MarketWise Inc (MKTW) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the MarketWise second quarter 2023 earnings call. During today's presentation, all parties on the webcast will be in a listen only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be opened for questions with instructions to follow at that time.

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加 MarketWise 2023 年第二季財報電話會議。在今天的演示期間，網路廣播中的所有各方都將處於只聽模式。演講結束後，會議將開始提問，並附有屆時遵循的指示。

In addition, further out on the live webcast, you may submit question using the chat feature on the site. As a reminder, this call is being recorded.

此外，在現場網路直播中，您可以使用網站上的聊天功能提交問題。提醒一下，此通話正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the conference over to Jonathan Shenfield, Vice President of Investor Relations at MarketWise. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我想將會議交給 MarketWise 投資者關係副總裁 Jonathan Shenfield。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and good morning. We appreciate you joining us on today's conference call to discuss MarketWise's second quarter 2023 financial results. With me today on the call, we have Amber Mason, our Chief Executive Officer; Stephen Park, our Interim Financial Officer; and Lee Harris, our Senior Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis.

謝謝你，早安。我們感謝您參加今天的電話會議，討論 MarketWise 2023 年第二季的財務表現。今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有我們的執行長 Amber Mason； Stephen Park，我們的臨時財務長；以及我們的財務規劃和分析資深副總裁 Lee Harris。

Before we get started, I want to point out that we've also published a supplemental earnings press presentation on the Investors section of our website at www.marketwise.com under the Quarterly Results tab. This document is designed to provide additional information and context to our current earnings release and 10-Q filing.

在開始之前，我想指出的是，我們還在我們網站 www.marketwise.com 的“投資者”部分的“季度業績”選項卡下發布了補充盈利新聞演示文稿。本文件旨在為我們目前的收益發布和 10-Q 備案提供更多資訊和背景。

For those of you participating in our conference call via live webcast, we are sharing a few slides to highlight certain information we are discussing during this call. All of the information presented in those slides is also available in the content of this call, our earnings press release, 10-Q filing, or in the supplemental earnings presentation I described above.

對於那些透過網路直播參加我們電話會議的人，我們將分享幾張投影片，以突出顯示我們在本次電話會議中討論的某些資訊。這些幻燈片中提供的所有資訊也可以在本次電話會議的內容、我們的收益新聞稿、10-Q 文件或我上面描述的補充收益簡報中找到。

During the course of today's call, we may make forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding our guidance and future financial performance, market demand, growth prospects, business strategies and plans, and our ability to attract and retain subscribers.

在今天的電話會議期間，我們可能會做出前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於有關我們的指導和未來財務業績、市場需求、成長前景、業務戰略和計劃以及我們吸引和留住訂戶的能力的陳述。

These forward-looking statements are based on management's current views and assumptions and should not be relied upon as of any subsequent date, and we may disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

這些前瞻性陳述是基於管理階層目前的觀點和假設，不應在任何後續日期被依賴，我們可能不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

Actual results may vary from today's statements, including information concerning our risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause results to differ from these forward-looking statements are contained in the company's SEC filings, earnings press release, and supplemental information posted on the Investors section of the company's website.

實際結果可能與今天的聲明有所不同，包括有關我們的風險、不確定性和其他可能導致結果與這些前瞻性聲明不同的因素的信息，這些信息包含在公司向SEC 提交的文件、收益新聞稿以及投資者發布的補充資料中。

Our discussion today will include certain non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, or in isolation from GAAP measures. Reconciliations to non-GAAP measures can be found in our earnings press release and our SEC filings.

我們今天的討論將包括某些非公認會計準則財務指標。這些非公認會計原則財務措施應作為公認會計原則措施的補充，而不是替代或獨立於公認會計原則措施。您可以在我們的收益新聞稿和向 SEC 提交的文件中找到與非 GAAP 衡量標準的調整表。

Now, I'll turn the call over to Amber.

現在，我將把電話轉給 Amber。

Thanks, Jon, and good morning, everybody. Welcome to our second quarter 2023 earnings call. Before we get started, I want to welcome everyone watching us via webcast. I'm really excited about this. It's new for us on the Investor Relations side, but we've been talking to our subscribers and potential subscribers like this for years. Today, we're coming to you live from our Baltimore studio, where we create content for our subscribers, host webinars, and reach out to our audience of self-directed investors.

謝謝喬恩，大家早安。歡迎參加我們的 2023 年第二季財報電話會議。在我們開始之前，我想歡迎大家透過網路直播觀看我們的節目。我對此感到非常興奮。這對我們投資者關係方面來說是新鮮事，但多年來我們一直在與我們的訂閱者和潛在訂閱者進行這樣的交談。今天，我們將從巴爾的摩工作室向您進行現場直播，我們在這裡為訂閱者創建內容，舉辦網路研討會，並接觸我們的自主投資者觀眾。

I wanted to give you insight into our operations and let you see us work. I hope that you like the format as well as the content, and I'm looking forward to your feedback. You can send it to ir@marketwise.com.

我想讓您深入了解我們的營運並讓您看到我們的工作。我希望您喜歡這種格式和內容，並期待您的回饋。您可以將其發送至 ir@marketwise.com。

Turning to this morning's call, I will provide a brief overview of our second quarter results. I'll give you an update on the progress we're making with the goals I outlined on prior calls, and I'll give you a peak into what's going on at our affiliates. I'll look into our process, what we see working and some new initiatives. Steve will then take over and provide a more detailed review of our financial results.

談到今天早上的電話會議，我將簡要概述我們第二季的業績。我將向您介紹我們在先前的電話會議中概述的目標所取得的進展的最新情況，並且我將向您介紹我們附屬公司正在發生的事情。我將研究我們的流程、我們所看到的工作以及一些新措施。然後史蒂夫將接手並對我們的財務業績進行更詳細的審查。

Let's get started. First, let's discuss our Q2 results. Frankly, what we experienced in the second quarter is a lot like what we've seen in the past few quarters. Investors and subscribers are still engaged in buying financial research, but at lower levels than we saw during the boom years of 2020 and 2021. The good news is that many of our internal metrics show that we've reached a plateau of sorts.

讓我們開始吧。首先，我們來討論第二季的結果。坦白說，我們在第二季所經歷的情況與過去幾季的情況非常相似。投資者和訂閱者仍在購買金融研究報告，但水準低於我們在 2020 年和 2021 年繁榮時期看到的水準。

Our billings and expenses are fairly flat to the prior quarter. Engagement as measured by landing page visits is slightly up over the past three quarters and our overall conversion rates are starting to show signs of improvement.

我們的帳單和費用與上一季相當持平。透過登陸頁面訪問量衡量的參與度在過去三個季度略有上升，我們的整體轉換率開始顯示出改善的跡象。

Stock market sentiment seems to be shifting back to equities as inflation looks to moderate over the next year, and it's very encouraging to see signs of stabilization in our results.

隨著通膨在明年趨於緩和，股市情緒似乎正在重新轉向股票，看到我們的業績趨於穩定的跡象非常令人鼓舞。

While market volatility and economic uncertainty persisted through the second quarter, which continued to weigh on our results, we focused on creating new content and reaching new subscribers, and we remain committed to managing our overhead costs and to directing our marketing spend where it is most efficient. Importantly, we successfully maintained our expense discipline during the quarter, as we have over the past year.

儘管第二季市場波動和經濟不確定性持續存在，繼續影響我們的業績，但我們專注於創造新內容和吸引新訂閱者，我們仍然致力於管理我們的間接成本並將我們的行銷支出用於最重要的地方高效的。重要的是，我們在本季成功地維持了支出紀律，就像去年一樣。

In the second quarter of 2023, direct marketing spend was roughly $23 million lower on a cash basis than the second quarter 2022. Additionally, our overhead costs were down $1.5 million on the same basis. As I mentioned last quarter, we know our cost structure and we work hard to rein in costs when times are tough, so that we can maintain our cash flow and profitability.

2023 年第二季度，直接行銷支出以現金計算比 2022 年第二季減少約 2,300 萬美元。正如我上季度提到的，我們了解我們的成本結構，並在困難時期努力控製成本，以便我們能夠維持現金流和獲利能力。

Turning to our results in more detail. Revenues on a GAAP basis were $103.6 million, a decline of 19% as compared to the prior year. Billings declined 18.2% year-over-year to $96.2 million.

更詳細地討論我們的結果。以 GAAP 計算的收入為 1.036 億美元，比前一年下降 19%。比林斯年減 18.2% 至 9,620 萬美元。

Importantly, our adjusted cash flow from operations was $29 million in 2Q 2023, an increase from $26.8 million in the second quarter of 2022 and a clear sign of our ability to generate positive cash flow in a challenging market.

重要的是，2023 年第二季我們調整後的營運現金流為2,900 萬美元，較2022 年第二季的2,680 萬美元有所增加，這清楚地表明我們有能力在充滿挑戰的市場中產生正現金流。

Furthermore, our adjusted cash flow from operations margin for the first half of 2023 improved to 17% as compared to 11% for the first half of 2022, reflecting the success of our cost reduction efforts over the past year.

此外，我們 2023 年上半年調整後的營運利潤率現金流量從 2022 年上半年的 11% 提高至 17%，反映出我們過去一年降低成本的努力取得了成功。

I would add that while GAAP revenues declined $22.6 million from the prior quarter, billings declined only $1 million. As a reminder, for GAAP purposes, we defer revenue over the life of a subscription, while non-GAAP billings represent current period cash received. In 2020 and 2021, we generated record quarterly billings, which increased our GAAP revenues for the subsequent quarters, but that's beginning to tail off and our GAAP comparisons reflect that.

我想補充一點，雖然 GAAP 收入比上一季下降了 2,260 萬美元，但帳單僅下降了 100 萬美元。提醒一下，出於 GAAP 目的，我們將收入推遲到訂閱週期內，而非 GAAP 帳單代表當期收到的現金。在 2020 年和 2021 年，我們產生了創紀錄的季度帳單，這增加了隨後幾個季度的 GAAP 收入，但這種收入開始減少，我們的 GAAP 比較反映了這一點。

Despite the difficult market environment, we're pleased with our ability to cut spending and increase our cash flow on both a quarterly and year-over-year basis. We will continue to look for ways to improve efficiencies, cash flow, and profitability.

儘管市場環境困難，但我們對季度和同比削減支出和增加現金流的能力感到滿意。我們將繼續尋找提高效率、現金流和獲利能力的方法。

Additionally, we have started to see improving trends in our business through June and July. While it's early and we remain conservative, it's an encouraging trend. These green shoots appear as they always do in our subscriber acquisition efforts.

此外，我們的業務在六月和七月開始出現改善趨勢。雖然現在還為時過早，而且我們仍然保守，但這是一個令人鼓舞的趨勢。這些新芽在我們的用戶獲取工作中一如既往地出現。

On previous calls and in some of my conversations with you, I've noted that the most important thing we needed to do to start improving results was to figure out how to talk to prospective readers again. These are the folks we saw sitting on the sidelines. They required a new message that would give us a click, a sign up, an order, a new subscriber.

在之前的電話會議以及與您的一些談話中，我注意到，要開始改善結果，我們需要做的最重要的事情是弄清楚如何再次與潛在讀者交談。這些是我們看到的坐在場邊的人。他們需要一條新訊息，讓我們點擊、註冊、訂購、新訂閱者。

Of course, the backbone of our business is the folks who've been with us for a long time. I'll get into that more later. But to kick start the business, we need to bring on new high-quality readers, folks who will become long-term membership subscribers. And to bring on new high-quality readers, we need to find the right message.

當然，我們業務的支柱是長期與我們在一起的人。稍後我會詳細介紹這一點。但為了啟動業務，我們需要引進新的高品質讀者，這些人將成為長期會員訂戶。為了吸引新的高品質讀者，我們需要找到正確的資訊。

In 2022, the message changed. Themes that have been working for years, stopped generating the same level of engagement. So, we dialed back our marketing spend to focus on only the most efficient campaign, we dialed up our efforts to find the next big idea.

2022 年，消息發生了變化。多年來一直有效的主題不再產生相同程度的參與。因此，我們縮減了行銷支出，只專注於最有效的行銷活動，並加強尋找下一個大創意。

Each of our publishers is equipped to do this on their own very effectively. Each operates multiple brands that can feature different angles on the market. And when you put all of our publishers and all of our 13 brands together, we have a formidable engine of discovery.

我們的每個發布商都有能力非常有效地自行做到這一點。每個公司都經營多個品牌，這些品牌可以在市場上發揮不同的作用。當你把我們所有的出版商和我們所有的 13 個品牌放在一起時，我們就擁有了一個強大的發現引擎。

This, I believe, is a key driver of our durability as a business. We have multiple affiliates that are essentially competitors, targeting the same potential customers. Where other businesses try to reduce redundancy, we embrace it because it means that every month, we can run dozens of different campaigns and every day, we can run dozens of different marketing experiments.

我相信，這是我們企業持久發展的關鍵驅動力。我們有多個附屬公司，本質上是競爭對手，針對相同的潛在客戶。當其他企業試圖減少冗餘時，我們欣然接受，因為這意味著每個月我們都可以進行數十個不同的行銷活動，每天我們都可以進行數十個不同的行銷實驗。

In fact, during 2022, we ran almost 470 individual marketing campaigns. This is what allows us to find what works faster than any single affiliate could on its own. And that's always been in place. It's allowed us to manage the business through decades of boom-and-bust markets and stocks, commodities, cryptos, you name it.

事實上，2022 年期間，我們開展了近 470 次單獨的行銷活動。這使我們能夠比任何單一聯盟行銷機構更快地找到有效的方法。這一直都是如此。它使我們能夠在數十年的繁榮與蕭條市場以及股票、大宗商品、加密貨幣等各種繁榮與蕭條的市場中管理業務。

But I'm working to accelerate learning throughout the business. I've put in place programs to identify and spread best practices, and I've increased the amount of reporting we share across the business. Today, our key personnel can quickly seize on innovations and put them to work.

但我正在努力加速整個企業的學習。我制定了一些計劃來識別和傳播最佳實踐，並且增加了我們在整個企業中共享的報告數量。如今，我們的關鍵人員可以快速抓住創新並將其付諸實踐。

Now I'm focusing on marketing here, but this principle applies to every area of operations from customer service, to website design, to new technologies, like artificial intelligence. It's early days, but I'm excited about the efficiencies we could achieve by integrating some of the newly available tech into our operations.

現在我在這裡專注於行銷，但這原則適用於從客戶服務到網站設計，再到人工智慧等新技術的每個營運領域。現在還處於早期階段，但我對透過將一些新可用技術整合到我們的營運中可以實現的效率感到興奮。

Right now, though, I'm even more excited by the new line of business that AI is creating for us. Predictive Alpha Prime, for example, is a new AI-powered tool from our TradeSmith affiliate. It had a very successful launch in the quarter, which led to additional products leveraged from this launch, including an options trading product, a new entry-level product, and a bundled offering of all Predictive Alpha publications.

但現在，我對人工智慧為我們創造的新業務線感到更加興奮。例如，Predictive Alpha Prime 是我們 TradeSmith 附屬公司推出的一款新的人工智慧工具。該產品在本季度的發布非常成功，因此也推出了其他產品，包括選擇權交易產品、新的入門級產品以及所有 Predictive Alpha 出版物的捆綁產品。

AI themes are driving new subscriptions at InvestorPlace, where the focus is on how to invest in AI and related products. And we expect to see multiple new products and campaigns focusing on this sector throughout the rest of the year.

人工智慧主題正在推動 InvestorPlace 的新訂閱，其中重點是如何投資人工智慧和相關產品。我們預計今年剩餘時間將看到多個專注於該領域的新產品和活動。

We are always looking for ways to add value to our subscribers. The folks who know us well, including our high and ultra high-value subscribers who remain loyal to us over the long-term. In fact, we have over 290,000 membership subscribers whose cumulative spend continues to increase despite the challenging environment.

我們一直在尋找為我們的訂閱者增加價值的方法。熟悉我們的人，包括長期對我們保持忠誠的高價值和超高價值訂戶。事實上，我們擁有超過 29 萬名會員訂戶，儘管環境充滿挑戰，但他們的累積支出仍在持續增加。

These membership subscribers typically sign on for an additional five subscriptions, including one additional membership subscription, after their initial membership purchase. These long-term subscribers are the core of our renewal revenue, which is one of the best measures of the success of our business.

這些會員訂閱者通常會在首次購買會員資格後額外註冊五次訂閱，其中包括一項額外的會員訂閱。這些長期訂閱者是我們續訂收入的核心，也是衡量我們業務成功的最佳衡量標準之一。

Over the past five quarters, we've averaged a total of $37 million in upgrade and renewal billings each quarter. These metrics support what we've known for over 20 years that long-term subscribers are the heart of our business, and their trust and confidence in our publications reflect the value they find in our products.

在過去的五個季度中，我們每季的升級和續訂帳單平均總計為 3700 萬美元。這些指標支持了我們 20 多年來所知道的事實，即長期訂閱者是我們業務的核心，他們對我們出版物的信任和信心反映了他們在我們產品中發現的價值。

As I touched on earlier, we have started to see improving trends through the end of the second quarter and into July. Both investor engagement and conversions have improved slightly, as we've seen some success in recent campaigns. And as a result, we have begun to strategically increase some of our direct marketing spend.

正如我之前提到的，從第二季末到 7 月份，我們已經開始看到趨勢的改善。投資者參與度和轉換率均略有改善，我們在最近的活動中看到了一些成功。因此，我們已經開始策略性地增加一些直接行銷支出。

Consequently, we're starting to see an increase in subscriber acquisition, which is encouraging. That said, I still want to caution that these results reflect only a few weeks of results. And it remains to be seen if this is a trend in overall subscriber activity or specific to certain campaigns that we've recently launched.

因此，我們開始看到訂閱者數量的增加，這是令人鼓舞的。儘管如此，我仍然想提醒大家，這些結果只反映了幾週的結果。這是否是整體訂閱者活動的趨勢，還是特定於我們最近推出的某些活動的趨勢，還有待觀察。

Direct marketing spend is our largest variable spend. And while we have reduced that spend over the past year, we fully anticipate increasing our marketing expense as market conditions indicate.

直接行銷支出是我們最大的可變支出。儘管我們在過去一年中減少了支出，但我們完全預期隨著市場狀況的變化，我們的行銷費用將會增加。

We also continue to work on ways to reward our shareholders. Last week, we announced our second quarterly dividend of $0.01 per share to our Class A shareholders and an equivalent distribution for our Class B shareholders. As of this morning, this represents a 2.2% annual yield.

我們也將繼續努力尋找回報股東的方法。上週，我們宣布向 A 類股東派發每股 0.01 美元的第二季股息，並向 B 類股東發放同等股息。截至今天上午，年收益率為 2.2%。

We're pleased to continue this dividend as it highlights our ability to generate positive annual cash flow even near the bottom of the cycle. Over our 20-plus year history, our company has consistently returned capital to its owners. We are pleased to reward our shareholders with another dividend, while working to increase total shareholder returns.

我們很高興繼續派發股息，因為它突顯了我們即使在接近週期底部的情況下也能產生正的年度現金流。在我們 20 多年的歷史中，我們公司始終如一地將資本回饋給其所有者。我們很高興再次向股東發放股息，同時努力提高股東總回報。

We continue to also look for ways to add existing businesses that will complement our operations, including bringing on new editorial teams, software and technologies. While we are actively looking for M&A opportunities, we are also committed to sound financial transactions with acceptable levels of risk and return for our shareholders.

我們也將繼續尋找方法來增加現有業務以補充我們的運營，包括引入新的編輯團隊、軟體和技術。在我們積極尋找併購機會的同時，我們也致力於穩健的金融交易，為股東提供可接受的風險和回報水準。

In terms of talent retention and acquisition, I'm happy to share that we've completed our search to bring a permanent CFO to MarketWise. As we announced a few weeks ago, Erik Mickels will be joining us later this month in the role of CFO. Erik is an experienced public company CFO and brings with him a wealth of knowledge in financial management, accounting, and navigating the public markets.

在人才留任和招募方面，我很高興地告訴大家，我們已經完成了為 MarketWise 引入永久財務長的搜尋工作。正如我們幾週前宣布的那樣，埃里克·米克爾 (Erik Mickels) 將於本月晚些時候加入我們，擔任財務長。艾瑞克（Erik）是一位經驗豐富的上市公司財務官，在財務管理、會計和駕馭公開市場方面擁有豐富的知識。

He also has hands-on experience bringing a private company to the public market via SPAC and all that comes with that transaction. We welcome Erik and look forward to his contributions going forward.

他還擁有透過 SPAC 將私人公司推向公開市場的實踐經驗以及該交易帶來的一切。我們歡迎 Erik 並期待他繼續做出貢獻。

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Steve Park for his service to us as our Interim CFO over the past few months. Steve is the consummate professional and joined us during a hectic time. He helped us get to the finish line for our year-end and first quarter reporting cycles. And as Steve finishes his engagement with us, we wish him well and nothing but success for what comes ahead. The whole team, myself, in particular is very grateful for your expertise, time, and guidance. Thank you, Steve.

我也想藉此機會感謝 Steve Park 在過去幾個月中作為我們的臨時財務長為我們提供的服務。史蒂夫是一位完美的專業人士，他在繁忙的時期加入了我們。他幫助我們完成了年終和第一季報告週期的終點。當史蒂夫完成與我們的訂婚時，我們祝他一切順利，並祝他未來一切順利。整個團隊，特別是我本人，非常感謝您的專業、時間和指導。謝謝你，史蒂夫。

With that said, I'll turn the call over to Steve to review the financial results of the quarter.

話雖如此，我將把電話轉給史蒂夫，以審查本季的財務表現。

Thanks, Amber, and good morning, everyone. As we have seen for some time now, market and economic uncertainty continue to impact results through the second quarter. Early in the quarter, retail investors remained uneasy about the economy, inflation, and the potential for a recession later in the year.

謝謝，安布爾，大家早安。正如我們一段時間以來所看到的，市場和經濟的不確定性繼續影響第二季的業績。本季初，散戶仍對經濟、通膨以及今年稍後出現衰退的可能性感到不安。

However, as Amber noted, many of our internal metrics are beginning to show signs of improvement towards the end of the quarter, retail investors began to pick up and the stock market officially entered a bull market territory in mid-June. Our business began to reflect some of that improvement in late June as we saw engagement and conversions begin to improve.

然而，正如 Amber 指出的那樣，我們的許多內部指標在本季末開始顯示出改善的跡象，散戶投資者開始回升，股市在 6 月中旬正式進入牛市區域。隨著我們看到參與度和轉換率開始改善，我們的業務在 6 月下旬開始反映出一些改善。

Of course, a few weeks doesn't make a trend, but we are seeing some green shoots in the landscape of financial publishing. In the second quarter of 2023, our landing page visits were approximately $23 million, up 10% from first quarter 2023 levels. However, our overall conversion rate was approximately two basis points lower this quarter as compared to prior quarter.

當然，幾週時間並不能成為一種趨勢，但我們看到財經出版領域出現了一些萌芽。 2023 年第二季度，我們的著陸頁訪問量約為 2,300 萬美元，比 2023 年第一季的水準成長 10%。然而，本季我們的整體轉換率比上一季低了約兩個基點。

Looking at this more closely, we saw lower conversion rates earlier in the quarter as market uncertainty and volatility remained high. As the quarter progressed into June, we saw higher levels of engagement with improvement to the point where overall conversion for the quarter was only slightly off from prior quarter. That said, the two basis points decline is relatively small and appears to be moderating based on recent performance.

更仔細地觀察這一點，我們發現本季早些時候的轉換率較低，因為市場不確定性和波動性仍然很高。隨著本季進入 6 月份，我們看到參與度有所提高，本季的整體轉換率僅與上一季略有不同。儘管如此，兩個基點的跌幅相對較小，根據近期表現來看似乎正在放緩。

As in the prior quarters, our subscribers have also slowed the pace of buying additional subscriptions given the macroeconomic conditions. So our customers continue to take a bit longer to move through their subscriber journeys with us than historically. However, even in this environment, our high-value and ultra high-value subscribers continue to purchase additional subscriptions.

與前幾季一樣，考慮到宏觀經濟狀況，我們的訂閱者也放慢了購買額外訂閱的步伐。因此，我們的客戶在我們的訂閱旅程中花費的時間比以往要長一些。然而，即使在這種環境下，我們的高價值和超高價值訂閱者仍在繼續購買額外的訂閱。

As a result, our active cumulative spend by all subscribers reached another all-time high this quarter. This is just another indication of customer satisfaction and the value that subscribers find in our products, which is why they remain with us for the long-term.

因此，本季我們所有訂閱者的活躍累計支出再創歷史新高。這只是客戶滿意度和訂戶在我們的產品中發現的價值的另一個指標，這就是為什麼他們長期留在我們身邊的原因。

Turning to the financials. GAAP revenue was $103.6 million this quarter compared to $128 million for the second quarter of 2022, a decrease of $24.4 million or 19%. The decrease in revenue was driven by a $15.6 million decrease in term subscription revenue and an $8.4 million decrease in membership subscription revenue. Billings were $96.2 million compared to $117.5 million for the year-ago quarter, a decline of $21.3 million.

轉向財務。本季 GAAP 營收為 1.036 億美元，較 2022 年第二季的 1.28 億美元減少 2,440 萬美元，即 19%。收入下降的原因是定期訂閱收入減少了 1560 萬美元，會員訂閱收入減少了 840 萬美元。營業額為 9,620 萬美元，與去年同期的 1.175 億美元相比，減少了 2,130 萬美元。

That said, our billings are starting to level out as they only declined $1 million or 1% from the 2023 first quarter. Approximately 36% of our billings came from membership subscriptions, 63% from term subscriptions, and 1% from other billings in second quarter 2023. This compares to 38% of our billings coming from membership subscriptions, 61% from term subscriptions, and 1% from other billings for second quarter 2022.

也就是說，我們的帳單開始趨於平穩，與 2023 年第一季相比僅下降了 100 萬美元或 1%。 2023 年第二季度，我們大約36% 的帳單來自會員訂閱，63% 來自定期訂閱，1% 來自其他帳單。 1% 來自其他帳單。

As we discussed in the prior quarter's call, our cost reduction initiative that we completed in 2022 was successful in reducing both run rate, overhead expense and direct marketing expense through the end of 2022. We continue to maintain these levels of efficiency throughout the first half of 2023. While we may begin to see the level of direct marketing expense increase in coming months, this will be in relation to increased landing page visits, conversions, and subscriptions.

正如我們在上一季的電話會議中討論的那樣，我們在2022 年完成的成本削減計劃成功地降低了運行率、管理費用和直接營銷費用，直至2022 年底。水平2023 年。

As we remind everyone, direct marketing is our largest variable expense. And as we see subscriber engagement and the per unit cost of acquisition improve, we may look to increase our direct marketing spend from current levels and focus on subscriber acquisition.

正如我們提醒大家的那樣，直接行銷是我們最大的可變支出。當我們看到訂戶參與度和單位獲取成本有所改善時，我們可能會考慮在當前水準上增加直接行銷支出，並將重點放在訂戶獲取上。

As a result of our effort to reduce costs and maintain efficiencies, we were able to improve our overall operating expense profile. On a GAAP basis, total operating expenses were reduced, approximately $9.9 million or 9.5%, as compared to second quarter 2022.

由於我們努力降低成本和保持效率，我們能夠改善整體營運費用狀況。以 GAAP 計算，與 2022 年第二季相比，總營運費用減少約 990 萬美元，即 9.5%。

Cost of revenue was $14.6 million this quarter, compared to $16.2 million for the year ago quarter, a decline of $1.6 million or 9.8%. This decline was driven primarily by a decrease of $0.8 million in salaries and related benefits expense, a $0.6 million decrease in credit card fees and another $0.6 million decrease in outsourced customer service fees.

本季營收成本為 1,460 萬美元，與去年同期的 1,620 萬美元相比，下降了 160 萬美元，即 9.8%。這一下降主要是由於工資和相關福利費用減少了 80 萬美元、信用卡費用減少了 60 萬美元以及外包客戶服務費減少了 60 萬美元。

Sales and marketing costs were $49 million this quarter, compared to $65.1 million in the year ago quarter, a decrease of $16 million or 24.6%. This decrease was primarily driven by a $19.6 million decrease in direct marketing expense related to our cost reduction initiative, partially offset by a $3.7 million increase in the amortization of our deferred contract cost acquisitions.

本季銷售和行銷成本為 4,900 萬美元，較去年同期的 6,510 萬美元減少 1,600 萬美元，即 24.6%。這一下降主要是由於與我們的成本削減計劃相關的直接行銷費用減少了 1,960 萬美元，部分被我們遞延合約成本收購攤銷增加 370 萬美元所抵消。

General and administrative costs this quarter were $27.6 million, as compared to $20.4 million in the year ago quarter, an increase of $7.3 million. This increase was primarily driven by a $3.6 million increase in state, franchise and sales tax expenses, a $3.8 million increase in incentive compensation and a $1 million -- $1.1 million increase in stock compensation and a $0.7 million increase in outside labor. This was partially offset by a $1.1 million decrease in compensation expense and a $0.4 million decrease in travel and entertainment.

本季的一般和行政費用為 2,760 萬美元，與去年同期的 2,040 萬美元相比，增加了 730 萬美元。這一增長主要是由於州稅、特許經營稅和銷售稅費用增加了 360 萬美元，激勵薪酬增加了 380 萬美元，股票薪酬增加了 100 萬美元至 110 萬美元，外部勞動力增加了 70 萬美元。這被補償費用減少 110 萬美元以及差旅和娛樂費用減少 40 萬美元部分抵消。

Adjusted cash flow from operations was $29 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to $26.8 million in the year ago quarter, with the increase primarily due to net income of $9.7 million adjusted for net non-cash items, which increased $5.3 million and net changes in our operating assets and liabilities, which increased cash by $13.9 million.

2023 年第二季調整後的營運現金流為2,900 萬美元，而去年同期為2,680 萬美元，成長主要是由於淨非現金項目調整後的淨收入為970 萬美元，增加了530 萬美元，淨收入增加了530 萬美元。

Adjusted CFFO margin was 30.1% in the second quarter of 2023, as compared to 22.8% last year. As we discussed on our last quarter earnings call, timing of the annual bonus payments made in the first quarter of 2023 impacted our adjusted cash flow from operations margin. Our second quarter adjusted cash flow from operations margin was 30.1%, which was significantly higher than the 4% we reported in the first quarter of 2023.

2023 年第二季調整後 CFFO 利潤率為 30.1%，而去年為 22.8%。正如我們在上季度財報電話會議上討論的那樣，2023 年第一季支付年度獎金的時間影響了我們調整後的營運利潤現金流。我們第二季調整後的營運利潤現金流為 30.1%，顯著高於我們在 2023 年第一季報告的 4%。

On a year-to-date basis, our adjusted CFFO margin for the first half of 2023 was 17% as compared to 11% for the first half of 2022. As we have discussed in the past, the payment of certain expenses, especially as it comes to royalties and commissions, is not linear and we impact quarter-to-quarter margins. However, we believe the second half of the year, on average, should be consistent with our year-to-date margin for the first half of the year.

年初至今，我們 2023 年上半年調整後的 CFFO 利潤率為 17%，而 2022 年上半年為 11%。不是線性的，我們會影響季度利潤。然而，我們認為下半年的平均利潤率應與上半年的年初至今利潤率保持一致。

Our Paid Subscriber base declined from 898,000 at the end of the second quarter 2022 to 750,000 this quarter, a 16.4% decline driven by a decrease in overall consumer engagement. As compared to the first quarter of 2023, our Paid Subscriber base was down 27,000, or 3.5%.

我們的付費訂閱用戶數量從 2022 年第二季末的 898,000 人下降至本季的 75 萬人，由於整體消費者參與度下降，下降了 16.4%。與 2023 年第一季相比，我們的付費訂閱用戶數量減少了 27,000 人，即 3.5%。

During the quarter, Active Free Subscribers decreased by 0.4 million or 9.5% to 3.9 million, compared to 4.3 million as of June 30, 2022. The year-over-year decline in active subscribers is a result of decreased engagement with our subscriber community as consumer engagement continues to be sought. As compared to first quarter 2023, Active Free Subscribers declined 0.1 million or 2.9%.

本季度，活躍免費訂閱者減少了40 萬，即9.5%，至390 萬，而截至2022 年6 月30 日，活躍訂閱者數量為430 萬。參與度下降所致。與 2023 年第一季相比，活躍免費訂閱者減少了 10 萬，即 2.9%。

ARPU declined to $490 this quarter from $580 in the second quarter of 2022. This was driven by a 26% decrease in average trailing four-quarter billings combined with a 13% decrease in average trailing four-quarter paid subscribers. We believe the billings decline is primarily due to the volatile economy that's persisted since the first quarter of 2022. As compared to first quarter 2023, ARPU decreased $4 or less than 1%.

本季 ARPU 從 2022 年第二季的 580 美元下降至 490 美元。我們認為，帳單下降主要是由於自 2022 年第一季以來持續的經濟波動。

Last week, we declared a $0.01 per share quarterly dividend to shareholders of our Class A common stock in a dividend equivalent to our holders of our Class B units. We continue to view this dividend as a conservative capital return to our shareholders.

上週，我們宣布向 A 類普通股股東派發每股 0.01 美元的季度股息，股息相當於 B 類單位持有人的股息。我們仍將此次股利視為對股東的保守資本回報。

Finally, before I turn it back to Amber, I want to emphasize that the hard work we have done on the cost and efficiency side of our operations continues to contribute to the bottom line. Improvement in efficiencies, total operating costs, and our cash flow and adjusted cash flow margins are a direct result of the hard choices we have made over the past year.

最後，在我回到 Amber 之前，我想強調一下，我們在營運成本和效率方面所做的努力繼續為我們的獲利做出貢獻。效率、總營運成本以及現金流和調整後現金流利潤率的提高是我們過去一年做出的艱難選擇的直接結果。

In addition, we are starting to see some improvement in market engagement, conversions, and subscriber interest in our publications. As we begin to see overall market conditions improve and the self-directed investor return to the market, we believe we are well positioned to take advantage of opportunities to improve the strength of our business.

此外，我們開始看到市場參與度、轉換率和訂閱者對我們出版物的興趣有所改善。隨著我們開始看到整體市場狀況的改善以及自主投資者重返市場，我們相信我們已做好充分準備，可以利用機會來提高我們的業務實力。

With that, I will turn it back to Amber.

有了這個，我會把它轉回琥珀。

Thank you, Steve. To conclude, I continue to be excited about the opportunity I see every day at MarketWise. Our metrics around consumer engagement and subscriber conversions are beginning to show signs of improvement. Big ideas and products focused on artificial intelligence and global macro themes have gained traction in recent weeks, and market sentiment is starting to shift in our favor.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。最後，我仍然對每天在 MarketWise 看到的機會感到興奮。我們圍繞著消費者參與度和訂戶轉換率的指標開始顯示出改善的跡象。最近幾週，專注於人工智慧和全球宏觀主題的偉大創意和產品受到關注，市場情緒開始轉向有利於我們的方向。

As I look at our current situation, I'm pleased to see our business model has proven itself once again. When faced with volatility and uncertainty in the markets, we pulled back on our spending and worked to find the next big ideas to help self-directed investors succeed. We successfully navigated that challenging environment and emerged on the other side, profitable and cash flow positive.

當我審視我們目前的狀況時，我很高興看到我們的商業模式再次證明了自己。當面對市場的波動和不確定性時，我們縮減了支出，並努力尋找下一個偉大的想法來幫助自主投資者取得成功。我們成功地度過了充滿挑戰的環境，並在另一邊脫穎而出，盈利且現金流為正。

I look forward to working with our teams to execute on the opportunities ahead of us, continually improve our business model, and deliver increasing shareholder returns to our long-term investors. I know we've said this before, but this truly is a great business, focused on serving the retail investor in a way which we know is both unique and valuable.

我期待與我們的團隊合作，抓住我們面前的機遇，不斷改進我們的商業模式，並為我們的長期投資者提供不斷增加的股東回報。我知道我們之前已經說過這​​一點，但這確實是一項偉大的業務，專注於以我們所知道的獨特且有價值的方式為散戶投資者提供服務。

Our principles define our mission. Deliver great investing ideas to the retail investor. Deliver these ideas written in a way that is easy to understand and execute, and treating our subscribers the way we would want to be treated, if our roles were reversed.

我們的原則定義了我們的使命。為散戶提供優秀的投資理念。以易於理解和執行的方式傳達這些想法，並以我們希望被對待的方式對待我們的訂閱者（如果我們的角色互換的話）。

I will now turn it over to the operator for your questions.

我現在將其轉交給接線員詢問您的問題。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Kyle Peterson, Needham.

謝謝。 （操作員說明）Kyle Peterson，Needham。

Great. Thanks guys. Good morning and appreciate you taking the question. I wanted to start on Paid Subscribers. Seems like you guys seem a little kind of cautiously optimistic there. It seems like there's some -- a little bit better numbers and engagement in June and July. But just wanted to get your sense like, barring whether -- like if there's a Black Swan event or something in absence of like a negative market event like that, do you guys have some comfort that we might be at least approaching a bottom on paid subs, or is it still a little early to tell?

偉大的。多謝你們。早上好，感謝您提出問題。我想從付費訂閱者開始。看來你們似乎有點謹慎樂觀。六月和七月的數字和參與度似乎有所改善。但只是想了解你們的感覺，除非發生黑天鵝事件或類似的負面市場事件，你們是否感到安慰，因為我們可能至少接近付費的底部潛艇，還是現在說還為時過早？

None of us has a crystal ball, but that's -- I would call us cautiously optimistic. I think you're right. We're looking to see subscriber growth quarter-over-quarter. We can't guarantee anything, but that's where our heads are at.

我們誰都沒有水晶球，但我認為我們是謹慎樂觀的。我想你是對的。我們希望看到訂戶數量環比增長。我們不能保證任何事情，但這就是我們的想法。

Yes. Kyle, I'd just say that we're definitely starting to see some improvement in some of the metrics and some action is being taken on the subscriber side. So as Amber said, it's early yet, but it feels like we're getting some traction that we didn't have, let's say, six months ago.

是的。凱爾，我只想說，我們肯定開始看到某些指標有所改善，而訂閱者方面正在採取一些行動。正如 Amber 所說，現在還為時過早，但感覺我們正在獲得一些六個月前還沒有的牽引力。

Yeah, Kyle and we've also seen churn starting to work in our favor. Our churn rate was down from where it was in the first quarter of the year. And it looks like, at least in the short-term, we're going to continue to have that churn rate stay low. So, that's one part of the equation.

是的，凱爾和我們也看到客戶流失開始對我們有利。我們的客戶流失率比今年第一季有所下降。看起來，至少在短期內，我們將繼續將客戶流失率維持在較低水準。所以，這是等式的一部分。

The other part, obviously, is new subscriber acquisition. We did see a slight increase in subscriber acquisition in the second quarter. And we have a couple of weeks of good results here in July, we just have to see if that continues.

顯然，另一部分是新用戶的獲取。我們確實看到第二季度的訂閱用戶數量略有增加。我們在七月的幾週內取得了良好的成果，我們只需要看看這種情況是否會持續下去。

Okay. That's great color. And then just a follow-up on cash flow. Good to see the step up in cash flow margins this quarter. It sounds like in the second half, I guess, they should be relatively consistent with first half. But I guess just thinking about that, obviously, the 1Q versus the 2Q cash flow margins were quite a bit different. Is thinking of somewhere in between, is that like a good way to think about it? Or maybe are we closer to the 2Q level given that 1Q had the product payment impact?

好的。那顏色真棒。然後只是現金流的後續行動。很高興看到本季現金流利潤率的提高。聽起來下半場，我想，他們應該要跟上半場比較一致。但我想只要想想這一點，顯然，第一季和第二季的現金流利潤率有很大不同。考慮介於兩者之間的某個地方，這是一個很好的思考方式嗎？或者考慮到第一季對產品支付的影響，我們是否更接近第二季的水平？

Well, I think that we were forecasting something similar for the second half of 2023, it's hard to know, quarter-to-quarter, there are impacts that are a little bit uneven. And also as we increase the subscriber acquisition, that might impact our results as well. But if -- Lee, you got any more to add to that?

嗯，我認為我們對 2023 年下半年的情況進行了類似的預測，但很難知道，每季的影響會有些不均勻。而且，隨著我們增加訂閱者數量，這也可能影響我們的業績。但如果──李，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yeah, Kyle. So, we are -- we do tend to be lumpy a bit in that. And the first quarter had our annual incentive payouts, which is kind of a double whammy, but we do pay out some royalties and commissions in Q3. And we're trying to get that [level] out, so we're not as choppy.

是的，凱爾。所以，我們確實在這方面有點不穩定。第一季我們有年度獎勵支出，這有點雙重打擊，但我們確實在第三季支付了一些特許權使用費和佣金。我們正在努力達到這個水平，這樣我們就不會那麼不穩定。

But generally speaking, the first quarter and the third quarter are going to tend to be on the lower side, the second quarter and the fourth quarter are going to tend to be on the higher side. But I think the best way to really look at it is to look at the half year. And again, we think that the second half of the year is going to look a lot like the first part of the year, maybe with a slight upside to it.

但整體來看，第一季、第三季將趨於走低，第二季、第四季將趨於走高。但我認為真正了解它的最好方法是看看半年。再說一遍，我們認為今年下半年將與上半年非常相似，也許會有一些輕微的上漲。

Devin Ryan, JMP Securities.

德文·瑞安 (Devin Ryan)，JMP 證券。

Hi. This is actually Michael Falco on for Devin. Good morning. I wanted to start by touching on the content strategy. Launched 50 new publications in the quarter, and Amber, I think you mentioned in the prepared remarks talking about figuring out how to talk to prospective subscribers again.

你好。這其實是麥可法爾科（Michael Falco）為德文（Devin）代言。早安.我想從內容策略開始。本季度推出了 50 種新出版物，Amber，我想您在準備好的評論中提到如何再次與潛在訂閱者交談。

And so I know you mentioned AI, but can you provide any additional insight around maybe what specific types of content are working, driving conversions, attracting new members, and resonating with existing subscribers in the current environment? And then perhaps, on the other hand, what content maybe has been less effective?

所以我知道您提到了人工智慧，但是您能否提供有關哪些特定類型的內容正在發揮作用、推動轉化、吸引新會員以及在當前環境下與現有訂閱者產生共鳴的任何其他見解？另一方面，也許哪些內容的效果較差？

Great question. It's one of the most important questions in the business. So AI in all of its magical different forms is absolutely intriguing our subscribers. So we've got products that are using AI to help predict, to help generate stock recommendations. We've got products that are talking about how to invest in AI. We've got products that can give you the best stocks in any sector. Let's talk about the best stocks in AI. So the AI flavor, we're seeing it throughout MarketWise.

很好的問題。這是業界中最重要的問題之一。因此，人工智慧以其各種神奇的不同形式絕對吸引著我們的訂閱者。因此，我們有使用人工智慧來幫助預測、幫助產生股票推薦的產品。我們有一些產品正在討論如何投資人工智慧。我們的產品可以為您提供任何行業中最好的股票。我們來談談人工智慧領域最好的股票。所以人工智慧的味道，我們在整個 MarketWise 中都能看到。

A couple of other themes that have been interesting for our subscribers is global macro, which sort of is hard exactly to define, but the idea of dangers to the US dollar and how to protect yourself from that. It's a perennial theme in newsletters and that's something that is generating subscriber interest as well. And then we're also seeing increased interest in all different kinds of software to help assist you in managing your own portfolio and to help you trade.

我們的訂閱者感興趣的其他幾個主題是全球宏觀，這很難準確定義，但美元面臨的危險以及如何保護自己免受危險的想法。這是時事通訊中長期存在的主題，也引起了訂戶的興趣。然後我們也看到人們對各種不同類型的軟體越來越感興趣，這些軟體可以幫助您管理自己的投資組合併幫助您進行交易。

Thanks. That's great context. And then maybe just one quick follow-up on M&A. Any context on the types of opportunities you're seeing there and what your appetite is for acquisitions at the moment?

謝謝。這是很好的背景。然後也許只是併購的一個快速跟進。您在那裡看到的機會類型以及您目前對收購的興趣是什麼？

We have been and continue to be very active looking for potential M&A opportunities. I can tell you that we've kissed a lot of frogs over the last year. We found a few princes, but nobody that we're ready to walk down the aisle with. So we are open to interesting ideas, but we're extremely disciplined about our approach. We want to make sure that it is additive for shareholders and not that we're doing M&A for the sake of doing M&A.

我們一直並將繼續非常積極地尋找潛在的併購機會。我可以告訴你，去年我們親吻了很多青蛙。我們找到了一些王子，但沒有一個是我們準備好與之一起走上紅毯的。因此，我們對有趣的想法持開放態度，但我們對我們的方法非常嚴格。我們希望確保它對股東是有益的，而不是為了併購而進行併購。

Jason Helfstein, Oppenheimer.

賈森·赫夫斯坦，奧本海默。

Hey, thanks. This is Chad on for Jason. So I just wanted to hit on kind of the first question. So you talked about churn declining in the quarter. And it does look like your sequential subscriber losses did get better. But Schwab's daily active trades got worse in 2Q versus 1Q. So is that something we should be kind of paying less attention to going forward now? And then I have a second question.

嘿，謝謝。這是查德（Chad）代替傑森（Jason）。所以我只想回答第一個問題。所以您談到了本季的客戶流失率下降。看起來您的連續訂閱者損失確實有所改善。但施瓦布的每日活躍交易在第二季比第一季更差。那我們現在應該少關注這一點嗎？然後我還有第二個問題。

Okay. I'm going to toss the Schwab question to Lee, who keeps a closer eye on it.

好的。我將把施瓦布的問題拋給李，他會密切關注這個問題。

Yeah. So Schwab had a little bit of a strange nuance in the first quarter. We had that little mini bank run where we had a couple of banks fail. So there was a lot of cash outflows. So the Schwab debts kind of peaked in the first quarter and then they kind of declined in the second quarter back to kind of where they've been trending since the back half of 2022.

是的。所以施瓦佈在第一季的表現有點奇怪。我們有小型小型銀行擠兌，有幾家銀行倒閉。所以出現了大量的現金流出。因此，嘉信理財的債務在第一季達到頂峰，然後在第二季度有所下降，回到 2022 年下半年以來的趨勢。

And we had an increase this quarter. And Schwab, although, it didn't kind of see -- it did not translate in the second quarter, Schwab debts have come up in July. So they appear to be lagging or it's just a little bit. But I think that first quarter increase on their part was an anomaly due to these mini bank runs.

本季我們的業績有所成長。而嘉信理財，雖然，它沒有看到──第二季並沒有轉化，嘉信理財的債務在七月就出現了。所以他們似乎落後了，或者只是一點點。但我認為，由於這些小型銀行擠兌，他們第一季的成長是不正常的。

Yeah. That increase in debts wasn't going to translate into new subscribers for us, we thought. And so I think that you level it all out and kind of look to fourth quarter to now, it makes a lot more sense.

是的。我們認為，債務的增加不會為我們帶來新的訂戶。所以我認為你把一切都平衡起來，看看第四季到現在，這更有意義。

Okay. Great. That makes sense. And then I know you don't guide, but it sounds like we're getting incrementally more positive on the go-forward outlook. Does that mean that revenue can grow sequentially from here, or still not sure yet?

好的。偉大的。這就說得通了。然後我知道你不提供指導，但聽起來我們對未來的前景越來越正面。這是否意味著收入可以從這裡開始連續成長，或者仍然不確定？

Like you said, we don't guide, but that's something -- bringing on new subscribers is a great thing. It is the beginning of all things. Revenue might lag a bit, because it takes a while for folks to work through our funnel and start buying the higher-priced products. But as new high-quality subscribers come on, we absolutely expect to see revenue increase.

就像你說的，我們不提供指導，但那就是——吸引新訂閱者是一件很棒的事。這是一切事物的開始。收入可能會有點滯後，因為人們需要一段時間才能完成我們的管道並開始購買價格較高的產品。但隨著新的高品質訂戶的出現，我們絕對希望看到收入增加。

I was just going to say, so revenue definitely has a lag versus billings. So we amortize the revenue, or the revenue comes off of our balance sheet over the life of a subscription. So we could have several straight quarters of increased billings, but the GAAP revenue is going to take much longer than that to catch up to it. So again, we don't give guidance, but I don't think we're going to see a rapid escalation of our GAAP revenue. It certainly wouldn't escalate as quickly as our billings may.

我只是想說，所以收入與帳單相比肯定存在滯後。因此，我們會在訂閱週期內攤提收入，或收入從我們的資產負債表中扣除。因此，我們的帳單可能會連續幾季增加，但 GAAP 收入將需要更長的時間才能趕上。再說一次，我們不提供指導，但我認為我們公認的會計準則收入不會迅速上升。它肯定不會像我們的賬單那樣迅速升級。

And just to finish on that, it's really important to realize that if we start to bring more people to the top of the funnel, as Amber just mentioned, the life cycle of our customers is quite long. And that first sale may be additive to some point, but it's really that second and third sales. So the longer and deeper the relationship with us is, the more we'll see that revenue build over time.

最後，重要的是要認識到，如果我們開始將更多的人帶到漏斗的頂部，正如 Amber 剛才提到的那樣，我們客戶的生命週期會相當長。第一次銷售在某種程度上可能是累積的，但實際上是第二次和第三次銷售。因此，與我們的關係越長久、越深入，我們就越能看到收入隨著時間的推移而增加。

Something really important to keep in mind is that very little of the current period GAAP revenue is actually earned in the period. So if you're looking for revenue that was earned in the period, billings is the metric to look at.

真正需要記住的重要一點是，當期公認會計準則收入中，實際賺取的收入很少。因此，如果您正在尋找在此期間賺取的收入，則應查看帳單指標。

(Operator Instructions) Alex Kramm, UBS.

（操作員說明）Alex Kramm，UBS。

Yeah. Hi. Good morning, everyone. Just another one on the cost side. I'm not sure if I heard you correctly there, but I think you said, you continue to evaluate or take cost actions. So maybe you can flesh this out a little bit more. Are you basically -- are you still doing things? If you're doing anything, please, can you let us know what you're doing and maybe dimensionalize a little bit, or given the improvement here, are you a little bit slowing down those maybe other cuts that you have planned?

是的。你好。大家，早安。只是成本方面的另一個問題。我不確定我是否聽錯了，但我想你說過，你會繼續評估或採取成本行動。所以也許你可以進一步充實這一點。你基本上還在做事嗎？如果你正在做任何事情，請讓我們知道你在做什麼，也許可以稍微維度化一點，或者考慮到這裡的改進，你是否會稍微放慢你計劃的其他削減？

So I think we still have efficiencies to find in our centralized operation, and those will be iterative rather than slash-and-burn. As we get better at being a public company, we will become more efficient at providing the services that we need to provide at a lower cost. And we can bring some functions in-house that right now we're paying consultants to do for us, which could save us some money.

所以我認為我們仍然可以在中心化運作中找到效率，而這些將是迭代的，而不是刀耕火種。隨著我們成為上市公司的能力越來越強，我們將更有效率地以更低的成本提供所需的服務。我們可以將一些功能引入內部，現在我們正在付費聘請顧問為我們做，這可以為我們節省一些錢。

And then -- but we're always looking to improve efficiencies One of the things to know on the cost side is as we increase our direct marketing, we will be increasing our direct marketing spend. But the reason why we dialed it back and the reason why we would dial it up is based on efficiency. We dialed it back, because it was inefficient spend. As we start to see great metrics, we'll be dialing that up.

然後 - 但我們一直在尋求提高效率 在成本方面需要了解的一件事是，隨著我們增加直接行銷，我們將增加我們的直接行銷支出。但我們之所以回撥、之所以撥通，是基於效率。我們取消了這項計劃，因為這是低效率的支出。當我們開始看到出色的指標時，我們將加強。

No, it makes sense. And then maybe just to come back to maybe the second quarter and also what we've seen so far, you gave a lot of detail around some of the metrics that are improving. I think growth in subscribers, up 11% relative to the first quarter was one that stood out to us.

不，這是有道理的。然後也許只是回到第二季度以及我們迄今為止所看到的情況，您就一些正在改進的指標提供了很多細節。我認為訂閱用戶的成長（較第一季成長 11%）對我們來說是最引人注目的。

But when you just look at maybe markets being really strong in the second quarter and sometimes that brings retail investors back to engage like, what are the things that you would point to for existing -- for both existing and new investors, that's really stood out? And maybe anything you know from history in terms of like maybe it actually takes a little bit after like a big quarter that we just had. So I know it's a broad question, but really, any more detail you haven't provided so far on both the new and existing site that kind of stood out and can service as a good preamble of what to come?

但是，當你看到第二季市場可能非常強勁，有時這會讓散戶投資者重新參與時，你會為現有投資者指出哪些事情——對於現有投資者和新投資者來說，這確實很突出？也許你從歷史中知道的任何事情，例如也許實際上需要一段時間，例如我們剛剛經歷的一個大季度。所以我知道這是一個廣泛的問題，但實際上，到目前為止，您還沒有在新網站和現有網站上提供任何更多細節，這些細節很突出，可以作為即將發生的事情的一個很好的序言？

Okay. I'll take a shot at that, and then if anybody has anything [smarter] to add, they can. One thing to keep in mind about our business is often that retail investors are a little bit slower than institutional investors to catch on to a trend. So if you start to see institutional investors move into a sector or move into the market overall, retail investors can take a little bit longer to warm up to that idea. So just in general, you might see a little bit of lag in retail investor activity and retail subscriber activity for us.

好的。我會嘗試一下，然後如果有人有什麼[更聰明的]要補充的，他們可以。關於我們的業務，需要記住的一件事是，散戶投資者通常比機構投資者慢一些，才能抓住趨勢。因此，如果你開始看到機構投資者進入某個行業或進入整個市場，散戶投資者可能需要更長的時間才能接受這個想法。因此，總的來說，您可能會看到我們的散戶活動和散戶訂戶活動有點滯後。

And then I touched on it before, but if there's a hot trend in the market like AI and our retail investors are hearing about it in the news and they're talking to their friends about it and their friends are doing things with ChatGPT, that echo chamber effect works in our favor if we're speaking to that same trend.

然後我之前談過，但是如果市場上有像人工智慧這樣的熱門趨勢，並且我們的散戶投資者在新聞中聽到了它，他們正在與他們的朋友談論它，並且他們的朋友正在使用ChatGPT 做事情，那麼如果我們談論同樣的趨勢，迴聲室效應對我們有利。

Yeah. The other thing I would say, Alex, is one of the things we watch, I watch very carefully is our daily orders, especially around the lower price point products. And we are starting to see a little bit of an acceleration there. If you think about our sales funnel, that is the very top of our sales funnel. That's kind of the oil that runs through the engine.

是的。亞歷克斯，我要說的另一件事是我們觀察的事情之一，我非常仔細地觀察我們的日常訂單，特別是圍繞價格較低的產品。我們開始看到那裡有一點加速。如果您考慮我們的銷售漏斗，那就是我們銷售漏斗的最頂端。這就是流經引擎的油。

So again, I don't want to get kind of over my skis, but we are seeing a positive trend in that. And typically, in our sales funnel, what would happen is those subscribers would see the value in the content that we provide, and they will continue to buy additional subscriptions. And as they move along their journey, these subscriptions become more expensive, and that's where we would start to see a lift in the billings. But it's way too early for us to see that because we're only a few weeks into those orders kind of stepping up just a little bit. So we'll be keeping a close eye on it this quarter.

再說一遍，我不想讓我的滑雪板變得有點過分，但我們看到了這方面的正面趨勢。通常，在我們的銷售管道中，那些訂閱者會看到我們提供的內容的價值，並且他們將繼續購買額外的訂閱。隨著他們的旅程不斷前進，這些訂閱變得更加昂貴，這就是我們開始看到帳單上升的地方。但對我們來說，現在看到這一點還為時過早，因為我們距離這些訂單只有幾週的時間，只是稍微加強了一點點。因此，本季我們將密切關注這一情況。

And it appears there are no further phone questions at this time. I will now turn it over for the web questions.

目前似乎沒有進一步的電話問題。我現在將其轉交給網路問題。

Yeah, thanks so much, Ellie. We've got a couple of questions, Amber. And the first one is on M&A and M&A targeting. The question asks, how do we factor subscriber demographics into acquisition analysis? And we have a -- we tend to have a bit of an older subscription base, so how do you factor that into potential deals?

是的，非常感謝，艾莉。我們有幾個問題，安柏。第一個是關於併購和併購目標。問題是，我們如何將訂戶人口統計納入取得分析？我們有一個——我們往往有一些較舊的訂閱基礎，所以你如何將其納入潛在的交易中？

We absolutely do factor that into potential deals. We are looking for demographics that match our current demographics. We know that those are the kinds of people who buy subscriptions from us and who upgrade and become our long-term loyal subscribers. So when we're looking at an M&A target, if they have demographics that are substantially different, if they're all Gen Zers, that would give us real pause.

我們絕對會將這一點納入潛在交易中。我們正在尋找與我們目前的人口統計資料相符的人口統計資料。我們知道，這些人從我們這裡購買訂閱併升級並成為我們的長期忠實訂閱者。因此，當我們考慮併購目標時，如果他們的人口統計數據有很大不同，如果他們都是 Z 世代，那會讓我們真正猶豫不決。

It's not that -- we don't want to talk to Gen Z, but we want to talk to the Gen Z cohort who is interested in investment advice, which happens to be sort of a small slice of that. So what we're looking for in M&A acquisitions is something that looks and feels familiar, that we can have really high confidence that they're going to become great subscribers for us.

並不是這樣的——我們不想與 Z 世代交談，但我們想與對投資建議感興趣的 Z 世代群體交談，而這恰好只是其中的一小部分。因此，我們在併購中尋找的是看起來和感覺上都很熟悉的東西，我們可以非常有信心地相信他們將成為我們的優秀訂閱者。

That's great. And then a question that you can start, but I'm sure it's going to end up with Lee, is about the ARPU. How do you balance new acquisition with ARPU, since new acquisitions will typically come in at a lower price point? Do you have a floor in mind? Do you have a thought process about where you see ARPU going?

那太棒了。然後你可以提出一個關於 ARPU 的問題，但我確信最終會由 Lee 提出。由於新收購通常會以較低的價格點進行，因此您如何平衡新收購與 ARPU？您心裡有樓層嗎？您是否對 ARPU 走向有一個思考過程？

So I would say, we don't manage to ARPU. New subscribers, new high-quality subscribers are a great thing. We bring them on when we can do that efficiently, when we have confidence that they will pay us back for our costs and then [some].

所以我想說，我們沒有達到 ARPU。新訂閱者、新的高品質訂閱者是一件很棒的事。當我們能夠有效地做到這一點時，當我們有信心他們會償還我們的成本時，我們就會聘請他們，然後[一些]。

So if we have the great good fortune to be able to bring on a whole lot of those subscribers at once, that could weigh on ARPU, but we would expect ARPU then to rebound as those subscribers work to [drive] our funnel as Lee was describing.

因此，如果我們有幸能夠同時吸引大量訂閱者，這可能會對 ARPU 造成壓力，但我們預計 ARPU 會反彈，因為這些訂閱者會像 Lee 一樣努力[推動]我們的漏斗。

Right. I always say, ARPU is simply math. It's billings and it's subscribers. And right now, we are kind of at an inflection point where we hope both are going to start ticking up. But it is a trailing four-quarter metric, so I just have to remind you of that. So even if we have like a really great quarter, we still have to slog through the prior three quarters, which quite honestly haven't been that great for us.

正確的。我總是說，ARPU 就是數學。這是帳單和訂閱者。現在，我們正處於一個轉捩點，我們希望兩者都能開始好轉。但這是一個落後的四分之四指標，所以我必須提醒您這一點。因此，即使我們有一個非常出色的季度，我們仍然必須艱難地度過前三個季度，老實說，這對我們來說並不是那麼好。

So there's going to be, again, we're talking a lot about delayed effects today. I think we're probably bottomed on our ARPU, but I don't expect a rapid escalation. I think, it will stay steady-ish around where it is and maybe pick up a buck or two or something like that here as we head into the next quarter. And then we'll just have to see how the rest of this quarter's billings kind of play out.

因此，我們今天將再次討論許多關於延遲效應的問題。我認為我們的 ARPU 可能已觸底，但我預計不會迅速升級。我認為，當我們進入下一個季度時，它會保持穩定，並且可能會上漲一兩美元或類似的東西。然後我們只需要看看本季度剩餘的帳單如何發揮作用。

Great. All right. One last one since we've been talking about AI. Really, the question is, how do you assess the impact of AI on our business model and are there threats to our business that come out of that? All the things we've heard about in AI.

偉大的。好的。自從我們一直在談論人工智慧以來，這是最後一篇。事實上，問題是，您如何評估人工智慧對我們商業模式的影響以及由此產生的對我們業務的威脅嗎？我們在人工智慧中聽說過的所有事情。

So I might end up spinning a little gold out of straw here, because we haven't seen the impact yet but I'm super excited about what AI could do on our operations side. I think it could improve efficiencies in customer service and they're already using it in our HR team. We're looking at copywriting. We're looking at editorial production. And it doesn't have to revolutionize how everybody does their job, if we can just get 10% better in a few areas of our business, that will have a major impact.

所以我可能最終會在這裡用稻草紡出一點金子，因為我們還沒有看到影響，但我對人工智慧在我們的營運方面可以做的事情感到非常興奮。我認為它可以提高客戶服務的效率，他們已經在我們的人力資源團隊中使用它。我們正在研究文案寫作。我們正在考慮編輯製作。它不必徹底改變每個人的工作方式，如果我們能夠在業務的某些領域取得 10% 的進步，就會產生重大影響。

Again, forward-looking statements, disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer. But in terms of threats, what I think about is the spectrum of financial information or even publishing in general. You've got information, you've got data, you've got information, you've got news, you've got opinion, you've got analysis, you've got insight, you've got recommendations, and you've got a human connection. So there are a lot of publishing businesses that live down here. And if I were down here, I would be worried.

再次重申，前瞻性陳述、免責聲明、免責聲明、免責聲明。但就威脅而言，我想到的是金融資訊甚至是一般出版業的範圍。你有信息，你有數據，你有信息，你有新聞，你有觀點，你有分析，你有洞察力，你有建議，你有有人際關係。所以這裡有很多出版企業。如果我在這裡，我會擔心的。

Because I think that's -- it's a commodity. And in fact, the robots are coming, and we'll be able to produce that very efficiently. But as you move up the spectrum, you get closer and closer to human connection. And that's really where we live. That's the value that we bring to our subscribers, that insight analysis idea is that a robot won't be able to generate. Now, robots might be coming for us all eventually, but we will not be the first ones down on the battlefield.

因為我認為這是一種商品。事實上，機器人即將到來，我們將能夠非常有效率地生產機器人。但隨著你的提升，你與人與人之間的連結就會越來越近。這就是我們真正居住的地方。這就是我們為訂閱者帶來的價值，而這種洞察分析想法是機器人無法產生的。現在，機器人最終可能會出現在我們所有人身邊，但我們不會是第一個踏上戰場的人。

That's great. All right.

那太棒了。好的。

Good to know.

很高興知道。

Good to know. Feels secure. That's all we have from our site.

很高興知道。感覺很安全。這就是我們網站上的全部內容。

Great. Well, it's just -- I really appreciate you guys joining me on this webcast. I know it was -- there was some trepidation among the team, so I think you guys did great. And thanks for indulging this experiment, and thanks to the audience for the same. So I hope you guys all have a great day and we'll see you next quarter.

偉大的。嗯，只是——我真的很感謝你們加入我的網路廣播。我知道團隊中有一些恐懼，所以我認為你們做得很好。感謝您參與這個實驗，也感謝觀眾。所以我希望大家度過愉快的一天，我們下個季度再見。

With that, that does conclude today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。