New York Times Co (NYT) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to The New York Times Company's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call.

大家早安，歡迎參加紐約時報公司 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Please also note today's event is being recorded. And at this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Anthony DiClemente, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

另請注意今天的活動正在錄製中。現在，我想請投資者關係高級副總裁安東尼·迪克萊門特 (Anthony DiClemente) 發言。請繼續。

Thank you, and welcome to The New York Times Company's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. On the call today, we have Meredith Kopit Levien, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Will Bardeen, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝，歡迎參加《紐約時報》公司 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。今天的電話會議有總裁兼執行長 Meredith Kopit Levien；執行副總裁兼財務長威爾‧巴丁 (Will Bardeen)。

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that management will make forward-looking statements during the course of this call. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions, which may change over time. Our actual results could differ materially due to a number of risks and uncertainties that are described in the company's 2022 10-K and subsequent SEC filings.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，管理層將在本次電話會議期間做出前瞻性陳述。這些陳述基於當前的預期和假設，可能會隨著時間的推移而改變。由於公司 2022 年 10-K 和隨後的 SEC 文件中描述的許多風險和不確定性，我們的實際結果可能存在重大差異。

In addition, our presentation will include non-GAAP financial measures, and we have provided reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures in our earnings press release and is available on our website at investors.nytco.com. In addition to our earnings press release, we have also posted a slide presentation relating to our results, also on our website at investors.nytco.com.

此外，我們的簡報將包括非 GAAP 財務指標，並且我們在收益新聞稿中提供了與最具可比性的 GAAP 指標的調整表，並可在我們的網站 Investors.nytco.com 上查看。除了我們的收益新聞稿外，我們還在我們的網站 Investors.nytco.com 上發布了與我們的業績相關的幻燈片簡報。

And finally, please note that a copy of the prepared remarks from this morning's call will be posted to our investor website shortly after we conclude.

最後，請注意，今天上午電話會議準備好的評論副本將在我們結束後不久發佈到我們的投資者網站上。

With that, I will turn the call over to Meredith.

這樣，我會將電話轉給梅雷迪絲。

Thanks, Anthony, and good morning, everyone. 2023 was a strong year for The Times that showcased the power of our strategy to be the essential subscription for every curious person seeking to understand and engage with the world. Our news report provided improved indispensable to so many people, providing original journalism across the full range of human experience.

謝謝安東尼，大家早安。 2023 年對《泰晤士報》來說是重要的一年，它展示了我們的策略的力量，即成為每個尋求了解和參與世界的好奇者的必備訂閱。我們的新聞報導為許多人提供了不可或缺的改進，提供了涵蓋人類全方位經驗的原創新聞。

Our lifestyle products serve scaled audiences for games, sports, cooking and shopping recommendations. By putting them all together and giving millions of people multiple reasons to turn to The Times every day, we delivered business growth and demonstrated our ability to penetrate a large market. We drove this performance amidst a tough year for the news industry in which we and others faced persistent headwinds. We continued to see lower levels of casual news audiences due in part to the ongoing shifts from the largest tech platforms, and our ad business grappled with the heightened market volatility impacting publishers.

我們的生活風格產品為大規模受眾提供遊戲、運動、烹飪和購物推薦。透過將它們整合在一起，並為數百萬人提供每天轉向《泰晤士報》的多種理由，我們實現了業務成長，並展示了我們滲透大型市場的能力。我們在新聞業艱難的一年中取得了這樣的業績，我們和其他人都面臨著持續的阻力。我們的休閒新聞受眾數量持續下降，部分原因是最大的科技平台的持續轉變，而我們的廣告業務則在努力應對影響出版商的市場波動加劇。

Our strategy is designed to both counterbalance these headwinds and position us to be a category-leading global media subscription business.

我們的策略旨在平衡這些不利因素，並使我們成為業界領先的全球媒體訂閱企業。

Let me share the highlights from the year. We added 880,000 net new digital subscribers, bringing our total to nearly 10.4 million and progressing us on the path to our next milestone of 15 million. The bundle accounted for a majority of our subscriber starts in the year, bundle and multiproduct subscribers made up 41% of our subscriber base at year-end, and those subscribers continue to be more engaged, better-retaining and willing to pay more over time than single-product subscribers.

讓我分享一下這一年的亮點。我們淨新增 88 萬名數位訂戶，總數達到近 1,040 萬，並朝著下一個里程碑 1,500 萬邁進。捆綁包占我們今年新訂戶的大部分，年底捆綁包和多產品訂戶占我們訂戶群的41%，隨著時間的推移，這些訂戶的參與度更高，保留率更高，並且願意支付更多費用比單一產品訂閱者。

New York Times subscriber engagement as measured by the share of subscribers on our products each week, reached its highest point in nearly 3 years by year-end. And The Times now sees more digital engagement than any other American news source by total monthly time spent. We crossed $1 billion in annual digital subscription revenue for the first time in 2023. And consolidated ARPU has now grown year-on-year for 3 straight quarters.

到了年底，《紐約時報》訂閱者參與度（以每週訂閱我們產品的訂閱者比例來衡量）達到近三年來的最高點。從每月總花費時間來看，《泰晤士報》現在的數位參與度比其他美國新聞媒體都多。 2023 年，我們的年度數位訂閱收入首次突破 10 億美元。綜合 ARPU 目前已連續 3 個季度同比增長。

We see this as a testament to our well-honed pricing and merchandising strategy, which is made possible by the growing value we provide to consumers through our differentiated multiproduct offerings.

我們認為這證明了我們精心設計的定價和銷售策略，這是透過我們透過差異化的多產品向消費者提供的不斷增長的價值而實現的。

It was a challenging year in the ad market for publishers, but the core of our ad business, premium proprietary ad canvases enhanced with first-party data proved resilient and continued growing and we saw real momentum as we extended our ad products across the portfolio, particularly to The Athletic and Games where we see a lot of running room. It was also a record year for affiliate and licensing revenue. Wirecutter outperformed expectations in every quarter and in December, we announced a new multiyear licensing agreement with Apple News Plus for The Athletic and Wirecutter.

對於發布商來說，這是廣告市場充滿挑戰的一年，但我們廣告業務的核心，即透過第一方資料增強的優質專有廣告畫布，證明具有彈性並持續成長，隨著我們在整個產品組合中擴展廣告產品，我們看到了真正的動力，特別是在體育和運動會方面，我們看到了大量的運行空間。這也是聯營公司和授權收入創紀錄的一年。 Wirecutter 每季的表現都超出預期，12 月，我們宣布與 Apple News Plus 就 The Athletic 和 Wirecutter 達成新的多年期許可協議。

Deals like this underscore that our intellectual property has unique value recognized by some of the world's largest tech platform. We exerted cost discipline throughout the year and substantially slowed overall expense growth while redirecting resources and continuing to invest in our areas of competitive advantage.

此類交易凸顯了我們的智慧財產權具有獨特的價值，並得到了一些世界上最大的技術平台的認可。我們全年嚴格控製成本，大幅減緩整體費用成長，同時重新調整資源並繼續投資於我們的競爭優勢領域。

All of this progress across the business drove strong earnings per share, adjusted operating profit and free cash flow growth. In fact, in 2023, each hit their highest point since our transformation into a digital-first, subscription-first business began more than a decade ago.

整個業務的所有這些進展都推動了強勁的每股盈餘、調整後營業利潤和自由現金流的成長。事實上，到 2023 年，這兩項業務都達到了自十多年前開始轉型為數位優先、訂閱優先業務以來的最高點。

Inclusive of The Athletic, we also expanded the margin by 100 basis points. We delivered that improved profitability even as our Print business continued to experience secular decline. Our results also reflect the cash-generative nature of our model and give us the confidence to announce the sixth consecutive annual increase to our dividend. This financial growth also positions us to continue investing in expert independent journalism, which is central to how we expect to create value over the long term.

包括 The Athletic 在內，我們也將利潤率擴大了 100 個基點。儘管我們的印刷業務繼續經歷長期下滑，但我們的獲利能力仍然有所提高。我們的績效也反映了我們模型的現金產生性質，並使我們有信心宣布連續第六年增加股利。這種財務成長也使我們能夠繼續投資專家獨立新聞業，這對於我們期望如何長期創造價值至關重要。

I'll turn now to our fourth quarter results. In Q4, we met or beat quarterly guidance on digital and total subscription revenue, other revenue and adjusted operating costs. Digital advertising came in slightly below the low end of our guidance and total advertising came in below our guidance. We added 300,000 net new digital subscribers in the quarter.

我現在談談我們第四季的業績。在第四季度，我們達到或超過了數位和總訂閱收入、其他收入和調整後營運成本的季度指引。數位廣告略低於我們指引的下限，廣告總量也低於我們的指引。本季我們淨新增 30 萬名數位用戶。

We attribute the strong performance to multiple distinct drivers. Those drivers include continued healthy demand for games, peak season for cooking, a more ambitious subscription gifting program propelled by our large base of existing subscribers and a robust deal period for B2B subscriptions.

我們將強勁的表現歸功於多個不同的驅動因素。這些驅動因素包括對遊戲的持續健康需求、烹飪旺季、由我們龐大的現有訂閱者群體推動的更雄心勃勃的訂閱禮品計劃以及 B2B 訂閱的強勁交易期。

This is all in addition to high existing subscriber engagement across a range of news topics. We also benefited from further improvements in how we use machine learning to maximize audience, engagement and conversion. Consistent with our strategy, we grew audience for The Athletic, Cooking, Games and Wirecutter in Q4.

除此之外，現有訂戶對一系列新聞主題的參與度很高。我們還受益於如何利用機器學習來最大限度地提高受眾、參與度和轉換率的進一步改進。根據我們的策略，我們在第四季增加了《The Athletic》、《Cooking》、《Games》和《Wirecutter》的受眾群體。

Audience growth on The Athletic, which recently passed its 2-year anniversary with The Times was particularly strong. This was thanks to our ongoing efforts to enhance coverage, improve our technical infrastructure and make more stories available for sampling. We see a huge opportunity in sports and are making palpable progress on our ambition for The Athletic to become a top destination for sports news globally.

最近剛度過了與《泰晤士報》合作兩週年的《The Athletic》的觀眾成長尤其強勁。這要歸功於我們不斷努力擴大覆蓋範圍、改善我們的技術基礎設施並提供更多故事可供採樣。我們看到了體育領域的巨大機遇，並在實現 The Athletic 成為全球體育新聞首選目的地的目標方面取得了明顯進展。

Games benefited from consistency in the number of people who play Wordle every week and also from our hit homegrown puzzle, Connections, which now has over 15 million weekly players. Total ad revenue in the quarter came in below our expectations due primarily to a larger-than-anticipated Print revenue decline.

遊戲受益於每週玩 Wordle 的人數的一致性，以及我們熱門的本土益智遊戲《Connections》，該遊戲目前每周有超過 1500 萬玩家。本季廣告總收入低於我們的預期，主要是由於印刷收入下降幅度大於預期。

Our digital performance, including podcasts, was impacted by marketers avoiding some hard news topics like the Middle East conflict. We are nonetheless confident in the long-term potential of our digital advertising business and our core display offering was resilient as we extended our proprietary ad canvases and first-party data to more of our portfolio.

我們的數位表現（包括播客）受到行銷人員迴避一些硬新聞話題（例如中東衝突）的影響。儘管如此，我們對數位廣告業務的長期潛力充滿信心，並且隨著我們將專有的廣告畫布和第一方數據擴展到我們的更多產品組合，我們的核心顯示產品具有彈性。

Revenue beyond subscriptions and advertising grew 10% in the quarter, driven by a record-setting holiday season for Wirecutter, and strength in licensing.

在 Wirecutter 創紀錄的假期季節以及授權實力的推動下，本季除訂閱和廣告之外的收入增長了 10%。

Let me close with a few thoughts about what's ahead. At its core, our strategy is designed to make The Times an essential daily habit for many millions more people. Our top priority now is to continue making our journalism and lifestyle products so valuable at scale that people seek us out directly and build enduring daily habits.

最後讓我談談對未來的一些想法。我們策略的核心是讓《泰晤士報》成為數百萬人的基本日常習慣。我們現在的首要任務是繼續讓我們的新聞和生活方式產品大規模地變得有價值，讓人們直接找到我們並養成持久的日常習慣。

However, the information ecosystem evolves. While we expect many of last year's industry headwinds to persist, we believe our multiproduct portfolio and multi-revenue stream model combined with ongoing cost discipline position us well to be a scaled market leader.

然而，資訊生態系統不斷發展。雖然我們預計去年的許多行業逆風將持續存在，但我們相信，我們的多產品組合和多收入流模式與持續的成本紀律相結合，使我們能夠成為規模化的市場領導者。

Now let me turn it over to Will for more details on our results, and I'll return after that with a few closing thoughts and to take your questions.

現在讓我將其轉交給威爾，了解有關我們結果的更多詳細信息，然後我將返回一些總結性想法並回答您的問題。

Thanks, Meredith, and good morning, everyone. In 2023, the successful execution of our essential subscription strategy drove strong financial results despite a challenging and dynamic environment. Our portfolio of market-leading news and lifestyle products was designed to grow our subscriber base, increase subscriber engagement and lifetime value and strengthen our multiple revenue streams. As our subscriber base has scaled, we've moderated our overall expense growth while continuing to prioritize strategic investments that help position us for long-term value creation.

謝謝梅雷迪思，大家早安。 2023 年，儘管環境充滿挑戰和動態，但我們基本訂閱策略的成功執行推動了強勁的財務表現。我們市場領先的新聞和生活方式產品組合旨在擴大我們的訂戶基礎，提高訂戶參與度和終身價值，並加強我們的多種收入來源。隨著我們的用戶群規模擴大，我們已經放緩了整體費用成長，同時繼續優先考慮有助於我們創造長期價值的策略投資。

Our full year 2023 financial results demonstrate that our strategy is delivering as designed. We saw increases in revenue, AOP, EPS and free cash flow growth and free cash flow, and we finished the year in an even stronger market position. Overall revenue for the year increased 5% as growth in digital subscription, affiliate and licensing revenues more than offset ongoing declines in Print.

我們的 2023 年全年財務表現顯示我們的策略正在按設計實現。我們看到收入、AOP、每股盈餘和自由現金流的成長和自由現金流的成長，我們在這一年的市場地位更加強勁。由於數位訂閱、聯盟和授權收入的成長抵消了印刷業務持續下降的影響，全年總收入成長了 5%。

Combined with moderating cost growth, this resulted in AOP growth of 12% year-over-year and expanded our AOP margin by approximately 100 basis points to over 16%. The cash-generative nature of our business model was also evident. For the full year 2023, we generated approximately $338 million of free cash flow, up from approximately $114 million in the prior year.

加上成本成長放緩，這導致 AOP 年比成長 12%，並將我們的 AOP 利潤率擴大約 100 個基點，達到 16% 以上。我們的商業模式的現金產生性質也很明顯。 2023 年全年，我們產生了約 3.38 億美元的自由現金流，高於前一年的約 1.14 億美元。

In addition to being driven by AOP growth, free cash flow benefited from lower cash taxes, lower CapEx and lower working capital outflows compared to 2022. We returned approximately $114 million to shareholders in 2023 through a combination of $69 million in dividends and $45 million in stock repurchases. Over the last 2 years, we've returned nearly 61% of our free cash flow to shareholders. As Meredith mentioned, we also announced a dividend increase of $0.02 to $0.13 per share, reflecting our confidence in the durability of our strategy.

與2022 年相比，除了AOP 成長的推動外，自由現金流還受益於現金稅的降低、資本支出的降低和營運資本流出的減少。2023 年，我們透過6,900 萬美元的股息和4,500 萬美元的股利和4,500 萬美元的股利組合向股東返還了約1.14 億美元。股票回購。在過去 2 年裡，我們已將近 61% 的自由現金流返還給股東。正如 Meredith 所提到的，我們也宣布將每股股息增加 0.02 美元至 0.13 美元，反映了我們對策略持久性的信心。

Now I'll discuss the fourth quarter's key results followed by our financial outlook for the first quarter of 2024. Please note that all comparisons are to the prior year period unless otherwise specified. As a reminder, due to a change in the company's fiscal calendar in 2022, there were 5 fewer days in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.

現在，我將討論第四季度的主要業績，然後是 2024 年第一季的財務展望。請注意，除非另有說明，所有比較均與去年同期進行。提醒一下，由於公司2022年會計日曆發生變化，2023年第四季比2022年第四季減少了5天。

Page 23 of the earnings release published this morning includes a reconciliation of revenues, excluding the estimated impact of the 5 fewer days in 2023. My comments on both revenues and costs today will be on a reported basis, which includes the impact of the 5 fewer days.

今天早上發布的財報第 23 頁包括收入調節表，不包括 2023 年減少 5 天的估計影響。我今天對收入和成本的評論將基於報告，其中包括減少 5 天的影響。

I'll start with a discussion of our subscription business. We added approximately 300,000 net new digital subscribers in the quarter. As Meredith described, bundle and multiproduct additions led the way and made up 41% of our total base at year-end, well along the path to exceeding 50% in the coming years.

我將從討論我們的訂閱業務開始。本季我們淨新增約 30 萬名數位用戶。正如 Meredith 所描述的，捆綁產品和多產品添加佔據了主導地位，截至年底占我們總基數的 41%，並且在未來幾年將有望超過 50%。

Total digital-only ARPU grew year-over-year for the third consecutive quarter to $9.24, an increase of approximately 3%. In Q4, we had the largest number to date of bundled subscribers transitioning to higher prices and benefited from the impact of our digital price increase on tenured single-product subscribers. While it is still relatively early, we continue to be encouraged that bundle subscribers are retaining and monetizing better than news-only subscribers through these step-ups.

純數位 ARPU 總額連續第三個季度年增至 9.24 美元，增幅約 3%。在第四季度，我們擁有迄今為止數量最多的捆綁訂戶轉向更高的價格，並受益於我們的數位價格上漲對終身單一產品訂戶的影響。雖然現在還相對較早，但我們仍然感到鼓舞的是，透過這些升級，捆綁訂閱者的留存率和盈利能力都比純新聞訂閱者更好。

As a result of both higher digital subscribers and digital-only ARPU in the fourth quarter, digital-only subscription revenues grew approximately 7% to $289 million, and total subscription revenues grew approximately 4% to $430 million. Both were in line with the guidance we provided last quarter.

由於第四季數位用戶數量和純數位 ARPU 的增加，純數位訂閱收入成長了約 7%，達到 2.89 億美元，總訂閱收入成長了約 4%，達到 4.3 億美元。兩者都符合我們上季度提供的指導。

Now turning to advertising. Total advertising revenues for the quarter were $164 million, a decline of approximately 8%, which was below our guidance.

現在轉向廣告。本季廣告總收入為 1.64 億美元，下降約 8%，低於我們的預期。

Digital advertising came in slightly below the low end of our guidance in the quarter, declining approximately 4% to $108 million as advertising demand for some of our products was adversely impacted in the quarter by marketer sensitivity to certain news content adjacencies.

數位廣告收入略低於我們本季指引的下限，下降約 4%，至 1.08 億美元，因為本季行銷人員對某些新聞內容鄰接的敏感度對我們某些產品的廣告需求產生了不利影響。

Other revenue exceeded our guidance, increasing approximately 10% to $82 million. Licensing was a strong contributor and Wirecutter affiliate revenues benefited from a record-setting holiday season.

其他收入超出了我們的指導，增加了約 10%，達到 8,200 萬美元。許可是一個強大的貢獻者，Wirecutter 附屬公司的收入受益於創紀錄的假期季節。

Moving now to costs and the progress we are making in driving AOP growth and free cash flow growth. We continue to demonstrate cost discipline in Q4. Adjusted operating costs came in better than our guidance, decreasing by approximately 1%. Even as overall adjusted operating costs declined, we continue to allocate resources to our most strategic investments, including world-class journalism and the technology and product development that unlocks its digital distribution.

現在轉向成本以及我們在推動 AOP 成長和自由現金流成長方面取得的進展。我們在第四季繼續展現成本紀律。調整後的營運成本比我們的指導好，下降了約 1%。即使整體調整後的營運成本下降，我們仍繼續將資源分配給最具策略性的投資，包括世界一流的新聞業以及解鎖其數位發行的技術和產品開發。

Investments in these areas have enabled us to increase penetration of our addressable market, fuel organic subscriber growth and improve our operating leverage. Cost of revenue declined approximately 3%. Our continued investments in journalism were more than offset by having 5 fewer days in the quarter as well as lower Print production and distribution and advertising servicing costs.

在這些領域的投資使我們能夠提高目標市場的滲透率，推動用戶的自然成長並提高我們的營運槓桿。收入成本下降約 3%。我們對新聞業的持續投資被本季減少 5 天的天數以及印刷品製作和發行以及廣告服務成本的降低所抵消。

Sales and marketing costs were up approximately 9%. We saw high return paid marketing opportunities in the quarter as the bundle continued to enable better marketing efficiency. Product development costs increased 5% as we continue to strategically invest into the product and technology teams enabling our digital subscriber growth.

銷售和行銷成本上漲約 9%。由於捆綁包持續提高行銷效率，我們在本季看到了高回報的行銷機會。隨著我們繼續對產品和技術團隊進行策略性投資，以促進數位用戶的成長，產品開發成本增加了 5%。

General and administrative costs were down approximately 1% as we continue to drive efficiencies in nonstrategic areas. As a result of revenue growth and disciplined cost management, AOP increased approximately 9% to $154 million. AOP margin was approximately 23% in the quarter, an increase of approximately 160 basis points compared to the prior year.

隨著我們繼續提高非策略領域的效率，一般和管理成本下降了約 1%。由於收入成長和嚴格的成本管理，AOP 成長了約 9%，達到 1.54 億美元。本季 AOP 利潤率約 23%，較前一年增加約 160 個基點。

This also translated into strong earnings' growth as adjusted diluted EPS increased $0.11 to $0.70. EPS growth in Q4 was also aided by higher interest income and a lower tax rate. I'll now look ahead to Q1 for the consolidated New York Times Company.

這也轉化為強勁的獲利成長，調整後攤薄每股收益增加 0.11 美元至 0.70 美元。第四季每股收益的成長也得益於較高的利息收入和較低的稅率。我現在將展望合併後的紐約時報公司的第一季。

Total subscription revenues are expected to increase 7% to 9% compared with the first quarter of 2023 and digital-only subscription revenues are expected to increase, 11% to 14%. Overall advertising revenues are expected to decrease mid-single digits, while digital advertising revenues are expected to increase low-to-high single digits.

與 2023 年第一季相比，總訂閱收入預計將成長 7% 至 9%，純數位訂閱收入預計將成長 11% 至 14%。整體廣告收入預計將下降中個位數，而數位廣告收入預計將成長低個位數到高個位數。

We continue to experience limited visibility in the advertising market, particularly around ongoing Print declines. Other revenues are expected to increase mid-single digits. Adjusted operating costs are expected to increase 5% to 7%, which reflects an overall commitment to cost discipline as we pursue our growth strategy.

我們在廣告市場上的能見度仍然有限​​，特別是在印刷品持續下滑的情況下。其他收入預計將成長中個位數。調整後的營運成本預計將增加 5% 至 7%，這反映了我們在追求成長策略時對成本控制的整體承諾。

Our approach on costs has been to relentlessly reallocate resources from nonstrategic work to areas of highest impact. At the same time, we intend to continue targeted strategic investments into the independent journalism, news and lifestyle products and technology that position us for growth and market leadership over the long term.

我們在成本方面的方法是不斷地將資源從非策略性工作重新分配到影響最大的領域。同時，我們打算繼續對獨立新聞、新聞和生活方式產品及技術進行有針對性的策略投資，使我們能夠實現長期成長和市場領導地位。

We expect that these investments will be reflected in the growth of our cost of revenue and product development expense lines. We expect AOP and earnings' growth to be weighted to the back half of the year due to the seasonality of advertising and affiliate revenue.

我們預計這些投資將反映在我們的收入成本和產品開發費用線的成長中。由於廣告和聯盟行銷收入的季節性，我們預計 AOP 和獲利的成長將在今年下半年有所成長。

I'll close by noting that we remain on track to achieve our previously stated midterm targets for subscribers, AOP growth and capital returns.

最後我要指出的是，我們仍然有望實現先前規定的訂戶、AOP 成長和資本回報的中期目標。

With that, I'll send it back to Meredith to wrap up.

這樣，我會將其發送回梅雷迪思進行總結。

Thanks, Will. Our portfolio of differentiated news and lifestyle products is delivering growth and steadily improving unit economics, and we believe our multi-revenue stream model makes our business more resilient in a complicated environment. With this foundation, we believe strongly in our ability to create value through a premium product portfolio and world-class independent journalism at a time when it is rare and more needed than ever.

謝謝，威爾。我們的差異化新聞和生活方式產品組合正在帶來成長並穩步提高單位經濟效益，我們相信我們的多收入流模式使我們的業務在複雜的環境中更具彈性。有了這個基礎，我們堅信我們有能力透過優質產品組合和世界一流的獨立新聞創造價值，而在這個時代，這種價值比以往任何時候都稀有且更需要。

And now we're happy to take your questions.

現在我們很高興回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

And our first question today comes from Thomas Yeh from Morgan Stanley.

今天我們的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Thomas Yeh。

I wanted to ask about the evolving relationship with big tech. I think you've historically approached commercial agreements with the philosophy of being able to drive engagement back to your own properties in light of some of the details around the OpenAI litigation and the deal with Apple News. Can you maybe just help us dimensionalize the structure of a licensing deal that you would see as proving not cannibalistic? And how do you kind of weigh the benefits and the offsets associated with an opportunity like that?

我想問一下與大型科技公司不斷發展的關係。我認為，你們在達成商業協議時歷來的理念是，根據 OpenAI 訴訟以及與 Apple News 的交易的一些細節，能夠推動您自己的財產的參與度。您能否幫助我們將您認為證明不是同類相食的授權協議的結構維度化？您如何權衡與此類機會相關的收益和抵消？

Yes. I'll start, Thomas. Will can come in behind me as he sees fit. We are -- you've seen the deals we've done over the last couple of years, and you're referring to the one I referenced in my prepared remarks that we've just done with Apple -- Apple News Plus for The Athletic and Wirecutter. We're generally looking for 3 things. Does this make sense in the context of our essential subscription strategy by which I mean, is it helping us in some way to build direct relationships. And that can be through very direct ways or through helping us grow audience and awareness for our brands in the case of this partnership we've just built with Apple News Plus in The Athletic.

是的。我要開始了，湯瑪斯。如果威爾認為合適，他可以站在我身後。我們——你已經看到了我們在過去幾年裡所做的交易，你指的是我在準備好的演講中提到的我們剛剛與蘋果公司達成的交易——Apple News Plus運動和鋼絲鉗。我們通常會尋找三件事。這在我們基本訂閱策略的背景下是否有意義，我的意思是，它是否以某種方式幫助我們建立直接關係。這可以透過非常直接的方式實現，也可以透過幫助我們增加受眾和提高我們品牌的知名度來實現，就我們剛剛與 Apple News Plus 在 The Athletic 中建立的合作關係而言。

We certainly see it as doing that. And then we look at the dimension of our IP rights being sort of appropriately respected and used in a responsible way and is there fair value exchange. And I would say, any time we look to engage with a big tech partner or any partner for that matter, those are the considerations we're making. And I think we've got a good track record of doing deals that live up to those standards.

我們當然認為它是這樣做的。然後我們看看我們的智慧財產權是否得到適當尊重和以負責任的方式使用，以及是否存在公平的價值交換。我想說，每當我們尋求與大型科技合作夥伴或任何合作夥伴合作時，這些都是我們正在考慮的因素。我認為我們在進行符合這些標準的交易方面擁有良好的記錄。

Is the attribution still critical to building and reinforcing the overall IP? Like is that something that you would ever potentially forgo in an AI situation that would be economic and still beneficial to you?

歸屬對於建構和強化整體智慧財產權仍然至關重要嗎？在人工智慧的情況下，你可能會放棄一些既經濟又對你有利的東西嗎？

I want to make sure I understand your question. Maybe try that one more time.

我想確保我理解你的問題。也許再嘗試一次。

Yes. Just in terms of branding and the idea that I think historically with Apple News, the ability for them to kind of ingest your content into their own platform has, I think, been a little bit of a barrier to your reasoning around licensing to them. I was just asking, I think, in the vein of kind of the AI and the proliferation of some of that and the potential loss of attribution, if there ever is economic model that makes sense for you to kind of forgo some of that.

是的。就品牌和我對 Apple News 歷史上的想法而言，他們將你的內容引入他們自己的平台的能力，我認為，對你關於向他們授權的推理有點障礙。我想，我只是想問，就人工智慧的種類和其中一些的擴散以及潛在的歸因損失而言，是否存在一種經濟模型可以讓你放棄其中的一些。

Yes, I understand what you're saying. I'll say 2 things, both kind of related to what I've already said. One is, I think the most important thing we can do as a business, and I talked about this a bit in my prepared remarks, is to have products that are so valuable at scale and kind of widely understood for their brand marks and the credibility and the trustworthiness they provide that people are inclined to build a direct relationship with us, and will come to us on a very regular basis.

是的，我明白你在說什麼。我要說兩件事，這兩件事都與我已經說過的內容有關。一是，我認為作為一個企業我們能做的最重要的事情，我在準備好的發言中談到了這一點，就是擁有規模如此有價值且因其品牌標誌和可信度而被廣泛理解的產品他們所提供的可信度使人們傾向於與我們建立直接關係，並且會定期來找我們。

So that's the main game we are playing to the extent that there are other ways to tap into the vast arsenal of IP that we create every day that we've created for close to 2 centuries. We are open to that as long as there is fair value exchange and it's supportive of the broader business model.

因此，這就是我們正在玩的主要遊戲，因為還有其他方法可以利用我們近兩個世紀以來每天創造的龐大智慧財產權庫。只要存在公平價值交換並且支持更廣泛的商業模式，我們對此持開放態度。

Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just to squeeze one last one for Will. I wanted to revisit the capital allocation philosophy.

好的。這很有幫助。然後也許只是為了擠威爾最後一粒。我想重新檢視資本配置理念。

You reiterated the 50% return of free cash flow over the medium term. But I think you've been pacing a little bit below that in 2023. Was there any specific reason that led to a pause in repurchase activity and potential uses of cash that you see as an attractive opportunity to maybe drive organic growth instead?

您重申了中期自由現金流回報率為 50% 的目標。但我認為您在 2023 年的步伐略低於這一水平。是否有任何具體原因導致回購活動和現金的潛在使用暫停，您認為這是一個有吸引力的機會，可能會推動有機增長？

Thanks, Thomas. I think you should just take our capital allocation strategy as unchanged, that target 50% over the medium term, and we have said, don't expect that sort of to be linear to any quarter, even any year. Over the last 2 years, we've returned 61% in a combination of dividends and share repurchases. And I think you can expect us to continue to track against our target over the midterm.

謝謝，托馬斯。我認為你應該保持我們的資本配置策略不變，即中期目標為 50%，我們已經說過，不要指望這種策略對任何季度、甚至任何年份都是線性的。在過去 2 年裡，我們透過股利和股票回購獲得了 61% 的回報。我認為您可以期望我們在中期繼續實現我們的目標。

Our next question comes from David Karnovsky from JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的大衛卡諾夫斯基。

Meredith, I don't know what you're willing to say on the lawsuit with OpenAI, though any thoughts would be welcome. But maybe separate to that, are you still in discussions with other AI platforms for potential licensing deals? And can you speak to how the discussions might be going and the prospects for any agreements near term?

Meredith，我不知道你願意對 OpenAI 的訴訟說什麼，儘管任何想法都會受到歡迎。但也許除此之外，你們還在與其他人工智慧平台討論潛在的授權交易嗎？您能否談談討論的進展情況以及近期達成任何協議的前景？

And then Will, just a question on the outlook. The Q1 cost growth looks to be a touch above the pace of the past few quarters. I know sometimes there's timing issues. I want to see if there's any call out here. And if you could provide any view on the cost trend for the remainder of the year?

然後威爾，只是一個關於前景的問題。第一季的成本成長似乎略高於過去幾季的速度。我知道有時會出現時間問題。我想看看這裡有沒有人打電話。您能否對今年剩餘時間的成本趨勢提供任何看法？

I'll start. Thanks for the question. And as you suggest, we're in active litigation. So there's not much I'll say about the case specifically, but more broadly on making deals, and this goes a little bit to the way I answered Thomas' question. You've seen the deals we've done over the last couple of years. You can imagine we are talking to potential partners all the time. And you've seen directly in the complaint that we're talking of potential Generative AI partners. I'd say we are being really selective and thoughtful about what partnership makes sense for us in the context of our strategy and our rights being respected to our IP and fair value exchange for that IP.

我開始吧。謝謝你的提問。正如你所建議的，我們正在進行積極的訴訟。因此，我不會具體談論此案，而是更廣泛地談論達成交易，這與我回答托馬斯問題的方式有些相似。您已經看到了我們過去幾年所做的交易。您可以想像我們一直在與潛在合作夥伴交談。您在投訴中直接看到我們正在談論潛在的生成式人工智慧合作夥伴。我想說的是，在我們的策略以及我們的智慧財產權和該智慧財產權的公平價值交換的權利得到尊重的背景下，我們對於什麼夥伴關係對我們有意義是非常有選擇性和深思熟慮的。

I'll take that cost growth guide question. I'm not -- I don't think there's anything that I'll specifically call out for Q1, simply to say that there can be some variation quarter-to-quarter in cost growth that you've seen in the past and certainly can expect to see that occasionally.

我將回答成本增長指南問題。我不是——我認為我不會特別強調第一季的情況，只是想說，成本增長可能會出現季度與季度之間的一些變化，就像你過去看到的那樣偶爾會看到這種情況。

But overall, I think the 2 themes I hit in my remarks are the things to focus on, which is, number one, cost discipline. We're very, very focused on it, relentlessly reallocating resources to areas of high impact and really focusing on leverage in G&A and the sales and marketing lines and getting efficiencies out of places like our print supply chain legacy areas. So that's theme number one.

但總的來說，我認為我在演講中提到的兩個主題是需要重點關注的，那就是第一，成本紀律。我們非常非常專注於此，不斷地將資源重新分配到具有高影響力的領域，並真正專注於 G＆A 以及銷售和營銷線的槓桿作用，並提高印刷供應鏈遺留領域等地方的效率。這就是第一主題。

And then theme number 2 is that we will continue to make targeted strategic investments that we believe are creating value in our journalism and in our product development to really make sure we're investing for the long term and solidifying our competitive position. So I think those are the 2 themes to hit there.

第二個主題是，我們將繼續進行有針對性的策略投資，我們相信這些投資正在為我們的新聞業和產品開發創造價值，以真正確保我們進行長期投資並鞏固我們的競爭地位。所以我認為這是兩個值得關注的主題。

Our next question comes from Ashton Welles from Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Ashton Welles。

I think digital-only subscriber ARPU in Q4 was down modestly from Q3. What drove the sequential decline? And how should we be thinking about ARPU growth in the first half of 2024 as more bundled subscribers are stepped up? And related to this, how are the bundle step-ups performing versus your expectations?

我認為第四季純數位用戶 ARPU 較第三季略有下降。是什麼推動了連續下降？隨著更多捆綁用戶的增加，我們該如何看待 2024 年上半年的 ARPU 成長？與此相關的是，捆綁包升級的表現與您的預期相比如何？

Sure. Let me take that. I mean I think the way to think about the sequential decline in ARPU, it's very much a reflection of things we've seen before, which is a good quarter of net ads. And given the nature of our promotional pricing strategy, we expect to see that when that happens.

當然。讓我來吧。我的意思是，我認為考慮 ARPU 連續下降的方式，它在很大程度上反映了我們之前看到的情況，這是淨廣告的一個很好的季度。考慮到我們促銷定價策略的性質，我們希望看到這種情況發生。

I think the important thing for us to focus on, obviously, the year-over-year ARPU growth in the quarter. And then looking forward, as we've said, we expect modest year-over-year ARPU expansion for digital-only subscribers. So that's the expectation going forward.

我認為對我們來說最重要的事情顯然是專注於本季 ARPU 的同比增長。然後展望未來，正如我們所說，我們預計純數位用戶的 ARPU 將逐年適度成長。這就是未來的期望。

I think we have talked about in my remarks, the drivers of that expansion in Q4. And I think probably we're seeing that first driver, which was the step-up, the bigger bundle cohorts as we've been bringing on more and more bundled subs is going to be one of the main drivers in 2024 as well. And I said in my remarks, it's still early.

我想我們在演講中已經討論了第四季擴張的驅動因素。我認為我們可能會看到第一個驅動因素，即升級，隨著我們引入越來越多的捆綁潛艇，更大的捆綁隊列也將成為 2024 年的主要驅動因素之一。我在發言中說過，現在還為時過早。

So we'll have increasing numbers coming in throughout the year, but we remain encouraged by what we see that bundle subscribers at those step-up moments are retaining better and monetizing better than these only subscribers.

因此，我們全年的訂閱​​人數將會不斷增加，但我們仍然感到鼓舞的是，我們看到，在這些升級時刻，捆綁訂閱者比這些單一訂閱者的保留率和盈利能力更好。

Our next question comes from Doug Arthur from Huber Research Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自 Huber Research Partners 的 Doug Arthur。

Got 2 questions. Meredith, the deal with Apple News Plus that started late in the fourth quarter, did you get any read-through at all? Or is it on the impact? Or is it just too early? And what kind of are your expectations there?

有 2 個問題。梅雷迪思（Meredith），與 Apple News Plus 的交易於第四季末開始，您有通讀過嗎？還是就影響力而言？還是現在還太早？您對此有何期望？

Great question. Tiny impact, I think, I'm looking at Will and Anthony, if they want to characterize that anymore, but tiny impact, just based on the timing and then, obviously, bigger impact to come.

很好的問題。微小的影響，我想，我正在關注威爾和安東尼，如果他們想再描述這一點的話，但微小的影響，只是基於時間，然後，顯然，更大的影響即將到來。

And the -- there are a handful of things we're particularly excited about in this deal. One is as we've talked about with you and others, we are very, very focused on building audience and brand awareness and use of The Athletic, and we see Apple News Plus is a great way to do that.

在這筆交易中，有一些事情讓我們特別興奮。一是正如我們與您和其他人討論的那樣，我們非常非常專注於培養受眾和品牌知名度以及 The Athletic 的使用，我們認為 Apple News Plus 是實現這一目標的好方法。

Apple is doing a lot of interesting things in sports, really good partner for us there. And The Times has very, very big ambitions for The Athletic in sports, and we see this as helping us achieve that. So it's good in any number of ways and you'll -- you can expect to see the impact on a go-forward basis.

蘋果在運動領域做了很多有趣的事情，對我們來說是很好的合作夥伴。 《泰晤士報》對 The Athletic 在體育領域有著非常非常大的抱負，我們認為這有助於我們實現這一目標。所以它在很多方面都是好的，你可以期待看到它對未來的影響。

Doug, did you have another question or you're all set?

道格，您還有其他問題嗎？或者您已經準備好了嗎？

Well, I just -- I didn't want to beat a dead horse, but it seems like your digital advertising outlook for Q1, is -- I wouldn't call it optimistic, but it's more constructive, I think, than what we just witnessed in the fourth quarter is, I guess, just trying to measure your conviction level on that.

好吧，我只是 - 我不想打敗一個死馬，但看起來你對第一季度的數字廣告前景是 - 我不會稱其為樂觀，但我認為它比我們的更具建設性我想，剛剛在第四季目睹的只是試圖衡量你對此的信念程度。

Yes. Well, let me preface it by saying it's hard -- advertising is hard to call. We don't have a ton of visibility, but I'll say a few things. We did see in digital in the fourth quarter, a fair amount of what I would describe as marketer news avoidance. You have the war between Israel and Hamas break out in early October. And that had an effect in both display and audio. And at the same time, what you see us doing to lap up some of the demand to work with The Times and we're doing this anyway, we are extending our ad products very aggressively to other parts of the portfolio beyond news.

是的。好吧，讓我先說這很難——廣告很難叫。我們沒有太多的知名度，但我會說一些事情。我們確實在第四季度的數位領域看到了相當多的行銷人員迴避新聞的情況。以色列和哈馬斯之間的戰爭於十月初爆發。這對顯示和音訊都有影響。同時，你看到我們正在做的事情是為了滿足與《紐約時報》合作的一些需求，無論如何我們正在這樣做，我們正在非常積極地將我們的廣告產品擴展到新聞之外的其他部分。

The Athletic and games have been real bright spots so far, and we see a lot of running room in both of those places and potentially in Cooking and Wirecutter as well. So I would say we are -- we're long on news over a medium and long-term time horizon.

到目前為止，競技和遊戲一直是真正的亮點，我們在這兩個地方都看到了巨大的運行空間，在烹飪和Wirecutter 中也有潛在的發展空間。所以我想說，我們長期關注中長期的新聞。

We also have a lot of other places to kind of lap up interest in working with The Times for marketers. And the core of the business, Doug, which is those premium ad canvases and first-party data continues to be resilient.

我們還有很多其他地方可以讓行銷人員有興趣與《泰晤士報》合作。業務的核心 Doug，也就是那些優質的廣告畫布和第一方數據，仍然具有彈性。

Our next question comes from Vasily Karasyov from Cannonball Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cannonball Research 的 Vasily Karasyov。

Meredith, so do I understand correctly that when you say in your prepared remarks that the headwinds in the advertising market that carry into this year 2024, you mentioned the current events, the Middle Eastern situation and so on, they just -- advertisers not wanting to advertise next to the content that's driven by current events? Or is there something more structural because you also mentioned publisher volatility? And I was wondering if you could explain a little more what the TAM means.

梅雷迪思，我的理解是否正確，當您在準備好的發言中提到 2024 年廣告市場的逆風時，您提到了時事、中東局勢等，它們只是——廣告商不想要在由時事驅動的內容旁邊有廣告？或者是否存在更具結構性的因素，因為您也提到了發行商的波動性？我想知道您是否可以進一步解釋一下 TAM 的含義。

Yes. Listen, I think it was a volatile ad market that tends to hit publishers hard when it happens. We have a lot of, what I'm going to call, structural confidence in the core of our ad business. Premium canvases and first-party data and core New York Times are now extending out to our other products with a lot of running room is really working.

是的。聽著，我認為這是一個不穩定的廣告市場，一旦發生這種情況，往往會對出版商造成沉重打擊。我們對廣告業務的核心充滿了我所說的結構性信心。優質的畫布和第一方數據以及《紐約時報》的核心現在正在擴展到我們的其他產品，有大量的運行空間，確實很有效。

So that's the message I want to convey and I think I answered the other part of your question before. To the extent you're asking how do we think about publishers relative to platforms or any other business that -- or in the ad business in a big way, I would say marketers use publishers, they tend to differently than they use the big platforms. One of the things we -- that gives us a lot of confidence is while we tend to get more middle and upper-funnel advertising, meaning sort of not direct response, more brand in most parts of our portfolio, our ads -- because of the way we sequence ads and the first-party data, our ads are really perforant. And what you're watching us do is extend those ads across more parts of the platform.

這就是我想傳達的訊息，我想我之前已經回答了你問題的另一部分。如果您問我們如何看待相對於平台或任何其他業務的發布商，或者在很大程度上，在廣告業務中，我想說行銷人員使用發布商，他們傾向於與使用大平台不同。給我們很大信心的一件事是，我們傾向於獲得更多的中上漏斗廣告，這意味著不是直接反應，我們的投資組合和廣告的大部分部分都有更多的品牌——因為從我們對廣告的排序方式和第一方資料來看，我們的廣告確實非常有效。您看到我們所做的是將這些廣告擴展到平台的更多部分。

And I would say there, we just have -- it's early days on Athletic and Games and potentially Cooking, Wirecutter, and we think we've got a lot of running room. I'm actually going to use that as a segue to mention an experiment. We're also -- I'll go back to the question Thomas asked about at the top of the call, and I'll talk about ads here, too, related to your question, and it's about AI.

我想說的是，我們只是——運動和遊戲以及潛在的烹飪、Wirecutter 還處於早期階段，我們認為我們有很大的運行空間。我實際上將用它作為一個繼續來提及一個實驗。我們也將——我將回到托馬斯在電話會議頂部提出的問題，我也會在這裡討論與你的問題相關的廣告，它與人工智慧有關。

We have been using AI in our ad business sort of the whole way through with first-party data, and I think Generative AI presents the opportunity for us to get even better at that. So you can assume we're beginning to experiment with Generative AI in our ad products, at least as far as improving our ability to do contextual targeting at scale. And I think that just goes to sort of structural -- our confidence in the underlying structure of our ad business. And I'll just mention, again, going back to Thomas' question and the other question I got about Generative AI.

我們一直在廣告業務中使用人工智慧，從頭到尾都是透過第一方數據，我認為生成式人工智慧為我們提供了在這方面做得更好的機會。因此，您可以假設我們開始在廣告產品中嘗試生成式人工智慧，至少是為了提高我們大規模進行情境定位的能力。我認為這只是結構性的——我們對廣告業務基礎結構的信心。我只想再次提到，回到托馬斯的問題和我得到的關於生成人工智慧的另一個問題。

We are actively experimenting now, and you're going to see us do more and more of that with Generative AI kind of across the product set.

我們現在正在積極進行試驗，您將看到我們在整個產品集中使用生成式人工智慧進行越來越多的實驗。

So I'll mention, in the fourth quarter, we put out an experiment relatively small, early days, but exciting in augmenting Spanish language translation for our content, which we're excited about, and you can imagine the implications of being able to do that at scale. Again, it's very early days.

所以我要提到的是，在第四季度，我們在早期進行了一項相對較小的實驗，但在增強我們內容的西班牙語翻譯方面令人興奮，我們對此感到興奮，你可以想像能夠實現的含義大規模地這樣做。再說一遍，現在還為時過早。

And we expect to get another experiment out into the market, probably this quarter around synthetic voice, which would help us give people the ability to listen to a lot of the written New York Times. So that's in addition to using AI and beginning to use Generative AI in how we target advertising.

我們預計將在市場上進行另一項實驗，可能是在本季度圍繞合成語音進行的，這將幫助我們讓人們能夠收聽大量紐約時報的書面內容。因此，除了使用人工智慧並開始使用生成式人工智慧來定位廣告之外。

And ladies and gentlemen, with that, we'll be concluding today's question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Anthony DiClemente for any closing remarks.

女士們、先生們，我們今天的問答環節就到此結束。我想請安東尼·迪克萊門特（Anthony DiClemente）發表結束語。

That's it. Thank you all for joining us this morning, and we very much look forward to talking to you again next quarter. Take care.

就是這樣。感謝大家今天早上加入我們，我們非常期待下個季度再次與您交談。小心。

And ladies and gentlemen, with that, the conference has concluded. We thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines.

女士們、先生們，會議到此結束。我們感謝您參加今天的演講。現在您可以斷開線路。