(IHRT) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone. My name is Kelly, and I'll be your conference operator for today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the iHeartMedia Q4 2022 Earnings Call. Today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

今天是個好日子。我叫凱利，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線員。此時，我想歡迎大家參加 iHeartMedia 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議。今天的通話正在錄音中。 （操作員說明）

At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Mr. Mike McGuinness, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，我想將會議轉交給投資者關係主管 Mike McGuinness 先生。請繼續，先生。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join us for our fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. Joining me for today's discussion are Bob Pittman, our Chairman and CEO; and Rich Bressler, our President, COO and CFO. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, management will take your questions. In addition to our press release, we have an earnings presentation available on our website that you can use to follow along with our remarks.

大家下午好，感謝您抽出寶貴時間參加我們的 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議。與我一起參加今天討論的是我們的董事長兼首席執行官 Bob Pittman；以及我們的總裁、首席運營官兼首席財務官 Rich Bressler。在我們準備好的評論結束時，管理層將回答您的問題。除了我們的新聞稿外，我們還在我們的網站上提供了收益演示，您可以使用它來了解我們的評論。

Please note that this call may include forward-looking statements regarding our financial performance and operating results. These statements are based on management's current expectations, and actual results could differ from what is stated as a result of certain factors identified on today's call and in the company's SEC filings.

請注意，此次電話會議可能包括有關我們財務業績和經營業績的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述基於管理層當前的預期，實際結果可能與今天的電話會議和公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中確定的某些因素所陳述的結果不同。

Additionally, during this call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release, investor presentation and our SEC filings, which are available in the Investor Relations section of our website.

此外，在本次電話會議中，我們將參考某些非 GAAP 財務指標。 GAAP 和非 GAAP 財務指標之間的對賬包含在我們的收益發布、投資者介紹和我們的 SEC 備案中，這些可以在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到。

And now I'll turn the call over to Bob.

現在我會把電話轉給鮑勃。

Thanks, Mike, and good afternoon, everybody.

謝謝，邁克，大家下午好。

We're pleased to report another quarter of solid operating results for iHeart and consumer usage, revenue and earnings growth. Even in this continuing challenging and uncertain economic environment, we're continuing our transformation of this company.

我們很高興地報告 iHeart 和消費者使用、收入和盈利增長的另一個季度穩健的經營業績。即使在這個持續充滿挑戰和不確定的經濟環境中，我們仍在繼續對這家公司進行轉型。

Before I take you through the fourth quarter highlights, I want to take a step back and talk about the year we've just had. As a reminder, 2022 began strong for us and was poised to be robust for iHeart. However, as we're all aware, a number of macroeconomic factors led to increased volatility and uncertainty, which moderated our 2022 results. Despite these headwinds, we continue to innovate and find new ways to engage with our consumers and advertising partners, we remain committed to evolving our business, and we maintained our focus on expense management, and our financials reflect these commitments. The fourth quarter was our best quarter for revenue and adjusted EBITDA ever, and on a full year basis, in 2022, we generated the highest revenue and second highest adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow year in iHeart's history.

在我向您介紹第四季度的亮點之前，我想退後一步，談談我們剛剛度過的一年。提醒一下，2022 年對我們來說開局強勁，對 iHeart 來說勢在必行。然而，眾所周知，許多宏觀經濟因素導致波動性和不確定性增加，從而緩和了我們 2022 年的業績。儘管存在這些不利因素，我們仍在繼續創新並尋找與消費者和廣告合作夥伴互動的新方式，我們仍然致力於發展我們的業務，並且我們繼續專注於費用管理，我們的財務狀況反映了這些承諾。第四季度是我們有史以來收入和調整後 EBITDA 最好的一個季度，從全年來看，在 2022 年，我們創造了 iHeart 歷史上最高的收入和第二高的調整後 EBITDA 和自由現金流年度。

We continue to make strong progress in our transformation of iHeart into a true multiplatform audio company, driven by innovation, supported by data and technology and powered by the largest sales force and audio, executing our unique multiplatform go-to-market strategy of any seller anywhere can sell anything.

我們在將 iHeart 轉型為一家真正的多平台音頻公司方面繼續取得重大進展，以創新為驅動，以數據和技術為支持，以最大的銷售隊伍和音頻為動力，執行我們獨特的多平台進入任何賣家的市場戰略任何地方都可以賣東西。

IHeart's relationship with the consumer has never been stronger, and consumers are now spending 30% of their daily media time with audio and yet audio only captures 9% of total advertising spend. Not only do we believe that the allocation of advertising revenue to audio will increase, but because our broadcast radio assets alone reach 90% of consumers in the United States each month, which, by the way, is now more than twice the reach of the largest TV network, 4x the reach of the largest ad-enabled streaming music audio service and 2.5x the reach of the next largest broadcast radio company. We also expect to continue to take an increasing share of audio advertising spend, driven in part by our large and well-trained sales force.

IHeart 與消費者的關係從未如此牢固，消費者現在將 30% 的日常媒體時間花在音頻上，但音頻僅佔廣告總支出的 9%。我們不僅相信廣告收入分配給音頻的比例會增加，而且因為我們的廣播電台資產每月都能覆蓋美國 90% 的消費者，順便說一下，現在是美國廣播公司覆蓋範圍的兩倍多最大的電視網絡，覆蓋範圍是最大的支持廣告的流媒體音樂音頻服務的 4 倍，是第二大廣播電台公司的 2.5 倍。我們還希望繼續在音頻廣告支出中佔據越來越大的份額，部分原因是我們龐大且訓練有素的銷售隊伍。

While our digital assets continue to grow, the most traditional of our platforms, our broadcast radio assets are importantly performing much better than they did during previous advertising downturns. To put this in perspective, in 2020, our Multiplatform Group revenues declined 28%, but they were up 4% for the full year in 2022. And in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, digital accounted for 12% of the company's revenues. And today, it's over 25%, and we expect that percentage to continue to grow significantly over the long term even as broadcast radio grows as well.

儘管我們的數字資產（我們最傳統的平台）繼續增長，但重要的是，我們的廣播電台資產的表現比之前的廣告低迷時期要好得多。從這個角度來看，2020 年，我們的多平台集團收入下降了 28%，但到 2022 年全年增長了 4%。到 2020 年，在大流行開始時，數字業務占公司收入的 12% .而今天，它超過了 25%，我們預計這一比例在長期內將繼續顯著增長，即使廣播電台也在增長。

Broadcast radio with its unparalleled reach will also continue to power the development of new platforms and opportunities for us like our high-growth digital assets. This includes the iHeartRadio app, our podcast business, our new metaverse platform and our leading positions on all major social media platforms with our nearly 300 million followers, which is 7x larger than the next largest audio company and which includes our most recent successful expansion into TikTok, where our follower count grew 300% in 2022 to 27 million TikTok users with twice as many user engagements as the next largest audio company.

具有無與倫比影響力的廣播電台也將繼續推動新平台的發展和我們的高增長數字資產等機會。這包括 iHeartRadio 應用程序、我們的播客業務、我們新的 metaverse 平台以及我們在所有主要社交媒體平台上的領先地位，我們擁有近 3 億粉絲，比第二大音頻公司大 7 倍，其中包括我們最近成功擴展到TikTok，我們的粉絲數量在 2022 年增長了 300%，達到 2700 萬 TikTok 用戶，用戶參與度是第二大音頻公司的兩倍。

We remain committed to meeting our listeners wherever they are with the products and services they expect and to effectively monetizing those relationships, which is reflected in the diversity of our products and platforms as well as our early adoption of new technologies like AI, which we began rolling out in 2020 to enhance our music programming and scheduling. By providing real-time evaluation of listeners sentiment and predicting audience engagement and reactions, we give our programmers a unique advantage and are able to deliver the best experience possible to our listeners. Stations where we rolled out this proprietary system saw a 15% increase year-over-year in the average quarter hour share of adults 18 to 49. This validates our ability to identify an opportunity, design the strategy and execute it successfully and often as we did here using new technology.

我們仍然致力於滿足我們的聽眾，無論他們身在何處，都能獲得他們期望的產品和服務，並有效地通過這些關係獲利，這反映在我們產品和平台的多樣性以及我們早期採用 AI 等新技術上，我們開始將於 2020 年推出，以加強我們的音樂節目和日程安排。通過實時評估聽眾的情緒並預測聽眾的參與度和反應，我們為我們的程序員提供了獨特的優勢，並能夠為我們的聽眾提供最佳體驗。在我們推出該專有系統的車站，18 至 49 歲成年人的平均每刻鐘時間份額同比增長 15%。這證實了我們識別機會、設計策略並成功執行的能力，因為我們經常這樣做在這裡使用新技術。

As those who have been following this company for some time know, we're constantly evaluating our cost structure and technology usage, looking for ways to make our operations more efficient. To illustrate this point, back in 2020 before the pandemic began, we announced changes we were making to prepare iHeart for the future. We began to significantly reduce our real estate footprint, reimagine the structure of our sales force and go-to-market strategy, restructured some of our operational organizations and identified new key ways that new technologies can make us both more efficient and better at our jobs.

關注這家公司一段時間的人都知道，我們一直在評估成本結構和技術使用情況，尋找提高運營效率的方法。為了說明這一點，早在 2020 年大流行開始之前，我們就宣布了我們正在做出的改變，以便為未來做好 iHeart 的準備。我們開始大幅減少我們的房地產足跡，重新構想我們的銷售人員結構和進入市場戰略，重組我們的一些運營組織並確定新技術可以使我們的工作更有效率和更好的新關鍵方法.

Specifically, since the beginning of 2020, we reduced our office space by half and we have reduced our U.S. workforce by approximately 20%. This clearly illustrates the progress we're making to create a more efficient and effective organization. Over the past 3 years, we've completed savings programs of approximately $250 million. And on our third quarter 2022 earnings call, we announced a new cost program that would generate $75 million in annualized savings which we will benefit from in 2023.

具體而言，自 2020 年初以來，我們將辦公空間減少了一半，並將美國員工人數減少了約 20%。這清楚地說明了我們在創建一個更高效和更有效的組織方面所取得的進展。在過去 3 年中，我們已經完成了大約 2.5 億美元的儲蓄計劃。在我們 2022 年第三季度的收益電話會議上，我們宣布了一項新的成本計劃，該計劃將產生 7500 萬美元的年化節省，我們將在 2023 年從中受益。

In light of the ongoing economic uncertainty and in support of our focus on free cash flow generation, we're also reducing our in-year capital expenditures to below 2022 levels. With that backdrop, let me take you through some of the highlights of our performance. In the fourth quarter, consolidated revenues grew 6% compared to the prior year, at the high end of the guidance range we provided of up approximately 2% to 6%; we generated adjusted EBITDA of $316 million for the quarter, in the middle of the guidance range we provided of $305 million to $325 million; and our Q4 adjusted EBITDA margins were 28%, a 34-basis point improvement versus prior year. And as I mentioned earlier, our fourth quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA results were record highs for any quarter in the company's history.

鑑於持續的經濟不確定性和支持我們對自由現金流產生的關注，我們還將年內資本支出減少到 2022 年的水平以下。在此背景下，讓我向您介紹我們表現的一些亮點。第四季度，綜合收入與上年同期相比增長 6%，處於我們提供的指導範圍的高端，即增長約 2% 至 6%；我們本季度的調整後 EBITDA 為 3.16 億美元，處於我們提供的 3.05 億美元至 3.25 億美元指導範圍的中間；我們第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 28%，比上一年提高了 34 個基點。正如我之前提到的，我們第四季度的收入和調整後的 EBITDA 結果創下了公司歷史上任何一個季度的歷史新高。

Turning to our individual operating segments. In the fourth quarter, our Digital Audio Group revenues increased 10% versus prior year, adjusted EBITDA was flat versus prior year and adjusted EBITDA margins were 33%. Within the Digital Audio Group, our podcast revenues, which grew 17% versus prior year and our digital ex podcast revenues, which grew 7% versus prior year.

轉向我們的各個運營部門。第四季度，我們的數字音頻集團收入比上年增長 10%，調整後的 EBITDA 與上年持平，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 33%。在數字音頻集團內，我們的播客收入比上一年增長了 17%，我們的數字前播客收入比上一年增長了 7%。

The macroeconomic conditions are certainly impacting the entire advertising marketplace and even the podcasting industry is not immune to some effects of the advertising slowdown. For additional context, our podcasting business was also up against some very strong prior year comps. As a reminder, Q4 2021 revenues were up 130% year-over-year. In January, iHeart was again ranked the #1 podcast publisher in the U.S. with more monthly downloads than the next 2 largest podcast publishers combined according to Podtrac. The podcasting industry remains the fastest-growing mass reach medium.

宏觀經濟狀況肯定會影響整個廣告市場，甚至播客行業也不能倖免於廣告放緩的某些影響。對於其他背景，我們的播客業務也遇到了一些非常強勁的前一年競爭。提醒一下，2021 年第四季度的收入同比增長 130%。根據 Podtrac 的數據，1 月份，iHeart 再次被評為美國排名第一的播客發布商，其月下載量超過了接下來的 2 大播客發布商的總和。播客行業仍然是增長最快的大眾媒體。

According to a recent Edison survey, in 2022, total daily podcast listeners grew by 20%, with podcasting now reaching over 60% of Americans and marketers are following their customers. With a recent advertiser perception pool revealing that marketers plan to continue to increase their podcasting spending in 2023 even in a slow advertising market. Continuing to look at the podcasting marketplace as a whole, the industry seems to be going through a transition toward more rational behaviors in terms of content expenditures, a trend we've discussed with you before. We've deliberately avoided engaging in an uneconomic behavior in podcasting, and we think this new market behavior will have a positive ripple effect across the entire industry, including us.

根據 Edison 最近的一項調查，到 2022 年，每日播客聽眾總數增長了 20%，播客現在覆蓋了超過 60% 的美國人，營銷人員正在關注他們的客戶。最近的廣告客戶認知池顯示，即使在廣告市場放緩的情況下，營銷人員也計劃在 2023 年繼續增加播客支出。繼續將播客市場作為一個整體來看待，該行業似乎正在向內容支出方面的更理性行為過渡，我們之前已經與您討論過這一趨勢。我們有意避免在播客中進行不經濟的行為，我們認為這種新的市場行為將對包括我們在內的整個行業產生積極的連鎖反應。

iHeartMedia also has the depth of digital assets beyond just our high-profile iHeartRadio app, our streaming services and podcasting. We have over 160 million unique visitors a month across the network of 3,000 websites for our national shows, local broadcast stations, our on-air talent and influencers and podcast titles. Influencers continue to be hot in the advertising marketplace, and our influencers are an important iHeart asset. And in 2022, our top 50 influencers reached 2 out of 3 Americans every month.

除了我們備受矚目的 iHeartRadio 應用程序、我們的流媒體服務和播客之外，iHeartMedia 還擁有豐富的數字資產。我們的 3,000 個網站網絡每月有超過 1.6 億獨立訪問者訪問我們的國家節目、地方廣播電台、我們的直播人才和有影響力的人以及播客節目。有影響力的人在廣告市場上繼續炙手可熱，我們的有影響力的人是 iHeart 的重要資產。到 2022 年，我們的前 50 名影響力人物每個月都會影響到三分之二的美國人。

And our iHeartLand destinations in the metaverse, specifically on Roblox and Fortnite lead the industry in terms of engagement with almost 10 million visits and a recent Fall Out Boy concert we hosted on Roblox generated 3x the concurrent audience of competing events. Considering the macroeconomic challenges in the current environment, we think our digital and podcasting business has performed well in the fourth quarter, but we also seek concrete ways to improve the performance going forward.

我們在 metaverse 中的 iHeartLand 目的地，特別是在 Roblox 和 Fortnite 上，在近 1000 萬次訪問方面處於行業領先地位，最近我們在 Roblox 上舉辦的 Fall Out Boy 音樂會產生了 3 倍於競爭活動的並發觀眾。考慮到當前環境下的宏觀經濟挑戰，我們認為我們的數字和播客業務在第四季度表現良好，但我們也在尋求具體的方法來提高未來的表現。

The Digital Audio Group is a growth engine for us and comprises a range of growth channels with very attractive margins, and we're constantly looking for adjacent growth opportunities when they look attractive. In that spirit, during Q4, we increased our emphasis through sales initiatives and commission structures on targeting certain incremental revenue streams. In retrospect, we believe those decisions had a negative impact on our revenue growth and margin for the quarter. We've learned from this Q4 experience and have already initiated steps to realign our sales force's focus back to higher-margin digital revenue opportunities. We believe we'll start seeing the positive impact of those adjustments in both revenue growth and margins as early as Q2.

Digital Audio Group 是我們的增長引擎，包括一系列利潤率非常誘人的增長渠道，我們一直在尋找具有吸引力的相鄰增長機會。本著這種精神，在第四季度，我們更加重視通過銷售計劃和佣金結構來瞄準某些增量收入流。回想起來，我們認為這些決定對我們本季度的收入增長和利潤率產生了負面影響。我們從第四季度的經驗中吸取了教訓，並且已經開始採取措施將我們的銷售人員的注意力重新調整到利潤率更高的數字收入機會上。我們相信，我們最早將在第二季度開始看到這些調整對收入增長和利潤率的積極影響。

Let's turn now to our Multiplatform Group, which includes our Broadcast radio, Networks and Events business. In the fourth quarter, revenues were up 1% versus prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was down 8% versus prior year, and our adjusted EBITDA margins were 31.4%. Our Multiplatform Group has again demonstrated its resiliency during this challenging economic climate, generating adjusted EBITDA margins in the low 30s, which we expect to expand as the economy recovers and the revenue follows. Our Broadcast radio assets alone reach more people than any other media company in the U.S. This is important because reach is at the very core of marketing. Marketers convert a certain percentage of people who hear their messages into customers. Therefore, the more people they can reach with their message, the more customers they can acquire. So our unparalleled consumer reach is a compelling benefit to advertisers, and it is also a huge advantage for us as we've used it to build our own new high-growth businesses.

現在讓我們轉向我們的多平台集團，其中包括我們的廣播電台、網絡和活動業務。第四季度，收入比去年同期增長 1%。調整後的 EBITDA 比上一年下降了 8%，我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 31.4%。我們的 Multiplatform Group 在這個充滿挑戰的經濟環境中再次展示了其彈性，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率在 30 多歲左右，我們預計隨著經濟復甦和收入的增加，該利潤率將擴大。僅我們的廣播電台資產就比美國任何其他媒體公司覆蓋的人數都多。這很重要，因為覆蓋面是營銷的核心。營銷人員將一定比例的聽到他們信息的人轉化為客戶。因此，他們的信息可以接觸到的人越多，他們獲得的客戶就越多。因此，我們無與倫比的消費者覆蓋範圍對廣告商來說是一個引人注目的優勢，這對我們來說也是一個巨大的優勢，因為我們已經用它來建立我們自己的新的高增長業務。

The advertising world also continues to move toward unified media buying and planning, considering all media together rather than in silos. How this plays out is unique for each agency and advertiser, but given the Broadcast radio has traditionally been underbought relative to the reach and scale it offers, we think iHeart's Broadcast radio will be a beneficiary of this shift to data-driven planning algorithms, making media allocation decisions instead of human beings that have both personal and historical biases.

廣告界也繼續朝著統一媒體購買和規劃的方向發展，將所有媒體放在一起而不是孤立地考慮。這對每個機構和廣告商來說都是獨一無二的，但鑑於廣播電台相對於其提供的覆蓋面和規模傳統上一直處於低迷狀態，我們認為 iHeart 的廣播電台將成為這種向數據驅動的規划算法轉變的受益者，使媒體分配決策而不是具有個人和歷史偏見的人類。

Before I turn it over to Rich, I want to leave you with this final thought. We're taking all appropriate actions and executing with agility to navigate the current macroeconomic environment, an environment that Rich and I and our broader leadership team are no strangers to given our long history leading organizations. At the same time, we remain steadfast in continuing to transform and position iHeart to take advantage of the coming economic recovery and the upturn in advertising. We are laser-focused on deploying our strong cash flow to improve our balance sheet and invest in growth and leveraging our core strengths, including our scale, deep industry expertise, operational prowess and seasoned sales force to deliver revenue and profit growth as well as shareholder returns over the long term.

在我把它交給里奇之前，我想把最後的想法留給你。我們正在採取所有適當的行動並敏捷地執行以駕馭當前的宏觀經濟環境，考慮到我們領導組織的悠久歷史，我和 Rich 以及我們更廣泛的領導團隊對這種環境並不陌生。與此同時，我們堅定不移地繼續轉型，並使 iHeart 能夠利用即將到來的經濟復甦和廣告業的好轉。我們專注於部署強大的現金流來改善我們的資產負債表並投資於增長，並利用我們的核心優勢，包括我們的規模、深厚的行業專業知識、運營能力和經驗豐富的銷售團隊，以實現收入和利潤增長以及股東長期回報。

And now I'll turn it over to Rich.

現在我將把它交給 Rich。

Thanks, Bob.

謝謝，鮑勃。

As I take you through our results, you'll notice that, as Bob mentioned, we performed well despite the increasingly challenging macroeconomic environment. Our Q4 2022 consolidated revenues were up approximately 6% year-over-year, at the high end of the guidance range we provided of up approximately 2% to 6%. Our direct operating expenses increased 7% for the quarter, driven primarily by the increase in revenue, which drives higher content and profit-generating expenses, third-party digital costs and expenses related to the timing and return of local and national live events.

當我向您介紹我們的結果時，您會注意到，正如 Bob 提到的那樣，儘管宏觀經濟環境越來越具有挑戰性，但我們表現良好。我們 2022 年第四季度的綜合收入同比增長約 6%，處於我們提供的指導範圍的高端，增長約 2% 至 6%。我們的直接運營費用在本季度增長了 7%，這主要是由於收入增加，這推動了更高的內容和創利費用、第三方數字成本以及與本地和全國現場活動的時間安排和返回相關的費用。

Our SG&A expenses increased 4% for the quarter, driven primarily by investments in key high-growth areas and expenses related to the timing and return of local and national live events, partially offset by lower bonus expense compared to our over target bonus performance in the prior year.

我們的 SG&A 費用在本季度增長了 4%，這主要是由於對關鍵高增長領域的投資以及與當地和全國現場活動的時間和回報相關的費用，部分被與我們超過目標的獎金表現相比較低的獎金費用所抵消去年。

Our fourth quarter GAAP operating income was $173 million compared to an operating income of $123 million in the prior year quarter. Our fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA was $316 million compared to $294 million in the prior year quarter at the middle of the guidance range we provided of $305 million to $325 million.

我們第四季度的 GAAP 營業收入為 1.73 億美元，而去年同期的營業收入為 1.23 億美元。我們第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 3.16 億美元，而去年同期為 2.94 億美元，處於我們提供的 3.05 億美元至 3.25 億美元指導範圍的中間。

Turning now to the performance of our operating segments. And as a reminder, there are slides in the earnings presentation on our segment revenue performance. In the fourth quarter, Digital Audio Group revenues were up 10% year-over-year, while adjusted EBITDA was flat, and our Q4 margins were 33%. Within the Digital Audio Group are our podcasting revenues, which grew 17% year-over-year and our non-podcasting digital revenues, which grew 7% year-over-year.

現在轉向我們運營部門的表現。提醒一下，收益演示中有關於我們部門收入表現的幻燈片。第四季度，Digital Audio Group 收入同比增長 10%，而調整後的 EBITDA 持平，第四季度利潤率為 33%。在數字音頻集團中，我們的播客收入同比增長 17%，非播客數字收入同比增長 7%。

To reiterate what Bob said in his remarks, about our Q4 2022 performance. First, we are comparing to an exceptionally strong prior year quarter when Q4 2021 podcasting revenues were up 130% year-over-year. And second, we were impacted by cost of targeting certain revenue streams, which in retrospect had a negative impact on our overall revenue growth and margin for the quarter. We have learned from this experience, and we initiated steps to realign our sales force focus back on high-margin digital revenue opportunities.

重申鮑勃在他的言論中所說的話，關於我們 2022 年第四季度的表現。首先，我們將 2021 年第四季度的播客收入同比增長 130% 與異常強勁的去年同期進行比較。其次，我們受到針對某些收入流的成本的影響，回想起來，這對我們本季度的整體收入增長和利潤率產生了負面影響。我們從這次經歷中吸取了教訓，並開始採取措施重新調整我們的銷售團隊，將重點重新放在高利潤的數字收入機會上。

Multiplatform Group revenues were up 1% year-over-year and adjusted EBITDA was down 7.5% year-over-year. Excluding the impact of political, Multiplatform Group revenues were down 2.8% year-over-year. Multiplatform Group adjusted EBITDA margins were 31.4% compared to 34.2% in Q4 2021. The increase in Multiplatform Group expenses was primarily driven by the timing of costs associated with live events.

多平台集團收入同比增長 1%，調整後的 EBITDA 同比下降 7.5%。排除政治影響，Multiplatform Group 收入同比下降 2.8%。 Multiplatform Group 調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 31.4%，而 2021 年第四季度為 34.2%。Multiplatform Group 支出的增加主要是由與現場活動相關的成本時間安排推動的。

Audio & Media Services Group revenues were up 44% year-over-year, and adjusted EBITDA was up 149% year-over-year. These increases were primarily attributable to radio and TV political revenues within our [Cats] business.

音頻和媒體服務集團收入同比增長 44%，調整後的 EBITDA 同比增長 149%。這些增長主要歸因於我們 [Cats] 業務中的廣播和電視政治收入。

At quarter end, we had approximately $5.1 billion of net debt outstanding. Our total liquidity is $761 million, which includes a cash balance of $336 million. In the fourth quarter, we reduced our net debt by $180 million. We finished 2022 with a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 5.3x and remain committed to our long-term goal of approximately 4x. As highlighted on past calls, we have no material maintenance covenants and no debt maturities until 2026. In the current macro environment, this type of debt profile positions us to both be resilient and opportunistic in responding to debt market developments.

截至季度末，我們的未償還淨債務約為 51 億美元。我們的流動資金總額為 7.61 億美元，其中包括 3.36 億美元的現金餘額。第四季度，我們將淨債務減少了 1.8 億美元。到 2022 年，我們的淨債務與調整後 EBITDA 之比為 5.3 倍，並繼續致力於實現約 4 倍的長期目標。正如過去的呼籲所強調的那樣，我們在 2026 年之前沒有實質性的維護契約，也沒有債務到期日。在當前的宏觀環境中，這種類型的債務狀況使我們能夠在應對債務市場發展時保持彈性和機會主義。

In Q4, we proactively repurchased $141 million of the principal balance of our (inaudible) senior unsecured notes, bringing our full year 2022 repurchase total to $330 million, resulting in annualized interest savings of approximately $28 million. We were able to repurchase these notes in the market at a meaningful discount to their par value, generating both earnings and free cash flow accretion. We will continually monitor market conditions, and we'll look to further improve and optimize our capital structure as opportunities arise.

在第四季度，我們主動回購了我們（聽不清）高級無抵押票據本金餘額中的 1.41 億美元，使我們 2022 年全年的回購總額達到 3.3 億美元，從而使年化利息節省約 2800 萬美元。我們能夠在市場上以低於票面價值的顯著折扣回購這些票據，從而產生收益和自由現金流量增長。我們將持續監控市場狀況，並在機會出現時尋求進一步改善和優化我們的資本結構。

In the fourth quarter, we generated $165 million of free cash flow, slightly below the target that we discussed in our last quarter earnings call due to the timing of working capital items. This implies a full year free cash flow yield in the [high-20%] range. Our cash balance was $336 million and our total available liquidity was $761 million. As Bob highlighted, we remain focused on free cash flow generation and are committed to utilizing that cash in a manner that creates the most value for our shareholders.

在第四季度，我們產生了 1.65 億美元的自由現金流，由於營運資金項目的時間安排，略低於我們在上一季度財報電話會議上討論的目標。這意味著全年自由現金流收益率在 [high-20%] 範圍內。我們的現金餘額為 3.36 億美元，可用流動資金總額為 7.61 億美元。正如鮑勃強調的那樣，我們仍然專注於自由現金流的產生，並致力於以為股東創造最大價值的方式利用這些現金。

Turning now to our outlook on Q1. As we touched on, 2022 was a year of macroeconomic uncertainty, which is continuing into 2023. To that end, I want to provide some insights into what we are seeing in Q1 as well as some high-level thoughts about cash and liquidity for the full year. I also want to remind you that Q1 2022 was a strong quarter for us and that the economic uncertainty last year didn't really affect our business until the very end of quarter, which is impacting our Q1 2023 comps. With that in mind, we expect our Q1 2023 revenues to be down mid-single digits year-over-year. Our January revenues were down 1% year-over-year.

現在轉向我們對第一季度的展望。正如我們所談到的，2022 年是宏觀經濟不確定的一年，這種不確定性將持續到 2023 年。為此，我想提供一些關於我們在第一季度看到的情況的見解，以及關於現金和流動性的一些高層想法整整一年。我還想提醒您，2022 年第一季度對我們來說是一個強勁的季度，去年的經濟不確定性直到季度末才真正影響我們的業務，這影響了我們 2023 年第一季度的業績。考慮到這一點，我們預計 2023 年第一季度的收入將同比下降中個位數。我們 1 月份的收入同比下降 1%。

Turning to adjusted EBITDA. For Q1 2023, we expect to generate adjusted EBITDA in the range of $80 million to $90 million. Let me provide some assumptions regarding cash. We expect our full year capital expenditures to be between $100 million and $120 million, a significant year-over-year reduction from $161 million in 2022, driven by our deliberate reduction of capital outlay in times of economic uncertainty. We expect lower cash restructuring expenses as our savings initiatives are fully implemented. We will be a full cash taxpayer in 2023. We will continue to further opportunistically improve our capital structure as the market allows, and while our interest expense has been reduced by our debt repurchase program, we are impacted by the high interest rate environment as approximately 40% of our debt is floating.

轉向調整後的 EBITDA。對於 2023 年第一季度，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 將在 8000 萬至 9000 萬美元之間。讓我提供一些關於現金的假設。我們預計全年資本支出將在 1 億美元至 1.2 億美元之間，與 2022 年的 1.61 億美元相比大幅減少，這是由於我們在經濟不確定時期有意減少資本支出。隨著我們的儲蓄計劃得到全面實施，我們預計現金重組費用會降低。我們將在 2023 年成為全現金納稅人。我們將繼續在市場允許的情況下進一步機會主義地改善我們的資本結構，雖然我們的債務回購計劃減少了我們的利息支出，但我們受到高利率環境的影響約為我們 40% 的債務是浮動的。

I want to leave you with this. iHeart has unparalleled assets that have proven their resiliency to economic downturns like the one we're in now. We continue to make solid progress on our transformation, which enables us to operate through a softer macroeconomic environment better than ever before. As we navigate these uncertain economic conditions, we remain committed to driving shareholder value through our rigorous allocation of capital, identifying additional cost savings opportunities, utilizing new technologies to expand our product offerings and improving our operational efficiency, and we believe the strength of our assets will become even more apparent as the economic environment and the advertising sector recovers. In closing, I'd like to thank the entire iHeart team, who continued to deliver for our communities, advertisers and our shareholders.

我想把這個留給你。 iHeart 擁有無可比擬的資產，這些資產已證明它們能夠抵禦像我們現在所處的經濟衰退。我們在轉型方面繼續取得穩步進展，這使我們能夠在比以往任何時候都更加疲軟的宏觀經濟環境中運營。在我們應對這些不確定的經濟條件時，我們仍然致力於通過嚴格的資本分配來推動股東價值，確定額外的成本節約機會，利用新技術來擴大我們的產品供應並提高我們的運營效率，我們相信我們的資產實力隨著經濟環境和廣告業的複蘇，這種情況將變得更加明顯。最後，我要感謝整個 iHeart 團隊，他們繼續為我們的社區、廣告商和股東提供服務。

Now we will turn it over to the operator to take your questions. Thank you.

現在我們將把它交給接線員來回答您的問題。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) We'll hear first today from Steven Cahall with Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）我們今天將首先聽到來自富國銀行的 Steven Cahall 的消息。

Maybe just, Rich, could you provide a little more context in the Q1 EBITDA guide? It was a kind of surprisingly low number and it was lower than you did in 1Q '21, even -- so I know '22 was a really strong quarter, but is there anything in the OpEx line? Are you making any significant investments there just because the top line seems a little more what we expected, but that was a bigger surprise. So any color would be great.

也許只是，Rich，你能在第一季度 EBITDA 指南中提供更多背景信息嗎？這是一個令人驚訝的低數字，甚至低於你在 21 年第一季度的數字——所以我知道 22 年是一個非常強勁的季度，但 OpEx 系列中有什麼嗎？你在那裡進行任何重大投資是否只是因為頂線似乎比我們預期的要多一些，但這是一個更大的驚喜。所以任何顏色都會很棒。

Steve, thanks for the question. Not really any additional insight. Just as a reminder, we do always deal with the [lower] small numbers because of the fixed cost nature of certain parts of our business. And just as a reminder, our Q1, when you compare it to not just the strength of last year, but just the absolute number size is always, I don't know -- about significantly smaller than the fourth quarter of the year just started, compare the 2 out there. So just really nothing more than that.

史蒂夫，謝謝你的提問。沒有任何額外的見解。提醒一下，由於我們業務某些部分的固定成本性質，我們總是處理[較低]的小數字。提醒一下，我們的第一季度，當您不僅將其與去年的實力進行比較，而且將其與絕對數量進行比較時，我不知道——大約比剛剛開始的今年第四季度要小得多，比較那裡的2。所以僅此而已。

I think also, I would just add, the one thing that we did reference is that in Q4, we self-inflicted, trying to push some new revenue streams, change some of our commission and sales plans. And I think it had a negative impact on the product mix within [DAG]. I think we're expecting that to continue into Q1 and probably (inaudible) itself by Q2.

我還想補充一點，我們確實提到的一件事是在第四季度，我們自作自受，試圖推動一些新的收入來源，改變我們的一些佣金和銷售計劃。而且我認為它對 [DAG] 中的產品組合產生了負面影響。我認為我們預計這種情況會持續到第一季度，並且可能在第二季度（聽不清）。

Great. And then just on what you're seeing in the ad market. So a lot of what we've heard is that December was kind of bad across the market, and then it's been a little better since. I think you had January down 1%, but your guidance for Q1 is down a little more than that. So are you expecting a deterioration? Or is that something related to some of those changes in product strategy, Bob, that you were just talking about? Or how else should we read into that?

偉大的。然後就是你在廣告市場上看到的。因此，我們聽到的很多消息是 12 月整個市場都有些糟糕，但此後情況有所好轉。我認為你 1 月份下降了 1%，但你對第一季度的指導下降了一點。所以你期待惡化嗎？或者這是否與您剛才談到的產品策略中的某些變化有關？鮑勃？或者我們還應該如何解讀它？

Yes. I think on revenue. I think it is sort of the anomaly of Q1. If you look at most advertisers, Q1's their worst sales quarter of the year. It is historically significantly, as Rich mentioned, a lower revenue than Q4, for example, Q2 and Q3. So I think in periods of uncertainty, what we find is advertisers holding back and taking a look at what the year might be. If they've got an opportunity to hold back, it's certainly in Q1. And through the year, last year, we saw that the big advertisers were stronger than the small advertisers in Q1 that has reversed it, which makes sense if you agree with the thesis we have. Because when you're a brand advertiser, you can actually pull back more than you can if you're an advertiser who is advertising directly to get sales at that moment. And I think that's what we're seeing in Q1. And again, we continue to watch it. But I think it's a function primarily of uncertainty and people holding back spend to see what happens.

是的。我認為是收入。我認為這是 Q1 的異常現象。如果你看看大多數廣告商，第一季度是他們今年銷售最差的季度。正如 Rich 提到的那樣，從歷史上看，收入低於第四季度，例如第二季度和第三季度。所以我認為在不確定的時期，我們發現廣告商會退縮，看看今年可能會怎樣。如果他們有機會阻止，那肯定是在第一季度。全年，去年，我們看到大廣告商比第一季度的小廣告商更強大，這已經扭轉了局面，如果你同意我們的論點，這是有道理的。因為當你是一個品牌廣告商時，你實際上可以收回更多的錢，如果你是一個直接做廣告以獲得銷售的廣告商。我認為這就是我們在第一季度看到的。再一次，我們繼續觀看它。但我認為這主要是不確定性和人們抑制支出以觀察會發生什麼的函數。

Steven, and I would just add 1 last point, which you didn't ask, but just in terms of fundamentally, the business and Bob had pointed out, the (inaudible) on the digital line. But as you think about this model we are going forward with, we still feel exactly the same from the margin profile that we felt about the businesses. Just look at Q4, I think we had a 52% conversion rate of [EBITDA] into free cash flow. And then -- so from a long-term -- as you go forward to model out, kind of that mid-single-digit modeling for our [DAG] margins, the digital audio margins for EBITDA is still something we're very comfortable with.

史蒂文，我只想補充最後一點，你沒有問，但就基本而言，業務和鮑勃已經指出，數字線路上的（聽不清）。但是當你考慮我們正在推進的這種模式時，我們對利潤率的看法仍然與我們對業務的看法完全相同。看看第四季度，我認為我們有 52% 的 [EBITDA] 轉化為自由現金流。然後 - 所以從長期來看 - 當你繼續建模時，我們的 [DAG] 利潤率的那種中個位數建模，EBITDA 的數字音頻利潤率仍然是我們非常滿意的和。

And then maybe just related to that on podcasting, it does seem like there's been a real cooling off in some of the higher-priced content deals out there. Do you feel like that gives you some opportunity to be more aggressive in podcasting or does it change your investment strategy at all now that the market's kind of rationalized to the point that you were always kind of playing for with it?

然後可能與播客相關，一些高價內容交易似乎確實降溫了。你覺得這是否給了你一些機會在播客方面更積極，或者它是否改變了你的投資策略，因為市場已經合理化到你一直在玩的地步？

Yes, I think you've hit the nail on the head. Yes, I do think there's an opportunity there. I think it will have a positive ripple effect through the podcast business. I think there were people who thought they were buying a share, but were really buying losses. And I think there's a certain rationality that's returned, which is good for us, obviously, with our size and scale, if we're really bidding on product based on economics, we're in very good shape.

是的，我認為您已經一針見血了。是的，我確實認為那裡有機會。我認為這將對播客業務產生積極的連鎖反應。我認為有些人認為他們是在買入股票，但實際上是在買入虧損。而且我認為有一定的理性回歸，這對我們有好處，顯然，以我們的規模和規模，如果我們真的根據經濟學對產品進行投標，我們的狀態非常好。

We'll hear next from Dan Day with B. Riley Securities.

接下來我們將聽到 Dan Day 與 B. Riley Securities 的對話。

Maybe just to go back to podcasting. Just anything you can provide so far in 2023 in terms of pricing, volume and impression growth. Anything that could just anchor us in our models as we set up for 2023 on the podcasting line?

也許只是回到播客。到目前為止，您在 2023 年在定價、數量和印象增長方面可以提供的任何東西。當我們在播客線上為 2023 年設置時，有什麼可以讓我們固定在模型中的嗎？

We haven't given any of that guidance. But again, I would say if you look at the revenue streams in media, podcasting appears to be the strongest of them all, but certainly is not immune from the downdraft of an ad slowdown.

我們沒有給出任何指導。但是，我要說的是，如果你看一下媒體的收入來源，播客似乎是其中最強大的，但肯定不能免受廣告放緩的影響。

The only thing, Dan, I might add to that is, and you've heard us say this before about all the platforms we have and all the businesses we have is advertising revenue always follows the consumer and always follows consumer engagement. I think Bob noted that podcasting now reaches over 60% of Americans and the fundamental aspects of podcasting in terms of the amount of time people spend, the larger advertisers that are coming to podcasting, which is really starting to happen in the last couple of years. None of those have changed in our mind and we continue to be very optimistic, but it really starts with consumer engagement, which is rock solid.

丹，我唯一要補充的是，你之前聽過我們這樣說，關於我們擁有的所有平台和我們擁有的所有業務，廣告收入始終跟隨消費者並始終跟隨消費者參與。我認為 Bob 指出，播客現在覆蓋了超過 60% 的美國人，播客的基本方面是人們花費的時間，越來越多的廣告商開始使用播客，這在過去幾年才真正開始發生.這些都沒有改變我們的想法，我們仍然非常樂觀，但它真正始於消費者參與，這是堅如磐石的。

Got it. And then on the other line within digital, the digital ex podcasting, any like -- I know there's some like social media reselling in there, some third-party extension. Just wondering how those are doing just given the kind of volatility we've seen in social media lens the last few quarters? And whether that 7% growth, whether there's a big difference between like the radio streaming inventory sold versus the other buckets?

知道了。然後在數字的另一條線上，數字 ex 播客，任何類似的 - 我知道那裡有一些像社交媒體轉售，一些第三方擴展。只是想知道過去幾個季度我們在社交媒體鏡頭中看到的那種波動性，他們的表現如何？以及 7% 的增長，是否有像出售的無線電流媒體庫存與其他桶之間的巨大差異？

We haven't given that breakout. So I don't want to do it here, but I will say I'll refer back to -- we did goose a couple of lower-margin aspects of it by accident. We didn't intend to do it at the expense of the others. And we are reconfiguring our sales priorities and commissions to rectify that going forward.

我們還沒有給出那個突破。所以我不想在這裡做，但我會說我會回顧一下——我們確實偶然發現了它的幾個利潤率較低的方面。我們不打算以犧牲其他人為代價來做這件事。我們正在重新配置我們的銷售優先級和佣金，以糾正這種情況。

(Operator Instructions) We'll move next to Jim Goss with Barrington.

（操作員說明）我們將和 Barrington 一起搬到 Jim Goss 旁邊。

A couple of questions about political advertising or I guess, the categories in which they showed up, but [absent] those. And the Multiplatform Group, primarily Broadcast radio, I presume, there tends not to be a lot of displacement. I'm wondering what accounted for the slide in ad revenues then in that category? Were there any key categories that were to blame?

關於政治廣告的幾個問題，或者我猜，他們出現的類別，但[沒有]那些。而多平台組，主要是廣播電台，我想，往往不會有太多的流離失所。我想知道當時該類別的廣告收入下滑的原因是什麼？是否有任何關鍵類別應該受到指責？

Well, I think you just saw the ad slowdown continuing into Q4 and slowing down enough that the political advertising could not offset it the whole way.

好吧，我想你只是看到廣告放緩持續到第四季度並且放緩到足以讓政治廣告無法完全抵消它。

Okay. And the other area, the Audio & Media Services Group, I gather it's mostly [Cats], which is more directional.

好的。另一個領域，音頻和媒體服務組，我認為它主要是 [Cats]，它更具方向性。

Yes, and Jim, it's got TV in that, too.

是的，吉姆，裡面也有電視。

Jim, just on [Cats], as I know you know, but just as a quick reminder, we benefited greatly from political advertising on the TV side.

吉姆，就[貓]而言，我知道你知道，但快速提醒一下，我們從電視方面的政治廣告中受益匪淺。

(inaudible) from the radio and TV.

（聽不清）來自廣播和電視。

Okay. So is the TV side. Okay. Also, what do you think is a sustainable growth rate in podcasting now. We have the sort of the surge, it was a little more modest now. Is the 17% growth you had something that is more normal, or will it fade from there as the category matures somewhat?

好的。電視方面也是如此。好的。另外，您認為現在播客的可持續增長率是多少。我們有那種激增，現在有點溫和了。 17% 的增長是比較正常的，還是會隨著類別的成熟而逐漸消失？

Yes, I don't think we see the category maturing, but I do think it is -- as we said, it's -- [high casting] is not immune from the slowdown, but we do fully expect podcasting to continue to be the highest growth sector of the Media business. And looking at the usage from consumers, I think, is probably a lead for us going to what Rich's earlier said, is that the advertising does follow consumers. And I think that's a very positive trend.

是的，我不認為我們看到這個類別正在成熟，但我確實認為它是 - 正如我們所說的那樣 - [high casting] 不能免受經濟放緩的影響，但我們確實完全希望播客繼續成為媒體業務增長最快的部門。看看消費者的使用情況，我認為，這可能是我們走向 Rich 之前所說的，即廣告確實跟隨消費者。我認為這是一個非常積極的趨勢。

Okay. And last thing, your TikTok exposure. Could you talk about that a little bit more and discuss whether there are risks that we ought to be concerned about?

好的。最後一件事，你的 TikTok 曝光率。您能否再談一談，並討論是否存在我們應該關注的風險？

Well, I don't think that we got a lot of revenue coming on TikTok. We use it primarily as a marketing tool for us. And as you know, TikTok's been super hot, but we've got roughly 300 million social followers, about 27 million TikTok followers. So we are willing to go and able to go and have a platform to go in whatever direction the consumer goes. So if there's any limitations on TikTok, wherever the consumers go, we'll be -- we'll follow them.

好吧，我不認為我們在 TikTok 上獲得了很多收入。我們主要將其用作我們的營銷工具。正如你所知，TikTok 一直非常火爆，但我們有大約 3 億社交粉絲，大約 2700 萬 TikTok 粉絲。因此，我們願意並且能夠去擁有一個平台，可以讓消費者走向任何方向。因此，如果 TikTok 有任何限制，無論消費者走到哪裡，我們都會——我們會跟隨他們。

And Jim, I'll just give you 1 data point for context for Bob's number of the 300 million social followers, that's about 7x larger than the next largest audio service, Spotify there, so.

吉姆，我只給你 1 個數據點作為 Bob 的 3 億社交粉絲數量的上下文，這比第二大音頻服務 Spotify 大 7 倍左右，所以。

And from JPMorgan, we'll hear next from Sebastiano Petti.

接下來，我們將從摩根大通聽取塞巴斯蒂亞諾佩蒂的講話。

I just want to kind of go back to the EBITDA margin guide -- EBITDA guide for the first quarter. If you -- it assumes a, call it, at the midpoint 11% implied EBITDA margin, which is below. So the revenue flow-through, if you were to just do a midpoint, decline is higher than what you had in 2020, 2019, everything besides 2022. But the implied EBITDA margin of 11% is also below prior years, excluding the pandemic period. So anything to unpack there. Is there anything going on at the segment level that we should perhaps be thinking about as well.

我只想回到 EBITDA 利潤率指南——第一季度的 EBITDA 指南。如果你 - 它假設一個，稱之為 11% 的隱含 EBITDA 利潤率的中點，低於此。因此，收入流轉，如果你只是做一個中點，下降幅度高於 2020 年、2019 年，以及 2022 年以外的所有時間。但隱含的 EBITDA 利潤率為 11%，也低於往年，不包括大流行時期.所以任何東西都可以在那裡打開。我們或許也應該考慮在細分市場層面發生了什麼。

I don't think anything different than we've talked about. We've highlighted -- Bob mentioned and we highlighted the flow-through in terms of, I think, the word Bob used was kind of goosing something on less high-margin businesses in Q4. I think we've talked about that and we've rectified that, but we won't fully work through that until you get to Q2.

我認為與我們談論的沒有什麼不同。我們強調了——鮑勃提到過，我們強調了流動性，我認為鮑勃使用的這個詞在第四季度對利潤率較低的企業產生了某種影響。我想我們已經討論過這個問題並且我們已經糾正了這個問題，但是在你進入第二季度之前我們不會完全解決這個問題。

And then when you have the advertising headwinds that we talked about as we turn the page into 2023 and the continued uncertainty in the environment. And I think as you all know, the Multiplatform business, in particular, that we have all high-margin businesses, but that's like 75% to 80% incremental flow-through budget, but at the same time, when you don't have this robust revenue number there, as we've talked about in Q1, you get hit on the downside of the margin. But at the same time, and I'm just going to go back to a comment that Bob made, not just commenting on the results here, but also that we're in addition, to be focused on cost and taking out cost and generating cash flow, we want to make sure that we're very well positioned as the economy starts to come back stronger, as advertising revenue starts to come back stronger, we're there to capture it.

然後當你遇到我們在將頁面轉到 2023 年時談到的廣告逆風以及環境中持續的不確定性。而且我想你們都知道，特別是多平台業務，我們擁有所有高利潤業務，但這大約是 75% 到 80% 的增量流通預算，但與此同時，當你沒有這個強勁的收入數字，正如我們在第一季度談到的那樣，你會受到利潤率下降的打擊。但與此同時，我只想回到 Bob 發表的評論，不僅僅是評論這裡的結果，而且我們還關注成本並剔除成本並產生現金流，我們希望確保我們在經濟開始復蘇時處於有利地位，隨著廣告收入開始復蘇，我們會抓住它。

Yes. Look, I think Q1 is simply -- you're seeing operating leverage. And you're seeing -- when revenue goes down, the operating leverage bites you; when things go up, it's your friend. And we have hyper-focused the company on being ready for the recovery, making sure we're well prepared for it and can take full advantage of it. And at that point, we're going to see the operating leverage again as our helper.

是的。看，我認為第一季度很簡單——你看到了經營槓桿。你會看到——當收入下降時，經營槓桿會影響你；當事情發生時，它就是你的朋友。我們已經高度關注公司為複蘇做好準備，確保我們已經做好充分準備並可以充分利用它。到那時，我們將再次看到運營槓桿作為我們的幫手。

And then could you perhaps unpack a little bit some of these new businesses that you kind of delved into this, that as you put it, goosed as high-margin growth businesses. Rich, I think you talked about realigning the sales force. Anything that we should be thinking about (inaudible) unpack that a little bit.

然後你能不能解開一些你深入研究的這些新業務，正如你所說的那樣，這些業務被認為是高利潤增長業務。 Rich，我想你談到了重新調整銷售隊伍。我們應該考慮的任何事情（聽不清）都可以稍微解壓一下。

Sure. In the [DAG] Group, we've got a number of digital businesses, which some have pretty high margins, some have not ridiculously low, but much lower margins. And for us, the proper balance is to make sure whatever we're doing at low margin is incremental to the higher-margin business. We don't want a flow of revenue going from high margin to low margin. And we may have overdone it a bit trying to do some of these lower-margin businesses, which we thought could all be incremental, they turned out not to be, learned our lesson, and we've adjusted.

當然。在 [DAG] 集團中，我們有許多數字業務，有些業務的利潤率相當高，有些業務的利潤率並沒有低得離譜，但要低得多。對我們來說，適當的平衡是確保我們在低利潤率下所做的一切都是對高利潤率業務的增量。我們不希望收入從高利潤流向低利潤。我們可能有點過頭了，試圖做一些利潤率較低的業務，我們認為這些業務都是增量的，但事實證明並非如此，吸取了教訓，我們進行了調整。

And Sebastiano, I just want to come back to just what I said, I think in response to when Steve was asking a couple of those questions. Just again, as -- we wanted to obviously share and be fully transparent, [these are] the steps we made, some of the missteps we made, the changes that we've made. But as you think about modeling out, we still are committed to believe that the Digital Audio Group is in mid-30s kind of EBITDA margin business.

塞巴斯蒂亞諾，我只想回到我剛才說的話，我想是為了回應史蒂夫問的幾個問題。再次重申，我們顯然希望分享並完全透明，[這些是]我們採取的步驟，我們犯的一些錯誤，我們所做的改變。但當你考慮建模時，我們仍然堅信 Digital Audio Group 處於 30 年代中期的 EBITDA 利潤率業務。

And just a quick follow-up. Was this more pronounced, some of these not high-margin businesses. Were they more pronounced perhaps in the fourth quarter? Or is this something that's perhaps been building? Just as we're kind of thinking about extrapolating into the go forward in terms of '23 and beyond?

并快速跟進。這是否更明顯，其中一些不是高利潤業務。他們是否在第四季度更加明顯？或者這是可能正在建設的東西？就像我們正在考慮推斷 23 年及以後的發展一樣？

We really think the impact was in Q4, and we think it will continue into Q1. We think we will have it rebalanced by Q2.

我們真的認為影響是在第四季度，我們認為它會持續到第一季度。我們認為我們將在第二季度對其進行重新平衡。

Okay. Well, thank you very much for joining us today, and thanks for all your support.

好的。非常感謝您今天加入我們，感謝您的支持。

Yes. Thanks. And Mike and the team are available also with any follow-up questions, as are Bob and I.

是的。謝謝。邁克和團隊也可以回答任何後續問題，鮑勃和我也是。

And that does conclude today's conference. Again, thank you all for joining us, and you may now disconnect.

今天的會議到此結束。再次感謝大家加入我們，現在你們可以斷開聯繫了。