Vivid Seats Inc (SEAT) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Vivid Seats third-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Following management's prepared remarks, we will open the call for Q&A. I would now like to turn the call over to Kate Africk.

早安，歡迎參加 Vivid Seats 2025 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作說明）管理階層發言完畢後，我們將開始問答環節。現在我想把電話交給凱特·阿弗里克。

Good morning, and welcome to Vivid Seats' third-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. I am Kate Africk, Head of Investor Relations at Vivid Seats. This morning, we issued our third quarter financial results. The press release as well as supplemental earnings slides are available on the Investor Relations page of our website at investors.vividseats.com.

早安，歡迎參加 Vivid Seats 2025 年第三季財報電話會議。我是凱特·阿弗里克，Vivid Seats 的投資者關係主管。今天上午，我們發布了第三季財務業績。新聞稿以及補充收益投影片可在我們網站的投資者關係頁面 investors.vividseats.com 上查看。

During the course of today's call, we may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including the risks and uncertainties described in our earnings press release, our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and our other filings with the SEC.

在今天的電話會議中，我們可能會做出符合聯邦證券法意義的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性聲明存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與預期結果有重大差異，包括我們在盈利新聞稿、最新年度報告（10-K 表格）、後續季度報告（10-Q 表格）以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中描述的風險和不確定性。

On today's call, we will refer to adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure that provides useful information for investors. A reconciliation of this non-GAAP financial measure to its corresponding GAAP measure can be found in our earnings press release and supplemental earnings slides. This morning, we also announced a leadership transition that is effective today.

在今天的電話會議上，我們將提到調整後的 EBITDA，這是一個非 GAAP 財務指標，可以為投資者提供有用的信息。有關此非GAAP財務指標與其對應的GAAP指標的調節表，請參閱我們的獲利新聞稿和補充獲利幻燈片。今天上午，我們也宣布了一項領導層更迭計劃，該計劃於今日生效。

Lawrence Fey, who has served as Chief Financial Officer since 2020, will succeed Stan Chia as Chief Executive Officer. Additionally, Ted Pickus, who has served as Chief Accounting Officer since 2022, has been appointed as Interim Chief Financial Officer until a successor is identified.

自 2020 年起擔任財務長的 Lawrence Fey 將接替 Stan Chia 出任執行長。此外，自 2022 年以來一直擔任首席會計官的 Ted Pickus 已被任命為臨時首席財務官，直到找到繼任者為止。

Accordingly, Larry and Ted are joining me today on the call. With Larry's extensive history with Vivid Seats dating back to 2017, the Vivid Seats Board believes he is uniquely qualified to navigate the evolving industry environment and steer the company back to growth.

因此，拉里和泰德今天將和我一起參加電話會議。Larry 自 2017 年以來就與 Vivid Seats 有著深厚的淵源，Vivid Seats 董事會認為他具備獨特的資格來駕馭不斷變化的行業環境，並帶領公司重回成長軌道。

Larry will share more detail on his vision for Vivid Seats next chapter today. And now I would like to turn the call over to Larry.

Larry今天將分享更多關於Vivid Seats未來發展方向的細節。現在我想把電話交給拉里。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. First, I would like to discuss the leadership transition and express my gratitude to Stan for his leadership and service over the last seven years. His accomplishments include successfully leading Vivid Seats through a global pandemic, bringing Vivid Seats to the public markets and launching key innovations such as the Vivid Seats Reward program, which provides a foundation on which we will continue to build as we deliver a unique and leading value proposition to our customers.

各位早安，感謝大家今天收看我們的節目。首先，我想談談領導交接事宜，並對史丹在過去七年中的領導和服務表示感謝。他的成就包括成功帶領 Vivid Seats 度過全球疫情危機，將 Vivid Seats 推向公開市場，並推出 Vivid Seats 獎勵計劃等關鍵創新，這為我們繼續為客戶提供獨特領先的價值主張奠定了基礎。

I recognize the responsibility of this role and we'll look to take decisive action to reverse recent trends and build a resilient business well positioned for long-term success. The core pillars of our strategy start with the foundational advantages that have been in place at Vivid Seats for years and build from there. There is much work to be done, but the foundation to return to profitable growth is in place, and our path forward is clear.

我意識到這一職位的責任，我們將採取果斷行動扭轉近期趨勢，打造一個具有韌性、能夠長期成功的企業。我們策略的核心支柱始於 Vivid Seats 多年來一直擁有的基礎優勢，並以此為基礎不斷發展。還有很多工作要做，但恢復獲利成長的基礎已經奠定，我們前進的道路也很清晰。

Vivid Seats has long been known for its leading tech capabilities, unique data and focus on efficiency. In recent years, as paid search has become more competitive and customer acquisition economics have become strained, Vivid Seats has increasingly invested in its app with a focus on building a loyal and recurring customer base.

Vivid Seats 一直以其領先的技術能力、獨特的數據和對效率的關注而聞名。近年來，隨著付費搜尋競爭日益激烈，客戶獲取成本也越來越高，Vivid Seats 加大了對應用程式的投入，專注於建立忠誠且不斷回頭的顧客群。

We are now increasing our focus and investment in delivering a leading value proposition to our customers. Alongside our loyalty program with rewards redeemable in the app, late in the third quarter, we launched our lowest price guarantee also in the app. We believe the combination of our lowest price guarantee and our loyalty program represents the most compelling value proposition in the industry, and we are already seeing positive responses from our customers.

我們現在正加大投入，致力於為客戶提供領先的價值主張。除了我們可在應用程式內兌換獎勵的會員忠誠度計劃外，在第三季末，我們還在應用程式中推出了最低價格保證。我們相信，我們的最低價格保證和會員忠誠計劃相結合，代表了業內最具吸引力的價值主張，而且我們已經看到了客戶的積極反饋。

With our enhanced value proposition, we expect to see a growing number of app users and resulting transactions. Our app users return more often, convert at a higher rate and touch performance marketing channels less.

憑藉我們增強的價值主張，我們預計應用程式使用者數量和由此產生的交易量都會不斷增長。我們的應用程式用戶回訪頻率更高，轉換率更高，且更少接觸到效果行銷管道。

Over time, as our volume increasingly moves into the app, our performance will be increasingly insulated from the heightened competitiveness we have seen in performance marketing channels in recent years.

隨著我們的業務量越來越多地轉移到應用程式上，我們的業績將越來越不受近年來效果行銷管道日益激烈的競爭的影響。

Further, we believe that information transparency will only increase as AI proliferates and impacts the way consumers interact with brands across the Internet. It will take time to build comprehensive awareness of our enhanced app value proposition, but we are confident we will disproportionately benefit as AI reshapes consumer discovery and decision-making as we match consumer demand with the most compelling value in the industry.

此外，我們認為，隨著人工智慧的普及及其對消費者在網路上與品牌互動方式的影響，資訊透明度只會不斷提高。要讓消費者全面了解我們增強後的應用程式價值主張還需要時間，但我們相信，隨著人工智慧重塑消費者的發現和決策方式，我們將不成比例地受益，因為我們可以將消費者的需求與業內最具吸引力的價值相匹配。

One of our initial efforts to build awareness of our app value proposition is our recently renewed partnership with ESPN. With ESPN, we have launched a national marketing campaign on Disney streaming, which is reaching more than 127 million global subscribers across over 700 live sports events monthly. We are excited to see how fans respond to our new offering as awareness continues to build.

我們為提高用戶對我們應用程式價值主張的認識而採取的初步措施之一，是我們最近與 ESPN 續約的合作關係。我們與 ESPN 合作，在 Disney 串流平台上發起了一項全國性的行銷活動，每月透過該平台向全球超過 1.27 億訂閱用戶提供 700 多場體育賽事直播。隨著知名度的不斷提高，我們非常期待看到粉絲們對我們新產品的反應。

We believe our investments in delivering a leading value proposition will drive order volume but reduce our take rates. Funding these investments in a sustainable manner will require a commitment to operating the most efficient platform in ticketing. We will focus on operating as a lean and agile organization enabled by powerful technology and unique data.

我們相信，我們在提供領先價值主張方面的投資將推動訂單量成長，但會降低我們的佣金率。以永續的方式為這些投資提供資金，需要致力於運作最高效的票務平台。我們將致力於打造一個精實敏捷的組織，並依靠強大的技術和獨特的數據來實現這一目標。

We announced the cost reduction program last quarter, and we are now more than doubling our fixed cost reduction target from $25 million to $60 million. We have made substantial progress towards our updated target with savings spanning fixed marketing, G&A and stock-based compensation.

我們上個季度宣布了成本削減計劃，現在我們將固定成本削減目標從 2500 萬美元提高到 6000 萬美元，翻了一番還多。我們在實現更新後的目標方面取得了實質進展，節省的費用涵蓋固定行銷、一般及行政費用和股票選擇權補償。

Both these savings and our considerable reinvestment in our app value proposition are reflected in our initial 2026 guidance. Continuing with our theme of driving efficiency through clear focus, we executed our corporate simplification agreement, which included the termination of our tax receivable agreement and the collapse of our dual class share structure early in the fourth quarter.

這些節省的資金以及我們對應用程式價值主張的大量再投資都體現在我們最初的 2026 年業績預期中。秉承「透過明確重點來提高效率」的理念，我們在第四季初執行了公司簡化協議，其中包括終止稅收應收款協議和取消雙重股權結構。

The corporate simplification will yield substantial immediate and ongoing savings. As part of the termination, we issued approximately 400,000 Class A shares to the former TRA parties. In return, we will avoid $6 million of cash TRA payments otherwise due in Q1 2026, while capturing up to $180 million of lifetime tax savings, subject to generating sufficient profitability.

企業簡化將帶來可觀的即時和持續成本節約。作為終止協議的一部分，我們向原TRA各方發行了約40萬股A類股份。作為回報，我們將避免在 2026 年第一季支付 600 萬美元的現金 TRA 款項，同時獲得高達 1.8 億美元的終身稅收節省，前提是能夠產生足夠的獲利能力。

In addition, by simplifying our structure, we expect to save approximately $1 million per year from reduced financial reporting and compliance costs while also removing tax inefficiencies in our structure. At current levels of profitability, we anticipate our annual cash income taxes to be approximately $3 million.

此外，透過簡化我們的架構，我們預計每年可節省約 100 萬美元的財務報告和合規成本，同時消除我們結構中的稅務低效之處。以目前的獲利水平，我們預計年度現金所得稅約為 300 萬美元。

The savings between our cost reduction program and corporate simplification will create a more focused and agile organization, one that can invest strategically for growth while maintaining discipline and profitability.

我們的成本削減計劃和公司簡化措施所節省的資金將創建一個更專注和靈活的組織，該組織能夠在保持紀律和盈利能力的同時，進行戰略性投資以實現增長。

Next, I'll address trends in our third quarter results, which we believe validate our path forward and underpin our initial 2026 outlook, which Ted will provide.

接下來，我將談談我們第三季業績中的趨勢，我們認為這些趨勢驗證了我們前進的方向，並支撐了我們最初的 2026 年展望，Ted 將對此進行闡述。

While private label remains under pressure, we are encouraged to see stabilization and early signs of momentum across our owned properties. Against the flat sequential industry backdrop, Vivid Seats and Vegas.com delivered sequential GOV growth, while the Vivid Seats app delivered double-digit sequential growth and returned to year-over-year GOV growth. This is a direct result of our ongoing investment in product development and our enhanced value proposition.

雖然自有品牌仍然面臨壓力，但我們欣喜地看到，我們旗下品牌的業務正在趨於穩定，並出現了成長勢頭的早期跡象。在行業整體平穩的背景下，Vivid Seats 和 Vegas.com 實現了 GOV 的環比增長，而 Vivid Seats 應用程式實現了兩位數的環比增長，並恢復了同比 GOV 的增長。這是我們對產品研發持續投入與不斷提升價值主張的直接成果。

As we look to the fourth quarter and into 2026, there are no quick fixes, but our priorities are clear. We are committed to improving our financial performance by leveraging Vivid Seats foundational advantages, including leading technology, unique data, best-in-class efficiency and continued investment into a unique and differentiated value proposition.

展望第四季和 2026 年，雖然沒有快速解決辦法，但我們的優先事項很明確。我們致力於透過利用 Vivid Seats 的基礎優勢來改善我們的財務業績，這些優勢包括領先的技術、獨特的數據、一流的效率以及對獨特和差異化價值主張的持續投資。

Now I'll turn it to Ted to discuss the quarter and financial outlook in more detail. As we mentioned earlier, Ted, our Chief Accounting Officer, will take on the role of Interim Chief Financial Officer. Ted has been at Vivid Seats leading our accounting function for more than a decade. I have full confidence in Ted, and I'm glad to have him step into the interim CFO role as we manage our leadership transition.

現在我將把發言權交給泰德，讓他更詳細地討論本季和財務前景。正如我們之前提到的，我們的首席會計官 Ted 將擔任臨時財務長一職。Ted 在 Vivid Seats 工作超過十年，一直負責我們的會計工作。我對泰德充滿信心，很高興他能在我們進行領導層過渡期間擔任臨時財務長一職。

Thank you, Larry, and hello, everyone. I am honored to be with you today and to assume this role during a transformational time for the business. Turning to our results. In the third quarter, we delivered $618 million of marketplace GOV, $136 million of revenues and $5 million of adjusted EBITDA. These results reflect an intense competitive environment that impacted our private label business, which was also impacted by the loss of a large partner.

謝謝你，拉里，大家好。我非常榮幸今天能與各位相聚，並在公司轉型時期擔任這一職位。接下來來看看我們的結果。第三季度，我們實現了 6.18 億美元的市場政府支出、1.36 億美元的收入和 500 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA。這些結果反映了激烈的競爭環境，對我們的自有品牌業務造成了影響，同時，失去一家大型合作夥伴也對自有品牌業務造成了影響。

We generated $618 million of marketplace GOV in Q3, which was down 29% year-over-year. Total marketplace orders were also down 29% with average order size flat. Looking at sequential trends compared to Q2 of this year, overall marketplace GOV was down 10% due to private label headwinds, while owned property GOV increased in a flat sequential industry environment.

第三季度，我們的市場政府支出為 6.18 億美元，年減 29%。市場總訂單量也下降了 29%，平均訂單規模維持不變。從與今年第二季相比的環比趨勢來看，由於自有品牌的不利因素，整體市場 GOV 下降了 10%，而自有物業 GOV 在環比持平的行業環境下有所增長。

We generated $136 million of revenues in Q3, down 27% year-over-year. Our Q3 marketplace take rate was 17.0%, down from 17.5% in Q3 2024. We expect near-term take rates in the 16% range.

第三季度，我們的營收為 1.36 億美元，年減 27%。我們第三季的市場成交率為 17.0%，低於 2024 年第三季的 17.5%。我們預計近期成交率將在 16% 左右。

Our third quarter adjusted EBITDA was $5 million, down substantially from the prior year due to lower volume, lower take rates and negative operating leverage. We expect improved operating performance as we enter 2026 with the full benefit of our recent cost reductions.

由於銷售下降、成交率降低以及經營槓桿效應為負，我們第三季的調整後 EBITDA 為 500 萬美元，較上年同期大幅下降。我們預計，隨著近期成本削減措施的全面實施，進入 2026 年後，我們的營運表現將有所改善。

Next, I'll address our 2026 initial outlook. With stabilizing owned property volumes, we expect 2026 marketplace GOV in the range of $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion.

接下來，我將談談我們對 2026 年的初步展望。隨著自有房產數量的穩定，我們預計 2026 年市場政府資產規模將在 22 億至 26 億美元之間。

At the midpoint, this assumes Marketplace GOV roughly in line with our third quarter run rate. We intend to reinvest cost savings into our enhanced customer value proposition and as such, currently anticipate $30 million to $40 million of 2026 adjusted EBITDA.

中間值假設 Marketplace GOV 大致與我們第三季的運行速度一致。我們計劃將節省的成本再投資於我們增強的客戶價值主張，因此，目前預計 2026 年調整後的 EBITDA 將達到 3,000 萬美元至 4,000 萬美元。

Our 2026 initial outlook assumes industry volumes are flat year-over-year as the core concert on sales season, which provides supply visibility for the coming year has yet to occur. We ended Q3 with $391 million of debt, $145 million of cash and net debt of $246 million. Against a flat industry environment, we saw working capital continue to consume cash, but at a substantially lower level than seen the first half of the year.

我們對 2026 年的初步展望假設產業銷售與上年持平，因為銷售旺季的核心階段（即為來年供應提供可見度的關鍵階段）尚未到來。第三季末，我們的債務為 3.91 億美元，現金為 1.45 億美元，淨債務為 2.46 億美元。在產業環境趨於平穩的情況下，我們看到營運資本持續消耗現金，但其消耗水準遠低於上半年的水準。

I'll now hand it back to Larry for concluding remarks.

現在我把發言權交還給拉里，讓他做總結發言。

Thanks, Ted. Despite challenging year-over-year trends, the third quarter offered signs of stabilization, including sequential growth in owned property GOV, year-over-year growth in app GOV and substantial cost reduction progress.

謝謝你，泰德。儘管同比趨勢充滿挑戰，但第三季度出現了企穩跡象，包括自有物業 GOV 環比增長、應用程式 GOV 同比增長以及成本大幅降低。

From here, diligent execution is crucial, but we believe our investment into our app value proposition provides a clear path to return to growth.

接下來，認真執行至關重要，但我們相信，我們對應用程式價值主張的投入為恢復成長提供了一條清晰的道路。

With that, operator, let's open it up for questions.

操作員，那麼，我們開始接受提問吧。

(Operator Instructions) Cameron Mansson-Perrone, Morgan Stanley.

（操作說明）卡梅倫·曼森-佩羅內，摩根士丹利。

Ted, welcome to the call. I guess the first question is really just -- I'd like to hear a little bit more about what gives you confidence in issuing '26 guidance this early given the pressures that have existed in the business recently. I heard you on the stabilization front, but just a little bit more on what gives you kind of that increased visibility relative to the past, I think, would be helpful.

泰德，歡迎接聽電話。我想問的第一個問題其實是——鑑於最近業務中存在的壓力，我很想了解是什麼讓您有信心這麼早就發布 2026 年業績指引。我明白了你關於穩定性方面的問題，但如果你能再多解釋一下是什麼讓你比以前擁有了更高的能見度，我想會很有幫助。

And then if you could just kind of try and help contextualize what's reflected in the high and low end of the guide for next year with regard to competitive environment and expectations and any other gating factors around what would determine whether you shake out on the high or low end?

然後，如果您能幫忙分析明年指南中高低兩端所反映的情況，包括競爭環境、預期以及其他任何決定最終排名高低兩端的因素，那就太好了。

Yes. Cameron, yes, I think the you've heard us say in the past that we prefer to give guidance on our Q4 call once the Q4 on sale calendar has run its course as you'll have more industry visibility. And so the important caveat in the guidance we put forward is it presumes a flat year-over-year industry outlook.

是的。卡梅倫，是的，我想你以前也聽我們說過，我們更傾向於在第四季度銷售計劃結束後，在第四季度電話會議上給出業績指引，因為那時你會對行業有更清晰的了解。因此，我們提出的指導意見中一個重要的前提是，它假設產業前景與上年持平。

And I think to your question on what would govern the low end versus the high end, I would start with if the industry under-indexes to flat, that would push you towards the low end. If it over-indexes or grows, that would push you towards the higher end. We certainly saw the Live Nation commentary, which if you interpolate what they said, it feels like they're pointing towards another positive growth year in North America.

至於你提出的低端與高端的決定因素，我認為首先要考慮的是，如果行業指數低於預期或持平，那麼低端市場就會受到影響。如果它超標或成長，那就會把你推向更高的水平。我們當然看到了 Live Nation 的評論，如果你仔細分析他們所說的話，感覺他們是在暗示北美市場將迎來另一個積極的成長年。

So hopefully, there is some conservatism built in. We'll learn more over the coming months on exactly where the industry settles out, but try to put a baseline that we think is reasonably skewed to the cautious side of the spectrum on the industry performance.

所以，希望其中能包含一些保守主義元素。在接下來的幾個月裡，我們將更清楚地了解該行業最終會走向何方，但我們會嘗試設定一個基準線，我們認為這個基準線應該合理地偏向於行業表現的謹慎一面。

Why do we put guidance out, why do we have confidence? I'd point to a few elements. I think one, we obviously pulled 2025 guidance. So it's been a while since there's been a flag or a stake in the ground for folks to look at. You can see a number of changes playing out in Q3, where we talked about our cost reduction initiatives. We talked about some of our reinvestment in our value proposition and lots of puts and takes. And rather than having there be a vacuum where people are waiting in suspense for four months on what the net of all of those are, we wanted to distill it down to a target probably goes without saying if competition or competitive intensity reaches new highs, that will pressure.

我們為什麼要發布指導意見？我們為什麼要有信心？我想指出以下幾點。我認為第一，我們顯然撤回了 2025 年的業績指引。所以已經很久沒有出現旗幟或標竿供人辨認了。在第三季度，我們談到了降低成本的舉措，可以看到許多變化正在發生。我們討論了一些關於我們價值主張的再投資，以及許多買賣交易。與其讓人們懸著心等四個月才能知道所有這些結果的最終結果，我們更希望將其簡化為一個目標。如果競爭或競爭強度達到新高，無疑會帶來壓力。

And if they abate, that will be a release valve relative to the range we put forward. But we've assumed essentially a broad continuation of the competitive intensity we've seen in the second half of 2025.

如果這些因素有所緩解，那將是我們提出的範圍的一個釋放閥。但我們基本假設，2025 年下半年的競爭強度將基本延續下去。

Dan Kurnos, Benchmark Company.

Dan Kurnos，基準公司。

Larry, I guess, maybe just to double-click on the leadership transition. Obviously, Stan had a lot of digital experience from his history. So I guess maybe why now make this move? If you could just give us some color on the thought process. And obviously, to be clear here, I think you're eminently qualified to lead the company, Larry. I just would be helpful to get sort of some of the thought process on the timing.

拉里，我猜，也許只是為了雙擊確認領導交接。顯然，史丹從他的過往經驗中累積了豐富的數位經驗。所以我想，或許他們現在才採取這項行動吧？如果您能詳細介紹一下您的思考過程就太好了。很顯然，需要明確的是，我認為你完全有資格領導這家公司，拉里。我只是想了解一些關於時間安排的思考過程。

And then in an agentic world, you talked about discovery with OpenAI. If you're going to push app, which is fine, everyone else is putting their app into OpenAI for discoverability. So I don't know what your thoughts are about that, given some of the puts and takes on demand gen and OpenAI potentially becoming the source of demand gen, but -- just help us think about your willingness to increase visibility via that channel and other ways that you might increase the visibility of the value prop?

然後，在一個智能體的世界裡，你談到了與 OpenAI 的探索。如果你打算推廣應用，這沒問題，其他人都把自己的應用放到 OpenAI 上，以便更容易被發現。鑑於目前關於需求生成和 OpenAI 可能成為需求生成來源的一些說法和觀點，我不知道您對此有何看法，但是——請您幫我們思考一下，您是否願意通過該渠道提高知名度，以及您可能會通過哪些其他方式來提高價值主張的知名度？

Yes. Thanks, Dan. I'd start with the thanks to Stan, of course, we're sincere seven years was a great run. I think it was just reaching a time for a shift and preparing the business for the efficiency push that we're embarking on in the near term.

是的。謝謝你，丹。首先我要感謝史丹，當然，我們真誠地感謝他，這七年是一段美好的時光。我認為這只是到了轉變的時機，也是為了讓企業為我們近期即將開展的效率提升計畫做好準備。

To the second question, I think you touched on a theme that is spot on. Yes, we're pushing on app. And I almost think of the customer universe as two buckets, right? There's the new customer acquisition and there's a competitive dynamic around that. And then there's the folks who have already done their research and made informed decisions around which marketplaces they buy from or which marketplaces they consider, and that generally occurs in the app.

對於第二個問題，我認為你觸及了一個非常恰當的主題。是的，我們正在大力推廣應用程式。我幾乎把客戶群看作是兩個不同的群體，對吧？一方面是獲取新客戶，另一方面是圍繞這一目標的競爭。還有一些人已經做過調查研究，並就從哪些市場購買或考慮哪些市場做出了明智的決定，而這通常發生在應用程式中。

Where I think there could be a really interesting blurring of those lines or fusion of the two as we move forward. If one of the fundamental tenets of AI is increasing information synthesis, increasing information transparency as we increasingly place the best value proposition out into the ether.

我認為隨著我們不斷前進，這兩者之間的界線可能會變得非常模糊，甚至融合，這非常有趣。如果人工智慧的基本原則之一是提高資訊綜合能力，提高資訊透明度，那麼隨著我們越來越多地將最佳價值主張公之於眾，人工智慧也將不斷進步。

We then, of course, have an obligation to make sure that value proposition is digestible by these new AI platforms that are looking for all of the best information to synthesize and distill for customers. But you better have something that's compelling, right? If they do their job and put forward the best value proposition, you better be front of the line.

當然，我們也有義務確保這些新的人工智慧平台能夠理解這一價值主張，因為它們正在尋找所有最佳訊息，以便為客戶進行綜合和提煉。但你最好拿出一些有吸引力的東西，對吧？如果他們盡職盡責，提出最佳價值主張，你最好優先考慮他們。

And so that's where we're going with the app. I think in the near term, while we wait for the commerce portion of the AI disruption to fully arrive, we're going to continue focusing on retaining our customers in the app ecosystem. And then we think there's opportunity coming on that customer acquisition as the technology format evolves.

所以這就是我們開發這款應用的方向。我認為在短期內，在我們等待人工智慧顛覆性變革的商業部分完全到來之際，我們將繼續專注於在應用程式生態系統中留住我們的客戶。然後我們認為，隨著技術形式的演變，在客戶獲取方面將會出現機會。

Maria Ripps, Canaccord Genuity.

Maria Ripps，Canaccord Genuity。

Larry and Ted, congrats on the transition. Can you maybe share a little bit more color on the competitive backdrop right now? Are you seeing any early signs that maybe some of the competitors in the space are starting to focus more on profitability?

Larry 和 Ted，恭喜你們順利完成過渡。能否再詳細介紹一下目前的競爭環境？您是否看到任何早期跡象表明，該領域的某些競爭對手可能開始更加重視盈利能力？

Yes. Thanks, Maria. We've talked in the past a bit about ebbs and flows, and it can be a little dangerous to extrapolate short-term behavior and assume it continues indefinitely. But I would say, broadly aligning with, call it, changes in corporate status, we have seen a shift in competitive posture. It was a fairly methodical increase in share that we saw from StubHub over the last couple of years.

是的。謝謝你，瑪麗亞。我們過去曾談到過潮起潮落，將短期行為推論為無限期持續下去可能會有些危險。但我認為，整體而言，隨著企業地位的變化，我們已經看到了競爭態勢的轉變。過去幾年，我們看到 StubHub 的市佔率穩定成長。

It come in waves, but it kind of went one direction. And we've actually seen that reverse and roll over in September and October, where they're now down year-over-year on share. And I think that is directly tied to what we perceive as a shift in marketing aggressiveness.

它像波浪一樣一波接一波地來，但總體上是朝著一個方向發展的。而我們實際上已經看到這種情況在 9 月和 10 月發生了逆轉，它們的市場份額現在同比下降。我認為這與我們所感受到的營銷激進程度的轉變直接相關。

The magnitude, obviously, it was enough to reverse that trend, but it wasn't like a reversion to 2022 or 2023 levels. And we, of course, know that they reserve the right to change their mind and posture as we embark into 2026, but a notable change over the last, call it, six weeks to eight weeks.

顯然，其規模足以扭轉這一趨勢，但並不像回到 2022 年或 2023 年的水平。我們當然知道，隨著我們邁入 2026 年，他們保留改變想法和立場的權利，但在過去六到八週內，情況發生了顯著變化。

Got it. That's very helpful. And then any early thoughts you can share sort of on quality of concert lineup in 2026?

知道了。那很有幫助。那麼，您對2026年演唱會陣容的品質有什麼初步看法可以分享嗎？

Yes. We -- I'd say, continue to be looking to Live Nation for the prospective views on what's coming. I heard pretty positive commentary when I read the release, I think they touched on what clearly looks like positive North American growth, a skew towards larger venues. Thus far in the year, you get into these year-over-year comparisons where timing just varies slightly year-over-year. But we're in the midst of this year, Morgan Wallen just announced that I think will be one of the top tours of the year. We've seen several others.

是的。我認為，我們將繼續關注 Live Nation 對未來發展趨勢的看法。我讀到新聞稿後聽到了一些相當積極的評論，我認為他們提到了北美市場明顯呈現積極增長的趨勢，以及向大型場館的傾斜。今年到目前為止，你會遇到這些同比比較，而這些比較的時間點只是每年略有不同。但就在今年，摩根沃倫剛剛宣布，我認為這將是年度最佳巡迴賽之一。我們還見過其他幾個。

So at this point, I would say, other than week-to-week variance, it looks like the Live Nation commentary is flowing through in what we're seeing.

所以就目前來看，除了每週的波動之外，Live Nation 的評論似乎已經體現在我們所看到的比賽中了。

Ryan Sigdahl, Craig-Hallum.

Ryan Sigdahl，Craig-Hallum。

In response to the FTC lawsuit, Ticketmaster shutting down TradeDesk for concerts. They're also limiting Ticketmaster accounts even further as it appears as they take more action on pricing. Curious your perspective on this. Does this present an opportunity for Vivid to take share on the POS side. But at the same time, I guess the negative would be how much contraction and negative do you see from a supply standpoint in the secondary ticketing?

為回應美國聯邦貿易委員會的訴訟，Ticketmaster 關閉了演唱會票務交易平台 TradeDesk。他們似乎正在進一步限制 Ticketmaster 帳戶，因為他們正在對價格採取更多措施。很想聽聽你的看法。這是否為Vivid在POS領域搶佔市場份額提供了機會？但同時，我想負面影響在於，從供應角度來看，二級票務市場會出現多大的萎縮和負面影響？

Yes. Thanks, Ryan. I think you framed it properly in that any disruption to TradeDesk, I think, can only be a tailwind, and we think SkyBox will be waiting with open as with its best-in-class capabilities to support any customers who no longer have the full suite that they need to run their business and can only help our position.

是的。謝謝你，瑞恩。我認為你的說法很恰當，TradeDesk 的任何中斷，我認為都只會帶來利好，我們相信 SkyBox 將一如既往地保持開放，憑藉其一流的功能，為任何不再擁有運營業務所需完整套件的客戶提供支持，這只會有助於我們的地位。

And then as you said, counterbalance, if there is additional pressure, I'd start from our fundamental view is that the vast majority of what drives this industry is fundamental financial well-functioning financial market, right, where you have artists and teams who are looking to diversify risk. You have artists and teams who are looking to offload risk well in advance of shows and that there is a healthy, vibrant financial instrument via the secondary market that facilitates and benefits all parties.

正如你所說，為了平衡，如果出現額外的壓力，我會從我們的基本觀點出發，那就是推動這個行業發展的絕大多數因素是基本面良好的金融市場，對吧？在這個市場中，藝術家和團隊都在尋求分散風險。有些藝術家和團隊希望在演出前儘早轉移風險，而二級市場則提供了一種健康、充滿活力的金融工具，能夠促進和惠及各方。

To the extent folks are violating the rules of the game, we have always said this, we continue to say it, we can, should, will support anything and everything that needs to be done to ensure folks do play by the proper rules as defined by the artists and the primary ticketing platforms.

如果有人違反遊戲規則，我們一直都這麼說，以後也會繼續這麼說，我們可以、應該、將會支持任何必要的措施，以確保人們遵守藝術家和主要票務平台製定的正確規則。

To the extent there are folks that are -- I'm sure there are right, there's got to be a bad actor out there. To the extent those folks' behaviors are forced to modify, I think what will be unknown, right? And we'll find out, as you all find out, does that contract the secondary market? Or does it just change the form where you now have increased fragmentation where new smaller sellers fill in the gap and the overall market opportunity remains the same.

如果真有人是那樣的話──我確信肯定有，沒錯，一定會有一些害群之馬。如果這些人的行為被迫改變，我想結果會如何，我們不得而知，對吧？我們會發現，就像你們都會發現的那樣，這是否會導致二級市場萎縮？或者，它只是改變了市場形式，導致市場更加分散，新的小型賣家填補了市場空白，而整體市場機會保持不變。

So we'll keep a close eye on it. But I do think -- yes, there's a positive tailwind on TradeDesk, a potential headwind, but maybe not on the change to Ticketmaster policies.

所以我們會密切關注此事。但我認為——是的，TradeDesk 存在積極的順風，也可能存在逆風，但 Ticketmaster 政策的變化可能並非如此。

Then just the other hot topic kind of from an industry standpoint, direct issuance. Vivid has a smaller DI type offering with college basketball crown. But curious what you think about the ambitions of some of your peers in the space on this model specifically?

然後是另一個從行業角度來看的熱門話題，即直接發行。Vivid 提供較小的 DI 類型產品，包括大學籃球皇冠。但我很好奇，您對該領域一些同行在這個模式下的抱負有何看法？

And then kind of to your point on rules of the game, I guess, contractually, et cetera, I guess, just your thoughts on direct issuance and the viability of doing that in an accelerated way going forward? And what that potentially means from a secondary marketplace standpoint if that further limits the supply of brokers play?

然後，就像您剛才提到的遊戲規則，例如合約等方面，您對直接發行以及未來加速推進直接發行的可行性有什麼看法？如果這進一步限制了經紀商的參與，那麼從二級市場的角度來看，這可能意味著什麼？

Yes. I think obviously, strategies are subject to change. And so just reacting to the way we have seen the direct issuance opportunity defined to date, maybe they change us. But to date, it's been primarily focused as we understand it, on unsold inventory. And so you can imagine regular season baseball games, less popular theater shows where you have well past the event going on sale substantial available inventory available from the primary.

是的。我認為，策略顯然是會隨著時間而改變的。因此，僅僅根據我們迄今為止所看到的直接發行機會的定義方式，也許他們會改變我們。但據我們了解，迄今為止，它主要集中在未售出的庫存上。所以你可以想像一下常規賽季的棒球比賽，以及不太受歡迎的戲劇演出，在這些演出結束後，你仍然可以從主要管道獲得大量的可用庫存。

And if that gets piped directly into a secondary marketplace, that would represent incremental supply. I think the threshold question for the robustness of that opportunity would start with, is this a supply or demand-constrained industry?

如果這些商品直接流入二級市場，那就意味著供應量增加。我認為判斷這項機會是否穩健的關鍵問題在於，這是一個受供給限制還是受需求限制的產業？

And does the fact that you took an event that already had a decent amount of supply and made more available, will that stimulate incremental demand? Or will it cannibalize the eyeballs that you were already getting on the site and to sell more, you still need to get additional eyeballs and spend the marketing dollars to bring them in.

你把一個原本供應量就相當可觀的活動增加了供應量，這是否會刺激需求成長？或者它會蠶食你網站上已經吸引到的流量，為了賣出更多產品，你仍然需要吸引更多流量，並花費行銷資金來吸引他們。

Our viewpoint has been that generally, this is a demand-constrained exercise, not supply constrained in all but the most rarefied air, right? Like you could see Taylor Swift tickets really selling out, but most events, including World Series, Super Bowl, right? There are tickets available all the way up until the event starts even for the highest profile events. So I'd say we're a bit more muted on our belief of the impact that could have. But we certainly have heard that the ambitions are big, and so we'll keep a close eye.

我們的觀點是，總的來說，這是一項需求受限的活動，除了極少數例外情況外，都不是供應受限的活動，對吧？就像泰勒絲的演唱會門票經常售罄一樣，但大多數活動，包括世界大賽、超級碗，也是如此，對吧？即使是備受矚目的活動，直到活動開始前也都有門票販售。所以我覺得我們對這件事可能產生的影響持比較謹慎的態度。但我們確實聽說他們的目標很遠大，所以我們會密切注意。

Ralph Schackart, William Blair.

拉爾夫·沙卡特，威廉·布萊爾。

Larry, I just kind of want to circle back on sort of driving more awareness to the app and sort of the efforts there. I know you talked about having ESPN as a partner to do that, which is obviously a great partner to have there.

Larry，我只是想再談談如何提高人們對這款應用程式的認識以及我們在這方面所做的努力。我知道你曾說過想和 ESPN 合作，這顯然是一個非常好的合作夥伴。

But maybe you could just sort of provide a little bit more color how you drive more direct traffic here and build more awareness? And would you be contemplating potentially like a marketing campaign or other efforts to grow more awareness to go direct to the app?

但或許您可以更詳細地說明一下您是如何吸引更多直接客流並提高品牌知名度的？您是否正在考慮開展行銷活動或其他措施來提高知名度，引導用戶直接使用該應用程式？

Yes. Ralph, I think we're doing what I would call our brand marketing surge via ESPN. That is going to be concentrated in the near term kind of throughout Q4, which is peak sports season. I think this is an industry where there's been many attempts to do broad-based brand marketing, and it is challenging to prove compelling ROI from that. So I don't think we're going to reverse course and jump head first back into broad brand marketing.

是的。拉爾夫，我認為我們正在透過 ESPN 進行我所謂的品牌行銷推廣。短期內，也就是第四季度，將會是主要關注點，因為第四季度正是體育賽事的旺季。我認為在這個產業裡，已經有許多嘗試進行廣泛品牌行銷的例子，但要證明其能帶來令人信服的投資報酬率卻是一個挑戰。所以我認為我們不會改變方向，一頭扎回大眾品牌行銷中去。

I think we're going to continue to focus on thoughtful different slices of, call it, more targeted performance-based metrics. One of the advantages we have foundational strengths we have is we've been one of the leading marketplaces for a long time. And as a result, we sold a lot of tickets to a lot of people, and we have a really robust existing user base, really robust CRM database.

我認為我們將繼續專注於更深入、更有針對性的績效指標的各個方面。我們的優勢之一在於，我們長期以來一直是領先的市場平台之一。因此，我們向許多人售出了大量門票，我們擁有非常強大的現有用戶群和非常強大的客戶關係管理資料庫。

And so a lot of our effort has been increasing our personalization, improving the nature of our messaging. And now when we're delivering a message with a fundamentally improved value proposition, I think that leads to more engagement across that existing user base. And then continuing as people -- we acquire them on the web, making them immediately aware of what awaits -- if they trusted us enough to buy on the web, that's wonderful.

因此，我們投入了大量精力來提高個人化程度，改善訊息傳遞方式。現在，當我們傳遞的訊息具有根本性改進的價值主張時，我認為這會提高現有用戶群的參與度。然後，我們繼續以人的身份——我們透過網路獲取他們，讓他們立即意識到即將發生的事情——如果他們足夠信任我們，願意在網路上購買，那就太好了。

And I think we have perks that would compel them to come back to the app and making sure that, that hyper addressable audience gets made fully aware of the proposition. Those are the two major buckets I think we'll be focusing on in the near term.

我認為我們有一些福利可以促使他們再次使用該應用程序，並且要確保這個高度可觸達的受眾群體充分了解我們的方案。我認為這是我們近期將重點關注的兩個主要領域。

Steven McDermott, Bank of America.

史蒂文‧麥克德莫特，美國銀行。

Just two quick ones. Firstly, for 2026, what World Cup assumptions are kind of built into that outlook?

就兩個簡單的問題。首先，對於 2026 年世界杯，這種展望中包含了哪些假設？

Yes. We essentially have not assumed a meaningful impact from World Cup. I think that is primarily due to two things. One, there's not a lot of precedent that we can rely on, right? The US World Cup in an era with online secondary ticketing has zero precedent data points. When we look at the last two World Cups, they are in markets that we basically don't operate in, in Russia and Qatar.

是的。我們基本上沒有預料到世界盃會產生實質影響。我認為這主要是由於兩件事造成的。第一，我們沒有太多可以藉鏡的先例，對吧？在美國世界盃舉辦之際，由於存在線上二級票務系統，因此沒有任何先例可循。回顧最近兩屆世界杯，它們分別在俄羅斯和卡達這兩個我們基本上沒有涉足的市場舉辦。

And so trying to strike a cautious tone given a lack of conviction beyond that. The second observation, I think it's fairly well documented, but we've seen FIFA be, let's say, quite aggressive in seeking to monetize, optimize their monetization of the event. I think it's safe to assume there will be incremental volume. We will benefit from it.

因此，鑑於缺乏更進一步的信念，我試圖採取謹慎的語氣。第二個觀察結果，我認為已經有許多文獻記載，我們看到國際足總在尋求賽事獲利、優化賽事獲利方面表現得相當積極。我認為可以肯定的是，銷量會逐步成長。我們將從中受益。

But between those two factors, we've opted to essentially disregard it as we've contemplated our outlook for next year, and it would purely represent upside.

但考慮到這兩個因素，我們在展望明年時選擇基本上忽略它，它純粹代表著上行空間。

Got it. Appreciate that color. And then my second question, just -- it sounds like you said StubHub pulled back on marketing spend a bit. Is it fair to say that the Q3 exit rate improved on a year-over-year basis?

知道了。欣賞這種顏色。我的第二個問題是——聽起來您好像說 StubHub 減少了一些行銷支出。可以說第三季的退出率較去年同期有改善嗎？

Yes. I think it would be fair to say that over the course of Q3, we saw a shift in their behavior and a corresponding shift in volumes across marketplaces. Yes, that happened closer to the end of Q3 than the beginning.

是的。我認為可以公平地說，在第三季度，我們看到了他們的行為發生了轉變，並且各個市場的交易量也發生了相應的轉變。是的，這件事發生在第三季末而不是季度初。

Brad Erickson, RBC Capital Markets.

Brad Erickson，加拿大皇家銀行資本市場。

I just follow up on that last one, actually, Larry. When you say -- or when you look at kind of what's instructing the stabilization commentary on the owned property business, so you mentioned competitive intensity easing several times. Is that kind of the main driver? Any other drivers you'd call out there, either things in your control or other market forces?

實際上，我只是在跟進最後一個問題，拉里。當你談到——或者當你審視那些指導自有資產業務穩定化評論的因素時，你多次提到競爭強度有所緩解。這是主要驅動因素嗎？還有其他需要注意的因素嗎？無論是你能控制的因素，還是其他市場力量？

Yes. I think the biggest one is -- so yes, the competitive landscape, of course, matters. But I'd say similar, if not equal, if not slightly more important in terms of what we've seen in the immediate term has been this value proposition push. And inherent in what we're trying to achieve, as we get more volume in our app, I think that is a more protected ecosystem, right?

是的。我認為最大的問題是──所以，是的，競爭格局當然很重要。但我認為，就我們目前所看到的而言，價值主張的推動同樣重要，甚至可能更重要。隨著我們應用程式使用量的增加，我認為我們所追求的目標本身就是一個更安全的生態系統，對嗎？

You can bid whatever you want for a Google Link. But if someone already has our app, already trust us is already looking at us. they will likely look at us. And if we have a structurally better offer, it doesn't matter who else is buying the top Google Link. And so there's -- you control your own destiny more on app. That's why we're pushing, right, reduce the surface area and exposure to competitive response. That's a long game play, right?

你可以隨意出價購買谷歌連結。但如果用戶已經安裝了我們的應用程式，信任我們，並且正在關注我們，他們很可能會再次選擇我們。如果我們有結構上更優的方案，那麼其他誰在購買谷歌搜尋結果頂部連結就無關緊要了。所以，在應用程式內，你能更掌控自己的命運。這就是為什麼我們要努力減少表面積和暴露於競爭對手反應之下的可能性。這是一場持久戰，對吧？

You don't make that change and immediately have profound shift of volume from one channel to the other. But we have seen market increases in the volume that's moving into the app. And I think this is one of those like layer cake dynamics where every month that goes where you bring in a new cohort of customers who have done their research, seen the value prop, they're going to be fundamentally stickier. And over time, that will compound and build into something pretty exciting.

你做出這個改變後，音量不會立即從一個聲道大幅轉移到另一個聲道。但我們已經看到，使用該應用程式的用戶數量有所增加。我認為這就像千層蛋糕一樣，每個月都會有一群新的客戶加入，他們事先做過調查，看到了產品的價值主張，因此他們的忠誠度會更高。隨著時間的推移，這將不斷累積，最終形成一些非常令人興奮的事情。

Got it. And then I appreciate the '26 guide and all you gave the EBITDA numbers. Any color you can give maybe on cash conversion relative to that EBITDA guide?

知道了。然後，我很感謝你們提供的 2026 年指南以及所有 EBITDA 數據。您能否就現金轉換率相對於 EBITDA 指引的具體情況提供一些見解？

Yes. So I appreciate that question. Yes, I think if we look at our cash obligations moving forward, you have roughly $20 million of net interest expense. We'll have a bit less than $20 million of ex cap software. And then we mentioned in this release that pro forma for the TRA transaction, we'll have about $3 million of cash taxes, primarily from international operations.

是的。我很感謝你提出這個問題。是的，我認為如果我們看一下我們未來的現金義務，你們大約有 2000 萬美元的淨利息支出。我們將擁有價值略低於 2000 萬美元的（不包括資本化）軟體。然後我們在本新聞稿中提到，根據 TRA 交易的備考情況，我們將有約 300 萬美元的現金稅款，主要來自國際業務。

So you sum those up before you consider working capital, you have a roughly $40 million set of cash obligations. As we've kind of talked about quite a bit the last few quarters, when we're growing, working capital is a source when we're shrinking, it's a use of cash.

所以，在考慮營運資金之前，將這些加起來，你大約有 4000 萬美元的現金負債。正如我們在過去幾個季度中經常談到的那樣，當我們成長時，營運資金是一種來源；當我們萎縮時，它就是一種現金用途。

And so I think at the epicenter of will cash balance grow next year is do you believe that we can sequentially grow GOV. I think it's reasonable to assume that take Q1 as we lap the private label losses that we saw in Q3, continue to lap those. The overall year-over-year GOV numbers will continue to be down. But if the sequential help because the balance sheet kind of remark to market every quarter is stable and growing, you can see working capital reverse course. And so the base case plan is at the midpoint or better of our guidance, we would expect to be cash generative next year.

因此，我認為明年現金餘額能否成長的核心問題是：你是否相信政府支出能夠逐年成長？我認為可以合理地假設，第一季我們將彌補第三季自有品牌業務的虧損，並繼續彌補這些虧損。政府部門整體年比數據將持續下降。但如果連續的幫助是因為資產負債表每季對市場的評論都保持穩定成長，那麼你就可以看到營運資本的逆轉趨勢。因此，基本方案將達到或超過我們預期目標的中點，我們預計明年將實現現金流。

Ben Black, Deutsche Bank.

本·布萊克，德意志銀行。

This is Kunal for Ben. Quick one on the outlook, and you just talked about the cash flow consequences that we could see. One thing with regard to the assumption that underlie that. So are you assuming that the competitive intensity remains at the September, October levels in 2026? Or are you assuming that maybe things go back to what we had seen earlier in this year, and that is what determines the market share that you expect in '26?

這是庫納爾給本的。關於前景展望，您剛才也談到了我們可能會看到的現金流影響。關於背後的假設，有一點需要說明。所以你是認為到 2026 年，競爭強度仍將維持在 9 月、10 月的水準嗎？或者您認為情況可能會回到今年早些時候的情況，而這決定了您預期在 2026 年的市場份額？

And then the second one would be with regard to the traffic that you are getting and the traffic that you have on your app. What is different from other providers that makes your value proposition so unique that people will not go anywhere else to shop?

第二個問題是關於你獲得的流量以及你的應用程式的流量。與其他供應商相比，您的價值主張有何不同之處，以至於人們不會去其他地方購物？

Yes. So let me start with the app value prop because I think that's a really compelling one. I think we've talked about our loyalty program for a number of years. We continue to be on a journey to build awareness of that loyalty program. But those who find and use that program, I think, structurally buy more at a multiple of the typical user. And it -- even before the more recent changes to our value proposition, I think, resulted in kind of a clear best-in-class value prop.

是的。那麼，就讓我先從應用價值主張說起吧，因為我認為這是一個非常有說服力的主張。我想我們已經討論會員忠誠度計劃好幾年了。我們將繼續努力提高人們對該會員計劃的認知度。但我認為，那些找到並使用該程式的人，其購買量通常是普通用戶的數倍。而且──即使在我們價值主張發生最近變化之前，我認為它就已經形成了相當明顯的同類最佳價值主張。

And then recently, what we've really pushed is base lower everyday pricing. And then we're continually innovating on what kind of inducements and incentives we can provide as customers move through their journey -- their lifetime journey with us.

最近，我們一直在大力推行降低日常基本價格。然後，我們不斷創新，探索在客戶與我們共同經歷的整個生命週期中，我們可以提供什麼樣的激勵和獎勵。

So we think if you create an experience where someone comes in and realizes that your pricing without paying consideration to any incentives, without paying consideration to loyalty are the best in the industry relative to our largest competitors, you have a good experience, right?

所以我們認為，如果你創造一種體驗，讓顧客走進店裡，意識到你的定價（不考慮任何優惠或忠誠度）相對於我們最大的競爭對手而言是業內最佳的，那麼你就擁有了良好的體驗，對吧？

You get great customer service, you enjoy the way out of the site. And then subsequent to that, you get thoughtful recommendations, you get incentives and inducements, you sign up for loyalty and that price advantage becomes even more significant. That's a really compelling lifetime experience.

您將獲得優質的客戶服務，並且可以輕鬆退出網站。然後，在此之後，你會得到貼心的建議、獎勵和激勵，你會註冊成為會員，而價格優勢會變得更加顯著。那真是一次難忘的人生經驗。

Now is that to say that others can't offer various elements of that. I don't think there's anything philosophically that would prevent folks from doing it. I think it's an economic question, right? If you're spending significant amounts bidding for the top keywords on search, can you do that and offer these lower price points?

但這是否意味著其他人就不能提供其中的各種要素呢？我認為從哲學角度來看，沒有什麼能阻止人們這樣做。我覺得這是一個經濟問題，對吧？如果你花費大量資金競標搜尋排名靠前的關鍵字，你能做到在競標的同時提供更低的價格嗎？

If you have very large partnership obligations, can you do those and offer these inducements and incentives. So we'll see, right? I think our belief is that we can operate the leanest platform, and that uniquely enables us to sustainably deliver a best-in-class value prop and others will need to respond as they see fit.

如果你有非常大的合夥義務，你能做到嗎？你能提供這些激勵和獎勵嗎？我們拭目以待吧？我認為，我們相信我們能夠運作最精簡的平台，這使我們能夠以獨特的方式持續提供一流的價值主張，而其他人則需要根據自己的判斷做出回應。

As it relates to the first question on the competitive environment contemplated, it's difficult to be precise on this. We certainly have seen that it's been kind of an up into the right level of intensity over the last two years, and we are -- we want to make sure we don't just forget that. We also want to reflect that we have seen a change.

至於第一個關於競爭環境的問題，很難給出確切的答案。我們已經看到，在過去的兩年裡，比賽的強度已經逐漸提升到了合適的水平，我們——我們想確保我們不會忘記這一點。我們也想表達，我們已經看到了一些改變。

And so I would characterize the midpoint as, call it, something in between what we've seen in September and October and what we saw at the worst of it kind of late Q1, early Q2. And so a little bit of reversion from the run rate, but not all the way back to the most extreme point that we saw.

因此，我會將中間點描述為介於我們在 9 月和 10 月看到的情況與我們在第一季末、第二季初最糟糕的情況之間的某種狀態。因此，運行速度略有回落，但並沒有完全回到我們看到的極端點。

Thomas Forte, Maxim Group.

Thomas Forte，Maxim集團。

So first off, congratulations, Larry and Ted, on the new opportunities and best wishes to Stan for his future endeavors. One question, one follow-up. So Larry, are you seeing any changes in consumer behavior when it comes to the secondary ticket market? For example, when you have a game seven and a playoff series, are they still willing to pay premium prices for the experience as they have in the past?

首先，恭喜 Larry 和 Ted 獲得新的機遇，也祝福 Stan 在未來的事業中一切順利。一個問題，一個後續問題。拉里，你覺得在二級票務市場方面，消費者的行為有什麼改變嗎？例如，當比賽進入第七場決勝局或季後賽時，觀眾是否還願意像過去那樣支付高價來觀看比賽？

Yes. Tom, I would say, as a broad aggregate statement, continues to feel like live events are a central piece of what consumers want to spend their money on. We had a tough World Series comp, right? You can't really get better than the Yankees and Dodgers. And so I think World Series volumes and average order size were down relative to that.

是的。湯姆，我認為，總的來說，現場活動仍然是消費者願意花錢的核心內容。我們遇到了一場競爭激烈的世界大賽，對吧？洋基隊和道奇隊真是無可匹敵。所以我認為世界大賽的成交量和平均訂單規模相對於這種情況有所下降。

But when we look at the World Series relative to every year post-COVID other than the Yankees and Dodgers, this was the second best year. And so I think healthy, robust demand, we're seeing that across a lot of high-profile events. I think we alluded to this last quarter. To the extent we have seen softness, it's more been on the lower end of the market.

但如果我們把新冠疫情後除洋基隊和道奇隊之外的每一年的世界大賽成績進行比較，今年是第二好的一年。所以我認為，健康、強勁的需求正在顯現，我們在許多備受矚目的活動中都看到了這一點。我想我們在上個季度已經提到過這一點。我們所看到的疲軟局面，更多體現在市場的低端領域。

And I think we actually see that manifest in Vegas more than in our core business. The call it, weekday lower AOS shows have been feeling, I think, some of this much talked about consumer softness.

而我認為，這種現像在拉斯維加斯比在我們核心業務中表現得更為明顯。我認為，平日較低的平均銷售業績已經感受到了人們常說的消費者疲軟情緒。

Excellent. And then I might be a little early in this one. But can you talk about your capital allocation priorities, including reinvesting in the business, international expansion, strategic M&A and buybacks?

出色的。那麼，我可能來得有點早了。但您能否談談您的資本配置優先事項，包括對業務的再投資、國際擴張、策略併購和股票回購？

Yes. I think for now, it's reasonable to assume that we won't be looking to complete acquisitive M&A that would be, call it, adjacencies. I think we've long believed that there could be a compelling consolidation in the space. And so we would be eager participants in that. But TAM expansion, I think we've got to batten the hatches and focus on the core business.

是的。我認為目前可以合理地假設，我們不會尋求完成所謂的鄰近性收購併購。我認為我們一直都相信，這個領域可能會出現一次引人注目的整合。因此，我們將積極參與其中。但要擴大TAM市場，我認為我們必須做好充分準備，專注於核心業務。

Given the performance on both EBITDA and cash flow this year, I think we'll display a lot of prudence on any cash leaving the system, including share repurchases in the near term. I think we think that there's a very compelling value at these prices, but step one is batten the hatches and assure that we have all of the capital we need to continue investing in all the initiatives that we see really compelling ROIs against such as international.

鑑於今年 EBITDA 和現金流的表現，我認為我們會對任何流出系統的現金（包括近期內的股票回購）保持非常謹慎的態度。我認為我們認為這些價格具有非常誘人的價值，但第一步是做好準備，確保我們擁有繼續投資於所有我們認為具有真正令人信服的投資回報率的項目（例如國際項目）所需的全部資金。

And so we'll keep doing the defend the core. And then once we have a little more of a proven track record of stabilization, return to growth, return to cash, we can open up the aperture a bit.

所以我們會繼續捍衛核心領土。然後，一旦我們在穩定、恢復成長和恢復現金流方面有了更可靠的記錄，我們就可以稍微放寬限制了。

Andrew Marok, Raymond James.

Andrew Marok，Raymond James。

Maybe on the international part there, I guess, what signals are you seeing in kind of that what you call the core international business that give you the impetus to continue investing there as opposed to maybe rationalizing some incremental cost savings out of that business?

我想，在國際業務方面，您認為在您所謂的核心國際業務中，有哪些訊號促使您繼續投資，而不是從該業務中合理化一些增量成本節約？

Yes. Andrew, I'd start with -- we've been pleasantly surprised at the quickness with which we've been able to bring the international business to be contribution margin positive. So we are there today already. I think we've had -- just to refresh on the context, Viagogo has a very substantial market position in Europe. And as a result, when we have shown up in pockets where we have fully competitive supply, and I would say that has initially been areas where it's either NFL comes to Europe, US artists go on global tours or other events where US sellers have meaningful positions.

是的。安德魯，我想先說——我們驚喜地發現，我們能夠如此迅速地使國際業務實現正貢獻毛利。所以，我們今天就已經達到目標了。我想我們已經——為了回顧一下背景，Viagogo 在歐洲擁有非常重要的市場地位。因此，當我們出現在供應完全具有競爭力的地區時，我認為最初是 NFL 來到歐洲、美國藝術家進行全球巡迴演出或其他美國賣家佔據重要地位的活動領域。

We immediately have fully competitive supply. When we have competed for traffic and eyeballs on those areas with competitive supply and competitive pricing, we have seen abundant success. The task ahead then is to continue to add pockets across various countries, especially with a focus on local events where we can have that fully competitive supply and pricing.

我們立即擁有極具競爭力的供應能力。當我們透過有競爭力的供應和有競爭力的價格來爭取這些地區的客流量和關注度時，我們取得了巨大的成功。因此，接下來的任務是繼續在各個國家增加銷售點，尤其要注重本地活動，以便我們能夠提供完全具有競爭力的供應和定價。

And from what we've seen, the ability to market profitably will follow quickly once you have that supply in place. That's some hand-to-hand knife fighting to get to that point. And so that's the journey we're on from here.

從我們所看到的來看，一旦有了供應，獲利銷售的能力很快就會隨之而來。那可是相當激烈的近身刀戰才打到那個地步的。這就是我們接下來要走的路。

There are no further questions at this time. That concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

目前沒有其他問題了。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。