉移，同時積極吸引和吸引具有更大長期價值潛力的客戶。

Turning now to operating expenses for the quarter. Our non-GAAP operating expenses totaled $29.4 million, marking a significant 13% year-over-year reduction. This reduction highlights our ongoing commitment to driving operational efficiencies across the organization. As we've mentioned in previous quarters, we're achieving this operating leverage while concurrently making substantial investments in the business. This is exemplified by a more than 30% increase in the size of our product and engineering teams over this period.

現在談談本季的營運費用。我們的非 GAAP 營運費用總計 2,940 萬美元，年比大幅減少 13%。這項減少凸顯了我們對提高整個組織營運效率的持續承諾。正如我們在前幾個季度提到的，我們正在實現這種營運槓桿，同時對業務進行大量投資。在此期間，我們的產品和工程團隊規模增加了 30% 以上，就是例證。

Our approach is to strike a balance between realizing efficiency gains and investing in the teams and technologies that will drive our long-term success. The substantial role of AI in fueling many of these productivity enhancements instills a high level of confidence in the sustainability of our progress. We are pleased to report continued acceleration in revenue per employee, which increased 32% in the quarter, an indication of our improving efficiency as an organization. We believe the investments we're making in AI are enabling us to enhance the efficiency of our entire team, positioning us to generate sustained operating leverage in the quarters ahead.

我們的方法是在實現效率提升與投資團隊和技術之間取得平衡，以推動我們的長期成功。人工智慧在推動許多生產力提高方面發揮著重要作用，這讓我們對進步的可持續性充滿了高度的信心。我們很高興地報告，每位員工的收入持續成長，本季成長了 32%，這表明我們作為一個組織的效率不斷提高。我們相信，我們在人工智慧方面的投資使我們能夠提高整個團隊的效率，使我們能夠在未來幾季產生持續的營運槓桿。

For the third quarter, we generated adjusted EBITDA of $9.7 million, well above the high end of our guidance, representing an increase of $11.5 million from the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA margin as a percent of contribution ex-TAC was 25% for the quarter, an improvement of more than 30 percentage points from the prior year period.

第三季度，我們的調整後 EBITDA 為 970 萬美元，遠高於我們指引的上限，比去年同期增加了 1,150 萬美元。本季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率佔扣除 TAC 貢獻的百分比為 25%，比去年同期提高了 30 個百分點以上。

For the third quarter, non-GAAP net income, which excludes stock-based compensation and other items, totaled $7.6 million, which compares to a non-GAAP net loss of $4.4 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP earnings per Class A share totaled $0.08 in the current quarter, which compares to a loss of $0.06 in the prior year period.

第三季度，不以美國通用會計準則計算的淨利潤（不包括基於股票的薪酬和其他項目）總計為 760 萬美元，而去年同期的非美國通用會計準則淨虧損為 440 萬美元。本季非 GAAP A 類股每股收益總計 0​​.08 美元，而去年同期虧損 0.06 美元。

In terms of share count, we ended the quarter with 62.6 million Class A and Class B common shares outstanding. We also ended the quarter with $203 million in cash and cash equivalents which translates to a noteworthy $3.24 per share outstanding. We had $227 million of positive working capital and no debt at quarter end, and we continue to have access to a $75 million undrawn credit facility. This solid financial foundation positions us extremely well to fully capitalize on the substantial market opportunity in front of us.

就股票數量而言，本季結束時，我們已發行 6,260 萬股 A​​ 類和 B 類普通股。本季結束時，我們還擁有 2.03 億美元的現金和現金等價物，相當於每股 3.24 美元的流通股。截至季末，我們擁有 2.27 億美元的正營運資金，沒有債務，我們繼續可以獲得 7,500 萬美元的未提取信貸額度。這一堅實的財務基礎使我們能夠充分利用擺在我們面前的巨大市場機會。

As we look ahead to Q4, we expect to continue our momentum taking share, particularly in the mid-market and benefiting from the continued stabilization in the U.S. advertising environment. For the fourth quarter of 2023, we expect revenue in the range of $64 million to $67 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 20% at the midpoint. We expect contribution ex-TAC in the range of $41 million to $43 million, a year-over-year increase of 26% at the midpoint. Non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be $30.5 million to $31.5 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 1% at the midpoint. And finally, we expect adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $10.5 million to $11.5 million, which represents a year-over-year increase of 318% or $8.4 million at the midpoint.

展望第四季度，我們預計將繼續保持佔據份額的勢頭，特別是在中端市場，並受益於美國廣告環境的持續穩定。對於 2023 年第四季度，我們預計營收在 6,400 萬美元至 6,700 萬美元之間，中位數年增 20%。我們預計扣除 TAC 後的貢獻將在 4,100 萬美元至 4,300 萬美元之間，中位數年增 26%。非 GAAP 營運費用預計為 3,050 萬美元至 3,150 萬美元，中位數年增 1%。最後，我們預計調整後 EBITDA 將在 1,050 萬美元至 1,150 萬美元之間，年增 318%，中間值成長 840 萬美元。

Adjusted EBITDA margin as a percentage of contribution ex-TAC is expected to be 26% for Q4 at the midpoint of guidance, an improvement of more than 18 percentage points from the prior year period.

調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率佔扣除 TAC 貢獻的百分比預計為 26%（以指導中點計算），比去年同期提高 18 個百分點以上。

In summary, we delivered strong double-digit top line growth in Q3, while simultaneously managing a double-digit reduction in operating expenses on a year-over-year basis, resulting in significant margin expansion in the quarter. For the quarter, contribution ex-TAC grew 22% and our adjusted EBITDA margin as a percentage of contribution ex-TAC totaled 25%. The sum of these 2 metrics often referred to as the Rule of 40 was an impressive 47% in Q3. Based on the midpoint of our guidance for Q4, we expect this metric to further increase in Q4 to 52%.

總而言之，我們在第三季度實現了強勁的兩位數營收成長，同時營運費用較去年同期實現兩位數減少，從而導致本季利潤率大幅成長。本季度，不包括 TAC 的貢獻增加了 22%，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率佔不包括 TAC 的貢獻的百分比總計為 25%。這兩個指標（通常被稱為 40 法則）的總和在第三季達到了令人印象深刻的 47%。根據我們第四季指導的中點，我們預計該指標將在第四季度進一步增加至 52%。

Our market share gains in Q3 exemplified a substantial impact and effectiveness of our products and our unparalleled service. As I previously mentioned, we maintained a steady cadence of new product launches throughout 2023, and are very excited about what we have coming in 2024.

我們在第三季度的市場份額增長體現了我們的產品和無與倫比的服務的巨大影響和有效性。正如我之前提到的，我們在 2023 年保持了穩定的新產品發布節奏，並對 2024 年的產品感到非常興奮。

In Q3, we saw a steady increase in customer adoption across these newer products, driving meaningful incremental revenue and contribution ex-TAC in the quarter. We expect this positive trend to continue as customer adoption continues to build across these products and as new products come to market in 2024. And finally, we have a robust financial profile, an unwavering focus on execution and a product portfolio propelled by innovation, consistently setting us ahead of the competition. We remain focused on continuing to deliver strong top line growth and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion in the quarters ahead, all while creating enduring value for both our customers and valued shareholders.

在第三季度，我們看到這些新產品的客戶採用率穩步上升，推動了本季營收和貢獻（不包括 TAC）的大幅成長。我們預計，隨著這些產品的客戶採用率不斷提高，以及新產品將於2024 年上市，這種積極趨勢將持續下去。最後，我們擁有穩健的財務狀況、對執行的堅定關注以及由創新推動的產品組合，始終如一使我們在競爭中處於領先地位。我們仍然致力於在未來幾季繼續實現強勁的營收成長和調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率擴張，同時為我們的客戶和尊貴的股東創造持久的價值。

And with that, I'll pass it back to Tim for final comments.

然後，我會將其傳回蒂姆以徵求最終意見。

Thanks, Larry. I want to close our prepared remarks by reiterating that our strong performance this quarter was driven by the significant progress we've made across our technology initiatives that are translating directly into value for our customers. But I'm most excited that our Q3 results show investors the strength of our business model and the operating leverage we have achieved. Viant is a great company that we believe offers a compelling opportunity for investors.

謝謝，拉里。在結束我們準備好的演講時，我想重申，我們本季的強勁業績是由我們在技術計劃方面取得的重大進展推動的，這些進展直接轉化為我們客戶的價值。但最令我興奮的是，我們第三季的業績向投資人展示了我們商業模式的優勢和我們所實現的營運槓桿。 Viant 是一家很棒的公司，我們相信它為投資者提供了一個誘人的機會。

We delivered 22% revenue growth in the quarter. We have over $200 million in cash on the balance sheet, accelerating profitability and are structurally positioned to capture the opportunity of the enormous tailwind of the $60 billion of linear TV ad spend coming into Connected TV.

本季我們的營收成長了 22%。我們的資產負債表上有超過 2 億美元的現金，正在加速盈利，並且在結構上已做好準備，可以抓住 600 億美元線性電視廣告支出進入聯網電視的巨大機遇。

We look forward to wrapping up the year with another strong quarter.

我們期待以另一個強勁的季度結束這一年。

I'll now turn it back over to the operator to open the video to questions. Operator?

現在我將把它轉回操作員以打開視訊提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) We'll hear first from Andrew Boone with JMP.

（操作員說明）我們將首先聽到 JMP 的 Andrew Boone 的發言。

I wanted to touch on just the advertiser count right? We attended an Innovation Day, all of the new features that you guys had sounded very impressive. Yet at the same time, we're seeing customers down 13%. So is there anything you can help us understand in terms of either the top of funnel as you guys speak to these mid-market agencies? Or any other way that we understand the traction that you guys are getting with us as we are watching the customer count fall down sequentially.

我只想談談廣告商數量，對嗎？我們參加了創新日，所有的新功能聽起來都非常令人印象深刻。但同時，我們發現客戶數量下降了 13%。那麼，當你們與這些中端市場機構交談時，有什麼可以幫助我們理解漏斗頂部的內容嗎？或以任何其他方式讓我們了解當我們看到客戶數量連續下降時你們對我們的吸引力。

Yes. Thanks, Andrew, for the question. Just to reiterate what we've said, I think it's been about this time last year, we started talking about this. It's really just our focus on the large spending customers in the mid-market. We have a lot of early vintage customers from, call it, 2018 that just haven't kept pace. From a spend basis, many of those, we require new minimums or increased pricing as a result -- and really, that's -- so we were really just pointing ahead that we knew we'd have some lower end customer churn. And that's really what -- a lot of what you're seeing. We think that, that really relent around Q1, where a lot of those MSAs that are on 12-month kind of rolling agreements, but we largely eat through a lot of that in Q1.

是的。謝謝安德魯提出的問題。只是重申我們已經說過的話，我想大約是在去年的這個時候，我們開始討論這個問題。這其實只是我們關注中階市場的大額消費客戶。我們有很多 2018 年的早期復古客戶，但他們沒有跟上腳步。從支出的角度來看，其中許多，我們需要新的最低限度或因此提高定價——實際上，就是這樣——所以我們真的只是向前指出，我們知道我們會有一些低端客戶流失。這就是你所看到的很多內容。我們認為，這在第一季度左右確實有所緩和，許多 MSA 簽訂了 12 個月的滾動協議，但我們在第一季度基本上吃掉了很多。

What I will say is though we are continuing at the top of the funnel, we're gaining just a lot of traction in the mid-market. A lot of the things that we talked about, our solutions around CTV, Direct Access, our focus on measurement with the Viant data platform and our advanced reporting, a lot of that is really what's driving new customer acquisition as well as the growth of existing customers.

我要說的是，儘管我們繼續處於漏斗的頂部，但我們在中端市場獲得了巨大的吸引力。我們討論了很多事情，我們圍繞 CTV 的解決方案、Direct Access、我們對 Viant 數據平台測量的關注以及我們的高級報告，其中很多確實是推動新客戶獲取以及現有客戶增長的因素。

So, we feel that the advertiser cap going down, you can see it really has -- and we highlighted this, it has a de minimis impact on really, we shed the kind of lower end of the customer base that really doesn't have a lot of value.

因此，我們認為廣告商上限下降了，你可以看到它確實有所下降 - 我們強調了這一點，它確實產生了微乎其微的影響，我們擺脫了真正沒有的低端客戶群很有價值。

And then I wanted to ask again on the AI tools, but it really brings friction out of the buying process for ad buyers. Talk about the opportunity there in terms of agencies as well as brands in housing. What happens as ad buyers just become more efficient? Where are you guys seeing more traction there? Anything else you can share about that process?

然後我想再次詢問人工智慧工具，但它確實為廣告買家的購買過程帶來了摩擦。談論機構和住房品牌方面的機會。當廣告購買者變得更有效率時會發生什麼事？你們在哪裡看到了更多的吸引力？關於這個過程您還有什麼可以分享的嗎？

Yes. I'll start. I mean it's not really about in-housing. Anyone who works in the programmatic space, whether you're a trader or in-house or at an agency or an independent company. These are just complex systems to be able to manage and due to the many, many choices that the traders are faced with when planning a campaign and then, of course, optimizing from there. So we try and focus on tools that just make it a lot more simpler, and the North Star there is search and social ad buying across those platforms, where you're not choosing every single feature and functionality to a very in-depth level. And so the tools that we brought forward, AI recommendations, giving you site list recommendations, time of day recommendations, location, all basic things that a programmatic trader does, but being able to analyze trillions of different combinations that are out there and simplifying that. Being able to speed up the process of a customer coming on to a Deltic and understanding how to use it, that ultimately drive a spend and revenue growth and that's been our primary focus.

是的。我開始吧。我的意思是，這與內部住房無關。任何在程式化領域工作的人，無論您是交易員、內部人員、代理商還是獨立公司。這些只是能夠管理的複雜系統，並且由於交易者在規劃活動時面臨著許多很多的選擇，當然，也要從那裡進行最佳化。因此，我們嘗試專注於使事情變得更加簡單的工具，北極星是跨這些平台的搜尋和社交廣告購買，您不必在非常深入的水平上選擇每一個特性和功能。因此，我們提出的工具，人工智慧建議，為您提供網站列表建議、一天中的時間建議、位置，以及程序化交易者所做的所有基本事情，但能夠分析數萬億種不同的組合，並簡化這些操作。能夠加快客戶使用 Deltic 並了解如何使用它的流程，最終推動支出和收入成長，這是我們的首要關注點。

Yes, I would add that if you break it out, I'll put it into 2 segments, larger customers really, there -- the traders there, they focus a lot around the usability and the UX of the platforms. We hear a lot about that, have for years. Anything we can do to make it easier for them to manage spend if they can do that, manage more spend per trader. That's what they want to do. It drives a lot of efficiencies for them. And if ours is easier to use, we think -- we know that, that draws more and more campaign dollars to us. However, in the -- I think in the kind of mid-sized enterprise to all the way to the SMBs, we talk a lot about search and social and why it's so easy to use because it has to be. Really, if you look at search and social, all businesses in theory are available to them. And historically, open web programmatic small businesses don't -- aren't going to DSPs and Open Web programmatic because of the complexity.

是的，我想補充一點，如果你把它分解出來，我會把它分成兩個部分，實際上是更大的客戶——那裡的交易者，他們非常關注平台的可用性和用戶體驗。多年來我們常聽到這樣的說法。我們可以採取一切措施讓他們更輕鬆地管理支出（如果他們能做到的話），為每個交易者管理更多支出。這就是他們想做的事。它為他們提高了很多效率。如果我們的產品更容易使用，我們認為——我們知道，這會為我們吸引越來越多的競選資金。然而，我認為在中型企業一直到中小企業，我們談論了很多關於搜尋和社交的內容，以及為什麼它如此易於使用，因為它必須如此。確實，如果你看看搜尋和社交，理論上所有業務都可供他們使用。從歷史上看，由於複雜性，開放式網路程式化小型企業不會採用 DSP 和開放式網路程式化。

We're trying to bring down that complexity to really open up the total addressable market. And that's really where we see what the opportunity is by providing more and more of these tools, it's going to help the higher end of the market, but also the millions and millions of businesses out there that buy search and social.

我們正在努力降低複雜性，以真正打開整個潛在市場。這正是我們看到的機會所在，透過提供越來越多的這些工具，它將幫助高端市場，同時也幫助數百萬購買搜尋和社交的企業。

Yes. And we -- I mean, to sum it up, we think most businesses should buy search, most businesses should buy social and most businesses should buy TV because that's what drives those other two channels as well.

是的。我的意思是，總而言之，我們認為大多數企業應該購買搜索，大多數企業應該購買社交，大多數企業應該購買電視，因為這也是推動其他兩個頻道的動力。

Sorry. And then I'm going to sneak one last one. Larry, was there a spend number for the quarter in terms of aggregate total spend growth?

對不起。然後我要偷偷拿最後一張。 Larry，該季度的總支出成長是否有支出數據？

We did -- we stopped disclosing that a couple of quarters ago. If you recall last year, there was a sizable delta in the growth rate of spend versus revenue versus contribution ex-TAC. And that has converged since we got through that mix shift that we went through in 2022. So the numbers are all very similar. So in Q3, we grew revenue 22%, [cxt] 22% spend would be approximately about that amount as well.

我們做到了——幾個季度前我們停止披露這一點。如果您還記得去年，支出與收入的成長率與扣除 TAC 的貢獻之間存在相當大的差異。自從我們在 2022 年經歷了混合轉變以來，這種情況已經趨於一致。所以這些數字都非常相似。因此，在第三季度，我們的收入成長了 22%，[cxt] 22% 的支出也大約是這個數字。

Andrew Marok with Raymond James has the next question.

安德魯·馬洛克和雷蒙德·詹姆斯提出了下一個問題。

Kind of some follow-ups to the last two in some of your commentary in the prepared remarks. So one of the things you did touch on, both in the prepared remarks and in the Innovation Day, is that impact that the types of data enhanced and AI-enhanced products can have on relatively novice users. I guess the question I would have as a result is how do you adjust and tailor your go-to-market strategy to these types of users? And what's the impact on sales cycles? Are they kind of longer because there's a longer education or proving out period?

這是您在準備好的評論中的一些評論中最後兩點的一些後續行動。因此，您在準備好的發言和創新日中確實提到的一件事是，資料增強和人工智慧增強產品的類型可能對相對新手用戶產生的影響。我想我最終會遇到的問題是，如何針對這些類型的用戶調整和自訂您的上市策略？對銷售週期有何影響？它們更長是因為教育或證明期更長嗎？

Yes. Great question. All right. Really what -- just -- you're talking about the accessibility of the Viant data platform I mentioned 7 out of our 10 -- our top 10 customers used the Viant data platform. And it's really because of the insights they're able to generate, but they can only generate those insights because they have in-house data science teams. That's sort of the prerequisite. Many of our customers do not have in-house data science teams. Therefore, it's a very -- when we showcase it Customers love it. It's a wow factor.

是的。很好的問題。好的。真正的 - 只是 - 你正在談論 Viant 數據平台的可訪問性，我提到了我們 10 個客戶中的 7 個 - 我們的前 10 個客戶使用了 Viant 數據平台。這實際上是因為他們能夠產生洞察力，但他們只能產生這些洞察力，因為他們擁有內部數據科學團隊。這就是先決條件。我們的許多客戶沒有內部數據科學團隊。因此，當我們展示它時，客戶非常喜歡它。這是一個令人驚嘆的因素。

However, we're typically talking to trading teams, and they don't know what to do with it because they can't -- they don't write SQL query. They don't have an engineering skill set. So really, what we've tried to do is lower the barrier there, and that's really where natural language comes in. You can issue a prompt, ask any question of the data, structured or unstructured data, and they then have the power of a data scientist to be able to gain insights. That's typically -- that's the largest use case of what's happening.

然而，我們通常與交易團隊交談，他們不知道如何處理它，因為他們不能——他們不編寫 SQL 查詢。他們沒有工程技能。所以實際上，我們試圖做的就是降低那裡的障礙，這就是自然語言真正發揮作用的地方。您可以發出提示，詢問數據的任何問題，無論是結構化還是非結構化數據，然後它們就具有以下功能：資料科學家能夠獲得見解。這通常是正在發生的事情的最大用例。

Those customers that use it, they onboard their CRM file, all their sales data, all their campaign impression logs, there's an incredible amount of data at their fingertips, and then they even query, they look for insights and then they change really their optimization strategies.

使用它的客戶，他們會登入他們的 CRM 文件、所有銷售資料、所有行銷活動印像日誌，觸手可及的資料量令人難以置信，然後他們甚至會查詢、尋找見解，然後真正改變他們的優化策略。

We're now being able to do that instead of writing a complex SQL query, you could just write natural language commands and gain those insights. So, we really see the go-to-market now is every 1 of those customers that didn't have a data science team -- we're now offering it to those traders that they all have access now. They don't have to write SQL query, and we think it's going to be really big. And what -- the big thing on how it plays out is with better data, they're getting better strategies and they're ultimately going to get better returns.

我們現在能夠做到這一點，而不是編寫複雜的 SQL 查詢，您只需編寫自然語言命令並獲得這些見解。因此，我們確實看到現在進入市場的是每個沒有數據科學團隊的客戶——我們現在向那些現在都可以訪問的交易者提供它。他們不必編寫 SQL 查詢，我們認為它會非常大。至於如何發揮作用，最重要的是有了更好的數據，他們正在製定更好的策略，並且最終將獲得更好的回報。

So we think that, that just increases the amount of spend that they spend with us.

所以我們認為，這只會增加他們在我們這裡花費的金額。

Yes, Andrew, ultimately, just to sum it up, we focus on the user interface. That chat user interface is one that Chris described is available to all. The self-service user interface that we offer today, every day, we wake up and think about how to simplify the ad buying process through that interface as well. So it's a journey that we're on, but the chat application certainly has a lot of legs to it, both in data exploration and campaign setup and optimization.

是的，安德魯，最終，總結一下，我們關注的是使用者介面。克里斯描述的聊天使用者介面可供所有人使用。我們今天提供的自助服務使用者介面，每天，我們醒來都會思考如何透過這個介面簡化廣告購買流程。因此，這是我們正在進行的旅程，但聊天應用程式在資料探索以及活動設定和優化方面肯定有很多優勢。

I appreciate the info really helpful. And then 1 other question that we get now kind of with the cookie loss appearing to be happening and appearing to be getting closer and closer. Just kind of if you can give us a little bit of a refresher because I know you've talked about this a bit in the past around some of the Apple iOS privacy changes. But how does the technology like the household ID behave if the IP were at risk for signal, particularly for CTV.

我很欣賞這些非常有幫助的訊息。然後我們現在遇到的另一個問題是，cookie 遺失似乎正在發生，而且似乎越來越近了。如果您能讓我們回顧一下，因為我知道您過去曾圍繞 Apple iOS 隱私變更的一些內容討論過這個問題。但是，如果 IP 面臨訊號風險（尤其是 CTV），家庭 ID 等技術會如何表現。

Yes. So when we talk about our data platform, we're built on a completely non-digital identifier structure. And what we mean by people-based advertising is name, address, phone number, e-mail address. And so when we say household IP that's not tying it to an IP address, it's tying all 4 of those data points together at the physical household. So to us, we don't really see this causing any disruption in our technology. It certainly is a big change for the industry. which we do believe accelerates our growth into 2024 as these environments come out.

是的。因此，當我們談論我們的資料平台時，我們是建立在完全非數字標識符結構之上的。我們所說的以人為本的廣告是指姓名、地址、電話號碼、電子郵件地址。因此，當我們說家庭 IP 時，它並未與 IP 位址綁定，而是將實體家庭的所有 4 個資料點綁定在一起。所以對我們來說，我們並沒有真正看到這會對我們的技術造成任何破壞。對於這個行業來說，這無疑是一個巨大的變化。我們相信，隨著這些環境的出現，這將加速我們到 2024 年的成長。

The positive of the delay, the first time of when Google did delay this post our IPO is that we're now -- we've now had a solution in market for many years that many mid-market and large holding companies have been able to test, see the scale, see the accuracy and understand its differences. And so we think we're really well positioned to grow and accelerate that growth in '24 once this event takes place.

延遲的積極意義是，谷歌第一次推遲了我們的 IPO，我們現在已經在市場上找到了一個解決方案，許多中型市場和大型控股公司已經能夠做到這一點。進行測試時，請查看比例、查看準確性並了解其差異。因此，我們認為，一旦這一事件發生，我們就確實處於有利位置，可以在 24 年實現成長並加速成長。

Moving on to Maria Ripps with Canaccord.

接下來是 Canaccord 的 Maria Ripps。

Great. First, you mentioned continued stabilization in the ad environment in Q4, but maybe can you expand on how you would classify marketers sentiment so far in Q4 compared to maybe the previous holiday periods? And are you seeing any sort of conservatism around ad budgets as a result of some brands sort of leaning more heavily into promotions?

偉大的。首先，您提到第四季度廣告環境持續穩定，但也許您可以詳細說明與之前的假期期間相比，第四季度迄今為止您如何對行銷人員的情緒進行分類？您是否看到由於某些品牌更傾向於促銷而導致廣告預算出現任何保守主義？

We're not seeing a lot -- Maria. We're not really seeing a lot of that. We're certainly seeing accelerating growth from the third into the fourth quarter, which is what we typically see. This time last year, I would say the environment to us seems much different, much more positive this year. Retail continues to be strong as well as really just broadly across all verticals. A lot of it -- I would say -- so we definitely see a good ad environment out there. I would say the next piece would just be our focus in the company around mid-market, continuing all year long and servicing that customer segment, really proving it out on campaign performance.

我們見到的不多——瑪麗亞。我們並沒有真正看到很多這樣的情況。我們當然會看到從第三季到第四季的加速成長，這是我們通常看到的。去年的這個時候，我想說今年的環境對我們來說似乎大不相同，更積極。零售業持續強勁，而且在所有垂直領域都很廣泛。我想說，其中有很多，所以我們肯定看到了一個好的廣告環境。我想說，下一部分將是我們圍繞中階市場的公司重點，全年持續為該客戶群提供服務，並真正在行銷活動績效上證明這一點。

As I stated earlier, performance matters a ton and they're going to allocate more of their money to the higher-performing channels. So that's number one. But I would say in the -- really the open web around programmatic, it's getting a lot more premium, the performance ever since Apple came out with changes well over a year ago. It's really highlighted a lot of spend that could go to the Open Web programmatic, and that's benefiting us certainly. And we really see a strong fourth quarter.

正如我之前所說，性能非常重要，他們會將更多資金分配給性能更高的管道。所以這是第一。但我想說的是，在真正圍繞程式化的開放網路中，自從蘋果一年多前推出變化以來，它的效能變得更加優質。它確實強調了可以用於開放網路程式化的大量支出，這當然使我們受益。我們確實看到了強勁的第四季。

Got it. That makes sense. And just following up on cookie dilution. So as you move closer to -- I think it's slated for Q1 of '24, could you maybe talk about how you're positioned -- positioning your sales force and whether the topic is being discussed in your conversations with brands and agencies at this point?

知道了。這就說得通了。並跟進餅乾稀釋情況。因此，當您接近時 - 我認為定於 24 年第一季度進行，您能否談談您的定位 - 定位您的銷售人員以及您是否在與品牌和代理商的對話中討論該主題觀點？

Yes. I'll go and start that. I mean we've obviously been -- we've clearly been in a market and this is the -- this is the sign out front for us in our go-to-market is around all around signal loss. And the reality is that for a long time, -- and this isn't going to be new come January. Many marketers are definitely aware. They used to be able to match up all of their conversions on their website to all of their ad impressions. They used to be able to match those up at very, very high scale, 90-plus percentiles.

是的。我去開始吧。我的意思是，我們顯然已經進入了一個市場，這就是我們進入市場時面臨的訊號損失的跡象。現實情況是，在很長一段時間內，這在一月不會是新鮮事。許多行銷人員肯定都知道。他們過去能夠將網站上的所有轉換與所有廣告展示次數相匹配。他們過去能夠以非常非常高的比例（90 多個百分位）來匹配這些數據。

But on the average customer, we see they're only able to match about 30% of their transactions to their ad impressions. So there's many marketers that are out there and have been out there for well over, call it, a year or two searching for measurement solutions. So that's really helped us. We have a big focus around measurement that drives customer adoption, and they really look to our tools to be able to help them with measuring their ad spend.

但對於一般客戶來說，我們發現他們只能將大約 30% 的交易與其廣告展示次數相匹配。因此，有許多行銷人員已經在那裡尋找測量解決方案一兩年了。所以這確實對我們有幫助。我們非常注重推動客戶採用的衡量，他們確實希望我們的工具能幫助他們衡量廣告支出。

So our go-to-market really isn't really going to change. I do think it is going to be enhanced. Many of the things that we talked about on our Innovation Day. All of those products, a lot of them are aimed around measurement and the accessibility of measurement to make it easier for customers to measure their ad spend. But it's -- we're not really in market talking to a customer who's unaware that signal loss is affecting them. They all readily have that problem, and I do believe many, if not all, are searching for solutions.

因此，我們的行銷策略實際上不會改變。我確實認為它將會得到增強。我們在創新日討論了許多事情。所有這些產品，其中許多都是圍繞著測量和測量的可訪問性而設計的，以便讓客戶更容易測量他們的廣告支出。但事實上，我們並沒有真正在市場上與不知道訊號遺失正在影響他們的客戶交談。他們都很容易遇到這個問題，我相信很多人（如果不是全部）都在尋找解決方案。

So we think that although it's only going to be 1% of traffic on Google Chrome starting in Q1, Google themselves has been out there pretty heavily saying it's for real this time. So we think it will be a strong year for us again.

因此，我們認為，雖然從第一季開始，它只佔 Google Chrome 流量的 1%，但谷歌自己已經大力表示，這次是真的。所以我們認為這對我們來說又將是強勁的一年。

Yes, I would just add to that. I think 1 thing that's often overlooked is the integrated product that we bring customers that's really a differentiator. There's a signal loss problem, and we've answered that with household ID. There's -- you now have to move from pixels firing all across the web to clean rooms and our data platform plays huge important areas there, and you can instantly activate across the demand side platform. And it's that integrated nature of the product offering for the buy-side advertiser, that really is a phenomenal solution in market. That's driven our market share gains in '23 that we think will accelerate in '24. .

是的，我只想補充一點。我認為經常被忽視的一件事是我們為客戶提供的整合產品，這確實是一個差異化因素。存在信號丟失問題，我們已透過家庭 ID 解決了該問題。現在，您必須從整個網路上的像素轉移到無塵室，我們的資料平台在那裡發揮著巨大的重要作用，您可以立即在需求方平台上啟動。正是為買方廣告商提供的產品的整合性質，這確實是市場上的一個非凡的解決方案。這推動了我們在 23 年的市佔率成長，我們認為這種成長將在 24 年加速。 。

UBS, Chris Kuntarich has the next question.

瑞銀集團 (UBS) 克里斯·昆塔里奇 (Chris Kuntarich) 有下一個問題。

Can you guys hear me?

你們聽得到我說話嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Maybe just two quick questions. Could you just give us a bit more color on how the quarter progressed on a monthly basis to CTV and kind of how those trends were through October. I think you had called out stabilization but considering the conflict that we had in the Middle East. Just curious if that was any impact there. And then maybe just 1 on the expense side. I think you guys had called out that product and engineering teams were up about 30% year-over-year. And I think you guys had cash expenses growing sequentially this quarter at about 10% and then the guide is for another 7%. So just curious, is how we should be thinking about staffing levels and engineering and kind of some of the other roles within the team here for the opportunity that you guys see ahead in '24?

也許只是兩個簡單的問題。您能否向我們詳細介紹一下 CTV 本季的月度進度以及 10 月份的趨勢。我認為您呼籲穩定，但考慮到我們在中東發生的衝突。只是好奇這是否有任何影響。然後在費用方面可能只有 1。我想你們已經說過，產品和工程團隊比去年同期成長了 30% 左右。我認為你們本季的現金支出較上季成長了 10% 左右，然後指引是另外 7%。所以只是好奇，我們應該如何考慮人員配置水平和工程以及團隊中的其他一些角色，以獲得你們在 24 年看到的機會？

Larry, do you want to take both those .

拉里，你想把這兩樣都拿走嗎？

Yes, I can take them. Thanks, Chris. So in terms of the quarter, we did see pretty steady growth throughout the quarter. Definitely, the last month of the quarter typically is the biggest month. So that was even more pronounced. But it was steady throughout the quarter. And we're seeing it across CTV. We're seeing it across video more broadly, retail and consumer goods, we are seeing solid strengths, which again, to us, speaks a lot about the stabilization that we're seeing.

是的，我可以帶走它們。謝謝，克里斯。因此，就本季而言，我們確實看到整個季度的成長相當穩定。當然，該季度的最後一個月通常是最大的月份。所以這一點就更加明顯了。但整個季度都保持穩定。我們在 CTV 上看到了這一點。我們在更廣泛的影片、零售和消費品領域看到了這一點，我們看到了堅實的優勢，這對我們來說再次充分說明了我們所看到的穩定性。

So I think it was a steady quarter. When we say stabilization, the only reason we're couching it a bit that way is we don't think the full power of the growth rate that existed prior to the kind of recession that we went through earlier this year and last year has fully returned yet but it's definitely a lot more stable than it was 2 to 3 quarters ago, for sure. And then on the expense front, yes, I mean, we certainly are investing and expenses will grow quarter-over-quarter at this point. When we look into next year, we would think, one, you have the annualization of the investments we made in 2023 and the annualizing the impact of that 24 will impact expenses. But the clear focus is to grow expenses slower -- quite a bit slower than we're growing our top line.

所以我認為這是一個穩定的季度。當我們說穩定時，我們這樣表達的唯一原因是，我們認為今年早些時候和去年經歷的經濟衰退之前存在的增長率的全部力量還沒有完全發揮出來。尚未回歸，但肯定比兩到三個季度前穩定得多。然後在費用方面，是的，我的意思是，我們當然正在投資，此時費用將逐季度增長。當我們展望明年時，我們會想，第一，我們對 2023 年的投資進行了年化，而對這 24 年的投資的年化影響將影響支出。但明確的重點是放慢支出成長速度——比我們收入的成長慢很多。

So, that's how we're looking at it. We will continue to make selected investments going forward into '24, but you will see somewhat of an increase in OpEx different. Obviously -- this year, we did significant cuts last December. So '23, you're seeing a decline, but we will see modest increases next year.

所以，這就是我們的看法。進入 24 年，我們將繼續進行有選擇的投資，但您會看到營運支出有所不同的成長。顯然，今年我們在去年 12 月進行了大幅削減。所以 23 年，你會看到下降，但明年我們會看到適度的成長。

And our next question will come from Jason Kreyer with Craig-Hallum. .

我們的下一個問題將由賈森·克雷爾和克雷格·哈勒姆提出。 。

Thank you. This is Cal Bardon for Jason. So just a couple for me, I guess, to start. Can you just kind of talk about the CTV growth potential as direct access continues to gain adoption?

謝謝。這是傑森的卡爾·巴登。我想，我想先從幾個開始。您能否談談隨著直接接觸的不斷普及，CTV 的成長潛力？

Yes. I would just say specifically within CTV, that's where our Direct Access Program is focused -- it's not something that we're looking to take fees on. We're really just trying to give the most optimized path and the most direct path for our customers to get more working media dollars to premium content owners and probably the most exciting channel in many years. So that's really the focus, and it's definitely -- it's in every single conversation that we're having with marketers.

是的。我只想說，在 CTV 內，這就是我們的直接訪問計劃的重點——這不是我們想要收取費用的東西。我們實際上只是想為我們的客戶提供最優化的路徑和最直接的路徑，以便為優質內容所有者獲得更多的工作媒體資金，並且可能是多年來最令人興奮的管道。所以這確實是焦點，而且絕對是——它存在於我們與行銷人員的每一次對話中。

Especially, this was a great year to be able to launch that and really drive it because the budgets are a lot more demanding, especially if you think about coming out of Q4 last year -- it really started to turn heads. We've been really pleased with the growth of that. So as we stated, it's more than 25% of CTV spending. We see that, and we expect it to continue to grow. One of the -- 1 is just -- it makes complete financial sense. It's more working media dollars to the publisher that's more reach and more potential new customers for our clients. That's a big 1 and really just the directness nature of it, market and the savings there.

特別是，今年是能夠推出並真正推動它的偉大一年，因為預算要求更高，特別是如果你考慮到去年第四季度的表現——它確實開始引起人們的注意。我們對它的成長感到非常高興。正如我們所說，它佔 CTV 支出的 25% 以上。我們看到了這一點，並且預計它會繼續增長。其中之一——1 就是——它具有完全的財務意義。對於出版商來說，更多的工作媒體資金可以為我們的客戶帶來更多的影響力和更多的潛在新客戶。這是一個很大的 1，實際上就是它的直接性、市場和那裡的節省。

Marketers really see the value in that. There's also some, I think, some more exciting things that will come out of Direct Access. As these premium content owners are continually looking to get more and more access to our clients' demand, I think that's going to open up a lot more opportunities things around data driven. Disney came out recently last week with an announcement that included us all around more data-driven products and bidding. So a more biddable supply. I would say, this time last year, there was a concern in the market that CTV was all going to be kind of direct IOs and it's not data-driven.

行銷人員確實看到了其中的價值。我認為 Direct Access 也會帶來一些更令人興奮的事情。隨著這些優質內容所有者不斷尋求越來越多地滿足客戶需求，我認為這將為數據驅動帶來更多機會。迪士尼上週最近發布了一項公告，其中包括我們圍繞更多數據驅動的產品和競價。因此供應更具可投標性。我想說的是，去年的這個時候，市場上有人擔心 CTV 將成為直接 IO，而不是數據驅動的。

We didn't -- we expected the opposite and we're seeing that. You're seeing the largest content owner in the world there. opening up data-driven, biddable inventory. So we expect that to continue to grow. So we think that Direct Access is really going to play a huge role in us keep outpacing industry CTV growth.

我們沒有——我們的預期相反，我們也看到了這一點。您在那裡看到了世界上最大的內容所有者。開放資料驅動的、可投標的庫存。因此，我們預計這一數字將繼續增長。因此，我們認為 Direct Access 確實將在我們保持超越行業 CTV 成長的過程中發揮巨大作用。

Perfect. And then just last one for me. As these AI tools continue to roll out, how do you expect that to manifest in the P&L? Are these discrete revenue drivers? Or are they more so differentiators to drive more share gain and wallet gain, things like that?

完美的。然後是我的最後一個。隨著這些人工智慧工具的不斷推出，您預計這將如何體現在損益表中？這些是獨立的收入驅動因素嗎？或者它們是否更能帶來差異化，以推動更多份額收益和錢包收益之類的事情？

Yes. No, they are revenue drivers. So bid optimizers been producing revenue. We launched it in June. The way we drive revenue there is we keep 20% of the CPM savings that we produce -- so it's based off the value that we create. And they've been big drivers, all these products in aggregate, drive our contribution ex-TAC up ultimately if they're adopted. Larry, would you add anything from there?

是的。不，他們是收入驅動因素。因此，出價優化器一直在產生收入。我們在六月推出了它。我們增加收入的方式是，我們保留所產生的每千次曝光費用節省的 20%，因此它基於我們創造的價值。它們一直是重要的推動力，如果它們被採用，所有這些產品加起來最終會推動我們在 TAC 之外的貢獻。拉里，你能從那裡添加一些東西嗎？

Yes. I would also add, the direct revenue drivers, but they also help us win incremental business with our customers as well, putting more dollars to work based on certain elements of our product uplying. So we're winning incremental business, but we're also seeing a modest increase in the revenue and contribution ex-TAC as a result of using these products as well.

是的。我還要補充一點，直接的收入驅動因素，但它們也幫助我們贏得客戶的增量業務，根據我們產品升級的某些要素投入更多的資金。因此，我們正在贏得增量業務，但我們也看到由於使用這些產品，收入和 TAC 之外的貢獻也略有增加。

And that is all the time that we have today for questions. So Chris and Tim, I'll turn it back to you for closing remarks.

這就是我們今天提問的全部時間。克里斯和提姆，我將把它轉回給你們做結束語。

Thank you, everyone, for joining our third quarter call, and thank you to all the Viant employees that produced a terrific quarter. Thanks a lot, and we'll see you at our next quarterly earnings.

感謝大家參加我們的第三季電話會議，並感謝所有 Viant 員工，他們創造了一個出色的季度。非常感謝，我們下個季度財報再見。