Opera Ltd (OPRA) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Opera Limited Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to your speaker today Matt Wolfson, Head of Investor Relations. Please begin.

歡迎參加 Opera Limited 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，今天的通話正在錄音。 （操作員說明）我現在想將電話轉給今天的發言人馬特·沃爾夫森（Matt Wolfson），投資者關係主管。請開始。

Thank you for joining us. As usual, I have with me today are Co-CEO, Song Lin; and our CFO, Frode Jacobsen. Before I hand the call over to Song Lin, I would like to remind everyone that in the conference call today, the company will be making statements about future results and expectations which constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Such statements are based on current expectations and how we perceive the current economic environment and are inherently subject to economic, competitive and other uncertainties and contingencies beyond the control of management. You should be cautioned that these statements are not guarantees of future performance. You may refer to the safe harbor statement in the company's earnings release for details.

感謝您加入我們。和往常一樣，今天和我在一起的是聯合執行長宋林；和我們的財務長弗羅德雅各布森。在我將電話交給宋林之前，我想提醒大家，在今天的電話會議中，公司將發表有關未來業績和預期的聲明，這些聲明構成《私人證券訴訟改革法》含義內的前瞻性聲明。此類陳述是基於當前預期以及我們對當前經濟環境的看法，並且本質上受到管理層無法控制的經濟、競爭和其他不確定性和意外事件的影響。請注意，這些陳述並不能保證未來的表現。詳情請參閱公司財報中的安全港聲明。

Our commentary today will also include non-IFRS financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, which are different from our consolidated financial statements that are prepared and presented based on IFRS. We believe that the use of our non-IFRS financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends. These measures should not be measured in isolation or as a substitute for financial information prepared in accordance with IFRS. We have also posted unaudited quarterly historical financial results of Opera on our Investor Relations website. We'll be live posting highlights from the call from our Twitter account at Investor Opera, so please follow along there during the call and in the future.

我們今天的評論還將包括非國際財務報告準則的財務指標，包括調整後的 EBITDA，這與我們根據國際財務報告準則編制和列報的合併財務報表不同。我們相信，使用我們的非國際財務報告準則財務指標為投資者提供了評估持續經營績效和趨勢的額外工具。這些指標不應單獨衡量，也不應取代根據國際財務報告準則編制的財務資訊。我們也在投資者關係網站上發布了 Opera 未經審計的季度歷史財務表現。我們將透過 Investor Opera 的 Twitter 帳戶即時發布此次電話會議的精彩內容，因此請在電話會議期間和未來持續關注。

With that, let me turn the call over to our co-CEO, Song Lin, who will cover our third quarter operational highlights and strategy, and then Frode will discuss our financials and expectations going forward. Song has a cold this morning and if his voice gives out, I will step in and finish his prepared remarks if necessary. Song?

接下來，讓我將電話轉給我們的聯合執行長宋林，他將介紹我們第三季的營運亮點和策略，然後弗羅德將討論我們未來的財務狀況和預期。宋今天早上感冒了，如果他的聲音消失了，如有必要，我會介入並完成他準備好的發言。歌曲？

Yes, sure. Thank you, Matt. So yes, I'm on a cold so I hope my voice hasn't come in to safely. But anyway, thanks, everyone, for joining us today. We are very proud to announce our fourth quarter results with both revenue and adjusted EBITDA exceeding the high end of our prior guidance ranges. And our business and product lineup has been stronger and more strategic than ever.

是的，當然。謝謝你，馬特。所以，是的，我感冒了，所以我希望我的聲音還沒有安全。但無論如何，謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們非常自豪地宣布我們第四季度的業績，收入和調整後的 EBITDA 都超過了我們之前指導範圍的上限。我們的業務和產品陣容比以往任何時候都更強大、更具策略性。

So in the third quarter we generated $102.6 million revenue compared to the like $98 million to $100 million, we have guided. That marks our 11 consecutive quarter of 20%-plus top line growth as well as the milestone of exceeding $100 million of quarterly revenue. What's even more exciting is that the overperformance was fueled by an accelerating business strength during the quarter, adding to the trajectory and potential of results ahead. As you will see our refreshed guidance ranges for the year and Q4 now even bigger above the prior high end of ranges for both revenue and adjusted EBITDA.

因此，第三季我們的營收為 1.026 億美元，而我們預計的營收為 9,800 萬至 1 億美元。這標誌著我們連續 11 個季度實現 20% 以上的營收成長，以及季度營收超過 1 億美元的里程碑。更令人興奮的是，本季業務實力的加速推動了超額業績，增加了未來業績的軌跡和潛力。正如您將看到的，我們今年和第四季度的更新指導範圍現在甚至比之前的收入和調整後 EBITDA 範圍的上限還要高。

So the health of our revenue overperformance is visible in our adjusted EBITDA, which came in at $23.8 million, a 23% margin compared to the $18.5 million to $20.5 million we have guided. Profit overperformance was in other words, even stronger than the revenue overperformance, fueled by product-driven strength leading to lower market than expected. So overall, we continue to credit our financial success to our ongoing focus of growing the highest value users combined with careful cost management. The share of our user base that Western users continue to increase in the quarter, which in turn contributed to an ARPU growth of 11% compared with the prior quarter or 24% year-over-year to a new high of $1.31.

因此，我們的收入超額表現在調整後的 EBITDA 中可見一斑，調整後的 EBITDA 為 2380 萬美元，與我們指導的 1850 萬至 2050 萬美元相比，利潤率高出 23%。換句話說，在產品驅動力導致市場低於預期的推動下，利潤超額表現甚至強於收入超額表現。因此，總的來說，我們繼續將我們的財務成功歸功於我們持續專注於發展最高價值用戶以及謹慎的成本管理。本季西方用戶在我們的用戶群中所佔的份額持續增加，這反過來又推動 ARPU 較上一季度增長 11%，同比增長 24%，達到 1.31 美元的新高。

Advertising revenue grew 24% compared to last year, representing 39% of total revenue. The growth was fueled by a healthy combination of increased O&O advertising revenue from our process, which represents the majority of advertising revenue, combined with the underlying growth in our audience extension business. SaaS revenue grew 15% in the third quarter, all of which related to our browsers, also benefiting from our continued user growth in western markets.

廣告收入較去年成長24%，佔總營收的39%。這一增長是由我們流程中的 O&O 廣告收入增加（佔廣告收入的大部分）與受眾擴展業務的潛在增長的健康結合所推動的。第三季SaaS營收成長了15%，所有這些都與我們的瀏覽器有關，也受惠於我們在西方市場的用戶持續成長。

So there are 3 business topics that I would like to focus on today. Our AI initiatives, our advertising platforms and finally the Opera GX browser. So I'll start with Aria, our internally developed browser AI. Even if we don't directly monetize it, and even if it is early days in creating the ultimate browser AI for our users. Because Aria is such a strategic area of focus for us that has the potential to greatly expand services that we can offer to our users. So after our initial success bringing Aria to our redesigned flagship browser Opera One and to Opera for android, we continue to roll it out to Opera for IOS and Opera GX in the third quarter. As a positive step we laid a large segment of our users to take advantage of Aria's exciting new features.

所以今天我想重點討論 3 個商業主題。我們的人工智慧計畫、我們的廣告平台以及最後的 Opera GX 瀏覽器。所以我將從 Aria 開始，它是我們內部開發的瀏覽器 AI。即使我們不直接將其貨幣化，即使為用戶創建終極瀏覽器人工智慧還處於早期階段。因為 Aria 是我們的一個策略重點領域，它有潛力大大擴展我們可以為使用者提供的服務。因此，在我們將 Aria 引入重新設計的旗艦瀏覽器 Opera One 和 Android 版 Opera 取得初步成功之後，我們將在第三季度繼續將其推廣到 iOS 版 Opera 和 Opera GX。作為積極的一步，我們讓大部分用戶能夠利用 Aria 令人興奮的新功能。

Being an independent browser offers us also the flexibility to work with a variety of partners in the Gen AI space and does not lock us into any one specific large language model or any specific source of information. Aria is built on Opera's own composer architecture, which allows it to tap into various language models like OpenAI's GPT model and to gather live information from the web. This makes its results both more up-to-date and accurate.

作為一個獨立的瀏覽器，我們還可以靈活地與 Gen AI 領域的各種合作夥伴合作，並且不會將我們限制在任何特定的大型語言模型或任何特定的資訊來源中。 Aria 建立在 Opera 自己的作曲家架構之上，這使得它能夠利用各種語言模型（例如 OpenAI 的 GPT 模型）並從網路收集即時資訊。這使得其結果更加最新和準確。

Opera One also lets you do more with AI with less time with minimum technical skills and less effort. Aria comes with a set of tools that allow you to easily refine your queries and create content with a set of predefined prompts. You can further personalize Aria with the My Style feature that lets you train your browser AI to write like you. It's never been easier to write long pieces of text from insightful reviews to eloquent e-mails or stern complaints, all in your unique style of writing. Being able to effectively interact with AI is quickly becoming an essential skill in life. Aria lets people easily and quickly get what they are looking for, whether it's search for information or creating a piece of content. So Aria has proven to be a hit with users and they are clearly enjoying the experience as evidenced by a lift in increased search queries and page views position. Still we are only getting started. And the world is only getting to get used to take advantage of the new technology.

Opera One 還可以讓您利用人工智慧，以更少的時間、最少的技術技能和更少的精力做更多的事情。 Aria 附帶了一組工具，可讓您輕鬆優化查詢並使用一組預定義提示建立內容。您可以使用「我的風格」功能進一步個性化 Aria，該功能可讓您訓練瀏覽器 AI 來像您一樣寫作。撰寫長篇文字從未如此簡單，從富有洞察力的評論到雄辯的電子郵件或嚴厲的抱怨，所有這些都以您獨特的寫作風格進行。能夠與人工智慧有效互動正迅速成為生活中的基本技能。 Aria 讓人們輕鬆快速地獲得他們正在尋找的內容，無論是搜尋資訊還是創建內容。事實證明，Aria 受到了用戶的歡迎，他們顯然很享受這種體驗，搜尋查詢和頁面瀏覽量排名的提升證明了這一點。但我們才剛開始。世界剛開始習慣利用新技術。

We look forward to keeping you posted on our Aria milestones as we see this grow in richness, awareness and the capabilities. Today, we maintain Aria indirectly, both in terms of attracting yield results and increasing our users engagement, which in turn benefits our existing search and advertising partnerships. There is no need to restructure those deals to benefit. Looking ahead, we are excited about how Aria's useful features can directly translate to monetizable informed recommendations fueled by a broader context awareness. In essence we talked about the monetization as well to our advertising technology which I highlight since it is a key enabler of our revenue trajectory.

隨著我們看到 Aria 的豐富性、意識和能力不斷增長，我們期待向您通報我們的 Aria 里程碑。今天，我們間接維護 Aria，無論是在吸引收益結果還是提高用戶參與度方面，這反過來都有利於我們現有的搜尋和廣告合作夥伴關係。無需重組這些交易即可受益。展望未來，我們對 Aria 的有用功能如何直接轉化為由更廣泛的上下文感知推動的可盈利的知情建議感到興奮。本質上，我們討論了貨幣化以及我們的廣告技術，我強調這一點，因為它是我們收入軌蹟的關鍵推動因素。

So Opera products are used every day by hundreds of millions of engaged users. And in 2019, we have announced Opera Ads. Opera Ads is an online advertising platform that helps advertisers maximize the performance of their campaigns and increase engagement rate, the target audiences. So through real time bidding, the platform also connects with partner inventories, allowing our advertising partners to reach internet users worldwide including our hundreds of millions of Opera users. Opera Ads empowers partners to achieve key performance indicators such as extended reach, prolonged audience retention, widespread brand recognition and a favorable return of ad spend. So as a result Opera Ads caters to the world's largest advertisers, DSPs, agencies and e-commerce partners across the globe.

因此，Opera 產品每天都有數億活躍用戶使用。 2019 年，我們宣布了 Opera 廣告。 Opera Ads 是一個線上廣告平台，可協助廣告主最大限度地提高其廣告活動的效果並提高目標受眾的參與率。因此，透過即時競價，該平台還與合作夥伴庫存連接，使我們的廣告合作夥伴能夠接觸到全球網路用戶，包括我們數億 Opera 用戶。 Opera Ads 使合作夥伴能夠實現關鍵績效指標，例如擴大覆蓋範圍、延長受眾保留率、廣泛的品牌知名度和良好的廣告支出回報。因此，Opera Ads 能夠滿足全球最大的廣告商、DSP、代理商和電子商務合作夥伴的需求。

To give you a sense of its reach, we now handle volume of 3.8 million ad requests consistently at peak times making us among one of the biggest player in terms of audience reach. That being said, as the Internet company, we have a very large user base to start with. We feel that we are still at rather early stage of monetization and look for nice growth trajectory ahead.

為了讓您了解其覆蓋範圍，我們現在在高峰時段持續處理 380 萬個廣告請求，使我們成為受眾覆蓋範圍最大的參與者之一。話雖這麼說，作為網路公司，我們本來就擁有非常龐大的用戶群。我們認為我們仍處於貨幣化的早期階段，並期待未來良好的成長軌跡。

And then finally, I will just turn to gaming and the Opera GX browser. So our GX user base continues to impress, up another 10% sequentially to 26 million MAU during the third quarter. The ARPU was up 60% sequentially or 33% year-over-year now and the annualized $3.29 per MAU continuing to be our best monetizing product. Thanks to our passionate team of gamers, engineers, designers and more, they have built a browser that delivers an amazing and unique experience on all fronts. Not only does Opera GX provide flagship features such as CPU and RAM usage controllers, (inaudible) we have introduced several new features that bring customization and integration abilities to an unparallel level.

最後，我將轉向遊戲和 Opera GX 瀏覽器。因此，我們的 GX 用戶群繼續給人留下深刻印象，第三季每月活躍用戶數又季增 10%，達到 2,600 萬。 ARPU 比上一季成長 60%，年增 33%，每 MAU 年化 3.29 美元仍然是我們最好的貨幣化產品。感謝我們充滿熱情的遊戲玩家、工程師、設計師等團隊，他們打造了一款能夠在各方面提供令人驚嘆且獨特的體驗的瀏覽器。 Opera GX 不僅提供 CPU 和 RAM 使用控制器等旗艦功能，（聽不清楚）我們還引入了多項新功能，將客製化和整合能力提升到了無與倫比的水平。

These features give gamers and their favorite influencers and streamers something to talk about as we build the brand and the brand strength of Opera GX is something we are very proud of. Our goal is to create the marquee gaming brand at the center of a thriving gaming ecosystem and community. So that's why Opera GX maintains one of the largest Discord servers around, collaborates with thousands of gaming influencers, including some of the biggest names in the space, and provide GameMaker a multimillion downloaded app for indie game development, all in addition to giving gamers a platform on which they can play games. So Opera GX now has a very fast-growing community of friends on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, while it is by itself becoming a category-leading brand platform. And an important channel for building awareness and stimulating our growth further. That is a huge achievement for browser company.

這些功能為遊戲玩家和他們最喜歡的影響者和主播提供了在我們打造品牌時可以談論的話題，Opera GX 的品牌實力是我們感到非常自豪的。我們的目標是在蓬勃發展的遊戲生態系統和社群的中心創建知名遊戲品牌。因此，Opera GX 維護著最大的Discord 伺服器之一，與數千名遊戲影響者（包括該領域的一些知名人士）合作，並為GameMaker 提供了數百萬個用於獨立遊戲開發的下載應用程序，所有這些除了為遊戲玩家提供他們可以玩遊戲的平台。因此，Opera GX 現在在 Facebook、Twitter 和 TikTok 上擁有一個快速成長的朋友社區，同時它本身也正在成為一個類別領先的品牌平台。也是提高意識和刺激我們進一步成長的重要管道。這對於瀏覽器公司來說是一個巨大的成就。

Finally, it is important to note that the vast majority of Opera GX users are Gen Z and so have only just begun to develop brand loyalties in which GX is taking a strong position. They are also the most tech savvy generation yet with deep experience and activity for building resilient online communities around their interests across great distances. So while gamers are and stand to remain our key focus of segment-based offerings, we also see a broad opportunity from this strategy as well.

最後，值得注意的是，絕大多數 Opera GX 用戶都是 Z 世代，因此才剛開始培養品牌忠誠度，而 GX 在其中佔據著強勢地位。他們也是迄今為止最精通技術的一代人，擁有豐富的經驗和活動，可以圍繞自己的興趣跨越遙遠的距離建立有彈性的線上社群。因此，雖然遊戲玩家仍然是我們基於細分市場的產品的主要關注點，但我們也從這個策略中看到了廣闊的機會。

So within content, we have laid out AI-based content recommendation platform to dedicated apps for soccer fans, cricket fans or Opera local news. On the browser side, just now in September, we partnered with Chess.com to put chess right into the browser. So with custom builds for both desktop and mobile products, chess enthusiasts can now enjoy their favorite game wherever they are. We offer special browser, a Chess.com icon now resides in the sidebar of a customized version of our browser where you can solve puzzles and battle your rivals while you browse the web. Opera for Android also got a chess themed makeover, complete with chess related articles, videos and informational content. So overall, we believe we have the best product and technology in Opera history putting us in a very strong position to continue to deliver great new products and strong financial results as we look to 2024 and beyond. So with that, let me turn the call over to Frode.

因此，在內容方面，我們為足球迷、板球迷或 Opera 本地新聞的專用應用程式設計了基於人工智慧的內容推薦平台。在瀏覽器方面，就在九月份，我們與 Chess.com 合作，將國際象棋直接放入瀏覽器中。因此，透過針對桌面和行動產品的客製化構建，國際象棋愛好者現在可以隨時隨地享受他們最喜歡的遊戲。我們提供特殊的瀏覽器，Chess.com 圖示現在位於我們瀏覽器定製版本的側邊欄中，您可以在瀏覽網頁時解決謎題並與對手戰鬥。 Android 版 Opera 也進行了國際象棋主題改造，包含國際象棋相關文章、影片和資訊內容。因此，總的來說，我們相信我們擁有 Opera 歷史上最好的產品和技術，這使我們處於非常有利的地位，可以在 2024 年及以後繼續提供出色的新產品和強勁的財務業績。那麼，讓我把電話轉給弗羅德。

Thank you, Song. Starting with our financial results. We are very content to see how our product strength and growth strategy translate into yet another record quarter. Year-over-year growth rates for both search and advertising remain at the level we achieved in the prior quarter, which is well ahead of what we had guided. The fact that we saw a stronger-than-expected intra-quarter acceleration from month to month bodes well for our outlook, as you can see in our refreshed guidance today. All in all, we are very pleased with the resilience of our growth model and the trajectory of our company, even in a volatile macro environment.

謝謝你，宋。從我們的財務表現開始。我們非常高興地看到我們的產品實力和成長策略如何轉化為另一個創紀錄的季度。搜尋和廣告的同比增長率仍保持在上一季的水平，遠遠超出了我們的指導。事實上，我們看到每個月的季度內加速都強於預期，這對我們的前景來說是個好兆頭，正如您在我們今天更新的指引中看到的那樣。總而言之，即使在動盪的宏觀環境中，我們對我們的成長模式的彈性和公司的發展軌跡感到非常滿意。

We continue to benefit from our user shift towards higher ARPU populations, whether geographic or as Song Lin talked about, with gamers. The rotation of our user base has low monetized users churning out and higher monetized users coming in. As a result, we came in above the high end of our guidance at $102.6 million revenue or 20% year-over-year growth.

我們繼續受益於用戶向更高 ARPU 群體的轉變，無論是地理上的還是宋林所說的遊戲玩家。我們的用戶群輪換導致貨幣化用戶流失率較低，而貨幣化用戶不斷增加。因此，我們的收入達到了 1.026 億美元，年增 20%，高於指導上限。

On a constant currency basis, our year-over-year growth would have been about 5 percentage points higher or 25%. In terms of profitability, we benefited both by our revenue overperformance and the fact that we did not fully utilize the buffer we have built into our marketing spend expectations. Consequently, adjusted EBITDA also exceeded the top end of guidance at $23.8 million or a 23% margin. We generated operating cash flows of $16.2 million in the quarter, and our free cash flow from operations was $13.4 million. The revenue strength within the quarter increased our accounts receivables, but that cash flow impact as a consequence we are happy to live with.

以固定匯率計算，我們的年成長率將高出約 5 個百分點，即 25%。在獲利能力方面，我們受益於我們的收入超額表現以及我們沒有充分利用我們在行銷支出預期中建立的緩衝這一事實。因此，調整後的 EBITDA 也超過了指導上限 2,380 萬美元，即 23% 的利潤率。本季我們產生的營運現金流為 1,620 萬美元，營運自由現金流為 1,340 萬美元。本季的營收強勁增加了我們的應收帳款，但我們很樂意接受這種現金流影響。

During the quarter, we returned $53 million to our shareholders. Our first regular dividend was $36 million, of which $11 million was cash to ADS holders and $25 million was offset against our Star X receivable. As a reminder, our remaining $32 million receivable from the sale of Star X, which is presented separately on our balance sheet will continue to reduce the cash component of upcoming dividends until it has been fully offset. In addition, we repurchased 1.24 million ADSs for a total spend of $17 million. That translates to a recurring annual dividend yield of 6% on the repurchased ADSs, benefiting all our shareholders over time.

本季度，我們向股東返還 5,300 萬美元。我們的第一筆定期股息為 3,600 萬美元，其中 1,100 萬美元是向 ADS 持有人提供的現金，2,500 萬美元抵銷了我們的 Star X 應收帳款。提醒一下，我們出售 Star X 剩餘的 3,200 萬美元應收款（在我們的資產負債表上單獨列示）將繼續減少即將發放的股息的現金部分，直到完全抵銷。此外，我們也回購了 124 萬股 A​​DS，總支出為 1,700 萬美元。這意味著回購的美國存託股的經常性年度股息殖利率為 6%，隨著時間的推移，我們的所有股東都會受益。

Finally, we are very pleased about the nearly 40% increase in the free float of our stock following the secondary offering conducted at the end of the quarter. As a result of our actions over the past 12 months, the free float has increased from 14% to 28%, and our stock is also far more liquid.

最後，我們對本季末進行二次發行後股票自由流通量增加了近 40% 感到非常高興。由於我們過去 12 個月採取的行動，自由流通量已從 14% 增加到 28%，而且我們的股票流動性也大大增強。

Now turning to our updated guidance for the full year 2023 and the fourth quarter. Throughout 2023, we have been able to grow faster and more cost effectively than planned at the start of the year, translating to both higher revenue and higher profitability. We approach the second half of the year with caution, but are pleased to observe a very strong trajectory even in a volatile macro picture. As a result, we are on track to exit 2023 in a great position as we look to the future.

現在轉向我們更新的 2023 年全年和第四季度指引。在整個 2023 年，我們的成長速度比年初的計畫更快、更具成本效益，這意味著更高的收入和更高的獲利能力。我們對今年下半年持謹慎態度，但很高興看到即使在波動的宏觀形勢下也能看到非常強勁的軌跡。因此，展望未來，我們預計在 2023 年以有利的姿態退出。

For the fourth quarter, we guide revenue to $110 million to $113 million or up 16% year-over-year at the midpoint and adjusted EBITDA of $22 million to $24 million or 21% margin at the midpoint. Both represent substantial lifts versus our previous implicit Q4 guidance increasing our guided year-over-year growth rate for Q4 by 6 percentage points and our adjusted EBITDA margin by 1.4 percentage points at the midpoint. Consequently, our full year revenue guidance is now $394 million to $397 million in its entirety above our prior range of $380 million to $390 million and representing 19% growth at the midpoint.

對於第四季度，我們預計營收為 1.10 億美元至 1.13 億美元，中間值利潤率為 16%，調整後 EBITDA 為 2,200 萬美元至 2,400 萬美元，中間值利潤率為 21%。與我們先前隱含的第四季指引相比，這兩項指標均大幅提升，將第四季指引年增率提高了 6 個百分點，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率中點提高了 1.4 個百分點。因此，我們的全年營收指引現在為 3.94 億美元至 3.97 億美元，高於我們先前 3.8 億美元至 3.9 億美元的範圍，中間值成長 19%。

Our full year adjusted EBITDA guidance is now $88 million to $90 million also in its entirety, above our prior range of $80 million to $84 million, and representing a 23% margin at the midpoint. Our cost expectations have remained consistent all year, but with less marketing spend than built into our guidance. We still expect Q4 to represent a year high in terms of marketing expenses and to exceed $30 million of quarterly spend, though our full year marketing cost is now likely to come in below full year 2022, a great achievement in the context of our revenue growth.

我們的全年調整後 EBITDA 指引現在也整體為 8,800 萬美元至 9,000 萬美元，高於我們之前 8,000 萬美元至 8,400 萬美元的範圍，中間利潤率為 23%。我們的成本預期全年保持一致，但行銷支出低於我們的指導。我們仍然預計第四季度的營銷費用將創一年新高，季度支出將超過3000 萬美元，儘管我們的全年營銷成本現在可能低於2022 年全年，這在我們收入增長的背景下是一項偉大的成就。

Our expectations for the sum of cost of revenue items remain in the mid-20s in terms of percentage of revenue for the year but will likely be up a couple of points versus Q3 in the seasonally strong fourth quarter. Cash compensation expense will likely return to around Q2 levels in Q4 and we maintain our expectation of a very modest annual increase for the year as a whole. All other OpEx items before adjusted EBITDA are also expected to somewhat decline sequentially in the fourth quarter and to come in at about $32 million for the year as a whole, in line with prior expectations.

我們對營收項目成本總和占全年收入的百分比的預期仍保持在 20 多歲左右，但在季節性強勁的第四季度中，與第三季度相比可能會上升幾個百分點。現金薪資支出可能會在第四季度恢復到第二季度左右的水平，我們維持全年增幅非常溫和的預期。調整後 EBITDA 之前的所有其他營運支出預計第四季也將有所下降，全年約為 3,200 萬美元，與先前的預期一致。

In conclusion, the third quarter falls nicely in line with our track record of achieving and exceeding our targets. As discussed in prior calls, our broader opportunity remains very attractive and very exciting, and we will continue to pursue it. We look forward to keeping you posted.

總之，第三季與我們實現並超越目標的記錄非常吻合。正如之前電話會議中所討論的，我們更廣泛的機會仍然非常有吸引力且非常令人興奮，我們將繼續追求它。我們期待隨時向您通報情況。

So with that, I'll turn the call back to the operator for questions.

因此，我會將電話轉回給接線員詢問問題。

(Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question from Mark Argento with Lake Street.

（操作員說明）我們將回答 Lake Street 的 Mark Argento 提出的第一個問題。

Nice quarter. Just a couple of quick questions. Obviously, you saw some really nice growth and strength in the ad business this quarter. As you think about the opportunity in the ad market, especially with GX growing as nicely, where do you see that kind of mix going forward of kind of ad versus search revenue? I think in the quarter, ad revenue is almost 60%. How should we think about that mix going forward?

不錯的季度。只是幾個簡單的問題。顯然，您在本季的廣告業務中看到了一些非常好的成長和實力。當您思考廣告市場的機會時，尤其是隨著 GX 的成長，您認為廣告與搜尋收入的未來組合會在哪裡？我認為本季廣告收入幾乎佔 60%。我們應該如何考慮未來的這種組合？

I can start. I think we continue to -- so we're very pleased with sort of the core strength of both revenue streams. Advertising revenue at some point past 50%, now it's close to 60% of revenue and it scaled even faster than search. And I think as a big picture that is probably the trend that we would expect for sort of the near to midterm.

我可以開始了。我認為我們會繼續下去——因此我們對這兩種收入來源的核心優勢感到非常滿意。廣告收入曾經一度超過收入的 50%，現在已接近收入的 60%，而且其擴張速度甚至比搜尋更快。我認為，從大局來看，這可能是我們預期的近期到中期的趨勢。

And then just a quick follow-up there. In terms of the GX browser and the ARPU growth that you've seen on that product in particular. Is that mostly domestic and Western markets? Or what's kind of the mix there? And are you -- how are you seeing that ARPU move up as aggressively as it has?

然後進行快速跟進。就 GX 瀏覽器以及您在該產品上看到的 ARPU 成長而言。主要是國內和西方市場嗎？或者說那裡有什麼樣的混合？您如何看待 ARPU 的大幅上升？

I think the GX user base is split between Western and developed markets, perhaps somewhat more tilted to Western than the user base as a whole. But it taps into high-value segments also in emerging markets, which is participating in its strong ARPU. I think we've been pleased with the ARPU performance within both Western and non-Western markets on the product. It still remains a bit under-indexing in terms of ad monetization. So back to your first question, that's also an example of a lever for driving faster growth on the advertising side looking ahead.

我認為 GX 用戶群分為西方市場和已開發市場，也許比整個用戶群更傾向西方市場。但它也進軍新興市場的高價值細分市場，這些市場正在參與其強勁的 ARPU。我認為我們對該產品在西方和非西方市場的 ARPU 表現感到滿意。就廣告貨幣化而言，它的索引仍然有點不足。回到你的第一個問題，這也是推動未來廣告方面更快成長的槓桿的一個例子。

Great. Just one last one for me. In terms of the marketing spend in the quarter came in a little below what you guys had anticipated. What's the kind of the key KPI you guys are keeping your eyes on there in terms of conversion rates or monetization rates that kind of have you either leaning in or leaning out that spend in any quarter?

偉大的。給我的只是最後一張。就本季的行銷支出而言，略低於你們的預期。你們在轉換率或貨幣化率方面關注的關鍵 KPI 是什麼，讓你們在任何季度都會傾向於或放棄支出？

It's ROI-based and to some extent, also just our own capacity to drive sort of the brand efforts that we do. So as Song talked about, for example, for GX, we have built a very sizable presence also in social media around the products. And I think the combination of branding activities and the more tactical sort of distribution campaigns and distribution activities is very important for the best possible ROI on the spend. And for Q3 as a quarter, we more or less came in as expected, which was a bit below what we had guided in terms of spend just because we like to always maintain a buffer that, I think we've also historically talked about.

它是基於投資報酬率的，在某種程度上，也是我們自己推動我們所做的品牌努力的能力。正如宋所說，例如，對於 GX，我們在社群媒體上圍繞著產品建立了非常大的影響力。我認為品牌活動與更具戰術性的分銷活動和分銷活動的結合對於獲得最佳的支出投資回報率非常重要。對於第三季的季度業績，我們或多或少符合預期，這略低於我們在支出方面的指導，因為我們希望始終保持緩衝，我認為我們歷史上也談到過這一點。

We will take our next question from Lance Vitanza with TD Cowen.

我們將接受 TD Cowen 的 Lance Vitanza 提出的下一個問題。

Great quarter. A couple of questions here. The first, with respect to the focus on growing the highest value users. Did you mention what proportion of your MAUs are in those markets today? And if -- could you repeat that? And then -- and where do you think that, that sort of split could ultimately go as we think out 3, 5, 10 years?

很棒的季度。這裡有幾個問題。第一，關注發展最高價值用戶。您是否曾提到您目前在這些市場中的月活躍用戶比例是多少？如果──你能再說一次嗎？然後──您認為，我們認為 3 年、5 年、10 年後這種分裂最終會走向何方？

Yes, so at least in our investor presentation, I'm not sure if it's updated online yet, but you'll see the updated stats. So for now, Western users represent 16% of the user base, up from 15% in the prior quarter. It's not such an excellent stat just because it typically moves with decimals and then every couple of quarters, maybe we've been adding a point. But it is up relative to the Q2 average. And I think you'll also see in the time line. So I think we -- the number of users over time. And this year is unlike the past many years, we had a growth also from Q3 to Q4 were normally because of seasonality, Q3 relative to Q2 is quite flat.

是的，所以至少在我們的投資者演示中，我不確定它是否已在線更新，但您會看到更新的統計數據。目前，西方用戶佔用戶群的 16%，高於上一季的 15%。這並不是一個很好的統計數據，因為它通常會以小數點移動，然後每隔幾個季度，也許我們就會添加一個點。但相對於第二季度的平均值有所上升。我想你也會在時間線上看到。所以我認為我們——隨著時間的推移，用戶數量。今年與過去很多年不同，我們從第三季到第四季也有成長，通常是因為季節性，第三季相對於第二季相當平坦。

I mean is the way to think about that, though, I mean, 15%, 16%, regardless, those don't sound like big numbers. Does that suggest that there's a lot of headroom there for continued growth? I mean do you see -- is the target to get to, I don't know, 30%, 70%, that kind of a split? Or where should we be thinking this could kind of go over time?

我的意思是思考這個問題的方式，不過，我的意思是，15%、16%，不管怎樣，這些聽起來都不是很大的數字。這是否顯示還有很大的持續成長空間？我的意思是，你看到了嗎——我不知道，目標是要達到 30%、70%，這樣的差距嗎？或者我們應該認為隨著時間的推移這會走向何方？

We don't really have a very defined ceiling just because we still have the perception that we remain still a quite small company. We talked a bit about the sizing for upper GX as well. So -- but looking ahead and also looking past for the past couple of years, our strategy is to keep growing in Western markets. We continue to have very good momentum on that and to grow high-value users broadly, such as gamers, for example.

我們實際上並沒有一個非常明確的上限，只是因為我們仍然認為我們仍然是一家相當小的公司。我們也討論了 GX 鞋面的尺寸。所以，但展望未來以及過去幾年，我們的策略是在西方市場保持成長。我們在這方面繼續保持良好勢頭，並廣泛發展高價值用戶，例如遊戲玩家。

Okay. On the marketing spend, so my question on marketing spend, do lower than expected, a little bit lower than our estimate. And just to what extent was that perhaps driven by timing and maybe a decision to just sort of push some of the marketing spend from 3Q into 4Q. Is there any of that we should be thinking about? I mean I know you mentioned that you're going to be a little bit over $30 million in the fourth quarter. I'm just wondering if that's a result of maybe some investments that got pushed?

好的。關於行銷支出，所以我關於行銷支出的問題，確實低於預期，比我們的估計低一點。這在多大程度上可能是由時機推動的，也可能是決定將部分行銷支出從第三季推到第四季的決定。有什麼值得我們思考的嗎？我的意思是，我知道您提到第四季度的收入將略高於 3000 萬美元。我只是想知道這是否是某些投資被推動的結果？

No, it's not really a timing item when you look at the implicit marketing guidance for the next quarter, it's the same to a bit down relative to what we had in our prior implicit Q4 guidance.

不，當你查看下個季度的隱性行銷指導時，這並不是一個真正的計時項目，它與我們之前的隱性第四季度指導相比略有下降。

Okay. Great. And then last for me, you talked about the stronger-than-expected acceleration within the quarter as you go month-to-month in this past quarter. And I'm just wondering, clearly, it sounds like products and technology at Opera had a lot to do with that. But was there perhaps also some improvement in the overall advertising backdrop that helped you or that was improving throughout the quarter as well? Or maybe the way to phrase it is, is the macro backdrop helping or hurting you these days and which direction do you see that going?

好的。偉大的。最後對我來說，您談到了上個季度逐月出現的季度內成長率強於預期的情況。我只是想知道，顯然，Opera 的產品和技術與此有很大關係。但整體廣告背景是否也有一些改善對您有幫助，或者整個季度也在改善？或者也許可以這樣表述：這些天的宏觀背景對你來說是幫助還是傷害？你認為這會朝哪個方向發展？

I mean starting with the FX headwind that's worked against us for some time, just due to the strength of the U.S. dollar. I think we saw the headwind decline a little bit now, let's say, only 5 percentage points in the quarter, but it remains a headwind given our very global exposure. For the ad market in particular, Song, I don't know if you want to comment on that.

我的意思是，首先是由於美元走強，一段時間以來對我們不利的外匯逆風。我認為我們現在看到逆風有所下降，比如說，本季僅下降了 5 個百分點，但考慮到我們的全球業務，這仍然是一個逆風。特別是對於廣告市場，宋，我不知道你是否願意對此發表評論。

Yes, it's fine. But sorry my cold is not going anywhere. So -- but I would say, I think in general, we see a good recovery of travel, which we did in Q3, trend is very strong, then people like -- travel has benefited from that, especially also during the summer time, right, which ended in Q3. I think we also see fair e-commerce towards the end of Q3, somewhat e-commerce (inaudible) which give us confidence of vast Q4. It's also going to be okay. So I think that's noticeable once we see. I think the rest are more like as we're expecting.

是的，沒關係。但抱歉，我的感冒哪裡也去不了。所以 - 但我想說，我認為總的來說，我們看到旅行的良好復甦，這是我們在第三季度所做的，趨勢非常強勁，然後人們喜歡 - 旅行從中受益，尤其是在夏季，對，第三季結束。我認為我們在第三季末也看到了公平的電子商務，有些電子商務（聽不清楚）這給了我們對第四季的信心。也會沒事的。所以我認為一旦我們看到這一點就會很明顯。我認為其餘的更像我們所期待的。

(Operator Instructions) We'll take our next question from Alicia Yap with Citigroup.

（操作員說明）我們將接受花旗集團 Alicia Yap 的下一個問題。

Congratulations to the strong quarter and guidance. So I just wonder, I know Aria is not directly monetized for now, but just wondering how much of the strong performance in the third quarter are benefiting from availability of Aria to help the user engagement that also lead to better monetization because of the increased time spent or also increased ad inventory or even the higher eCPM.

祝賀強勁的季度和指導。所以我只是想知道，我知道Aria 目前還沒有直接貨幣化，但只是想知道第三季的強勁業績有多少受益於Aria 的可用性，以幫助用戶參與，這也會因為時間的增加而帶來更好的貨幣化花費或增加了廣告庫存，甚至更高的有效每千次曝光費用。

So any color that you can either quantify or kind of qualitatively comment where Aria is contributing to some of that strong performance that you even see that month-over-month accelerating trends. So if any color you can share would be great. And then second, I was also wondering given if this is also driven by the ad cap improvement? Any preliminary color that you can share with us how would you expect the revenue growth to be for next year?

因此，您可以量化或定性評論任何顏色，其中 Aria 為某些強勁表現做出了貢獻，您甚至可以看到逐月加速的趨勢。所以如果你能分享任何顏色那就太好了。其次，我還想知道這是否也是由廣告上限改善所推動的？您可以與我們分享您對明年營收成長的預期嗎？

Song do you want to comment on Aria or?

你想對 Aria 的歌曲進行評論嗎？

Yes. Okay. So I can comment a bit on Aria. So yes more like super high level, I think, I also discussed within the script. So I would say the only effect of Aria is mostly visible in marketing. Well, of course, partly really why we spent less than we want to and give more users than we want to. So it's very positive is, of course, because Aria has increased people's awareness that it is very attractive, they want to see it. So it's quite similar like we see on GX as well. Because of gaming it's very differentiating and same applies to Aria when it comes to generic route.

是的。好的。所以我可以對 Aria 發表一些評論。所以是的，我認為更像是超高水平，我也在劇本中進行了討論。所以我想說 Aria 的唯一效果主要體現在行銷方面。嗯，當然，部分原因是我們花的錢比我們想要的少，但提供的用戶卻比我們想要的多。當然，這是非常積極的，因為 Aria 提高了人們的意識，認為它非常有吸引力，他們想看到它。所以它與我們在 GX 上看到的非常相似。由於遊戲的原因，它非常與眾不同，並且在通用路線方面也適用於 Aria。

So those (inaudible) also that has been very helpful. That loan probably has already had some very positive -- very positive consequence of how we can be more profitable in this quarter. So that's good. In the long run as discussed, I think we do see traffic increase and user engagement, those are search volumes and others that we need also have a monetizable impact, but that I think we need to spend more time also on valuation potentials which we are working with partners.

所以那些（聽不清楚）也非常有幫助。這筆貸款可能已經對我們如何在本季度獲得更多利潤產生了一些非常積極的影響。所以這樣很好。從長遠來看，正如所討論的，我認為我們確實看到流量增加和用戶參與度，這些是搜尋量和其他我們需要的也能產生貨幣化影響的東西，但我認為我們還需要花更多的時間在我們正在評估的潛力上。與合作夥伴合作。

And then Alicia to answer maybe the second part of your question, I think it's still a bit too early to start giving guidance for 2024. So we'll hold that back until our next call. But of course, we believe that sort of the growth rate that we expect to be able to achieve in the fourth quarter is at least a nice indication of the underlying speed of the business as it stands now.

然後艾莉西亞可能會回答你問題的第二部分，我認為現在開始提供 2024 年指導還為時過早。所以我們將推遲到下次電話會議。但當然，我們相信我們預計第四季度能夠實現的成長率至少很好地表明了目前業務的基本速度。

I see. Great. Maybe just one last follow-up. The 4Q EBITDA guidance and the midpoint imply, which obviously is lower than the first 3 quarters that you already achieved. So I wonder if this is just more conservative as a normal practice? Or is it some step-up spending because you mentioned the sales and marketing will be in the $30 million quarterly run rate, right? So it doesn't seem there is any kind of unexpected step-up spending that you budgeted in for this quarter?

我懂了。偉大的。也許只是最後一次後續行動。第四季 EBITDA 指導和中點暗示，這顯然低於您已經實現的前三個季度。所以我想知道這是否只是一種更保守的做法？或者是因為您提到銷售和行銷將在 3000 萬美元的季度運行率中增加支出，對嗎？那麼您在本季的預算中似乎沒有任何意外的增加支出？

Yes, correct. We've always had sort of the marketing spend to increase as the year progresses and as we build and build more scale in the total, let's say, machinery around our marketing activities. So we've guided to exceed $30 million. You come in $3 million, $4 million, $5 million above that once you add up what we have in the guidance. And comparing that to an average spend per quarter year-to-date of below $27 million. So of course, we've maintained an average spend expectation for Q4, then the margin would be far higher.

是，對的。隨著時間的推移，隨著我們圍繞行銷活動的整體規模不斷擴大，我們的行銷支出總是會增加。所以我們指導金額超過 3000 萬美元。一旦你把我們在指南中的內容加起來，你的收入就會高出 300 萬美元、400 萬美元、500 萬美元。相比之下，年初至今每季的平均支出低於 2,700 萬美元。當然，我們維持第四季的平均支出預期，那麼利潤率就會高得多。

We have no further questions in the queue at this time. I will turn the program over to Song Lin for any additional or closing remarks.

目前我們隊列中沒有其他問題。我會將節目轉交給宋林，讓他發表補充或結束語。

Sure. Thank you, guys. I think I'll just wrap it up. We thank you for all of your continuing support and interest in Opera. So there is so much potential for Opera, and we are going for it. We appreciate your time today and look forward to reporting on our progress at the next juncture.

當然。感謝你們。我想我就結束它。我們感謝您對 Opera 的持續支持和興趣。所以 Opera 有很大的潛力，我們正在努力實現它。我們感謝您今天抽出時間，並期待在下一個時刻報告我們的進展。

And this does conclude today's program. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time, and have a wonderful day.

今天的節目到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以隨時斷開連接，祝您有美好的一天。