Paramount Global (PARA) 2021 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone. Welcome to the Viacom Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Executive Vice President of Investor Relations, Mr. Anthony DiClemente. Please go ahead, sir.

今天是個好日子。歡迎參加維亞康姆電話會議。今天的電話正在錄音。在這個時候，我想把電話轉給投資者關係執行副總裁安東尼·迪克萊門特先生。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join us for our Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. Joining me for today's discussion are Bob Bakish, our President and CEO; and Naveen Chopra, our CFO. Please note that in addition to our earnings release, we have trending schedules containing supplemental information available on our website.

大家，早安。感謝您抽出寶貴時間參加我們的 2021 年第二季度財報電話會議。和我一起參加今天討論的還有我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Bob Bakish；和我們的首席財務官 Naveen Chopra。請注意，除了我們的收益發布之外，我們的網站上還有包含補充信息的趨勢時間表。

I want to remind you that certain statements made on this call are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in more detail in our filings with the SEC. Some of today's financial remarks will focus on adjusted results. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures can be found in our earnings release or in our trending schedules, which contain supplemental information and, in each case, can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website.

我想提醒您，本次電話會議上的某些陳述是涉及風險和不確定性的前瞻性陳述。這些風險和不確定性在我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中有更詳細的討論。今天的一些財務評論將集中在調整後的結果上。這些非公認會計原則財務指標的調節可以在我們的收益發布或我們的趨勢時間表中找到，其中包含補充信息，並且在每種情況下，都可以在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到。

Now I will turn the call over to Bob.

現在我將把電話轉給 Bob。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. I'm pleased to report that ViacomCBS once again delivered in the second quarter of 2021. The company's continued momentum is evident, from robust revenue growth in advertising and affiliate sales to a phenomenal content-driven trajectory of our flagship streaming services, Paramount+, Showtime OTT and Pluto TV, which clearly demonstrates that our streaming strategy across pay, premium and free is working, and we expect this momentum to continue in the second half of the year.

早上好，感謝您今天加入我們。我很高興地報告 ViacomCBS 在 2021 年第二季度再次交付。該公司的持續發展勢頭顯而易見，從廣告和附屬銷售的強勁收入增長到我們的旗艦流媒體服務 Paramount+、Showtime 的驚人內容驅動軌跡OTT 和 Pluto TV，這清楚地表明我們跨付費、付費和免費的流媒體戰略正在發揮作用，我們預計這種勢頭將在下半年繼續。

On today's call, I'll cover 3 topics. First, I'll briefly discuss ViacomCBS' strong Q2 results, where we reported operating strength and year-over-year revenue improvement. Second, I'll highlight the company's momentum in streaming and the underlying content drivers. And finally, I'll discuss our go-forward global streaming expansion. Then I'll hand it over to Naveen to provide additional financial and operational details before opening it up for Q&A.

在今天的電話會議中，我將討論 3 個主題。首先，我將簡要討論 ViacomCBS 強勁的第二季度業績，我們報告了運營實力和同比收入增長。其次，我將重點介紹該公司在流媒體領域的發展勢頭和潛在的內容驅動因素。最後，我將討論我們的全球流媒體擴張。然後我將把它交給 Naveen 以提供額外的財務和運營細節，然後再打開它進行問答。

Let me start with the company's second quarter results, where we achieved another quarter of solid performance as total company revenue grew 8% year-over-year to $6.6 billion. Here, I want to highlight a few important items from an operating standpoint. In advertising, which, remember, excludes streaming, revenue grew 24%, benefiting from the return of a range of sports programming, a material improvement in the ad market and strong execution. Q2 2021 obviously looks very different than Q2 of 2020, and we were happy with our ability to convert this into strong revenue performance.

讓我從公司的第二季度業績開始，我們又實現了一個季度的穩健表現，公司總收入同比增長 8% 至 66 億美元。在這裡，我想從運營的角度強調幾個重要的項目。在不包括流媒體的廣告方面，收入增長了 24%，這得益於一系列體育節目的回歸、廣告市場的實質性改善和強大的執行力。 2021 年第二季度顯然與 2020 年第二季度有很大不同，我們很高興能夠將其轉化為強勁的收入表現。

Speaking of advertising, I'm pleased to say we saw very strong demand in the upfront, which led to historic levels of linear price increases plus an ability to drive a significant volume towards our premium digital video inventory. The upfront was a perfect platform for ViacomCBS to unlock value from its leadership position, a position underpinned by premium content and a robust client-centric approach to ad solutions, combined with offerings spanning both linear and EyeQ, our premium digital video advertising platform, and the results speak for themselves.

說到廣告，我很高興地說，我們看到前期需求非常強勁，這導致了歷史性的線性價格上漲，並且能夠推動大量優質數字視頻庫存。前期是 ViacomCBS 從其領導地位中釋放價值的完美平台，該地位以優質內容和以客戶為中心的強大廣告解決方案方法為基礎，結合我們的優質數字視頻廣告平台線性和 EyeQ 的產品，以及結果不言自明。

In affiliate, which also excludes streaming, revenue grew 9% for the quarter. And since the close of Q2, we've renewed and expanded multiyear distribution deals with both Charter Communications and Cox Communications. Our recent agreements demonstrate how these affiliate relationships have evolved to become more modernized and include streaming elements as well. These recent deals, along with others ViacomCBS has executed, including DISH, Verizon, YouTube TV and Hulu, further demonstrate the demand for our content and brands and the strength of our company.

在不包括流媒體的會員中，本季度的收入增長了 9%。自第二季度結束以來，我們與 Charter Communications 和 Cox Communications 續簽並擴大了多年分銷協議。我們最近的協議展示了這些附屬關係如何演變為更加現代化並包括流媒體元素。這些最近的交易以及 ViacomCBS 執行的其他交易，包括 DISH、Verizon、YouTube TV 和 Hulu，進一步展示了對我們的內容和品牌的需求以及我們公司的實力。

And in theatrical, revenue reached $134 million, thanks to theaters reopening and the success of A Quiet Place Part II, which is also now streaming on Paramount+. Speaking of streaming, we saw impressive global growth, with revenue almost doubling year-over-year to nearly $1 billion, with strong performance across all metrics.

在影院方面，收入達到 1.34 億美元，這要歸功於影院的重新開放和《寂靜之地》第二部分的成功，該片現在也在派拉蒙+ 上播出。說到流媒體，我們看到了令人印象深刻的全球增長，收入同比幾乎翻了一番，達到近 10 億美元，所有指標均表現強勁。

Streaming advertising revenue more than doubled year-over-year, reaching $502 million in the second quarter. This growth was led by Pluto TV, where global monthly active users grew to over $52 million and revenue more than doubled year-over-year for the fourth consecutive quarter. The growth is remarkable. And we now, in fact, expect Pluto TV to comfortably generate more than $1 billion in revenue this year.

流媒體廣告收入同比增長一倍以上，第二季度達到 5.02 億美元。這一增長由 Pluto TV 引領，全球每月活躍用戶增長至超過 5200 萬美元，收入連續第四個季度同比增長一倍以上。增長是顯著的。事實上，我們現在預計 Pluto TV 今年將輕鬆創造超過 10 億美元的收入。

The power of Pluto TV is unquestionable. More consumers are spending more time with Pluto than ever, enjoying the now over 200,000 hours of content available on the platform in the U.S., which has doubled in the past year. And its integration into our advertising portfolio is compelling to our clients and the agencies that represent them, so it's no surprise Pluto TV continues to be the leading free ad-supported streaming television service in the market.

冥王星電視的力量是毋庸置疑的。越來越多的消費者在 Pluto 上花費的時間比以往任何時候都多，他們在美國平台上享受現在超過 200,000 小時的內容，在過去一年中翻了一番。它與我們的廣告組合的整合對我們的客戶和代表他們的代理機構具有吸引力，因此 Pluto TV 繼續成為市場上領先的免費廣告支持的流媒體電視服務也就不足為奇了。

Streaming subscription revenue also accelerated, growing 82% year-over-year, driven by strong subscriber growth fueled by Paramount+. In the quarter, we added 6.5 million global streaming subscribers, our largest number yet, bringing our total global streaming subscribers to over 42 million. These results further demonstrate the strength of our diverse content portfolio and the universal appeal of Paramount+.

流媒體訂閱收入也加速增長，同比增長 82%，這得益於 Paramount+ 推動的強勁用戶增長。在本季度，我們增加了 650 萬全球流媒體訂閱者，這是我們迄今為止的最大數量，使我們的全球流媒體訂閱者總數超過 4200 萬。這些結果進一步證明了我們多樣化內容組合的實力以及派拉蒙+的普遍吸引力。

It's clear Paramount+ is resonating with consumers, both in the U.S. and internationally, and that's because it's a differentiated product with real competitive advantages. It has something for everyone, and we saw strong subscriber acquisition and engagement across a variety of different genres. For kids and young adults, we saw tremendous viewership for the new iCarly series, which was a leading acquisition driver in the quarter and which was just renewed for season 2. We also saw continued strength from a range of kid-favorite Nickelodeon franchises, including SpongeBob, Rugrats, PAW Patrol and more.

很明顯，派拉蒙+在美國和國際上都引起了消費者的共鳴，這是因為它是一種具有真正競爭優勢的差異化產品。它適合每個人，我們看到了各種不同類型的強大訂閱者獲取和參與度。對於兒童和年輕人，我們看到了新的 iCarly 系列的巨大收視率，該系列是本季度的主要收購驅動因素，並且剛剛在第 2 季續訂。我們還看到了一系列兒童最喜歡的 Nickelodeon 特許經營權的持續實力，包括海綿寶寶、Rugrats、PAW 巡邏隊等等。

In film, Infinite, starring Mark Wahlberg, premiered exclusively on Paramount+ in June and was one of the top engagement drivers. Additionally, we saw a nice uptick in overall film engagement with users as we added over 1,000 movies to our extensive film library. In sports and news, the UEFA Champions League was a top acquisition driver, while news, including CBSN, continues to generate meaningful engagement.

在電影中，由馬克·沃爾伯格主演的《無限》於 6 月在派拉蒙+ 獨家首映，是參與度最高的推動者之一。此外，隨著我們將 1,000 多部電影添加到我們龐大的電影庫中，我們看到用戶的整體電影參與度有了顯著提升。在體育和新聞方面，歐洲冠軍聯賽是最大的收購驅動因素，而包括 CBSN 在內的新聞繼續產生有意義的參與。

In scripted, Why Women Kill, Evil and NCIS drove significant acquisition, engagement and consumption this quarter. NCIS, in particular, continues to perform well, now a top 5 driver of both engagement and consumption on the platform. And finally, unscripted has growing momentum, where shows with strong and devoted fan bases like RuPaul and The Challenge did very well in driving new subscribers and consumption, respectively. Add it up, and you see our strategy of building a multi-genre broad content offering is clearly working.

在腳本中，女性為何殺人、邪惡和 NCIS 在本季度推動了顯著的收購、參與和消費。尤其是 NCIS，繼續表現良好，現在是平台上參與和消費的前 5 位驅動因素。最後，無劇本的勢頭越來越大，擁有強大忠實粉絲群的節目，如 RuPaul 和 The Challenge，分別在推動新訂戶和消費方面表現出色。加起來，您會看到我們構建多類型廣泛內容產品的策略顯然正在奏效。

And as the breadth of content expands, the average age on Paramount+ continues to get younger, decreasing 2 years since last quarter to 35. In fact, this diverse array of content often appeals to multiple people in the same household and can, therefore, be a powerful tool to not only drive subscribers, but also reduce churn over time. In short, by putting the full power of ViacomCBS behind Paramount+, we're beginning to see the massive potential this service has.

隨著內容廣度的擴大，派拉蒙+ 的平均年齡繼續變小，自上個季度以來減少了 2 歲，降至 35 歲。事實上，這種多樣化的內容通常會吸引同一家庭中的多個人，因此可以一個強大的工具，不僅可以吸引訂閱者，還可以隨著時間的推移減少客戶流失。簡而言之，通過將 ViacomCBS 的全部力量置於 Paramount+ 之後，我們開始看到這項服務的巨大潛力。

Also, in June, we launched the ad-supported Paramount+ Essential plan. This version of Paramount+ has a lower price point of $4.99 a month, appealing to more cost-conscious consumers and thereby increasing the size of Paramount+'s total addressable market. In addition, it provides advertisers with a new option to reach valuable consumers in a high-quality environment, something our recent upfront experience demonstrated was very compelling.

此外，在 6 月，我們推出了廣告支持的 Paramount+ Essential 計劃。這個版本的 Paramount+ 的價格更低，為每月 4.99 美元，吸引了更具成本意識的消費者，從而擴大了 Paramount+ 的總潛在市場規模。此外，它為廣告商提供了一種新的選擇，可以在高質量的環境中接觸有價值的消費者，我們最近的前期經驗證明了這一點非常引人注目。

While it's early days, Paramount+ is clearly working, which is why we're continuing to invest to deliver on its promise and potential. To that end, looking ahead, we have amazing content coming to the service, and we will continue to scale volume across the range of genres that together differentiate Paramount+: kids, sports, unscripted, scripted and film. To give you a sense, here are some examples of what's coming to the service between now and the end of the year.

雖然還處於早期階段，但派拉蒙+ 顯然正在發揮作用，這就是我們繼續投資以兌現其承諾和潛力的原因。為此，展望未來，我們將為服務提供令人驚嘆的內容，我們將繼續擴大派拉蒙+ 的各種類型的數量：兒童、體育、無劇本、有劇本和電影。為了讓您了解一下，這裡有一些示例，說明從現在到年底之間的服務將發生什麼。

Right now, in film, we're streaming A Quiet Place Part II. This is the first title in our fast follow from theatrical strategy, and it is doing very well. On August 20, PAW Patrol: The Movie will premiere day-and-date in both theaters and on Paramount+. We're excited about a day-and-date strategy for this title and this audience in today's marketplace, and we're supporting it with a robust marketing campaign, which includes our consumer products' presence at retail.

現在，在電影中，我們正在播放《寂靜之地》第二部分。這是我們從戲劇策略中快速跟進的第一個標題，並且做得非常好。 8 月 20 日，PAW Patrol: The Movie 將在兩個影院和派拉蒙+ 上每天首映。我們對在當今市場上為這個標題和這些觀眾制定的日常策略感到興奮，我們正在通過強大的營銷活動來支持它，其中包括我們的消費品在零售店的存在。

In sports, we're thrilled that a new season of Serie A soccer, our first with the franchise, will begin in late August. And we've also recently added new seasons of compelling reality and docuseries to the service, including Big Brother, Love Island and, just last week, the return of the iconic Behind the Music series. Of course, in September, we have the return of the NFL, and the folks at CBS and Paramount+ are gearing up for some amazing collaboration.

在體育方面，我們很高興新賽季的意甲足球比賽將於 8 月下旬開始，這是我們在這支球隊中的第一個賽季。我們最近還為該服務添加了令人信服的真人秀和紀錄片的新季，包括《老大哥》、《愛島》，以及就在上週，標誌性的“音樂背後”系列的回歸。當然，在 9 月，我們迎來了 NFL 的回歸，CBS 和派拉蒙+ 的人們正在為一些驚人的合作做準備。

Additionally, we have a great fall lineup on CBS, including the expansion of some key franchises like NCIS: Hawaii, CSI: Vegas and FBI: International, all of which are also streaming on Paramount+. And I'm thrilled to announce that we've extended our deal with Trey Parker and Matt Stone through 2027, bringing South Park to Comedy Central through season 30. In addition, Trey and Matt will be doing 14 South Park original movies exclusively for Paramount+, 2 of which will premiere this year and then 2 more every year through the term of the deal.

此外，我們在 CBS 上有一個很棒的秋季陣容，包括一些關鍵特許經營權的擴展，如 NCIS：夏威夷、CSI：維加斯和 FBI：國際，所有這些也都在 Paramount+ 上播放。我很高興地宣布，我們已將與特雷·帕克和馬特·斯通的協議延長至 2027 年，將南方公園帶到喜劇中心直到第 30 季。此外，特雷和馬特將為派拉蒙+ 獨家製作 14 部南方公園原創電影，其中 2 部將於今年首播，然後在交易期限內每年再推出 2 部。

And later this year, we have big new scripted series premiering like Taylor Sheridan's Y: 1883, the origin story of the #1 scripted show on cable, Yellowstone, as well as Taylor's newest series, Mayor of Kingstown, and more. From a promotional standpoint, we'll leverage our linear platforms as subscriber acquisition vehicles. For example, Y: 1883 and Mayor of Kingstown will premiere on the Paramount network behind Yellowstone for 2 episodes each, then move over exclusively to Paramount+. We will use the same strategy on CBS with SEAL Team.

今年晚些時候，我們有大型的新劇本系列首映，如泰勒謝里丹的 Y：1883、有線電視第一名劇本節目的起源故事、黃石，以及泰勒的最新系列、金斯敦市長等。從促銷的角度來看，我們將利用我們的線性平台作為訂戶獲取工具。例如，《Y: 1883》和《金斯敦市長》將在黃石公園背後的派拉蒙網絡上首映，每集 2 集，然後轉至派拉蒙+。我們將與海豹突擊隊一起在 CBS 上使用相同的策略。

Turning to premium streaming. Showtime OTT had another strong quarter, delivering one of the best quarters for sign-ups, while generating its second best quarter ever for streams and hours watched on the service. Viewers were highly engaged, driven by hits like the fourth season of The Chi, the series finale of Shameless and the Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul boxing event, among others. Looking forward, the content lineup for Showtime is strong. We have the premiere of Yellowjackets, a dramatic show that is part psychological horror, part survival story.

轉向優質流媒體。 Showtime OTT 又一個強勁的季度，提供了最好的註冊季度之一，同時產生了有史以來第二好的季度流和觀看服務的時間。觀眾的參與度很高，這主要得益於《智者》第四季、《無恥之徒》系列大結局以及弗洛伊德梅威瑟與洛根保羅拳擊比賽等。展望未來，Showtime 的內容陣容強大。我們有 Yellowjackets 的首映式，這是一部戲劇性的節目，部分是心理恐怖，部分是生存故事。

We also have the return of Dexter and Billions, both of which will have some creative product and marketing campaigns associated with these next seasons. In fact, Billions' promotional campaign will include availability on Paramount+, where we will have the first 3 seasons. In addition, we'll offer a bundle of Showtime in Paramount+ at a discounted price to expand the reach of both services.

我們還有 Dexter 和 Billions 的回歸，它們都將有一些與下一季相關的創意產品和營銷活動。事實上，Billions 的促銷活動將包括在 Paramount+ 上的可用性，我們將在那裡播放前 3 季。此外，我們將以折扣價在 Paramount+ 中提供一套 Showtime，以擴大這兩種服務的覆蓋範圍。

That brings me to my third topic, global expansion. ViacomCBS has long been active outside of the United States, with operations on the ground all around the world. That global orientation now encompasses streaming, where we are leveraging our existing business footprint and relationships to enable rapid expansion of our streaming offerings.

這就引出了我的第三個話題，全球擴張。 ViacomCBS 長期以來一直活躍在美國以外的地區，業務遍及世界各地。這種全球定位現在包括流媒體，我們正在利用我們現有的業務足跡和關係來快速擴展我們的流媒體產品。

As an example, today, we're pleased to announce a new comprehensive and expanded deal with Sky, covering the U.K., Italy, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. This deal includes carriage renewals for our linear services as well as renewals for our existing ad sales representation deals, plus robust launches of our streaming services to their sub base in all the countries in 2022. This is a powerful deal. Not only does it extend important benefits and economics from our legacy business, but it's also a game changer for Paramount+ in these markets by unlocking previously exclusive-to-Sky content for use on Paramount+ and providing Paramount+ with a very significant subscriber base at launch.

例如，今天，我們很高興地宣布與 Sky 達成一項新的全面且擴展的協議，覆蓋英國、意大利、愛爾蘭、德國、瑞士和奧地利。這筆交易包括我們線性服務的運輸續訂以及我們現有的廣告銷售代理交易的續訂，以及 2022 年在所有國家/地區的子基地大力推出我們的流媒體服務。這是一項強大的交易。它不僅從我們的傳統業務中擴展了重要的利益和經濟效益，而且通過解鎖以前在 Paramount+ 上使用的 Sky 獨家內容，並在發佈時為 Paramount+ 提供非常重要的用戶群，它也是 Paramount+ 在這些市場上的遊戲規則改變者。

In these markets, from a content perspective, Paramount+ will be the exclusive home for new Showtime series and Paramount+ originals. It will be the co-exclusive with Sky, home of Paramount Pay1 movies. This service will also be the exclusive streaming home of our most popular kid franchises, PAW Patrol and SpongeBob Squarepants. And it will have a very substantial library offering from across ViacomCBS.

在這些市場中，從內容的角度來看，Paramount+ 將成為新 Showtime 劇集和 Paramount+ 原創作品的獨家歸宿。它將與 Paramount Pay1 電影之家 Sky 共同獨家發售。這項服務也將成為我們最受歡迎的兒童特許經營權 PAW Patrol 和 SpongeBob Squarepants 的獨家流媒體主頁。它將提供來自 ViacomCBS 的大量圖書館產品。

What excites me is our ability to work with a key partner, supporting both the traditional ecosystem and in transitioning consumers from linear to streaming in a way that is accretive to ARPU. Importantly, the deal preserves our ability to pursue D2C opportunities in these markets. Stepping back to the big picture. With our upcoming launch in Australia and New Zealand, I'm thrilled to report we've reached our goal of expanding Paramount+ into 25 markets in 2021, and we're well on our way to 45 markets by the end of 2022.

令我興奮的是，我們有能力與關鍵合作夥伴合作，支持傳統生態系統，並以增加 ARPU 的方式將消費者從線性轉變為流媒體。重要的是，這筆交易保留了我們在這些市場尋求 D2C 機會的能力。回到大局。隨著我們即將在澳大利亞和新西蘭推出，我很高興地報告說，我們已經實現了在 2021 年將派拉蒙+ 擴展到 25 個市場的目標，並且到 2022 年底，我們正在向 45 個市場邁進。

Simultaneously, we're continuing to drive Pluto's international growth. We recently launched on [Klara] Android in Brazil, a mobile service with an eligible user base of 32 million users. And in 2022, we expect Pluto TV to launch in additional markets, including the Nordics, Benelux, Canada, Poland and more. We're thrilled with our international streaming progress and momentum in Q2. And we continue to see a massive opportunity to capitalize on our global content capabilities and infrastructure to further capture the global streaming opportunity.

同時，我們將繼續推動 Pluto 的國際增長。我們最近在巴西推出了 [Klara] Android，這是一項擁有 3200 萬用戶的移動服務。我們預計 2022 年 Pluto TV 將在其他市場推出，包括北歐、比荷盧經濟聯盟、加拿大、波蘭等。我們對第二季度的國際流媒體進展和勢頭感到興奮。我們繼續看到一個巨大的機會，可以利用我們的全球內容能力和基礎設施來進一步抓住全球流媒體機會。

I know from my decade running our international business that every market is different and often requires different strategies and partnerships to succeed. We are executing with that in mind. And for sure, you will see us continue to lean in and allocate capital to what is a very large and high-growth total addressable market in streaming internationally.

在我經營國際業務的十年中，我知道每個市場都是不同的，並且通常需要不同的戰略和合作夥伴關係才能取得成功。我們正在考慮這一點。當然，你會看到我們繼續向國際流媒體這個非常龐大且高增長的總體潛在市場傾斜並分配資金。

With that, I'll hand it over to Naveen to dive into our financials. Naveen?

有了這個，我會把它交給 Naveen 來深入研究我們的財務狀況。納文？

Thank you, Bob, and good morning, everyone. As Bob mentioned, our second quarter results were highlighted by robust growth in streaming, where we had another quarter of record subscriber additions. Growth rates for both streaming subscription and streaming advertising revenue accelerated from their already strong Q1 levels, taking overall streaming revenue to 92% year-on-year growth. Q2 also benefited from strong performance in advertising and affiliate revenue.

謝謝你，鮑勃，大家早上好。正如鮑勃所提到的，我們第二季度的業績以流媒體的強勁增長為亮點，我們又增加了四分之一的訂戶數量。流媒體訂閱和流媒體廣告收入的增長率均從第一季度本已強勁的水平開始加速，整體流媒體收入同比增長 92%。第二季度還受益於廣告和聯盟收入的強勁表現。

I'll unpack our streaming results by sharing additional color on audience growth, engagement and monetization, starting with our subscription businesses and then moving to our ad-supported services. We added 6.5 million global streaming subscribers in the quarter, taking us to more than 42 million global streaming subscribers.

我將通過分享有關觀眾增長、參與度和貨幣化的更多色彩來解開我們的流媒體結果，從我們的訂閱業務開始，然後轉向我們的廣告支持服務。我們在本季度增加了 650 萬全球流媒體訂閱者，使我們的全球流媒體訂閱者超過 4200 萬。

Showtime OTT enjoyed one of its best quarters ever in terms of new sign-ups, but like last quarter, the significant majority of our new subscribers were from Paramount+, including a mix of both domestic and international subscribers. In fact, we are increasingly bullish about the international market opportunity for Paramount+, as evidenced by our Q2 results, and our newly announced partnership with Sky.

Showtime OTT 在新註冊用戶方面享受了有史以來最好的季度之一，但與上個季度一樣，我們的大部分新用戶來自派拉蒙+，包括國內和國際用戶。事實上，我們越來越看好派拉蒙+ 的國際市場機會，我們的第二季度業績以及我們新宣布的與 Sky 的合作夥伴關係都證明了這一點。

Financially speaking, this type of deal provides a capital-efficient way for us to quickly build scale and awareness in new markets. Bundles with international partners bring low churn and highly efficient acquisition costs. Moreover, as Bob pointed out, ARPUs are meaningfully accretive to the linear affiliate revenue we are replacing.

從財務上講，這種類型的交易為我們在新市場中快速建立規模和知名度提供了一種資本高效的方式。與國際合作夥伴的捆綁帶來了低流失率和高效的採購成本。此外，正如 Bob 所指出的，ARPU 對我們正在取代的線性會員收入具有有意義的增長。

In addition to strong subscriber growth, we also saw continued improvement in customer engagement and retention as the breadth of our content portfolio continues to expand. For example, for Paramount+, domestic trial-to-pay conversion, monthly hours per active and monthly churn all improved measurably in Q2 on both a sequential basis and year-over-year.

除了強勁的訂戶增長外，隨著我們內容組合的廣度不斷擴大，我們還看到客戶參與度和保留率不斷提高。例如，對於 Paramount+，國內試用到付費轉換、每月活躍小時數和每月流失在第二季度都在環比和同比基礎上顯著改善。

In terms of monetization, we saw healthy streaming subscription ARPU growth of 4% in Q2 versus the Q1 level. The combination of strong subscriber growth and increased engagement powered year-over-year streaming subscription revenue growth of 82% to $481 million.

在貨幣化方面，我們看到第二季度的流媒體訂閱 ARPU 與第一季度相比增長了 4%。強勁的訂戶增長和增加的參與度相結合，推動流媒體訂閱收入同比增長 82% 至 4.81 億美元。

Moving on to streaming advertising. Here, our growth was led by Pluto TV. As of quarter end, Pluto TV reached more than 52 million global MAUs across 25 countries. Pluto's revenue grew 169% in the quarter. This tremendous expansion of the business has been driven by growth in users, engagement and sell-through.

繼續流媒體廣告。在這裡，我們的增長是由 Pluto TV 引領的。截至季度末，Pluto TV 在全球 25 個國家/地區的月活躍用戶數超過 5200 萬。冥王星的收入在本季度增長了 169%。用戶、參與度和銷售量的增長推動了業務的這種巨大擴張。

Domestic watch time per MAU increased 45% year-over-year in Q2, and Pluto TV domestic ARPU more than doubled year-over-year, benefiting from a double-digit percentage increase in effective CPMs and significant improvement in sell-through. This enhanced monetization reflects both strong demand for Pluto TV's high-quality connected TV inventory and efficiency benefits from the Q2 launch of open header bidding.

第二季度國內每 MAU 觀看時長同比增長 45%，Pluto TV 國內 ARPU 同比增長一倍以上，這得益於有效 CPM 的兩位數百分比增長和銷售量的顯著改善。這種增強的貨幣化既反映了對 Pluto TV 高質量聯網電視庫存的強勁需求，也反映了第二季度推出的公開標頭招標帶來的效率優勢。

While Pluto remains the largest component of our EyeQ digital advertising platform, we are optimistic about the growth potential for advertising on Paramount+, and early results are encouraging. In fact, in Q2, Paramount+ domestic advertising revenue more than doubled versus a year ago, benefiting from user growth, along with a high teens percentage increase in streaming advertising ARPU per active sub.

雖然 Pluto 仍然是我們 EyeQ 數字廣告平台的最大組成部分，但我們對 Paramount+ 廣告的增長潛力持樂觀態度，早期結果令人鼓舞。事實上，在第二季度，派拉蒙+ 國內廣告收入比一年前增長了一倍多，這得益於用戶增長，以及每個活躍訂閱用戶的流媒體廣告 ARPU 的高青少年百分比增長。

We believe we're just scratching the surface of the Paramount+ advertising opportunity as user and engagement growth, alongside product enhancements, should add supply for this highly valuable digital video inventory. When you put it all together, this quarter, the combination of Pluto TV, Paramount+ and other EyeQ platforms drove streaming advertising revenue to $502 million, representing 102% year-over-year growth.

我們相信，隨著用戶和參與度的增長以及產品的增強，我們只是觸及了 Paramount+ 廣告機會的皮毛，應該會為這種極具價值的數字視頻庫存增加供應。綜合來看，本季度，Pluto TV、派拉蒙+和其他 EyeQ 平台的結合推動流媒體廣告收入達到 5.02 億美元，同比增長 102%。

Advertising revenue, which excludes streaming, grew 24% in Q2 to $2.1 billion, benefiting from both the return of the NCAA men's basketball tournament as well as timing shifts of this year's professional golf tournaments. This quarter's strong growth rate was also a function of improvement in demand and record scatter pricing compared with the COVID-impacted quarter a year ago.

不包括流媒體的廣告收入在第二季度增長了 24% 至 21 億美元，這得益於 NCAA 男子籃球錦標賽的回歸以及今年職業高爾夫錦標賽的時間變化。與一年前受 COVID 影響的季度相比，本季度的強勁增長率也是需求改善和創紀錄的分散定價的結果。

Affiliate revenue, which excludes streaming, grew 9% to $2.1 billion, where we benefited from distribution deals and renewals that provide incremental carriage and improved economics, which more than offset changes in the number of pay television subscribers. Even excluding the impact of incremental distribution deals, we saw modest improvements in subscriber trends in Q2 as we did in Q1.

不包括流媒體的附屬收入增長 9% 至 21 億美元，我們受益於提供增量運輸和改善經濟性的分銷交易和續訂，這遠遠抵消了付費電視訂戶數量的變化。即使排除增量分銷交易的影響，我們也看到第二季度的訂戶趨勢略有改善，就像我們在第一季度所做的那樣。

Licensing and other revenue fell 36% to $1.2 billion as the year-ago period included a significant licensing deal for South Park. Adjusting for the 21 percentage point impact of the South Park deal, licensing and other revenue would have been down about 15%, which reflects COVID-impacted content availability and our ongoing efforts to limit licensing to third-party streaming services.

許可和其他收入下降 36% 至 12 億美元，因為去年同期包括南方公園的重大許可交易。調整南方公園交易對 21 個百分點的影響後，許可和其他收入將下降約 15%，這反映了受 COVID 影響的內容可用性以及我們持續努力限制對第三方流媒體服務的許可。

Total company revenue grew 8% year-over-year to $6.6 billion. Adjusted OIBDA fell 25% to $1.2 billion in the quarter. Again, year-over-year growth rates for revenue and adjusted OIBDA were impacted by the comparison to the year-ago period, which included a significant contribution from the licensing of South Park. Excluding the 9 and 30 percentage point South Park impact, respectively, Q2 revenue growth would have been 17% year-over-year and adjusted OIBDA growth would have been 5% year-over-year, as revenue growth and ongoing cost management more than offset increased investment in streaming.

公司總收入同比增長 8% 至 66 億美元。本季度調整後的 OIBDA 下跌 25% 至 12 億美元。同樣，收入和調整後 OIBDA 的同比增長率受到與去年同期比較的影響，其中包括南方公園許可的重大貢獻。分別排除南方公園 9 和 30 個百分點的影響，第二季度收入增長將同比增長 17%，調整後的 OIBDA 增長將同比增長 5%，因為收入增長和持續成本管理超過抵消增加的流媒體投資。

Adjusted diluted EPS was $0.97 in the quarter and Q2 adjusted free cash flow was $75 million. Moving to the balance sheet. We finished the quarter with $5.4 billion of cash on hand and total long-term debt of $17.7 billion. This translates to a 2.4x net leverage ratio as of June 30. We have significant financial flexibility, which will increase with net proceeds of $2 billion from the sale of Simon & Schuster, which is on track to close in 2021, subject to regulatory approval.

本季度調整後的稀釋後每股收益為 0.97 美元，第二季度調整後的自由現金流為 7500 萬美元。轉移到資產負債表。本季度結束時，我們手頭有 54 億美元的現金，長期債務總額為 177 億美元。這相當於截至 6 月 30 日的 2.4 倍淨槓桿率。我們擁有顯著的財務靈活性，隨著出售 Simon & Schuster 的淨收益 20 億美元而增加，該交易有望在 2021 年完成，但需獲得監管部門的批准.

We continue to believe investing in our streaming growth opportunity is our best use of capital, and we are starting to execute across the streaming growth vectors we previously described. As Bob highlighted, we are investing even more in original content for Paramount+. Our long-term multi-format deals with Alex Kurtzman, Taylor Sheridan and the creators of South Park exemplify compelling opportunities to bring heavyweight franchise IP with global appeal exclusively to Paramount+.

我們仍然相信投資於我們的流媒體增長機會是我們對資本的最佳利用，我們開始在我們之前描述的流媒體增長向量中執行。正如 Bob 強調的那樣，我們在 Paramount+ 的原創內容上投入更多。我們與 Alex Kurtzman、Taylor Sheridan 和《南方公園》的創作者的長期多格式交易證明了將具有全球吸引力的重量級特許經營 IP 獨家提供給 Paramount+ 的絕佳機會。

We are accelerating international expansion, as evidenced by our plan to launch Paramount+ in 45 markets by the end of 2022, and aided by strategic partnerships like the one we announced with Sky today, which will accelerate our growth plans in the U.K., Italy and Germany. And we continue to reduce the amount of original content we make for and license to third-party streamers, instead focusing more of our creative assets on in-house streaming services.

我們正在加速國際擴張，我們計劃到 2022 年底在 45 個市場推出派拉蒙+，並得到戰略合作夥伴的幫助，例如我們今天宣布的與 Sky 的戰略合作夥伴關係，這將加速我們在英國、意大利和德國的增長計劃.我們繼續減少我們為第三方流媒體製作和許可的原創內容的數量，而是將更多的創意資產集中在內部流媒體服務上。

Beyond investing in streaming, we used excess cash to pay our dividend, manage leverage and fund opportunistic M&A, which bolsters our streaming growth ambitions, similar to our 2020 investment in Miramax and our pending acquisition of Chilevisión, which we anticipate closing in Q3. Looking ahead to the third quarter, we expect to see continued strong year-over-year streaming growth in both the subscription and advertising parts of the business.

除了投資流媒體之外，我們還使用多餘的現金來支付股息、管理槓桿和資助機會主義併購，這支持了我們的流媒體增長雄心，類似於我們在 2020 年對 Miramax 的投資和我們即將在第三季度完成的對 Chilevisión 的收購。展望第三季度，我們預計該業務的訂閱和廣告部分將繼續強勁的同比流媒體增長。

In Q3, Paramount+ will benefit from the strong content lineup Bob described as well as the rollout of our Showtime Paramount+ bundle. International growth will be aided by our launch of Paramount+ in Australia and the launch of additional distribution partnerships. And we expect Pluto TV to see continued growth in engagement and further improvement in monetization, in addition to MAU growth from international market launches as it continues the march to over $1 billion in revenue for full year 2021.

在第三季度，Paramount+ 將受益於 Bob 描述的強大內容陣容以及 Showtime Paramount+ 捆綁包的推出。我們在澳大利亞推出派拉蒙+ 以及推出更多分銷合作夥伴關係將有助於國際增長。我們預計 Pluto TV 的參與度將持續增長，盈利能力將進一步提高，此外，隨著國際市場推出的 MAU 增長，它將繼續向 2021 年全年收入邁進超過 10 億美元。

Advertising in the back half of the year will continue to benefit from a robust market. So year-on-year trends will be compared to the return of demand in Q3 2020 as we ramped out of COVID and benefited from record political spend. Advertising growth will improve when new upfront pricing kicks in for Q4.

下半年的廣告將繼續受益於強勁的市場。因此，隨著我們擺脫 COVID 並受益於創紀錄的政治支出，我們將把同比趨勢與 2020 年第三季度的需求回報進行比較。當第四季度新的前期定價開始時，廣告增長將有所改善。

We expect affiliate revenue growth in the back half of '21 to slow as we lap the benefit of new distribution from YouTube TV and the timing of other affiliate renewals, which started in Q2 of 2020. We expect to return to growth in content licensing revenue, largely driven by increased licensing of TV content for linear distribution.

我們預計 21 年下半年的會員收入增長將放緩，因為我們受益於 YouTube TV 的新發行以及其他會員續訂的時間（從 2020 年第二季度開始）。我們預計內容許可收入將恢復增長，主要是由於線性發行的電視內容許可增加。

Looking further out, our enthusiasm for streaming continues to grow. Streaming revenue and subscriber growth are pacing ahead of our expectations, and streaming will represent close to 15% of total company revenue in 2021 and will become an even bigger share of revenue next year. This momentum tells us that our investment thesis is solid and can unlock significant incremental growth.

再往前看，我們對流媒體的熱情持續增長。流媒體收入和訂戶增長速度超出了我們的預期，到 2021 年，流媒體收入將占公司總收入的近 15%，明年將在收入中佔據更大份額。這種勢頭告訴我們，我們的投資論點是堅實的，可以釋放顯著的增量增長。

In pursuit of this growth, we continue to expect streaming content expense will more than double in 2021 relative to our 2020 spend as we deliberately transition linear content expense to streaming content expense. We are confident the streaming investments we are making will yield compelling ROI. You can see some of the early proof points in this quarter's results, and we are bullish about where we can go from here. Moreover, we are excited about the long-term shareholder value we can create.

為了追求這種增長，我們繼續預計 2021 年流媒體內容費用將比我們 2020 年的支出增加一倍以上，因為我們有意將線性內容費用轉變為流媒體內容費用。我們相信我們正在進行的流媒體投資將產生令人信服的投資回報率。您可以在本季度的業績中看到一些早期的證明點，我們看好我們可以從這裡走向何方。此外，我們對我們可以創造的長期股東價值感到興奮。

With that, let's open the call for questions.

有了這個，讓我們打開問題的電話。

Operator, we'll take our first question.

接線員，我們將回答第一個問題。

(technical difficulty)

（技術難度）

We can't hear the question.

我們聽不到這個問題。

Operator?

操作員？

Operator -- Brett Feldman, are you live? If so, go ahead with your question.

接線員——布雷特·費爾德曼，你還活著嗎？如果是這樣，請繼續您的問題。

Operator?

操作員？

Operator, we heard a little bit of noise. Are you there?

接線員，我們聽到了一點噪音。你在嗎？

Guys, we're trying to resolve a problem -- a technical problem with the operator. So hopefully, you can hear us. The operator is working on it. Just hang with us. Thank you.

伙計們，我們正在努力解決一個問題——操作員的技術問題。所以希望你能聽到我們的聲音。操作員正在處理它。就和我們在一起吧。謝謝你。

Gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Mr. Feldman, we're going to try Mr. Feldman.

先生們，謝謝你們的支持。費爾德曼先生，我們要試試費爾德曼先生。

Great. Can you guys hear me okay?

偉大的。你們能聽到我的聲音嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Yes, we can. Sorry about that.

我們可以。對於那個很抱歉。

Outstanding. All right. Two questions, if you don't mind. The first one is for Bob. The sector is obviously seeing continued M&A, and your company has been cited as a potential merger partner in a lot of these media reports. So my first question for you is, do you need more scale? And how do you think about the merits of gaining it via M&A or partnerships?

傑出的。好的。兩個問題，如果你不介意的話。第一個是給鮑勃的。該行業顯然正在看到持續的併購，並且在許多此類媒體報導中，貴公司已被列為潛在的合併夥伴。所以我的第一個問題是，你需要更多的規模嗎？您如何看待通過併購或合作獲得它的好處？

And then the second question is for Naveen. I was hoping you can give us a little bit of insight on the uptake that you've seen in the new ad-light tier Paramount+. Was it meaningful to the net adds you had in the quarter? And any insight you can give on where the ARPU is trending there would be appreciated.

然後第二個問題是針對 Naveen 的。我希望您能給我們一些關於您在新的廣告燈級別 Paramount+ 中看到的吸收情況的一些見解。這對您在本季度的淨增加有意義嗎？您可以就 ARPU 的趨勢提供任何見解，我們將不勝感激。

Yes, sure, Brett. Let me take the first part. So look, we continue to be extremely excited about the momentum and go-forward potential of our organic strategy as we leverage the assets of ViacomCBS to create value overall. And certainly, with respect to streaming, the Q2 metrics clearly point to this strength and the ongoing potential of our organic approach.

是的，當然，布雷特。讓我講第一部分。因此，隨著我們利用 ViacomCBS 的資產創造整體價值，我們繼續對我們有機戰略的勢頭和前進潛力感到非常興奮。當然，關於流媒體，第二季度的指標清楚地表明了這種優勢和我們有機方法的持續潛力。

Now the fact is the merger of Viacom and CBS was a transformative transaction, and we continue to successfully create value from it. We believe organic execution continues to be the right path for ViacomCBS and our shareholders. But of course, we will always evaluate any opportunities through our shareholder value creation lens.

現在的事實是，維亞康姆和 CBS 的合併是一次變革性的交易，我們將繼續成功地從中創造價值。我們相信有機執行仍然是 ViacomCBS 和我們股東的正確道路。但當然，我們將始終通過我們的股東價值創造鏡頭評估任何機會。

Yes. And regarding the Essential plan, we're very excited about being able to launch that this quarter. We think it expands the Paramount+ proposition to an even greater set of different customers. And from our perspective, we're actually very happy for people to sign up for either our Premium or Essential tier. We want them in the plan that's going to be the stickiest for them because, in the long run, we know that we maximize lifetime value based on the expected life of our customers.

是的。關於 Essential 計劃，我們對能夠在本季度推出該計劃感到非常興奮。我們認為它將派拉蒙+ 的主張擴展到更多不同的客戶。從我們的角度來看，我們實際上很高興人們註冊我們的高級或基本級別。我們希望他們在計劃中對他們最有粘性，因為從長遠來看，我們知道我們會根據客戶的預期壽命最大化終身價值。

It's also important to recognize that the ARPUs between each of those tiers are actually not as different as you might think because of the advertising contribution from the Essential tier. And those ARPUs, actually both the subscription and the combined advertising and subscription in the Essential tier, are growing both domestically and internationally. And we think that they have material future upside potential, both through evolution of pricing and also significant upside in the ad monetization. So we like how Essentials is progressing, and we think it's going to be very additive to our strategy.

同樣重要的是要認識到，由於基本層的廣告貢獻，每個層之間的 ARPU 實際上並沒有您想像的那麼不同。而這些 ARPU，實際上是訂閱以及 Essential 層中的廣告和訂閱組合，在國內和國際上都在增長。而且我們認為它們具有巨大的未來上行潛力，無論是通過定價的演變還是在廣告貨幣化方面的巨大上行空間。因此，我們喜歡 Essentials 的進展方式，我們認為這將對我們的戰略起到非常重要的作用。

The next analyst is Michael Morris with Guggenheim.

下一位分析師是古根海姆的邁克爾莫里斯。

I have 2 questions as well. My first, maybe for Bob, is if you could share some more detail on the Sky partnership that was announced. I know there can be a lot of complexity in these agreements. So any additional thoughts on timing within 2022, your promotional plans, affiliate ad mix, things like that to help us understand the go-to-market would be great.

我也有2個問題。我的第一個問題，也許是對 Bob 來說，是您能否分享有關已宣布的 Sky 合作夥伴關係的更多細節。我知道這些協議可能有很多複雜性。因此，對於 2022 年的時間安排、您的促銷計劃、聯屬網絡營銷廣告組合等任何其他有助於我們了解進入市場的事情的想法都會很棒。

And my second question is for Naveen. Looking for maybe a little more detail on the domestic trends at Paramount+. Curious how churn has trended engagement maybe compared to All Access, just to give us some historical precedent, or anything else you can share there and how you're thinking about the cadence of the drivers for the balance of the year.

我的第二個問題是針對 Naveen。尋找有關派拉蒙+國內趨勢的更多細節。好奇客戶流失趨勢如何與 All Access 相比，只是為了給我們一些歷史先例，或者您可以在那里分享的任何其他內容，以及您如何考慮驅動因素在今年餘下時間的節奏。

Yes. Sure, Michael. So just to frame it, our streaming strategy overall is to access the largest total addressable market and do so by leveraging the full power of ViacomCBS. That obviously means global. So international is a key component, including critical scale markets like the U.K., Germany and Italy.

是的。當然，邁克爾。因此，只是為了構建它，我們的流媒體戰略總體上是進入最大的潛在市場，並通過利用 ViacomCBS 的全部力量來做到這一點。這顯然意味著全球性。因此，國際是一個關鍵組成部分，包括英國、德國和意大利等關鍵規模市場。

The good news is we have a long, mutually productive, value-creating history with Sky. And to that end, we saw a compelling opportunity to use renewals in the U.K., Italy and Germany to both elongate and continue to transform our business and specifically accelerate our streaming strategy.

好消息是，我們與 Sky 有著長期的、互利的、創造價值的歷史。為此，我們看到了一個令人信服的機會，可以利用英國、意大利和德國的續訂來延長並繼續改變我們的業務，特別是加快我們的流媒體戰略。

On streaming, you'll see us launch Paramount+ in 2022 to the subscriber base on the Sky Cinema tier, and then it will be à la carte on top of that in all of those markets, which will be a very meaningful sub catalyst in 2022. And as I said in my prepared remarks, part of this deal was unlocking some previous exclusive to Sky content. So in addition to the distribution boost, it really makes our product even more compelling.

在流媒體方面，您將看到我們在 2022 年向 Sky Cinema 層的訂戶群推出派拉蒙+，然後它將在所有這些市場的基礎上提供點菜服務，這將是 2022 年非常有意義的子催化劑. 正如我在準備好的評論中所說，這筆交易的一部分是解鎖一些以前獨家天空內容。因此，除了分銷提升之外，它確實使我們的產品更具吸引力。

All that said, and I'm not going to comment on real contract specifics, I will tell you we're happy with the economics. We see this deal as a meaningful, predictable Paramount+ subscriber accelerate in all those markets and one with a compelling churn reduction dynamic.

說了這麼多，我不會評論真正的合同細節，我會告訴你我們對經濟感到滿意。我們認為這筆交易是有意義的、可預測的 Paramount+ 訂戶在所有這些市場中的加速增長，並且具有令人信服的客戶流失減少動態。

And importantly, the deal does not prevent us from pursuing the broader D2C opportunity in these markets. So this is an awesome deal for us, and it's an example of leveraging the full power of ViacomCBS, including existing relationships to accelerate our streaming business, and that's something we're going to look to continue to do. Naveen?

重要的是，這筆交易不會阻止我們在這些市場尋求更廣泛的 D2C 機會。所以這對我們來說是一筆很棒的交易，它是利用 ViacomCBS 的全部力量的一個例子，包括現有的關係來加速我們的流媒體業務，這是我們將繼續做的事情。納文？

Yes. And going to the engagement question. As we mentioned on the call, the metrics on that front for Paramount+ are improving very nicely. And I think it's all content-driven as the diversity of content available on the service continues to evolve. And that's been driving, as I highlighted, improvements in conversion, improvements in hours per active, improvements in monthly churn.

是的。並進入訂婚問題。正如我們在電話會議上提到的，派拉蒙+ 在這方面的指標正在得到很好的改善。而且我認為隨著服務上可用內容的多樣性不斷發展，這一切都是內容驅動的。正如我強調的那樣，這一直在推動轉化率的提高、每活躍小時數的提高、每月流失率的提高。

And we continue to focus on optimizing all of those going forward, and it will be very much content-driven. We think about our content through 3 different dimensions. We think about what drives acquisition, what drives engagement and what drives consumption, a.k.a. time spent watching.

我們將繼續專注於優化所有這些未來，這將非常受內容驅動。我們通過 3 個不同的維度來考慮我們的內容。我們考慮是什麼推動了收購，什麼推動了參與度以及什麼推動了消費，也就是觀看的時間。

And different content performs differently. Kids and family content, as an example, is a big acquisition driver. And theatrical movies drive a lot of engagement. And things with large libraries, well-known titles, think something like a Survivor, can be a top consumption driver.

不同的內容表現不同。例如，兒童和家庭內容是一個重要的收購驅動因素。戲劇電影推動了很多參與。擁有大型圖書館、知名遊戲的東西，比如 Survivor，可以成為頂級消費驅動力。

So we're going to continue to press on all of those dimensions. You got to nail acquisition engagement and consumption to have a healthy subscription business. And we think we're in a very strong position to be able to continue doing that. And the metrics from Q2 prove we're moving in the right direction.

因此，我們將繼續推動所有這些方面。您必須確定收購參與度和消費量，才能擁有健康的訂閱業務。我們認為我們處於非常有利的位置，能夠繼續這樣做。第二季度的指標證明我們正朝著正確的方向前進。

The next question is from Alexia Quadrani with JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Alexia Quadrani。

My question is really on your film strategy. Your thoughts on the health of the box office as a profit driver for Paramount longer term, do you still see it as a big driver of growth longer term?

我的問題真的是關於你的電影策略。你認為票房的健康是派拉蒙長期利潤的驅動力，你是否仍然認為它是長期增長的重要驅動力？

And then sort of staying on your film business. I think you recently made some changes. I think you pulled Clifford from the film site because of the delta variant, I assume, including topics on day-and-date. I guess I'm curious if you see the 45-day [theatrical] window eventually for all your major films, or will it be decided by film-by-film basis? I guess I'm trying to get a sense if this is still COVID-related changes? Or you'll kind of go back and forth longer term depending on what your thoughts on the outlook?

然後有點繼續你的電影業務。我想你最近做了一些改變。我認為您將 Clifford 從電影網站上撤下是因為我認為 delta 變體，包括當天和日期的主題。我想我很好奇您是否最終會看到您所有主要電影的 45 天 [影院] 窗口，還是會逐部電影決定？我想我想知道這是否仍然是與 COVID 相關的變化？或者你會根據你對前景的看法來回走動更長時間？

Yes. Sure, Alexia. So look, the film business is strategically important to ViacomCBS. Movies work well on multiple platforms, including, of course, streaming, where our early experience with Paramount+, and you heard some remarks on that already, is strong. One of the things that we have today is more optionality with how we use films. We have more ways to use them than ever, which better leverages our investment, and you see that in us putting the product to use in a multifaceted way.

是的。當然，亞歷克西亞。所以看，電影業務對 ViacomCBS 具有重要的戰略意義。電影在多個平台上運行良好，當然包括流媒體，我們早期使用派拉蒙+的經驗，你已經聽到了一些評論，這很強大。我們今天擁有的一件事是我們如何使用電影有更多的選擇權。我們有比以往更多的方式來使用它們，這更好地利用了我們的投資，你會看到我們以多方面的方式使用產品。

Some product like A Quiet Place II with its 45-day window is a fast follow on Paramount+. We like that. Some product is Paramount+ exclusive like what we did with Infinite, and in a lower budget way like what we'll do with the upcoming Paranormal Activity film. Some will be day-and-date with streaming and theatrical like the upcoming PAW Patrol movie.

像 A Quiet Place II 這樣具有 45 天窗口期的產品是 Paramount+ 的快速追隨者。我們喜歡這樣。有些產品是 Paramount+ 獨家產品，就像我們對 Infinite 所做的那樣，並且以較低預算的方式，就像我們將在即將上映的超自然活動電影中所做的那樣。有些會像即將上映的 PAW Patrol 電影一樣與流媒體和戲劇同步。

And it's really this mix of approaches that's intended to optimize the use of our product, including driving both subscribers and box office, and provide learnings, which we can use to continue to shape our future mix. Importantly, as we do all this, we do consider the impact on all constituents as we look at individual to titles.

正是這種方法的組合旨在優化我們產品的使用，包括推動訂戶和票房，並提供學習，我們可以用來繼續塑造我們未來的組合。重要的是，在我們做這一切的時候，我們確實考慮了對所有組成部分的影響，因為我們著眼於個人的頭銜。

On your COVID question, look, we obviously track the market very carefully and the situation is a bit fluid. As a general principle, we do like the 45-day fast follow theatrical to Pay1, and that is the overall direction we'd like to go over time. But we got to look at each title in this pandemic and figure out what is the right strategy at this point in time.

關於你的 COVID 問題，看，我們顯然非常仔細地跟踪市場，情況有點不穩定。作為一般原則，我們確實喜歡 Pay1 的 45 天快速跟隨戲劇，這是我們希望隨著時間推移而採取的總體方向。但是我們必須查看這場大流行中的每個標題，並找出此時此刻正確的策略是什麼。

And that results in us delaying some titles, moving forward to the traditional theatrical release, doing something exclusively on streaming or doing it day-to-day, and again, there's obviously a lot of considerations on that. But we like films. They're strategically important. We see tremendous value, and we have more levers to pull than ever.

這導致我們推遲了一些標題，轉向傳統的影院發行，只在流媒體上做一些事情或每天都做，同樣，顯然有很多考慮因素。但我們喜歡電影。它們具有重要的戰略意義。我們看到了巨大的價值，我們有比以往更多的槓桿來拉動。

Next question comes from Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Ben Swinburne。

Two questions. ARPU on streaming was quite strong. As you guys highlighted, it was up nicely Q-on-Q and year-on-year. Can you talk about the outlook there? As you move more international, and it sounded like you're incrementally bullish internationally, does that put any pressure on it? Or are you feeling like ARPU continue to sort of grind higher over time? Just give us a little sense of the drivers there and how you're thinking about it.

兩個問題。流媒體上的 ARPU 相當強勁。正如你們所強調的那樣，Q-on-Q 和同比增長都很好。你能談談那裡的前景嗎？隨著你走向國際化，聽起來你越來越看好國際化，這會給它帶來任何壓力嗎？或者您是否覺得隨著時間的推移，ARPU 會繼續提高？讓我們稍微了解一下那裡的驅動程序以及您的想法。

And then Naveen, on free cash flow, $1.7 billion first half of the year. I think the expectations out there are that it will be less than that for the full year. Just any update on free cash flow expectations.

然後是 Naveen，今年上半年的自由現金流為 17 億美元。我認為外界的預期是，它會低於全年的預期。只是關於自由現金流預期的任何更新。

Yes, Ben, so I'll start with your question on ARPU and then touch on free cash flow. So as you pointed out, subscription ARPU in Q2 saw some very nice sequential improvement. And I'd point out that, that improvement happened both with respect to domestic ARPU and international ARPU. And I think, going forward, it's important to think about those 2 things somewhat independently because the drivers are a little different.

是的，Ben，所以我將從你關於 ARPU 的問題開始，然後談談自由現金流。正如您所指出的，第二季度的訂閱 ARPU 出現了一些非常好的連續改善。我要指出的是，這種改善發生在國內 ARPU 和國際 ARPU 方面。而且我認為，展望未來，重要的是要獨立地考慮這兩件事，因為驅動程序有些不同。

Domestic ARPU will benefit from continued conversion of trial subs into pay subs. And it will also be influenced by the mix of subs between our Essential and Premium tiers. But as I said earlier, it's important to remember that the real ARPU coming out of our Essential tier includes both subscription and advertising revenues. So in the long term, we think that the Essential tier can actually be accretive to overall ARPUs on Paramount+.

國內 ARPU 將受益於繼續將試用訂閱轉換為付費訂閱。它也將受到我們的基本和高級層之間的潛艇組合的影響。但正如我之前所說，重要的是要記住，來自我們基本層的真正 ARPU 包括訂閱和廣告收入。所以從長遠來看，我們認為基本層實際上可以增加派拉蒙+的整體 ARPU。

On the international side, the next wave of countries that we're going to be launching, which are primarily in Europe and Australia, are higher ARPU markets than where we've been to date, which has been primarily Latin America. So that should be accretive to ARPU. And in fact, the deal we announced with Sky today is a great example of that. With that deal, we will quickly add millions of subscribers in the U.K. when it launches. And those subs would be accretive to both our current international streaming ARPU and the ARPUs that we generate on the linear affiliate side today.

在國際方面，我們將要推出的下一波國家（主要是歐洲和澳大利亞）的 ARPU 市場高於我們迄今為止主要是拉丁美洲的市場。所以這應該會增加 ARPU。事實上，我們今天與 Sky 宣布的交易就是一個很好的例子。通過這筆交易，我們將在英國迅速增加數百萬訂閱者。這些訂閱將增加我們當前的國際流媒體 ARPU 和我們今天在線性會員方面產生的 ARPU。

In terms of free cash flow, I'd say a couple of things. Number one, as we've said before, we are increasing investment -- streaming investment for content. You've heard me mention before that we expect that investment to more than double this year relative to 2020. Again, not all of it is incremental on a total company basis because there's a lot of remixing between linear and streaming, and we've got content that does double duty. But we're also doing well in terms of being ahead of our plan on revenue and subs and continuing to find ways to drive operating leverage out of the business.

在自由現金流方面，我想說幾件事。第一，正如我們之前所說，我們正在增加投資——內容流媒體投資。你之前聽過我提到，我們預計今年的投資將比 2020 年增加一倍以上。同樣，並不是所有的投資都是在整個公司的基礎上增加的，因為線性和流媒體之間有很多混合，我們已經獲得了具有雙重職責的內容。但我們在收入和訂閱計劃方面也做得很好，並繼續尋找將運營槓桿排除在業務之外的方法。

So the result of all that, I think, in terms of free cash flow, obviously, that will mean that there is some working capital needs going forward, both to scale that production on the streaming side. And also, just generally, as we transition out of COVID, some of the tailwinds that we've had from a cash flow perspective in 2020 and the first half of this year probably start to dissipate.

因此，我認為，就自由現金流而言，這一切的結果顯然意味著未來需要一些營運資金，以擴大流媒體的生產規模。而且，一般來說，隨著我們從 COVID 過渡，從 2020 年和今年上半年的現金流角度來看，我們所擁有的一些順風可能開始消散。

Our next question is from Rich Greenfield with LightShed Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自 Rich Greenfield 和 LightShed Partners。

I guess I just want to follow up on Alexia's question. Just as you think about sort of things like Snake Eyes, which, obviously, you're struggling at the box office just given the health of U.S. box office. I mean even the 2 biggest films to date, I think, have only done domestically $170 million or $175 million sort of looks like the peak. And so it just doesn't seem like box office dollars are there the way they used to.

我想我只是想跟進 Alexia 的問題。就像您考慮諸如《蛇眼》之類的事情一樣，很明顯，鑑於美國票房的健康狀況，您在票房上苦苦掙扎。我的意思是，即使是迄今為止最大的兩部電影，我認為在國內的票房也只有 1.7 億美元或 1.75 億美元，看起來像頂峰。所以看起來票房收入不像以前那樣了。

And I guess, Bob, you sort of alluded to other strategies. But I'm just wondering, you've got 2 other companies, one in Disney doing sort of a $30 day-and-date Premium access, and you've got Warner Bros. sort of throwing them in at no extra cost Netflix-style and HBO Max. We'd just sort of love your view, given that it looks like things are getting worse again rather than better, from an attendance standpoint. Is there one of those that you prefer or one of those that you think makes more sense for Paramount?

我猜，鮑勃，你有點暗示其他策略。但我只是想知道，你還有另外兩家公司，一家在迪斯尼，提供 30 美元的每日高級訪問權限，而華納兄弟則免費將它們投入 Netflix-風格和 HBO Max。我們只是有點喜歡你的觀點，因為從出勤率的角度來看，情況似乎再次變得更糟而不是更好。有沒有你更喜歡的一種，或者你認為對派拉蒙更有意義的一種？

And then just, I guess, for Bob, specifically, to me, Nick seems like one of the most important assets when I think about the creation of franchises and what it's doing for your streaming service. I was wondering sort of how you think about the IP creation -- new IP creation at Nickelodeon over the past year and what you see coming over the course of the next year that we should keep our eye on.

然後，我想，對於鮑勃來說，特別是對我來說，當我想到特許經營權的創建以及它為您的流媒體服務所做的事情時，尼克似乎是最重要的資產之一。我想知道您對 IP 創作的看法——過去一年在 Nickelodeon 創作的新 IP 以及您在明年的過程中看到的我們應該密切關注的內容。

Yes. Sure, Rich. So look, on the film side, I will say, at this point in time, on a macro basis, we think the fast follow from theatrical, the 45-day window, 30- to 45-day window that we did our first implementation with, with A Quiet Place II is the sweet spot of the model because it provides a theatrical opportunity for consumers. It lets us benefit from that market, and then it quickly moves the product to streaming, in this case, Paramount+, to drive subscribers there.

是的。當然，里奇。所以看，在電影方面，我會說，在這個時間點上，在宏觀的基礎上，我們認為我們第一次實施從影院、45 天窗口、30 到 45 天窗口快速跟進with, with A Quiet Place II 是該模型的最佳選擇，因為它為消費者提供了戲劇化的機會。它讓我們從這個市場中受益，然後它迅速將產品轉移到流媒體，在這種情況下是派拉蒙+，以推動那裡的訂閱者。

And again, we only have one film we've done it with, and it hasn't gone through the life of the title yet, but we like what we're seeing. So I'd say on a macro level, we like that. That said, to your point, we continue to be in COVID. That situation is a bit fluid. And so we are looking title by title. And it's part of the reason we looked at -- we're doing a day-and-date with PAW Patrol, as we said, for that audience, i.e., families with young children.

再說一次，我們只有一部電影我們已經完成了，它還沒有完成標題的生命，但我們喜歡我們所看到的。所以我會在宏觀層面上說，我們喜歡這樣。也就是說，就您而言，我們繼續處於 COVID 狀態。這種情況有點不穩定。所以我們正在逐個標題地查找。這也是我們關注的部分原因——我們正在與 PAW Patrol 進行日常約會，正如我們所說，為那些觀眾，即有小孩的家庭。

Right now, in the middle of COVID, or at least partially still in COVID, we wanted to provide both choices for consumers because that we think gets it to the largest potential consumer base, which is not only good for that movie, but also good for the consumer products business that wraps around it. And by the way, if you've been inside a Walmart or Target or what have you, you'll see strong PAW Patrol: The Movie marketing available in theaters, where Paramount+ or AM Paramount+ as part of that signage. So we really like that strategy for that title. And we'll make decisions title by title going forward as we continue to be in this COVID-influenced market.

目前，在 COVID 的中間，或者至少部分仍處於 COVID 中，我們希望為消費者提供兩種選擇，因為我們認為這可以吸引最大的潛在消費者群，這不僅對那部電影有好處，而且對對於圍繞它的消費品業務。順便說一句，如果您去過沃爾瑪或 Target 或其他什麼地方，您會看到強大的 PAW Patrol: The Movie 營銷在影院可用，其中 Paramount+ 或 AM Paramount+ 作為該標誌的一部分。所以我們真的很喜歡這個標題的策略。隨著我們繼續在這個受 COVID 影響的市場中，我們將逐個標題地做出決定。

Now with respect to Nick and IP, let me start by saying, big picture, we really are big believers in franchises and their associated value. They have broad consumer appeal and awareness. You can do all kinds of things with them creatively. They obviously have commercial potential, including extensibility to things like consumer products, and they tend to play globally. So we like franchises.

現在關於尼克和 IP，讓我首先說，從大局來看，我們真的非常相信特許經營權及其相關價值。他們具有廣泛的消費者吸引力和意識。你可以創造性地和他們一起做各種各樣的事情。它們顯然具有商業潛力，包括對消費品等事物的可擴展性，而且它們往往在全球範圍內發揮作用。所以我們喜歡特許經營權。

Nickelodeon is a great example of franchise, and we're going to continue to optimize and drive that franchise machine. You've seen us do that a bit recently this year, including with Paramount+. Paramount+ really launched with the SpongeBob franchise, taking the SpongeBob Movie and then having the first episodic spinout in Kamp Koral. We're very pleased with that.

Nickelodeon 是特許經營的一個很好的例子，我們將繼續優化和推動特許經營機器。你最近看到我們在今年做了一點，包括派拉蒙+。派拉蒙+ 真正推出了海綿寶寶系列，拍攝了海綿寶寶電影，然後在 Kamp Koral 進行了第一個情節衍生。我們對此非常滿意。

In the quarter, iCarly, the reboot of iCarly was a total home run. That's obviously a live action franchise versus an animated franchise that appeals to a little bit older audience. But there's no question that worked.

在本季度，iCarly，iCarly 的重新啟動完全是本壘打。這顯然是一部真人電影系列，而不是一部吸引年齡稍大的觀眾的動畫系列。但毫無疑問是有效的。

And in talking to Brian and working with him, Brian Robbins who runs Nickelodeon, we've got a very significant franchise plan ahead of us. One example of that is we've now set up Avatar Studios. That has tremendous potential as an umbrella franchise with all kind of sub-franchises inside of it. Obviously, PAW Patrol: The Movie, which I referenced, and the film side of it, that's another example of franchise growth.

在與經營尼克國際兒童頻道的布萊恩·羅賓斯（Brian Robbins）交談並與他合作時，我們面前有一個非常重要的特許經營計劃。其中一個例子是我們現在已經建立了 Avatar Studios。作為一個包含各種子特許經營權的傘式特許經營權，這具有巨大的潛力。顯然，我提到的 PAW Patrol: The Movie 以及它的電影方面，是特許經營增長的另一個例子。

So there's a lot to do there. But I would also say, Rich, it's not just about Nickelodeon. Look what we're doing more broadly, including on Paramount+, whether that's Y: 1883, which is the Yellowstone prequel. That, by the way, stars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. And that's going to premiere behind Yellowstone for 2 episodes on Paramount Network before moving exclusively to Paramount+. We're doing a bunch of stuff in unscripted. So the franchise play is broad. Certainly, Nickelodeon is the visible and powerful piece, but it goes much beyond that.

所以那裡有很多事情要做。但我還要說，Rich，這不僅僅是關於 Nickelodeon。看看我們正在做的更廣泛的事情，包括派拉蒙+，是否是Y：1883，這是黃石公園的前傳。順便說一句，由 Faith Hill 和 Tim McGraw 主演。這將在黃石之後在派拉蒙網絡上首播 2 集，然後專門移至派拉蒙+。我們正在做一堆未經腳本處理的東西。所以特許經營的範圍很廣。當然，尼克國際兒童頻道是可見且強大的作品，但它遠不止於此。

And by the way, one thing I'm actually really excited about for next year on Paramount+ is Halo. That's a big game franchise. We're doing a pretty wild live action episodic out of it. I've seen early pieces of it, it looks spectacular. So franchises are key. Yes, Nickelodeon is the core, but it's bigger than that.

順便說一句，我對明年派拉蒙+的一件事真的很興奮，那就是光環。這是一個大遊戲專營權。我們正在製作一個非常狂野的真人劇集。我看過它的早期片段，它看起來很壯觀。所以特許經營權是關鍵。是的，尼克國際兒童頻道是核心，但它比這更大。

The next question is from Jessica Reif Ehrlich of Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Jessica Reif Ehrlich。

My question is advertising-related, I guess, a couple of parts to it. Given Naveen's comment about ad-light ARPU upside, I'm wondering, why don't you push that more? Or can you push that more? Is there any difference in contribution margin? I mean it just seems like the ARPU from that product could be higher than subscription.

我的問題是與廣告相關的，我想，它有幾個部分。鑑於 Naveen 關於廣告燈 ARPU 上行的評論，我想知道，你為什麼不進一步推動呢？或者你能推得更多嗎？邊際貢獻有區別嗎？我的意思是，該產品的 ARPU 似乎可能高於訂閱。

And then on -- more generally, on advertising overall and the historically strong upfront that we just saw, can you give us like deeper color across all of your assets, national and local and international, in terms of where you see advertising going over the next few quarters?

然後 - 更一般地說，關於整體廣告和我們剛剛看到的歷史上強勁的前期，你能否在你看到廣告的位置方面給我們提供更深的顏色未來幾個季度？

Yes. Sure, Jessica. Let's do it in reverse order. Let me talk about advertising big picture and then have Naveen add some color around your question of ARPU, et cetera. So to your point, and our remarks, we're very happy with what we're seeing in the ad market. We're clearly benefiting from our leadership position there in. The upfront, as expected, was particularly strong this year. Part of that, of course, was a function of supply and demand at the market level: supply, particularly on linear being tight; and demand is strong, given the outgoing ramp out of COVID.

是的。當然，傑西卡。讓我們以相反的順序來做。讓我談談廣告大圖，然後讓 Naveen 為你的 ARPU 等問題添加一些色彩。因此，就您的觀點和我們的評論而言，我們對我們在廣告市場上看到的情況感到非常滿意。我們顯然從我們在那裡的領導地位中受益。正如預期的那樣，今年的前期特別強勁。當然，部分原因是市場層面的供需關係：供應，尤其是線性供應緊張；考慮到新冠疫情的逐漸消失，需求強勁。

That obviously set the stage for very strong and, arguably, historic linear prices increases. And those increases were what we delivered and those will largely kick in, in Q4. But it's not just market. There are also real ViacomCBS elements in play here. We obviously benefit from a portfolio, which includes premium content, both in the mass market and targeted spaces, including with young and diverse audiences. We have leadership both on the linear side and with EyeQ on the digital video side.

這顯然為非常強勁的、可以說是歷史性的線性價格上漲奠定了基礎。這些增長是我們交付的，並且這些增長將在第四季度大部分開始。但這不僅僅是市場。這裡還有真正的 ViacomCBS 元素。我們顯然受益於產品組合，其中包括大眾市場和目標空間中的優質內容，包括年輕和多樣化的受眾。我們在線性方面和 EyeQ 在數字視頻方面都處於領先地位。

EyeQ, in particular, on a long-term basis and in this upfront is really important because it provides a large volume of high-quality impressions, which more than offset the linear supply dynamics and drive overall advertising revenue. And critical to all of that is our executing as a single sales organization. That allows clients and their agencies really turnkey access to the portfolio through a single point of contact.

尤其是 EyeQ，在長期基礎上和前期非常重要，因為它提供了大量高質量的印象，這不僅抵消了線性供應動態並推動了整體廣告收入。對所有這一切至關重要的是我們作為一個單一的銷售組織執行。這使客戶及其代理機構可以通過單點聯繫真正交鑰匙訪問投資組合。

So very pleased with what we're seeing in the ad market. Very pleased with the upfront, really a case study of the strength of ViacomCBS and our ability to differentiate ourselves and grow on an ongoing basis. Naveen?

對我們在廣告市場上看到的非常滿意。對 ViacomCBS 的實力和我們區分自己和持續發展的能力的前期案例研究非常滿意。納文？

Yes. So as it relates to the interplay between the Essentials tier and the Premium tier and sort of steering customers to one or the other, I would reiterate that we are focused on maximizing the lifetime value of each of our subscribers. And given what I noted earlier about the fact that the ARPU and the contribution margin of each of those tiers is not that different and likely will converge over time.

是的。因此，由於它與 Essentials 層和 Premium 層之間的相互作用以及將客戶引導至其中一個或另一個有關，我要重申，我們專注於最大限度地提高每個訂戶的生命週期價值。鑑於我之前提到的事實，即每層的 ARPU 和貢獻邊際沒有那麼不同，並且可能會隨著時間的推移而收斂。

Ultimately, what matters in that lifetime value equation is the expected life of our customers. So we want the customer in whichever tier they are going to be the most sticky in. And that's how we're operating those services today.

歸根結底，終生價值方程式中最重要的是我們客戶的預期壽命。因此，我們希望客戶在他們將成為最粘稠的任何層級。這就是我們今天運營這些服務的方式。

The next question is from Vijay Jayant with Evercore.

下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Vijay Jayant。

So Bob, you talked about the carriage deals you've announced with Charter, Cox and now with Sky. And one of the deals sort of mentioned your deals are sort of the modern era deals. So can you sort of talk about what's the evolution there in terms of economics or flexibility that has to happen to make this sort of a win-win situation? And really, how key is the legacy MVPD relationships to grow Paramount+ going forward?

所以鮑勃，你談到了你與查特、考克斯以及現在與天空公司宣布的運輸交易。其中一項交易提到你的交易是現代交易。那麼，您能否談談在經濟或靈活性方面的演變，以實現這種雙贏局面？真的，傳統的 MVPD 關係對於 Paramount+ 的發展有多重要？

Yes. Sure, Vijay. So let me start by saying we're extremely pleased with where we are from an affiliate perspective and see this multi-quarter track record that we've put on the boards of affiliate renewal after affiliate renewal as overwhelming evidence of the strength of ViacomCBS.

是的。當然，維杰。因此，讓我首先說，我們對從會員的角度來看我們的位置非常滿意，並看到我們在會員續訂後將這個多季度的記錄作為維亞康姆CBS 實力的壓倒性證據。

ViacomCBS, really, is a cornerstone provider to the distribution community. And yes, that started way back when with the provision of linear feeds, probably 5 or 6 years ago. That expanded to include advanced advertising partnerships, which were mutually beneficial. And now it's incorporating streaming as a fundamental element.

ViacomCBS 確實是分銷社區的基石提供商。是的，這可以追溯到提供線性饋送時，可能是 5 或 6 年前。這擴大到包括先進的廣告合作夥伴關係，這是互惠互利的。現在它正在將流媒體作為一個基本元素。

And so we are working with MVPDs to advance our streaming benefit for both of our benefit, and we're doing that across free and pay. We're doing that across set-top box and broadband-only. And the recent examples of that are Charter and Cox, where streaming was certainly additive and mutually beneficial.

因此，我們正在與 MVPD 合作，為我們雙方的利益推進我們的流媒體利益，我們正在通過免費和付費方式做到這一點。我們正在通過機頂盒和僅寬帶來實現這一目標。最近的例子是查特和考克斯，其中流媒體肯定是附加的和互惠互利的。

And then today's announcement, Sky, same thing. So it really is a modernization, a broadening, making these partnerships even stronger as we, together, transform the benefit and for Viacom -- the business and for ViacomCBS, really, accelerate the growth of our streaming portfolio. So we're feeling great about it, Vijay.

然後今天的公告，天空，同樣的事情。因此，這確實是一種現代化，一種擴大，使這些合作夥伴關係更加強大，因為我們共同改變了利益，對於維亞康姆 - 業務和維亞康姆CBS，確實加速了我們流媒體產品組合的增長。所以我們感覺很好，維杰。

Next question is from John Janedis with Wolfe Research.

下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 John Janedis。

Bob, maybe one for you. With your comments on Paramount+ and coming out of the upfront, can you give us more of an update on your digital advertising strategy? I don't know if you separate the dollars between Paramount+, DTV and Pluto, but maybe, even directionally, what are you targeting for digital as a percent of the total?

鮑勃，也許給你一個。有了您對派拉蒙+ 的評論並提前發表了意見，您能否向我們提供更多有關您的數字廣告策略的最新信息？我不知道你是否將派拉蒙+、數字電視和冥王星之間的美元分開，但也許，甚至在方向上，你的目標是數字佔總數的百分比是多少？

And do the CPM increases that CBS provide some form of a tailwind or upside for price increases? Or do you go for volume in the short term? And then maybe a quickie on Pluto. With the growth there still really strong, have you seen any changes in either the economics of the business or content availability?

CBS 是否會增加每千次展示費用，從而為價格上漲提供某種形式的順風或上行空間？或者你會在短期內追求銷量？然後也許是冥王星上的匆匆忙忙。由於那裡的增長仍然非常強勁，您是否看到業務經濟或內容可用性方面的任何變化？

Yes, sure. So John, so on the ad side and, in particular, the role of digital, look, we believe it's fundamental. We made that decision at Viacom legacy a number of years ago. Among other things, that drove us to do the Pluto acquisition, which, by the way, has turned out to be a total home run. I would point out that when we acquired Pluto at the beginning of '19, it came off a 2018 revenue base of $70 million. This -- in this third year of owning it, it will do over $1 billion. That sounds like a very robust growth to me. So we're thrilled we have it.

是的，當然。所以約翰，所以在廣告方面，特別是數字的角色，看，我們認為這是根本性的。幾年前，我們在 Viacom legacy 做出了這個決定。除其他外，這促使我們進行了冥王星收購，順便說一句，結果證明這是一次全壘打。我要指出的是，當我們在 19 年初收購 Pluto 時，它在 2018 年的收入基礎為 7000 萬美元。這 - 在擁有它的第三年，它將超過 10 億美元。對我來說，這聽起來是一個非常強勁的增長。所以我們很高興我們擁有它。

Pluto is part of what we call EyeQ, which is our overall digital video advertising portfolio. It has proven to be a great source of high-quality impressions in high-quality environments. In a world where there's -- I mean that's compelling on a stand-alone basis, but also in a world where there is linear supply constraints, it's really in combination that it has turned out to be extremely powerful.

Pluto 是我們所說的 EyeQ 的一部分，它是我們的整體數字視頻廣告組合。事實證明，它是高質量環境中高質量印象的重要來源。在一個存在 - 我的意思是在一個獨立的基礎上引人注目的世界中，但在一個存在線性供應限制的世界中，它確實是非常強大的。

Over time, the videos -- the digital video side will continue to increase as a percentage of our overall mix. As we package and, in some cases, transition advertisers from scarce, high-priced linear to more available, high-quality digital, but by the way, do it in a way where we're very careful in delivering the right mix of reach and frequency and, among other things, we went to a unified ad server in the last couple of months, which really helps us with that. So very excited about where we are today with the digital video advertising as a component of ViacomCBS and believe it has long legs for growth going forward.

隨著時間的推移，視頻——數字視頻方面將繼續增加，占我們整體組合的百分比。當我們打包並在某些情況下將廣告客戶從稀缺、高價的線性廣告商轉變為更可用、高質量的數字廣告商時，但順便說一下，我們會非常小心地提供正確的覆蓋範圍組合和頻率，除其他外，我們在過去幾個月裡使用了統一的廣告服務器，這對我們很有幫助。對我們今天將數字視頻廣告作為 ViacomCBS 的一個組成部分感到非常興奮，並相信它在未來的增長方面還有很長的路要走。

On the Pluto side, let me just briefly say, again, the overall trajectory of Pluto is amazing. We have, as I mentioned, continued to add quality -- high-quality content to Pluto. In the last year, in the U.S., we've doubled the number of hours from 100,000 hours to 200,000 hours. A chunk of that is certainly ViacomCBS, but a bunch of that is third party as well. And the third parties are really seeing the power of the Pluto platform, too, because it is a very effective reach and, importantly, monetization. Because ultimately, people are in it to make money, monetization vehicle for them, which is why you see us continue to add to the product across a full range of genres.

在冥王星方面，讓我簡單地說一遍，冥王星的整體軌跡是驚人的。正如我所提到的，我們繼續向冥王星添加質量——高質量的內容。去年，在美國，我們將小時數從 100,000 小時增加到 200,000 小時。其中一部分肯定是 ViacomCBS，但其中一部分也是第三方。第三方也真正看到了 Pluto 平台的力量，因為它是一個非常有效的覆蓋範圍，更重要的是，它是貨幣化。因為最終，人們是為了賺錢，這是他們的貨幣化工具，這就是為什麼您會看到我們繼續在各種類型的產品中添加產品。

So Pluto TV continues to be on an amazing trajectory, obviously expanding all around the world off of its #1 FAST service in the U.S. position. And that one, too, has a long positive growth road ahead of it.

因此，冥王星電視繼續走上驚人的發展軌跡，顯然從其在美國排名第一的 FAST 服務擴展到世界各地。而那一個也有一條漫長的積極增長之路。

That question is from the line of Robert Fishman with MoffettNathanson.

這個問題來自 Robert Fishman 和 MoffettNathanson 的觀點。

Can you expand on how sports at Paramount+ has driven subscriber additions and engagement and whether you think that will impact future sports rights deals going exclusively to streaming? And then just as a quick follow-up on Pluto. Do you see this as a winner-take-all type of market? Or will viewers just jump around to the different services to find the different original and exclusive content?

您能否詳細說明 Paramount+ 的體育運動如何推動訂閱者的增加和參與度，以及您認為這是否會影響未來專門針對流媒體的體育版權交易？然後就像對冥王星的快速跟進一樣。您認為這是贏家通吃的市場嗎？或者觀眾會跳轉到不同的服務以找到不同的原創和獨家內容？

Yes. So in that order, so sports are fundamental to Paramount+. Again, we think of Paramount+ as live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment. If you look at our experience in Q1 and Q2, it clearly points to the value of sports. There's no question the NFL makes a difference. And part of our long-term renewal with the NFL some months ago was, of course, ensuring rights for Paramount+. By the way, both the $9.99 and the $4.99 product, $4.99 product doesn't have the linear feed. So we had to do some work with the NFL, and we did.

是的。所以按照這個順序，體育是派拉蒙+的基礎。同樣，我們將派拉蒙+視為體育直播、突發新聞和娛樂之山。如果你看看我們在 Q1 和 Q2 的經驗，它清楚地指出了運動的價值。毫無疑問，NFL 有所作為。幾個月前，我們與 NFL 長期續約的一部分當然是確保 Paramount+ 的權利。順便說一句，9.99 美元和 4.99 美元的產品，4.99 美元的產品都沒有線性饋送。所以我們不得不與 NFL 合作，我們做到了。

Soccer is making a difference, and you see us growing our collection there. I'm really looking forward to see what Serie A does very shortly. That will be our first season with that. That's the Italian league. Golf, too, makes a difference. They all contribute to Paramount+. They all broadened its appeal to specific market sectors.

足球正在發揮作用，您會看到我們在那裡增加了我們的收藏。我真的很期待看到意甲很快會做什麼。那將是我們的第一個賽季。那是意大利聯賽。高爾夫也有所作為。他們都為派拉蒙+做出了貢獻。他們都將其吸引力擴大到特定的市場領域。

But I think, also, importantly, they work in what we would call a conjoint way with entertainment. There are sports fans out there, and they also love entertainment. And so as we ensure that the product is sticky, as we optimize monetization, having a strong entertainment offering to go with the sports offering is very important. And again, while early days, we're seeing really value -- clear value there. And it's obviously a critical extension of CBS Sports and the modernization of that into the streaming world. So we like that a lot. The Pluto question -- well, sorry, can you just restate your Pluto question, Rob?

但我認為，同樣重要的是，它們以我們所說的與娛樂相結合的方式工作。那裡有體育迷，他們也喜歡娛樂。因此，當我們確保產品具有粘性時，在優化貨幣化時，擁有強大的娛樂產品與體育產品相匹配是非常重要的。再說一次，在早期，我們看到了真正的價值——那裡有明確的價值。這顯然是 CBS Sports 的重要延伸，也是流媒體世界的現代化。所以我們非常喜歡。冥王星問題——好吧，對不起，你能重申一下你的冥王星問題嗎，羅布？

Of course. Do you see this as a winner-take-all type of market as you're growing really quickly? Or will viewers just kind of jump around to the different services?

當然。您是否認為這是一個贏家通吃的市場，因為您的增長非常迅速？還是觀眾會跳到不同的服務上？

All right. Thank you. Look, we are privileged to be in a leadership position with Pluto. That's partially because we saw the opportunity early and then added, first, Viacom and now ViacomCBS assets and capabilities to it in the form of content, in the form of distribution, in the form of advertising sales. I don't think it's a winner-take-all market. But clearly, having a leadership position is exceptionally valuable. And we are certainly focused on continuing to press the gas pedal there and building a leadership position worldwide.

好的。謝謝你。看，我們很榮幸能與冥王星一起處於領導地位。這部分是因為我們很早就看到了機會，然後首先以內容的形式、以分發的形式、以廣告銷售的形式向它添加了維亞康姆和現在的維亞康姆哥倫比亞廣播公司的資產和能力。我不認為這是一個贏家通吃的市場。但顯然，擁有一個領導職位是非常有價值的。我們當然專注於繼續在那裡踩油門並在全球建立領導地位。

And I would point out that, as you have this scale, it really is a flywheel. If you talk to Tom Ryan, he'll talk about the Pluto flywheel. And what he means by that is the scale is self-reinforcing because as the platform gets bigger, as you have more MAUs, your monetization increases to the example of $70 million to $1 billion this year. That means that the people who have content on the platform make more money, which in turn means your platform is more attractive, which in turn means you get better content. So the good news is that's the trajectory Pluto's on and, again, we couldn't be happier.

我要指出的是，當你有這個規模時，它真的是一個飛輪。如果你和湯姆瑞恩交談，他會談論冥王星飛輪。他的意思是規模是自我強化的，因為隨著平台變得更大，隨著您擁有更多的 MAU，您的貨幣化今年會增加到 7000 萬到 10 億美元。這意味著在平台上有內容的人賺更多的錢，這反過來意味著你的平台更有吸引力，這反過來意味著你得到更好的內容。所以好消息是這就是冥王星的軌跡，我們再一次高興不起來。

So look, thanks, everyone, for joining. In closing, clearly, I think you can hear it. These are very exciting times at ViacomCBS. We have really strong operating momentum. We have amazing content, and we have a streaming strategy that is really delivering. You see that in our second quarter, and we're feeling great about the outlook for the year ahead.

所以看，謝謝大家的加入。最後，很明顯，我想你能聽到。在 ViacomCBS，這是非常激動人心的時刻。我們的經營勢頭非常強勁。我們有很棒的內容，我們有一個真正交付的流媒體策略。你在我們的第二季度看到了這一點，我們對未來一年的前景感覺很好。

So thank you for your time and support. We look forward to delivering for all of you on the ViacomCBS growth opportunity. And finally, I'd like to thank all the ViacomCBS employees for all they do every day to drive the company forward. Stay well, everyone, and we'll talk to you soon.

因此，感謝您的時間和支持。我們期待著為大家提供 ViacomCBS 的增長機會。最後，我要感謝所有 ViacomCBS 員工，感謝他們每天為推動公司前進所做的一切。保持健康，大家，我們很快就會和你談談。

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束。你可以斷開你的線路。感謝您的參與。