華納兄弟探索 (WBD) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Additionally, please be advised that today's conference call is being recorded.

女士們，先生們，歡迎來到 Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）此外，請注意今天的電話會議正在錄製中。

I would like to hand the conference over to Mr. Andrew Slabin, Executive Vice President, Global Investor Strategy. Sir, you may now begin.

我想將會議交給全球投資者戰略執行副總裁 Andrew Slabin 先生。先生，您現在可以開始了。

Good morning, and welcome to Warner Bros. Discovery's Q1 Earnings Call. With me today is: David Zaslav, President and CEO; Gunnar Wiedenfels, our CFO; and JB Perrette, CEO and President, Global Streaming and Games.

早上好，歡迎來到 Warner Bros. Discovery 的第一季度財報電話會議。今天和我在一起的是：總裁兼首席執行官 David Zaslav；我們的首席財務官 Gunnar Wiedenfels；全球流媒體和遊戲業務首席執行官兼總裁 JB Perrette。

Before we start, I'd like to remind you that today's conference call will include forward-looking statements that we make pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements include comments regarding the company's future business plans, prospects and financial performance. These statements are made based on management's current knowledge and assumptions about future events and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. In providing projections and other forward-looking statements, the company disclaims any intent or obligation to update them.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，今天的電話會議將包括我們根據 1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法案的安全港條款做出的前瞻性陳述。前瞻性陳述包括對公司的評論未來的業務計劃、前景和財務業績。這些陳述是根據管理層對未來事件的當前知識和假設做出的，涉及可能導致實際結果與我們的預期大不相同的風險和不確定性。在提供預測和其他前瞻性陳述時，公司不承擔更新它們的任何意圖或義務。

For additional information on factors that could affect these expectations, please see the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission including, but not limited to, the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and its reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K. A copy of our Q1 earnings release, trending schedule and accompanying slide deck is available on our website at ir.wbd.com.

有關可能影響這些預期的因素的更多信息，請參閱公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，包括但不限於公司最近的 10-K 表格年度報告及其 10-Q 表格和表格 8-K。我們的網站 ir.wbd.com 上提供了我們第一季度收益發布、趨勢時間表和隨附幻燈片的副本。

And with that, I am pleased to turn the call over to David.

因此，我很高興將電話轉給大衛。

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We've had a very busy and productive year thus far. And while we have lots more to do and more to attack, and we are aggressively doing just that, the diversified nature of our company continues to provide a strong foundation that enables us to weather challenging environments, like the one we're in, and still generate meaningful free cash flow.

大家好，感謝您加入我們。到目前為止，我們度過了非常忙碌和富有成效的一年。雖然我們還有很多事情要做，也有更多事情要做，而且我們正在積極地這樣做，但我們公司的多元化性質繼續提供堅實的基礎，使我們能夠經受住充滿挑戰的環境，比如我們所處的環境，以及仍然產生有意義的自由現金流。

We expected the marketplace to be challenged. And with clear eyes, we remain confident in our strategy and our ability to generate free cash flow and end this year below 4x levered with our streaming service as a tailwind. Gunnar will take you through the specifics. But for some perspective, on a trailing 12-month basis, we generated $2.1 billion in free cash flow, even after absorbing $1.2 billion in cash restructuring and merger-related costs.

我們預計市場會受到挑戰。憑藉清晰的眼光，我們仍然對我們的戰略和產生自由現金流的能力充滿信心，並在今年年底以我們的流媒體服務作為順風將槓桿率降至 4 倍以下。 Gunnar 將帶您了解細節。但從某種角度來看，在過去 12 個月的基礎上，我們產生了 21 億美元的自由現金流，即使在吸收了 12 億美元的現金重組和合併相關成本之後。

Turning to the quarter. While Q1 is seasonally our weakest and we saw challenging revenue headwinds, mainly on the linear TV and studio sides, we are on track to achieve this year's financial targets. And we see a number of positive proof points emerging across our businesses with Direct-to-Consumer, perhaps the most prominent.

轉向季度。雖然第一季度是我們最弱的季節性，而且我們看到了具有挑戰性的收入逆風，主要是在線性電視和工作室方面，但我們有望實現今年的財務目標。我們看到許多積極的證據點出現在我們的業務中，直接面向消費者，也許是最突出的。

We have strong command and control of our DTC business. We made a meaningful turn this quarter, generating $50 million in EBITDA and adding 1.6 million new subscribers. And we feel really good about the trajectory we are on. We now expect our U.S. DTC business to not only break even ahead of schedule but to be profitable for the year 2023, this year, a year ahead of our guidance.

我們對 DTC 業務擁有強大的指揮和控制權。我們在本季度取得了有意義的轉變，產生了 5000 萬美元的 EBITDA 並增加了 160 萬新訂戶。我們對我們所處的軌跡感到非常滿意。我們現在預計我們的美國 DTC 業務不僅會提前實現收支平衡，而且會在今年 2023 年實現盈利，比我們的指導提前一年。

And it's worth noting, HBO Max and discovery+ are still only available to less than half of the global streaming market. So there is significant runway ahead of us. And we are attacking this opportunity. Max launches here in the U.S. on May 23 with Latin America to follow later this year and markets in EMEA and APAC in 2024. And the service looks terrific and is a broad and compelling offering for everyone in the family.

值得注意的是，HBO Max 和 discovery+ 仍然只面向全球不到一半的流媒體市場。所以我們前面有一條重要的跑道。我們正在抓住這個機會。 Max 將於 5 月 23 日在美國推出，今年晚些時候將在拉丁美洲推出，並於 2024 年在 EMEA 和 APAC 推出市場。這項服務看起來很棒，對家庭中的每個人來說都是一項廣泛而引人注目的服務。

We anticipate having a healthy pipeline of our new content added to Max monthly. And recognizing that one of the real advantages we have as a company is the strength and depth of our franchises, including Harry Potter for a decade, Game of Thrones and DC, we are delivering on our commitment to reinvigorate the best of them with new, exciting stories for fans around the world.

我們預計每個月都會有一個健康的新內容管道添加到 Max。並認識到我們作為一家公司擁有的真正優勢之一是我們特許經營權的實力和深度，包括十年的哈利波特、權力的遊戲和 DC，我們正在履行我們的承諾，通過新的、為世界各地的粉絲講述激動人心的故事。

While at launch, the Max offering will feature the full range of entertainment, this is really just the beginning. We are actively working on options to expand our lineup to include news and sports, acknowledging that this live programming has the power to keep consumers coming back for more and staying longer. We look forward to sharing further details with you in the months ahead.

在推出時，Max 產品將提供全方位的娛樂功能，這實際上只是一個開始。我們正在積極研究擴大我們的陣容以包括新聞和體育節目的選項，我們承認這種直播節目有能力讓消費者回來更多並停留更長時間。我們期待在未來幾個月與您分享更多細節。

As part of our marketing campaign, under our one company strategy, we are taking full advantage of the range of available media assets company-wide to include our U.S. cable networks and our popular digital outlets, like Bleacher Report and CNN.com. We're planning to roll out Max in most key markets around the world.

作為我們營銷活動的一部分，根據我們的單一公司戰略，我們正在充分利用全公司可用的媒體資產範圍，包括我們的美國有線電視網絡和我們流行的數字媒體，如 Bleacher Report 和 CNN.com。我們計劃在全球大多數主要市場推出 Max。

In an effort to reach the broadest possible audience and in keeping with our second strategic pillar, to monetize our content in the most financially advantageous ways, we are also going to continue pursuing other licensing and output deals in markets where either that makes better strategic and financial sense or where HBO Max isn't currently available, often with paths to eventually launch Max when we're ready.

為了覆蓋盡可能廣泛的受眾，並與我們的第二個戰略支柱保持一致，以最具財務優勢的方式將我們的內容貨幣化，我們還將繼續在市場上尋求其他許可和輸出交易，以實現更好的戰略和財務意識或 HBO Max 當前不可用的地方，通常有在我們準備好時最終啟動 Max 的途徑。

Our recent deals in Canada and India, for example, are very lucrative with no expenses against them. We already own that content. How we serve consumers is important. But the wealth of our media assets, brands and IP and our ability to deliver diverse, high-quality content that viewers want to watch and will pay for is what truly differentiates us and makes the opportunity we have to drive real value so compelling. It's the reason we brought these two companies together.

例如，我們最近在加拿大和印度的交易非常有利可圖，而且沒有任何費用。我們已經擁有該內容。我們如何為消費者服務很重要。但我們的媒體資產、品牌和知識產權的財富，以及我們提供觀眾想要觀看並願意付費的多樣化、高質量內容的能力，才是真正讓我們與眾不同的地方，也讓我們有機會推動真正的價值變得如此引人注目。這就是我們將這兩家公司合併在一起的原因。

This year, we celebrate Warner Bros.'s 100th anniversary. This studio has historically been the crown jewel of the industry. And we are working hard to rebuild it to its former glory. We're driving meaningful, creative momentum with more and more of the most talented storytellers in the business choosing to partner with us.

今年，我們慶祝華納兄弟成立 100 週年。該工作室歷來是該行業皇冠上的明珠。我們正在努力重建它，讓它重現昔日的輝煌。隨著越來越多的企業中最有才華的故事講述者選擇與我們合作，我們正在推動有意義的、創造性的勢頭。

On the film side, after a very challenging year at the box office, we are excited and optimistic about the slate of movies coming, including Dune 2, Barbie and DC's Blue Beetle and The Flash. We screened The Flash at CinemaCon last week. And early reactions have been overwhelmingly positive. We are committed not just to expanding the size of our film slate next year, but even more important, we are committed to making great, high-quality films that have an impact. As I've said many times, and we believe it, it's not about how much, it's about how good.

在電影方面，在經歷了票房充滿挑戰的一年之後，我們對即將上映的一系列電影感到興奮和樂觀，其中包括《沙丘 2》、芭比娃娃和 DC 的《藍甲蟲》和《閃電俠》。我們上週在 CinemaCon 放映了閃電俠。早期的反應非常積極。我們不僅致力於擴大明年的電影名單，更重要的是，我們致力於製作具有影響力的優質電影。正如我多次說過的，我們相信，重要的不是多少，而是有多好。

One of the real strengths of our company is the diversity of our storytelling. And in this centennial year, we're especially excited to be reinvigorating our feature animation business, which has a long history and a wealth of great IP. Bill Damaschke, the former Head of DreamWorks Animation, has taken the helm of our film animation group and is hard at work, together with Mike and Pam, developing a new slate. While at DreamWorks, Bill oversaw hit productions, including Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods, and is a great addition to our all-star team.

我們公司的真正優勢之一是我們講故事的多樣性。在這百年之際，我們特別興奮能夠重振我們擁有悠久歷史和豐富優秀 IP 的長片動畫業務。夢工廠動畫公司前負責人比爾·達馬施克 (Bill Damaschke) 接管了我們的電影動畫團隊，並與邁克和帕姆一起努力工作，開發新的名單。在夢工廠期間，比爾監督了包括馬達加斯加、功夫熊貓、馴龍高手和瘋狂原始人在內的熱門作品，他是我們全明星團隊的重要成員。

On the interactive side, we're also seeing continuing momentum in our gaming business. Hogwarts Legacy has amassed more than $1 billion in retail sales and over 15 million units sold worldwide to date. And today, the team is launching the game on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms. This is our fifth $1 billion-plus gaming franchise, alongside Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, our LEGO games and DC. And there's lots more games coming, including Hogwarts Legacy on Switch later this year.

在互動方面，我們也看到了遊戲業務的持續發展勢頭。迄今為止，Hogwarts Legacy 的零售額已超過 10 億美元，全球銷量超過 1500 萬套。而今天，該團隊將在 PlayStation 4 和 Xbox One 平台上推出這款遊戲。這是我們第五個超過 10 億美元的遊戲特許經營權，與真人快打、權力的遊戲、我們的樂高遊戲和 DC 一起。還有更多遊戲即將推出，包括今年晚些時候在 Switch 上推出的霍格沃茨遺產。

Another area we're very focused on is ad sales. While our results for Q1 continue to reflect the current soft ad market, we are optimistic for a gradual improvement and an eventual upturn in the second half of the year. In a couple of weeks, we'll host our Upfront. Last year's Upfront was right on the heels of closing of our merger. And since then, we've refined our sales organization and our approach. And the team is executing against what we believe is a strong strategy. We are also advantaged by the diversity and strength of our ad-supported platforms. In particular, sports and streaming are two key areas for this year's market. And we are extremely well positioned in both.

我們非常關注的另一個領域是廣告銷售。雖然我們第一季度的業績繼續反映當前疲軟的廣告市場，但我們對逐步改善並最終在下半年好轉持樂觀態度。幾週後，我們將舉辦 Upfront。去年的 Upfront 就在我們合併結束之後。從那時起，我們改進了我們的銷售組織和方法。該團隊正在執行我們認為是一項強有力的戰略。我們的廣告支持平台的多樣性和優勢也使我們受益匪淺。特別是，體育和流媒體是今年市場的兩個關鍵領域。我們在這兩個方面都處於非常有利的位置。

Looking ahead to the next couple of months, we'll host the NBA Eastern Conference Finals in a few weeks. Given the four teams in the mix, it's shaping up to be a great series. And in June, we've got the Stanley Cup Finals on TNT, the first time ever that one of the four major professional team sports will air its finals series solely on a cable network. We're very excited about that.

展望接下來的幾個月，我們將在幾週後舉辦 NBA 東部決賽。鑑於組合中的四支球隊，這將成為一個偉大的系列賽。 6 月，我們在 TNT 上觀看了斯坦利杯總決賽，這是有史以來第一次四大職業團隊運動之一僅在有線網絡上播出其總決賽系列賽。我們對此感到非常興奮。

On the Direct-to-Consumer side, we now have more than 15 foundational advertising partners purely on HBO Originals, something you couldn't buy just 3 months ago and a truly unique offering for brands. The Mercedes-Benz title sponsorship of Succession is a good example and a first-of-its-kind opportunity. The combination of impactful campaigns and a limited ad watching experience for consumers, on average, ad-supported subscribers will see 1 to 2 minutes of ads per hour, represents a real win-win for all involved.

在直接面向消費者方面，我們現在擁有超過 15 個完全基於 HBO Originals 的基礎廣告合作夥伴，這是您在 3 個月前還買不到的東西，也是品牌真正獨特的產品。梅賽德斯-奔馳對 Succession 的冠名贊助就是一個很好的例子，也是史無前例的機會。有影響力的活動與消費者有限的廣告觀看體驗相結合，廣告支持的訂閱者平均每小時會看到 1 到 2 分鐘的廣告，這對所有參與者來說都是真正的雙贏。

When you consider the quality of the service, the attractive price point and the limited amount of advertising, it simply can't be beat. We're also providing huge value to advertisers by creating these Sunday night buzzy shows, like Euphoria, Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, and of course, Succession. These shared experiences enable advertisers to build the desired reach quickly.

當您考慮到服務質量、誘人的價格點和有限的廣告量時，它簡直就是無與倫比。我們還通過製作這些週日晚上的熱門節目，為廣告商提供巨大的價值，例如 Euphoria、權力的遊戲、最後生還者，當然還有 Succession。這些共享的經驗使廣告商能夠快速建立所需的覆蓋面。

This is expected to be a big year for news as well with the presidential cycle kicking off soon. We anticipate real growth out of CNN. And we'll be selling heavily into the Upfront for town halls, primaries and conventions. Needless to say, we've got a lot of irons in the fire. And this busy year is looking to get even busier. We're driving leverage down, generating free cash flow and continuing to build a sustainable business for the long term.

預計今年將是新聞大年，總統任期即將開始。我們期待 CNN 的真正增長。我們將大量銷售到市政廳、初选和會議的前期。不用說，我們在火中有很多熨斗。而這個忙碌的一年正變得更加忙碌。我們正在降低杠桿率，產生自由現金流，並繼續建立長期可持續發展的業務。

And as the macro environment begins to improve, we believe, given the efficiencies we've put in place, command and control and our diversified portfolio of media assets, storytelling IP and talent, we are strongly positioned to achieve even higher free cash flow and EBITDA heights, and ultimately, meaningfully grow shareholder value.

隨著宏觀環境開始改善，我們相信，鑑於我們已經實施的效率、指揮和控制以及我們多元化的媒體資產、講故事 IP 和人才組合，我們有能力實現更高的自由現金流和EBITDA 達到高峰，並最終有意義地增加股東價值。

And now I'll turn it over to Gunnar. And he'll take you through the financials and the specifics of the quarter and what's ahead. Gunnar?

現在我將把它交給 Gunnar。他將帶您了解本季度的財務狀況和具體情況，以及未來的發展方向。岡納爾？

Thank you, David, and good morning. On balance, I'm very pleased with where we are and very encouraged by the progress of our priority initiatives, which are all moving forward as planned.

謝謝你，大衛，早上好。總的來說，我對我們所處的位置感到非常滿意，並且對我們優先計劃的進展感到非常鼓舞，這些計劃都按計劃向前推進。

We generated 12% constant currency EBITDA growth this quarter, a strong starting point for the year and also the first quarter of EBITDA growth since closing the merger. I remain confident in our guidance of adjusted EBITDA in the range of low to mid-$11 billion and 1/3 to 1/2 conversion to free cash flow with net leverage at the end of 2023 comfortably below 4x. As always, there are a number of moving pieces. And this quarter is no exception, so I'd like to address the key puts and takes impacting our results and outlook.

本季度我們實現了 12% 的不變貨幣 EBITDA 增長，這是今年的一個強勁起點，也是自合併結束以來 EBITDA 增長的第一季度。我仍然對我們調整後的 EBITDA 的指導充滿信心，該範圍在 110 億美元到中等範圍內，1/3 到 1/2 轉換為自由現金流，到 2023 年底淨槓桿率輕鬆低於 4 倍。一如既往，有許多動人的作品。本季度也不例外，所以我想談談影響我們的結果和前景的關鍵問題。

Starting with DTC. As we enter this next leg of the journey, kicking off with the launch of Max on May 23, we're already very pleased with the traction we are seeing, having generated $50 million of EBITDA this quarter. Perhaps more importantly, we're continuing to see improvements across key operating KPIs, such as in our retention metrics. We also added 1.6 million subscribers globally in part due to the strong creative success of The Last of Us.

從 DTC 開始。隨著 5 月 23 日 Max 的發布，我們進入了旅程的下一站，我們已經對我們看到的牽引力感到非常滿意，本季度已經產生了 5000 萬美元的 EBITDA。也許更重要的是，我們繼續看到關鍵運營 KPI 的改進，例如我們的保留指標。我們還在全球範圍內增加了 160 萬訂戶，部分原因是《最後生還者》在創意方面的巨大成功。

We've driven a healthy amount of lasting efficiency improvements across this business through the initial phase of DTC integration. In fact, DTC operating expenses were down over $760 million or 24% excluding FX on a pro forma basis in the first quarter. All of this now provides much greater clarity on the path forward to establishing a sustainable platform set up for dynamic and profitable growth for years to come.

通過 DTC 集成的初始階段，我們已經在整個業務中推動了大量持久的效率改進。事實上，第一季度 DTC 運營費用下降超過 7.6 億美元或 24%（不包括外匯）。現在，所有這一切都為建立可持續平台的前進道路提供了更清晰的思路，該平台將為未來幾年的動態和盈利增長而設立。

As we relaunch here in the U.S. and plan additional launches later in '23 and into '24, we'll continue to be guided by a focus on prudent and rational investment. Additionally, we've benefited from greater insight into the efficiency and effectiveness of our marketing efforts over the last 12 months. And we've seen that we can do more with less. As JB noted during our press event, we will undertake the largest marketing campaign in the company's history to support the launch of Max. This was, of course, anticipated in our internal budget and guidance.

當我們在美國重新啟動併計劃在 23 世紀晚些時候和 24 世紀進一步啟動時，我們將繼續以審慎和理性投資為重點。此外，我們對過去 12 個月營銷工作的效率和有效性有了更深入的了解，這讓我們受益匪淺。我們已經看到，我們可以事半功倍。正如 JB 在我們的新聞發布會上指出的那樣，我們將開展公司歷史上最大的營銷活動來支持 Max 的發布。當然，這是在我們的內部預算和指南中預期的。

We will continue to focus on driving efficiencies throughout our DTC non-content cost structure as we launch Max around the world and get more and more of our digital products on a common platform. As such, we expect the DTC segment to continue to show improvements with peak EBITDA losses for the year in the second quarter. And when I say peak, I'm talking around $300 million or so.

隨著我們在全球推出 Max 並在一個通用平台上獲得越來越多的數字產品，我們將繼續專注於提高整個 DTC 非內容成本結構的效率。因此，我們預計 DTC 部門將繼續表現出改善，第二季度的 EBITDA 虧損將達到年度峰值。當我說峰值時，我說的是大約 3 億美元左右。

In fact, we are tracking ahead of our profitability target and now expect to be profitable in the U.S. on a full year basis this year. That is a full year ahead of our original plan of breakeven in 2024. And I remain ever confident in our outlook of generating $1 billion or more of profitability in 2025 globally.

事實上，我們正在提前實現我們的盈利目標，現在預計今年將在美國實現全年盈利。這比我們原定的 2024 年盈虧平衡計劃提前了整整一年。我對我們在 2025 年在全球範圍內實現 10 億美元或更多盈利的前景充滿信心。

Finally, I'd like to remind you about the approximately 4 million overlapping subscribers between HBO Max and discovery+, consistent with what we outlined for you last summer. While we intend to keep discovery+ going as a stand-alone product, we expect a large portion of these 4 million subscribers will likely churn off discovery+. The exact cadence, of course, being unclear at this time. But we do expect a fair amount of it to happen in the first few months after launch.

最後，我想提醒您注意 HBO Max 和 Discovery+ 之間大約有 400 萬重疊訂閱者，這與我們去年夏天為您概述的情況一致。雖然我們打算讓 discovery+ 作為一個獨立的產品運行，但我們預計這 400 萬訂閱者中的很大一部分可能會放棄 discovery+。當然，目前還不清楚確切的節奏。但我們確實預計在發布後的頭幾個月會發生相當多的事情。

Turning briefly to the other segments of our portfolio, starting with the advertising market. As expected, we did see a modest sequential improvement in Q1 when adjusting for the Olympics. And we do see this underlying trend continuing into Q2 on a like-for-like basis, that is after accounting for the NCAA Men's Final Four last year and the Stanley Cup Finals this year, which combined will account for a net 200 basis points headwind to global Networks advertising revenues. While we see this as encouraging, visibility remains limited and the improvement is gradual.

從廣告市場開始，簡要介紹一下我們投資組合的其他部分。正如預期的那樣，在針對奧運會進行調整後，我們確實看到第一季度出現了適度的環比改善。我們確實看到這種潛在趨勢在第二季度持續到第二季度，這是在考慮了去年的 NCAA 男子四強和今年的斯坦利杯總決賽之後，這兩個因素加在一起將帶來淨 200 個基點的逆風全球網絡廣告收入。雖然我們認為這令人鼓舞，但能見度仍然有限，而且改善是漸進的。

Though the market remains challenged, we are cautiously optimistic, particularly coming into the Upfront, which will take place over the next couple of months. With discussions ongoing, we will soon have a much better handle on Q4 and the 2023/2024 season. We see a particularly strong advertising opportunity on Max, both with respect to the more traditional ads on shows like Friends and Big Bang Theory as well as the very impactful and high-profile opportunity on Max Originals.

儘管市場仍然充滿挑戰，但我們持謹慎樂觀的態度，尤其是進入將在未來幾個月內進行的 Upfront。隨著討論的進行，我們很快就會更好地處理第四季度和 2023/2024 賽季。我們在 Max 上看到了一個特別強大的廣告機會，無論是關於 Friends 和 Big Bang Theory 等節目中更傳統的廣告，還是 Max Originals 上非常有影響力和引人注目的機會。

You will hear a lot more about this at our Upfront presentation in a few weeks. Recall this really only kicked off in February. And we're moving slowly and deliberately, ensuring a high-quality, rich advertising experience. And we see significant further upside for this product line, particularly when the advertising market improves.

幾週後，您將在我們的 Upfront 演示中聽到更多相關信息。回想一下，這真的是在二月份才開始的。我們正在緩慢而謹慎地行動，以確保高質量、豐富的廣告體驗。而且我們看到該產品線有顯著的進一步上漲空間，尤其是在廣告市場改善的情況下。

Briefly on our international markets. On the whole, they continue to perform relatively better, led by key markets like Poland, the Nordics and Italy with the U.K., Germany and Brazil on the weaker side, though as in the U.S., there is limited visibility.

簡要介紹一下我們的國際市場。總體而言，它們的表現繼續相對較好，波蘭、北歐和意大利等主要市場處於領先地位，而英國、德國和巴西表現較弱，儘管與美國一樣，可見度有限。

In the Studios segment, there are a number of moving pieces that will be helpful to unpack. Obviously, Hogwarts Legacy was the key driver here, having performed amazingly well. It is thus far the best-selling game across the industry with over $1 billion in retail sales. And it is on track to be a top game for all of 2023.

在 Studios 部分，有許多活動部件將有助於打開包裝。顯然，霍格沃茨遺產是這裡的關鍵驅動力，表現非常出色。迄今為止，它是整個行業最暢銷的遊戲，零售額超過 10 億美元。它有望成為 2023 年全年的頂級遊戲。

Studios results were, however, negatively impacted by disappointing box-office performance. And this was exacerbated by a very difficult comparison against the success of The Batman last year. Similarly, TV licensing revenues declined year-over-year against certain large deals in Q1 of 2022.

然而，工作室的業績受到令人失望的票房表現的負面影響。與去年蝙蝠俠的成功進行非常艱難的比較加劇了這種情況。同樣，與 2022 年第一季度的某些大型交易相比，電視許可收入同比下降。

As David mentioned, we're coming up on the 2023 summer slate. And early reviews and tracking for The Flash, premiering June 16, and Barbie on July 21 look very promising. Both titles have enjoyed major buzz. And we are leaning in. Keep that in mind for the second quarter, when the Studios segment will see the expense associated with these marketing campaigns while the revenue opportunity largely impacts Q3 and beyond.

正如 David 提到的那樣，我們將在 2023 年夏季上市。 6 月 16 日首映的閃電俠和 7 月 21 日首映的芭比娃娃的早期評論和跟踪看起來很有希望。這兩個標題都引起了很大的轟動。我們正在努力。請記住第二季度，屆時工作室部門將看到與這些營銷活動相關的費用，而收入機會在很大程度上影響第三季度及以後。

Now let me provide some color on free cash flow, our financial North Star, as you know. As a reminder, free cash flow of negative $930 million in Q1 of this year is not comparable to the positive $238 million reported last year as the latter represented Discovery as a stand-alone company. And while our first quarter free cash flow was negative, as guided to on our fourth quarter earnings call, we have made significant progress with strong improvement versus the underlying trends in the prior year, when WarnerMedia had heavily negative free cash flows.

現在讓我提供一些關於自由現金流的顏色，如你所知，我們的財務北極星。提醒一下，今年第一季度的負 9.3 億美元自由現金流與去年報告的正 2.38 億美元不可比，因為後者代表 Discovery 作為一家獨立公司。雖然我們第一季度的自由現金流為負，但正如我們在第四季度財報電話會議上所指出的那樣，我們取得了重大進展，與去年的基本趨勢相比有了很大的改善，當時 WarnerMedia 的自由現金流嚴重為負。

A few additional key factors to keep in mind. First, Q1 for both legacy companies has always been the seasonally weakest quarter in part due to the cadence of the production schedule over the year and the timing of certain payments, such as for sports rights. Second, Q1 and Q3 carry the additional burden of the semiannual coupon payments in large part for our merger bonds, an impact of over $800 million included in our Q1 free cash flow. Lastly, Q1 also contained significant and expected cash-out from restructuring and integration costs, close to $500 million during the quarter.

需要牢記的一些其他關鍵因素。首先，兩家傳統公司的第一季度一直是季節性最疲軟的季度，部分原因是全年生產計劃的節奏和某些付款的時間安排，例如體育轉播權。其次，第一季度和第三季度承擔了我們合併債券的半年度票息支付的額外負擔，這對我們第一季度的自由現金流產生了超過 8 億美元的影響。最後，第一季度還包含來自重組和整合成本的大量且預期的現金支出，本季度接近 5 億美元。

Given the quarterly puts and takes, I'd like to point to the trailing 12-month free cash flow to give you a better sense of the true run rate. Our trailing 12-month free cash flow is now at $2.1 billion with a very clear path to our guidance range.

考慮到季度投入和投入，我想指出過去 12 個月的自由現金流，讓您更好地了解真實運行率。我們過去 12 個月的自由現金流現在為 21 億美元，非常明確地達到了我們的指導範圍。

The key drivers for the balance of the year are, number one, expected adjusted EBITDA growth, back end-loaded this year as transformation initiatives continue to unfold and hopefully with a little help from the ad market backdrop. Even though, I should say, I have confidence in our guidance range even if ad sales don't fully recover in H2 against a much easier prior year comp.

今年剩餘時間的主要驅動因素是，第一，預期調整後的 EBITDA 增長，隨著轉型計劃的繼續展開，希望今年在廣告市場背景下有所幫助。儘管，我應該說，我對我們的指導範圍有信心，即使 H2 的廣告銷售沒有完全恢復，而前一年的比較容易得多。

Second, seasonally positive change in working capital versus a drag in Q1. Third, a significantly narrowing gap between cash content spend and amortization as our DTC business absorbs sequentially higher amortization expenses and we deploy content cash with a more and more rigorous focus on ROI.

其次，營運資本的季節性積極變化與第一季度的拖累。第三，現金內容支出與攤銷之間的差距顯著縮小，因為我們的 DTC 業務吸收了連續更高的攤銷費用，並且我們越來越嚴格地關注投資回報率來部署內容現金。

Finally, the cash benefit from key transformation initiatives will be back-loaded over the year while cash-out for restructuring and integration will be more front-loaded. In fact, our trailing 12-month free cash flow number at the end of Q1 contains $1.2 billion of restructuring and merger-related cash costs in this line item.

最後，來自關鍵轉型計劃的現金收益將在一年內後移，而用於重組和整合的現金將更多地前移。事實上，我們在第一季度末的 12 個月自由現金流數據中包含 12 億美元的重組和合併相關現金成本。

We expect that these factors will contribute to a higher conversion rate in the second half of the year and likely again with a disproportionate amount in Q4, not unlike our nearly 100% conversion rate in the fourth quarter of last year.

我們預計這些因素將有助於提高今年下半年的轉化率，並可能在第四季度再次出現不成比例的轉化率，這與我們去年第四季度接近 100% 的轉化率沒有什麼不同。

Looking ahead to the second quarter. We are expecting to see a significant positive swing from negative $900 million in Q1 to around positive $900 million for a roughly cash-neutral, maybe positive, H1 free cash flow overall. This will support further debt reduction this quarter on our way to sub-4x leverage.

展望第二季度。我們預計上半年的自由現金流量大致為中性，可能為正，因此第一季度的自由現金流將從第一季度的負 9 億美元大幅上漲至約正 9 億美元。這將支持本季度進一步削減債務，使我們的槓桿率降至 4 倍以下。

Separately, as you will see in our 10-Q, we temporarily drew down $750 million on our revolver in April to accommodate the intra-quarter timing of certain sports rights payments. I expect this to be fully paid down by the end of this month.

另外，正如您將在我們的 10-Q 中看到的那樣，我們在 4 月份暫時從我們的左輪手槍上提取了 7.5 億美元，以適應某些體育權利付款的季度內時間安排。我預計這筆款項將在本月底前全部付清。

To sum up my discussion of free cash flow, the level of transparency into and focus on free cash flow and its drivers has changed dramatically over the past 12 months. And we are in a strong position to capture this tremendous value opportunity over the course of 2023 and beyond.

總結我對自由現金流的討論，在過去 12 個月中，自由現金流及其驅動因素的透明度和關注度發生了巨大變化。我們有能力在 2023 年及以後抓住這一巨大的價值機會。

In closing, as we lap the 1-year mark since closing the merger, candidly it feels like 3, I do come back to the statement I made a few months ago that we've turned the corner at WBD. I continue to view the structural heavy lift as more behind us than in front of us. And I see more and more opportunity with every day I am spending with the iconic brands and the massive global footprint of this combined company.

最後，當我們完成合併後 1 年大關時，坦率地說，感覺就像 3 年，我確實回到了幾個月前我發表的聲明，即我們已經在 WBD 度過了難關。我繼續認為結構性的沉重負擔更多地發生在我們身後而不是我們面前。我每天都在標誌性品牌和這家合併後公司的巨大全球足跡上度過，我看到越來越多的機會。

With billions of efficiency gains already in implementation, we really are still in the early innings of unlocking the full potential of Warner Bros. Discovery. We remain as well positioned as any to lean into the many avenues of growth in front of us.

隨著數十億的效率提升已經在實施中，我們確實仍處於釋放 Warner Bros. Discovery 全部潛力的早期階段。我們仍然和任何人一樣處於有利地位，可以依靠我們面前的許多增長途徑。

With that, I'd like to turn the call back to the operator. And David, JB and I will take your questions.

有了這個，我想把電話轉回接線員。大衛、JB 和我會回答你的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Doug Mitchelson with Credit Suisse.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自瑞士信貸的 Doug Mitchelson。

David and JB, I think most interesting, how would you define success for the launch of Max, or the relaunch of Max as you want to define it? I think there's a lot of discussion in terms of choosing Max' brand and the need to build that or rebuild that. David, you mentioned actively trying to include news and sports in the lineup. And so I'm just curious whether it's engagement, whether it's subscribers, whether it's ultimate profitability. How should investors think about what to expect for Max in the coming quarters?

David 和 JB，我認為最有趣的是，您如何定義 Max 的成功發布，或者您想要定義 Max 的重新啟動？我認為在選擇 Max 品牌以及建立或重建該品牌的必要性方面有很多討論。大衛，你提到積極嘗試將新聞和體育節目納入陣容。所以我很好奇它是否是參與度，是否是訂閱者，是否是最終的盈利能力。投資者應如何考慮未來幾個季度對 Max 的預期？

And Gunnar, I think you made some strong statements in your prepared remarks, but obviously, a lot of investor focus on free cash flow generation and balance sheet here. And I guess, the just general question is what's your level of confidence in the balance sheet targets over the next couple of years? And what gives you that confidence, especially with the year being back end-weighted?

Gunnar，我認為你在準備好的發言中發表了一些強有力的聲明，但顯然，很多投資者都關注自由現金流的產生和資產負債表。我想，唯一的一般性問題是您對未來幾年資產負債表目標的信心程度如何？是什麼給了你這種信心，尤其是在年底加權的情況下？

Thanks, Doug. So we're excited about the 23rd. Look, we've turned the corner on our streaming business. We had a different view of it. We've focused on it very hard. And we built what we think will be a very strong, independent business. And it starts with profitability. And so we made $50 million this quarter. Our U.S. streaming business will be profitable for the year. And we have real scale. And so -- and when you run a business, you're looking for growth, which we're going to get in the streaming business, and we're driving to get throughout the company, and there are a number of areas where we think that we're -- as the -- we know that as the economy improves, we'll see real growth.

謝謝，道格。所以我們對 23 日感到興奮。看，我們的流媒體業務已經走到了盡頭。我們對此有不同的看法。我們非常努力地專注於它。我們建立了我們認為非常強大、獨立的業務。它從盈利能力開始。所以我們這個季度賺了 5000 萬美元。我們的美國流媒體業務今年將實現盈利。我們有真正的規模。所以——當你經營一家企業時，你正在尋求增長，我們將在流媒體業務中實現增長，我們正在推動整個公司的發展，我們在許多領域認為我們 - 作為 - 我們知道隨著經濟的改善，我們將看到真正的增長。

But the key here is our U.S. streaming business is no longer a bleeder. It's hard to run a business when you have a big bleeder. And so getting this business under control, focusing on what people love to watch, how do we create content that people love? And now as we launch Max, we'll be able to nourish and delight subscribers with the greatness of HBO, which on Sunday nights is really a cultural moment, whether it's White Lotus, House of Dragon, The Last of Us, Succession. And then put it together with Discovery, which has -- the Discovery content, which has been really strong for us.

但這裡的關鍵是我們的美國流媒體業務不再是一個流血者。當你有一個大出血時，很難經營一家企業。因此，為了控制這項業務，專注於人們喜歡看的內容，我們如何創造人們喜歡的內容？現在，當我們推出 Max 時，我們將能夠通過 HBO 的偉大來滋養和取悅訂戶，這在周日晚上確實是一個文化時刻，無論是白蓮花、龍之屋、最後生還者還是繼承者。然後將它與 Discovery 放在一起，它具有 - Discovery 內容，這對我們來說非常強大。

So number one, we want an easy, smooth transition. That's why we're not doing anything with pricing. We focused very hard on letting everybody know how to make that transition. We have -- right now, we have a really good hand. And so let's make the transition. We've got technology that's far superior in terms of delivering the platform itself and how it can work against all this great content. But let's do a smooth transition and then have people discover the quality content, the diversity of content and the quality of the platform itself, which will only accelerate growth. JB?

所以第一，我們想要一個簡單、平穩的過渡。這就是為什麼我們不對定價做任何事情。我們非常專注於讓每個人都知道如何進行過渡。我們有——現在，我們有一手非常好的牌。因此，讓我們進行過渡。我們擁有的技術在交付平臺本身以及它如何處理所有這些精彩內容方面要優越得多。但讓我們進行平穩過渡，然後讓人們發現高質量的內容、內容的多樣性和平臺本身的質量，這只會加速增長。傑比？

Yes. I think, Doug, just to add on to David, I think in the very near term, migration success is sort of one key metric, i.e., getting the customers who are on HBO Max today successfully migrated over to Max. And then over time, there will be three other metrics and a fourth that will come. The three would be: brand awareness, obviously we're building a brand with Max now that is new that has a different proposition, a broader proposition for something for everybody in the family; number two, customer satisfaction; number three, engagement.

是的。道格，我想補充一下大衛，我認為在短期內，遷移成功是一種關鍵指標，即讓今天使用 HBO Max 的客戶成功遷移到 Max。然後隨著時間的推移，還會有其他三個指標和第四個指標。三是：品牌知名度，顯然我們現在正在與 Max 建立一個新品牌，它具有不同的主張，為家庭中的每個人提供更廣泛的主張；第二，客戶滿意度；第三，訂婚。

As we talked about on the April 12 event, a lot of it is around seeing all this content coming together and the breadth of the proposition driving higher utilization and therefore helping retention. Those, I think, are the core ones in the initial few months. And then over time, obviously as that flywheel continues, we obviously want to see subscriber growth and scale as the additional metrics. So those are the ways that we'll look at success.

正如我們在 4 月 12 日的活動中談到的那樣，很多內容都是圍繞著看到所有這些內容匯集在一起，以及推動更高利用率並因此幫助保留的提議的廣度。我認為，這些是最初幾個月的核心內容。然後隨著時間的推移，顯然隨著飛輪的繼續，我們顯然希望看到用戶增長和規模作為額外的指標。所以這些就是我們看待成功的方式。

All right. And Doug, on the free cash flow question, as you just heard me say in the prepared remarks, I have a high level of confidence in our guidance and our ability to deliver here. And taking a step back, there's no doubt the environment continues to be challenging. We're working against pretty significant reductions in ad sales. And as I laid out, see gradual improvement for the second quarter. But it's gradual. So there's that.

好的。道格，關於自由現金流問題，正如你剛才聽到我在準備好的發言中所說的那樣，我對我們的指導和我們在這裡交付的能力充滿信心。退後一步，毫無疑問，環境仍然充滿挑戰。我們正在努力防止廣告銷售大幅減少。正如我所說，看到第二季度的逐步改善。但這是循序漸進的。就是這樣。

But what you're also seeing in our results is what we've referred to as the built-in hedge, right? We've got a great game, Hogwarts Legacy. The box office was a little weaker. But across the entire footprint of the company, managing as one integrated company, we have enormous opportunity. And so we don't want to be in the business of predicting ad market developments in the second half. As I said, I have confidence in our guidance without assuming a complete turnaround here because we're focusing on what we know.

但是你在我們的結果中也看到了我們所說的內置對沖，對吧？我們有一款很棒的遊戲，Hogwarts Legacy。票房有點弱。但在公司的整個足跡中，作為一家綜合公司進行管理，我們擁有巨大的機會。因此，我們不想參與預測下半年廣告市場發展的業務。正如我所說，我對我們的指導充滿信心，而不假設這裡會出現徹底的轉變，因為我們專注於我們所知道的。

And what we know is the control that we have over the initiatives that we put in place over the past 12 months. And they are -- we're knocking them out month-after-month, quarter-after-quarter. We've got systems coming online. We've got individual workflows that are going from 10 to 12 hours a pop to 3 minutes. I mean, there's a lot that's happening. And we have clear milestones scheduled out for the rest of the year.

我們所知道的是，我們對過去 12 個月實施的舉措擁有控制權。他們是——我們逐月、逐季地淘汰他們。我們有系統上線。我們有個別的工作流程，從 10 到 12 小時一次流行到 3 分鐘。我的意思是，發生了很多事情。我們為今年剩餘時間安排了明確的里程碑。

And looking at that, I will -- I have great confidence that we're going to continue to deliver these improvements. And as I pointed out earlier, on the cash flow side, it's even more exacerbated than on the P&L side with the seasonality of our free cash flow. And the $930 million in Q1 was pretty exactly in line, actually a little bit better than what we had budgeted for. And with that, I have full confidence we're going to deliver for you guys.

看著這一點，我將 - 我非常有信心我們將繼續提供這些改進。正如我之前指出的那樣，在現金流方面，由於我們自由現金流的季節性，它比損益方面更加惡化。第一季度的 9.3 億美元非常符合預期，實際上比我們的預算要好一點。有了這個，我完全有信心我們將為你們交付。

Your next question comes from the line of Robert Fishman with MoffettNathanson.

你的下一個問題來自 Robert Fishman 和 MoffettNathanson 的對話。

I have one for David and one for JB or Gunnar. First, David, can you expand on the strategy you mentioned in your prepared remarks and maybe the financial benefits of licensing your HBO and Warner Bros. library content internationally, some of the deals you discussed? And how do you balance those licensing deals with your ambitions to scale Max outside the U.S., if and when you choose to launch in those markets?

我有一張給 David，一張給 JB 或 Gunnar。首先，大衛，你能否進一步闡述你在準備好的發言中提到的戰略，以及在國際上許可你的 HBO 和華納兄弟圖書館內容的經濟利益，以及你討論的一些交易？如果以及何時選擇在這些市場推出 Max，您如何平衡這些許可交易與您在美國以外擴展 Max 的雄心？

And then for JB and Gunnar, on DTC, anything you can share about the DTC retail versus wholesale trends, I noticed the wholesale revenue dragged down overall DTC revenues, and just whether that wholesale pressure should continue throughout the year?

然後對於 JB 和 Gunnar，在 DTC 上，關於 DTC 零售與批發趨勢的任何你可以分享的，我注意到批發收入拖累了整體 DTC 收入，以及批發壓力是否應該在全年持續？

Thanks, Robert. We're focused on taking HBO around the world. The fact that we have real scale around the world, that we have content in every language, we have channels in every country to promote is a real advantage for us. But we're really driven by free cash flow and long-term free cash flow growth.

謝謝，羅伯特。我們專注於將 HBO 帶到世界各地。事實上，我們在全球擁有真正的規模，我們擁有各種語言的內容，我們在每個國家都有推廣渠道，這對我們來說是一個真正的優勢。但我們確實受到自由現金流和長期自由現金流增長的推動。

And so if there's a market, like India, where we could structure a deal where we can make a lot more money by licensing our great content in that market with an option at the -- which we always have at the end of that deal to take another look at that country, with our platform that's already built, we're not building a new platform for each country, and see if we can go in ourselves, can we generate more long-term profit and free cash flow?

因此，如果有一個市場，比如印度，我們可以通過在該市場許可我們的優秀內容並在交易結束時有一個選擇權來構建一個交易，我們可以賺更多的錢——我們總是在交易結束時再看看那個國家，我們已經建好的平台，不是每個國家都建一個新的平台，看我們自己進去，能不能產生更多的長期利潤和自由現金流？

And so it's really an economic analysis. You will see in most markets, it will be us building asset value, owning it, driving it for long-term value and growth. You saw us do it at Discovery. We were the first outside the U.S. We were in 200 countries. And it generated a long tail of free cash flow and real EBITDA growth for us. So I'm very optimistic, we're in less than 50% of the countries. It's very hard to have a business that's profitable just in the U.S.

所以這真的是一個經濟分析。你會在大多數市場中看到，我們將建立資產價值，擁有它，推動它實現長期價值和增長。你看到我們在 Discovery 做到了。我們是第一個在美國以外的地方。我們在 200 個國家/地區開展業務。它為我們帶來了長尾的自由現金流和實際 EBITDA 增長。所以我非常樂觀，我們在不到 50% 的國家/地區。很難在美國擁有一家盈利的企業。

I've always thought that you really need to be above the globe. And that's the advantage. That was the value creation of the FAANG companies, that they had that scale. We own all of our content. And the idea that we're starting off by having a business that's profitable this year in the U.S. and then we go on this journey of driving it outside the U.S. with a strong platform that's already built, I think, is -- bodes very well for us.

我一直認為你真的需要超越地球。這就是優勢。這就是 FAANG 公司的價值創造，他們有這樣的規模。我們擁有我們所有的內容。我們從今年在美國盈利的業務開始，然後我們繼續在美國以外的地方推動它的想法，我認為，我認為這是一個很好的預兆為了我們。

Yes. And Robert, I'd just add to what David said, there's two filters as we look at it. There's the strategic filter and financial filter that David just talked about, which obviously is preeminent, which is a market like India, if we don't believe we can be profitable as a streaming service within a 3- to 5-year time horizon, at the end of the day, right now, that's not going to be our priority focus. And so if the opportunity is to license and take a bunch of money off the table to help support our growth initiatives in other markets where we think we can scale more profitably and more effectively, we do that, number one.

是的。羅伯特，我想補充一下大衛所說的，我們看到有兩個過濾器。大衛剛才談到的戰略過濾器和財務過濾器，這顯然是卓越的，這是一個像印度這樣的市場，如果我們不相信我們可以在 3 到 5 年的時間範圍內作為流媒體服務盈利，歸根結底，現在，這不是我們的優先重點。因此，如果機會是獲得許可並從桌面上拿走一大筆錢來幫助支持我們在我們認為我們可以更有利可圖、更有效地擴大規模的其他市場的增長計劃，我們就會這樣做，第一。

Number two, there's just a practical reality that some of these licensing deals are done in markets where we're just not going to be ready to launch from a platform perspective. As David mentioned in his prepared remarks, we've got a timetable to roll out our new product and convert and migrate our existing HBO Max customers over the next 12 months-plus, then some of these things are going to take into '25 and even beyond to launch in new markets for our platform to be ready. And so in the meantime, it just makes perfect sense for us to take as much money off the table as possible. And so that's the thinking.

第二，這是一個實際的現實，其中一些許可交易是在我們還沒有準備好從平台的角度推出的市場中完成的。正如大衛在他準備好的發言中提到的那樣，我們有一個時間表來推出我們的新產品，並在未來 12 個月以上轉換和遷移我們現有的 HBO Max 客戶，然後其中一些事情將在 25 世紀和甚至可以在新市場推出，讓我們的平台做好準備。因此，與此同時，我們盡可能多地拿走錢是完全合理的。這就是想法。

The added advantages in these markets, they're still seeding our brands in those markets. So we're getting value. The brand itself is being driven as quality-curated. And then we have the hand-off when we think that market can be profitable.

這些市場的額外優勢，他們仍在這些市場播種我們的品牌。所以我們正在獲得價值。品牌本身正在被質量管理驅動。當我們認為市場可以盈利時，我們就會進行交接。

And we have -- I'm sorry, one other thing I'd say is in all these deals, oftentimes what we've done, which is better than what we have in existing licensing deals, is ensuring that when those deals expire, we have stronger cliffs for the content to come back, so we can actually -- when we're ready to launch, if we assume we're going to launch in those markets at the end of those deals, we get more of our content back immediately.

我們有 - 對不起，我要說的另一件事是在所有這些交易中，通常我們所做的比我們在現有許可交易中所做的要好，確保當這些交易到期時，我們有更強的懸崖讓內容回歸，所以我們實際上可以——當我們準備好發佈時，如果我們假設我們將在這些交易結束時在這些市場上發布，我們會得到更多的內容馬上回來。

Robert, the only thing I would add is on your revenue growth and wholesale question, two things to keep in mind. Number one, Q1 had a bit of an overlay with content sales revenues. And as we pointed out in the prepared remarks, obviously the ad market also on the digital side isn't the greatest right now. So I see a lot of upside opportunity here as that market comes back.

羅伯特，我唯一要補充的是關於你的收入增長和批發問題，有兩件事要記住。第一，第一季度與內容銷售收入有一些重疊。正如我們在準備好的評論中指出的那樣，顯然數字方面的廣告市場現在也不是最好的。因此，隨著市場回歸，我在這裡看到了很多上行機會。

And specifically for wholesale, remember that our subscriber base contains the linear HBO subscribers that are obviously showing similar trends to what we're seeing in other parts of the linear ecosystem. Needless to say, we expect the total to be a growing business. We'll see how the launch goes in May. We're looking forward to getting that product out. I pointed out some of the overlapping subscribers. We'll see how those wash out. But we're definitely looking for revenue growth for the second half of the year and in many years to come.

特別是對於批發，請記住我們的訂戶群包含線性 HBO 訂戶，這些訂戶顯然顯示出與我們在線性生態系統其他部分看到的趨勢相似的趨勢。不用說，我們預計總的來說是一個不斷增長的業務。我們將看到 5 月份的發布情況。我們期待著推出該產品。我指出了一些重疊的訂閱者。我們將看看它們是如何消失的。但我們肯定會在今年下半年和未來許多年內尋求收入增長。

Your next question comes from the line of Steven Cahall with Wells Fargo.

你的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Steven Cahall。

Maybe first, David and JB, on DTC profits that are tracking ahead, just curious what's performing ahead of your expectations there. Is it the subscribers and revenue? Is it more about the cost reduction? And I know you're new into the Max launch domestically. But I'm just curious if you're seeing legacy HBO subscribers, which I think, David, you were talking about on CNBC this morning, if you're seeing those folks engage with the Discovery content, it's kind of different genres. But I know that's the hope, so just wondering what kind of early trends you might be seeing there.

也許首先，大衛和 JB，關於正在追踪的 DTC 利潤，只是好奇那裡的表現超出了您的預期。是訂戶和收入嗎？更重要的是降低成本嗎？而且我知道您是國內 Max 發布的新手。但我很好奇你是否看到了傳統的 HBO 訂閱者，我認為，大衛，你今天早上在 CNBC 上談到過，如果你看到那些人參與了 Discovery 的內容，那是不同的類型。但我知道這是希望，所以只是想知道您可能在那裡看到什麼樣的早期趨勢。

And then Gunnar, on the adjusted EBITDA guidance for the year, I think it still implies low $11 billion. From your comments, it sounds like the macro is still a little tough. But you're bullish with the incremental U.S. DTC profits. So I'm just wondering, with DTC performing better and no change to that guidance, is there anything that's performing worse? Or is that better just kind of in the range as we think about all those different components?

然後是 Gunnar，關於今年調整後的 EBITDA 指導，我認為它仍然意味著低 110 億美元。從你的評論來看，宏似乎還是有點強硬。但是您看好美國 DTC 利潤的增加。所以我只是想知道，隨著 DTC 表現更好並且該指南沒有改變，是否有任何表現更差？還是在我們考慮所有這些不同組件的範圍內更好？

Do you want to start with the second?

你想從第二個開始嗎？

All right. Let me start with the guidance quickly. Because you're right, obviously the DTC point is the big, big positive driver here. The most important point, as I laid out, is we have very clear visibility into our transformation initiative and the impact that's going to have on the cost base. Also for the Studios, definitely a support here for the second half of the year, a very strong summer slate that we're really looking forward to launching and the revenues that those are going to hit from Q3 onwards.

好的。讓我快速開始指導。因為你是對的，顯然 DTC 點是這裡非常大的積極驅動因素。正如我所說，最重要的一點是，我們非常清楚地了解我們的轉型計劃以及這將對成本基礎產生的影響。同樣對於工作室來說，絕對是今年下半年的支持，我們非常期待推出的非常強大的夏季名單以及從第三季度開始的收入。

Again, I don't want to speculate about the linear business. But remember that the comp in the second half is going to be much more beneficial. Because especially the fourth quarter last year was pretty anemic in the scatter market and -- but at the end of the day, we still have a lot of shots on goal here. And it's a hit-driven business, especially on the Studios side. That's why we're giving the range. And I feel comfortable with that range with what I know today.

同樣，我不想推測線性業務。但請記住，下半場的比賽將更加有利。因為尤其是去年第四季度，散點市場非常疲軟，而且——但最終，我們仍然有很多射門機會。這是一項熱門業務，尤其是在工作室方面。這就是我們給出範圍的原因。根據我今天所知道的，我對這個範圍感到滿意。

Look, when we think about Max, as we launch, we have real scale, quality content, a broader aperture. The real challenge is the churn. Very difficult to build a strong business with churn. The churn on discovery+ is quite low. The churn on HBO Max is high. And so driving that churn is as or maybe more important than driving the growth. If we can drive down the churn, the growth will be very substantial.

看，當我們想到 Max 時，在我們發佈時，我們擁有真正的規模、高質量的內容和更廣闊的視野。真正的挑戰是客戶流失。很難在客戶流失的情況下建立強大的業務。 Discovery+ 的流失率非常低。 HBO Max 的流失率很高。因此，推動客戶流失與推動增長同樣重要，甚至可能更重要。如果我們能夠降低流失率，增長將非常可觀。

And so we have a series of attacks in order to do that. The primary one is how do you nourish more people in the family? And the more people that use it, we've seen that -- we've been at this in Europe for more than 8 years. The more people that use it in the family, the more engaged people are, the broader the offering and the lower the churn. We also have a technology advantage now in terms of catching people that want to buy the product that we weren't able to reach out to.

因此，為了做到這一點，我們進行了一系列攻擊。第一個是你如何養活更多的家庭成員？使用它的人越多，我們已經看到了這一點——我們在歐洲從事這項工作已經超過 8 年了。家庭中使用它的人越多，參與度越高，產品範圍越廣，流失率越低。在吸引想要購買我們無法接觸到的產品的人方面，我們現在也擁有技術優勢。

And this is a business of artillery. We're adding a lot of artillery here to the offering in order to get more viewers in the family engaged and excited about the amazing quality content that we have. But we have more weapons. And we have sports and we have news. And those are on the sidelines right now. We have a great product. We're going to -- that's now going to be profitable for the year. Let's drive that. Let's drive the brand and know that we have -- we can move to the left and to the right with sports and news, which we've done in markets in Europe, which has been additionally advantageous. JB?

這是大砲的生意。我們在產品中添加了很多火砲，以便讓更多的家庭觀眾對我們擁有的令人驚嘆的優質內容感興趣並感到興奮。但是我們有更多的武器。我們有體育，我們有新聞。那些現在都在場邊。我們有很棒的產品。我們將 - 這將在今年實現盈利。讓我們開車吧。讓我們推動品牌並知道我們擁有——我們可以通過體育和新聞向左和向右移動，我們在歐洲市場所做的，這是額外的優勢。傑比？

Yes. Steven, to echo what David said, we've seen it across multiple metrics. We've seen it across retention, as David rightly pointed out. We've had, in the first few months of this year, record low churn on HBO Max.

是的。史蒂文，為了回應大衛所說的，我們已經在多個指標上看到了它。正如大衛正確指出的那樣，我們已經在保留率方面看到了這一點。今年頭幾個月，我們在 HBO Max 上的流失率創下歷史新低。

But the churn is still pretty high.

但是流失率仍然很高。

It's still high. But we've been...

它仍然很高。但是我們一直...

It's in the acceptable range in order to build the kind of business that we will build.

為了建立我們將要建立的業務，它在可接受的範圍內。

Yes. And as we've talked about at the April 12 event, that was all done through a kind of, what I'd call, a slightly more analog attack plan. We're now getting to a tool and a platform as we launch Max that we think has a lot more ammo to be able to actually attack churn in a more aggressive fashion. So we think we're just at the beginning of that upswing.

是的。正如我們在 4 月 12 日的活動中所討論的那樣，這一切都是通過一種我稱之為稍微更模擬的攻擊計劃來完成的。隨著我們推出 Max，我們現在正在使用一個工具和一個平台，我們認為它有更多的彈藥，能夠以更積極的方式實際攻擊客戶流失。所以我們認為我們才剛剛開始上升。

The second is we obviously had price rises in the U.S. as well as a few of the Latin American markets. And the reality is the great news there is we've seen much better reaction and much better retention as well on ARPU increases in those markets. And so that's been a positive. We've seen efficiencies in -- across the board in some of the items that Gunnar talked about. And then obviously, over time, we've seen some scaling. But we've been measured in our scaling. And so that's been great.

第二個是我們顯然在美國以及一些拉丁美洲市場出現了價格上漲。現實是好消息，我們已經看到這些市場的 ARPU 增加了更好的反應和更好的保留率。所以這是積極的。在 Gunnar 談到的一些項目中，我們已經看到了全面的效率。然後很明顯，隨著時間的推移，我們已經看到了一些擴展。但是我們的規模已經被衡量過了。所以這很棒。

And as it relates to the content cross-pollinization, the reality is we've done very little so far. But we have done stuff with Magnolia, for example. And as you heard us, I think, hopefully talk about before, it was a top 10 performer on the service at launch and even a top 5 in the initial week of launch.

由於它涉及到內容異花授粉，現實情況是到目前為止我們所做的工作很少。但是我們已經用 Magnolia 做了一些事情，例如。正如你聽到我們所說的那樣，我想，希望之前談論過，它在發佈時是該服務的前 10 名，甚至在發布的最初一周內排名前 5 名。

And so we feel very positive about what that means. And as we've cross-pollinated content outside of the U.S., we've seen similar trends of great reaction and reception from HBO Max consumers to the discovery+ content. So when we go full throttle with it when Max comes together, we feel very optimistic.

因此，我們對這意味著什麼感到非常積極。當我們在美國以外的地方傳播內容時，我們看到了類似的趨勢，即 HBO Max 消費者對發現+內容的強烈反應和接受。因此，當 Max 出現時我們全力以赴，我們感到非常樂觀。

Steve, if I can just add one thing, from the perspective of the longer-term outlook here, again we gave guidance a year ago around how we see this DTC business developing. As I said earlier today, many of the operating KPIs are tracking much better than what we assumed. Again, the big thing is getting this product launched. And then we will learn so much about assumptions that are now assumptions and hypotheses. And in 2, 3 months, those will be backed up by a lot more actual data. So this is going to be a super important period.

史蒂夫，如果我可以補充一件事，從長期前景的角度來看，我們在一年前再次就我們如何看待這個 DTC 業務的發展給出了指導。正如我今天早些時候所說，許多運營 KPI 的跟踪情況比我們假設的要好得多。同樣，重要的是推出該產品。然後我們將學到很多關於現在假設和假設的假設。在 2、3 個月內，這些將得到更多實際數據的支持。所以這將是一個非常重要的時期。

But needless to say, with the U.S. breakeven and actually hitting profitability for the full year happening this year a full year ahead, now remember, as we said before, we are obviously losing money in the business internationally as we are launching markets and as we are earlier in the maturity curve in many of the international markets. And that's going to continue. But as I said earlier, we've got that $1 billion-plus guidance for 2025 for the entire combined the business. And we'll update that on the basis of what we're learning once the product is in the market.

但毋庸置疑，隨著美國收支平衡並實際在今年提前一整年實現全年盈利，現在請記住，正如我們之前所說的那樣，隨著我們推出市場和我們的國際業務，我們顯然正在虧損在許多國際市場中處於成熟曲線的較早階段。這將繼續下去。但正如我之前所說，我們已經為整個合併後的業務提供了 2025 年超過 10 億美元的指導。一旦產品投放市場，我們將根據我們正在學習的內容對其進行更新。

Your next question comes from the line of Peter Supino with Wolfe Research.

你的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Peter Supino。

On the subject of free cash flow, adjusted for one-time charges, you mentioned that the last 12 months, the company had produced a little over $3 billion of free cash, adding that $1 billion-plus of one-time charges to the $2 billion-plus of underlying.

關於按一次性費用調整後的自由現金流，你提到過去 12 個月，公司產生了略高於 30 億美元的自由現金，加上 10 億美元以上的一次性費用到 2 美元十億多的基礎。

If your expectation is that synergies will contribute $2 billion in '23, it seems like your free cash flow, it has an easy path to $4 billion, which is within your guidance range. I'm wondering if you'd add any significant puts or takes to that analysis. And specifically, is the DTC upside that you described today, the idea that EBITDA will be $1 billion better than previously expected in '23, incremental to the math I just laid out?

如果你的期望是協同效應將在 23 年貢獻 20 億美元，那麼你的自由現金流似乎很容易達到 40 億美元，這在你的指導範圍內。我想知道您是否會在該分析中添加任何重要的看跌期權或看跌期權。具體來說，您今天描述的 DTC 優勢，即 EBITDA 將比 23 年之前的預期高出 10 億美元的想法，是我剛剛提出的數學的增量嗎？

Peter, again, I -- in the current environment, I wouldn't characterize anything as easy. But I have very, very high confidence in the range that we laid out. We have confidence in the ability to generate these synergies. You're right on the trailing 12-month number. But it's a lot of work. We have line of sight. And we'll take it from there. I don't want you to take this as an upgrade to our cash flow guidance.

彼得，再一次，我——在當前環境下，我不會把任何事情描述為簡單的。但我對我們設定的範圍非常非常有信心。我們對產生這些協同效應的能力充滿信心。您在尾隨的 12 個月數字上是正確的。但這是很多工作。我們有視線。我們將從那裡開始。我不希望您將此視為對我們現金流量指南的升級。

We were the -- I think we were among the first to say that the advertising market was facing -- was starting to be challenging. And so we have been pretty careful in projecting, because you can't, how an advertising market is going to turn and when it's going to turn. And so for purposes of how we looked at this year, the market is quite challenging. It's improved a little bit. But it still remains a really challenging environment. But the good news for us is we built that into our projections for the year and into how we talk to you about what this -- what we'll face this year and how we'll perform.

我們是——我想我們是最先指出廣告市場正面臨挑戰的人之一。所以我們在預測時非常小心，因為你不能預測廣告市場將如何轉變以及何時轉變。因此，就我們今年的看法而言，市場非常具有挑戰性。有點改善了。但它仍然是一個真正具有挑戰性的環境。但對我們來說，好消息是我們將這一點納入了今年的預測，以及我們如何與您談論這件事——我們今年將面臨什麼以及我們將如何表現。

Your next question comes from the line of Bryan Kraft with Deutsche Bank.

你的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Bryan Kraft。

I wanted to ask you about Hogwarts Legacy. Sales have obviously been extremely strong to date. Can you talk about what you expect for sales of the PS4 and Xbox One versions, which I think become available today? Maybe just relative to sales to date, how much of a lift could you get?

我想問你關於霍格沃茨遺產的事。迄今為止，銷售顯然非常強勁。你能談談你對今天上市的 PS4 和 Xbox One 版本的銷售預期嗎？也許僅相對於迄今為止的銷售額，您可以獲得多少提升？

And also, I wanted to ask how the next, say, x hundreds of millions of dollars of sales would be -- would look from a margin perspective relative to that first $1 billion. Because I would assume that there's a lot less marketing and amortization running through in the second quarter and beyond. So I just wanted to ask about that as we think about profitability for the Studios going forward.

而且，我想問下一個，比方說，x 億美元的銷售額將如何——從利潤率的角度來看，相對於第一個 10 億美元。因為我認為第二季度及以後的營銷和攤銷要少得多。所以我只是想問一下這個問題，因為我們正在考慮工作室未來的盈利能力。

Thanks, Bryan. We have a very good gaming business with 11 different studios and a real talented capability. But the real differentiator for us as a company is we own our IP. And that IP belongs to us. And we're developing it. In some cases, we may decide to develop it with a third-party game technology company. But we may be the only media company that owns, whether it's the DC Universe, Harry Potter, all the content that we own, Game of Thrones, that's for us to deploy.

謝謝，布萊恩。我們擁有非常出色的遊戲業務，擁有 11 個不同的工作室和真正的人才。但作為一家公司，我們真正的區別在於我們擁有自己的知識產權。該 IP 屬於我們。我們正在開發它。在某些情況下，我們可能會決定與第三方遊戲技術公司共同開發。但我們可能是唯一一家擁有的媒體公司，無論是 DC 宇宙、哈利波特，還是我們擁有的所有內容，權力的遊戲，都是供我們部署的。

And I think that's particularly strategically important. Because if you look at Hogwarts Legacy, a big piece of the success of that game is you go into it. If you're a player, you go into that game and you're in that world, that's kind of a new concept. Before it was really -- it was gaming and it was storytelling. And now I don't -- it's very difficult to figure out what anyone's definition for the metaverse is. But when we launch a product as a motion picture or a long-form story on Max or HBO and then we have a game, that game belongs to us.

我認為這在戰略上特別重要。因為如果你看霍格沃茨的遺產，那場比賽成功的很大一部分就是你投入其中。如果你是一名玩家，你進入了那個遊戲，你就進入了那個世界，這是一個新概念。在它真正成為現實之前——它是遊戲，它是講故事。現在我不知道——很難弄清楚任何人對元宇宙的定義是什麼。但是，當我們在 Max 或 HBO 上以電影或長篇故事的形式推出產品，然後我們有了一款遊戲時，那款遊戲就屬於我們了。

But now there's this tweener, which is it may be in the next couple of years that we launch our Superman movie and then people spend more time and there's more economics of people just hanging out in the Superman world and universe. And the fact that we own all that is something that I think is going to be really important as we look for -- as whether with -- as technology develops and given the amount of time people spend on gaming, we don't want to be in the motion picture and story -- and long-form storytelling business and have somebody else in the business of hanging out in those worlds. Because those worlds, I think, are going to be quite profitable in the years ahead.

但是現在有這個tweener，這可能是在未來幾年我們推出我們的超人電影，然後人們會花更多的時間，並且會有更多的人在超人世界和宇宙中閒逛。事實上，我們擁有所有這一切，我認為這將是非常重要的，因為我們正在尋找——無論是否——隨著技術的發展，考慮到人們花在遊戲上的時間，我們不想從事電影和故事——以及長篇故事講述業務，並讓其他人涉足這些領域。因為我認為，這些世界在未來幾年將非常有利可圖。

And Bryan, to the Hogwarts Legacy, obviously, the Gen 8 release that's going out, you're right, today is important. I would say, obviously those consoles are a much smaller base than the current generation consoles that we released back in February. So it's obviously a much smaller portion of the whole but nonetheless important. I think the other big call-out is obviously the Nintendo Switch release, which will come later this year.

布萊恩，對於霍格沃茨的遺產，顯然，即將發布的第 8 代版本，你是對的，今天很重要。我想說的是，顯然這些遊戲機的基數比我們在 2 月份發布的當前一代遊戲機要小得多。所以它顯然只佔整體的一小部分，但仍然很重要。我認為另一個重要的亮點顯然是 Nintendo Switch 的發布，它將於今年晚些時候發布。

We see that as probably a much bigger installed base and a fan base that -- as it relates to the franchise of Harry Potter, which obviously appeals to a very big audience globally and a more -- and in markets like Japan, where Nintendo has a big footprint and Harry Potter skews very strongly in terms of popularity. We see a much bigger upside probably from that release certainly than the Gen 8. So that's kind of how we see the rollout over the next few months.

我們認為這可能是一個更大的安裝基礎和粉絲群——因為它與哈利波特的特許經營權有關，這顯然在全球範圍內吸引了非常多的觀眾，而且在日本這樣的市場，任天堂擁有一個很大的足跡和哈利波特在受歡迎程度方面的偏差非常大。我們肯定會從該版本中看到比 Gen 8 更大的優勢。這就是我們對未來幾個月推出的看法。

And the margin profile, Bryan, is not going to change materially. We'll be a little lighter on marketing. Obviously, retail price points are a little lower. So maybe from a gross margin perspective, a little bit of a headwind but no material change.

布萊恩的保證金概況不會發生重大變化。我們將在營銷方面稍微輕鬆一些。顯然，零售價要低一些。所以也許從毛利率的角度來看，有點不利但沒有實質性變化。

Your next question comes from the line of Jessica Reif Ehrlich with Bank of America Securities.

你的下一個問題來自美國銀行證券公司的 Jessica Reif Ehrlich。

Two questions. So David, if you step back and think about the last year, where you -- the heavy lifting is done, the integration, the restructuring. And now the focus is on operating and building your businesses. Where do you see the most opportunity? And maybe you can touch on timing beyond the existing business.

兩個問題。所以大衛，如果你退後一步，想想去年，你完成了繁重的工作，整合，重組。現在的重點是運營和建立您的業務。你在哪裡看到最多的機會？也許你可以觸及現有業務之外的時機。

You touched on games, but I'm sure there's a bigger business plan. FAST, you've mentioned in the past, you're talking about driving your franchises deeper. In animation, you just mentioned you hired a Head of Animation. So -- and that's a huge driver for Universal. So maybe if you could -- maybe there's something I'm missing.

你談到了遊戲，但我確信有一個更大的商業計劃。 FAST，你過去曾提到過，你在談論更深入地推動你的特許經營權。在動畫方面，您剛才提到您聘請了動畫主管。所以——這對環球影業來說是一個巨大的推動力。所以也許如果你可以——也許我遺漏了什麼。

And then secondly, on sports, you kind of alluded to it coming to Max. I don't know if you can say anything more about that and maybe touch on the NBA. What do you think the timing is and ways to slice -- are there ways to slice and dice the rates among the various players so that you ensure it's a profitable contract in the next round?

其次，在運動方面，你有點暗示它會出現在 Max 身上。我不知道你是否可以再說些什麼，也許可以談談 NBA。您認為時機和分割方式是什麼——有沒有辦法在不同的參與者之間分割和分割利率，以確保它在下一輪是一個有利可圖的合同？

There's -- when we look at this business, you're exactly right, we reset the business for the future by looking at each company and saying, "Well, what should this -- how should we be structured to have the best chance for sustainable growth in the -- today?" We took out a lot of layers. We built a new leadership team. But we still have a lot of the benefits that will be flowing through this year and next year. And we're still finding -- we're still opening up some closets and stuff falls out, which I think is a good thing, more opportunity.

有 - 當我們審視這項業務時，你是完全正確的，我們通過審視每家公司並說，“好吧，這應該是什麼 - 我們應該如何構建才能有最好的機會在——今天的可持續增長？”我們去掉了很多層。我們建立了一個新的領導團隊。但是今年和明年我們仍然會得到很多好處。我們仍在發現——我們仍在打開一些壁櫥，但東西掉了出來，我認為這是一件好事，有更多的機會。

And we've got some businesses that aren't doing well. Warner Bros. turns 100. And they've had 2 of the worst years of -- if you look back at Warner Bros., it was really just very difficult, very difficult on every level in terms of what was turned out. And so we think we've turned the corner on that. We've got a very strong leadership team in place now. We've got James Gunn and Peter working very hard on DC, which is going to be a very big growth driver for this company and so very bullish on DC.

我們有一些業務表現不佳。華納兄弟 100 歲了。他們經歷了最糟糕的兩年——如果你回顧一下華納兄弟，就結果而言，這真的非常困難，在各個層面都非常困難。所以我們認為我們已經扭轉了局面。我們現在有一個非常強大的領導團隊。我們讓 James Gunn 和 Peter 在 DC 上非常努力地工作，這將成為這家公司非常大的增長動力，因此非常看好 DC。

And the Superman script, the first draft is done. Gunn is -- he's on a mission from God. And I think it's a really good moment for us to prove out on DC what we got and how strong it is globally for long-term sustainable growth. We got some more movies coming up that are better. We've been working hard on fixing them and enhancing them and investing. We said no movie before it's time. And with Barbie and Flash, we have two very good movies, Dune 2, very strong. And so I think the slate coming up now, that will make a big difference.

還有超人的劇本，初稿就做好了。 Gunn 是——他正在執行來自上帝的使命。而且我認為這對我們來說是一個非常好的時刻，可以在 DC 上證明我們所擁有的，以及它在全球範圍內對長期可持續增長的影響力。我們即將上映更多更好的電影。我們一直在努力修復它們，增強它們並進行投資。我們說過沒有電影在它的時間之前。有了芭比娃娃和閃電俠，我們就有了兩部非常棒的電影，沙丘 2，非常強大。所以我認為現在出現的石板將產生很大的不同。

We've lost a lot of money in the motion picture business. And making that turn is important, continuing to build on Max. And we haven't done much with animation at this company. We own Hanna-Barbera, Looney Tunes. The -- if you take a look at animation, it's a critical -- we have three animation studios, and we don't have a lot of production in terms of -- it's not productive in terms of free cash flow. It's not productive in terms of market share. It's not productive in terms of growth.

我們在電影業務上損失了很多錢。做出那個轉變很重要，繼續在 Max 的基礎上進行構建。我們在這家公司的動畫方面做的不多。我們擁有 Hanna-Barbera、樂一通。 - 如果你看一下動畫，這是一個關鍵 - 我們有三個動畫工作室，而且我們沒有很多生產 - 它在自由現金流方面沒有生產力。就市場份額而言，它沒有生產力。它在增長方面沒有生產力。

And so driving that -- and we now have a really strong -- our leadership team is in place. If this was Formula 1 and we're dealing with a very difficult environment and it's raining and the track is wet and it's a challenge, we've got a leadership team of racecar drivers here in every case. And so we've got a lot of confidence in Mike and Pam on the Warner Bros. side. And the games business is just getting started, which I think is something that people didn't really pay a lot of attention to.

因此，推動這一點——我們現在擁有一支非常強大的領導團隊——我們的領導團隊已經到位。如果這是一級方程式，我們正在應對一個非常困難的環境，正在下雨，賽道是濕的，這是一個挑戰，在任何情況下，我們都有一個由賽車手組成的領導團隊。因此，我們對華納兄弟方面的邁克和帕姆充滿信心。遊戲業務才剛剛起步，我認為人們並沒有真正關注這一點。

And maybe the most important portion is the fact that we have this great diversity of assets. It's hard to predict what's going to go on. But we've restructured this company now. We're really tight, we're really tight. And we're continuing to figure out how do we drive productivity, so we can invest more in storytelling. That's all we do. And right now, it's sort of -- the environment is challenged, challenged, challenged.

也許最重要的部分是我們擁有如此多樣化的資產。很難預測會發生什麼。但我們現在重組了這家公司。我們真的很緊，我們真的很緊。我們正在繼續研究如何提高生產力，以便我們可以在講故事方面投入更多。這就是我們所做的一切。而現在，它有點——環境受到挑戰，挑戰，挑戰。

But as things start to pick up, and they will, in different areas, and we can't predict exactly when, you're going to see a very quick turn at this company. So the idea that we can end this year, drive toward -- to be less than 4x levered with a very tight cost structure, with command and control of this business, with strong brands that people love around the world and then all of a sudden, things improve a little bit, and you'll see an acceleration.

但隨著事情開始好轉，而且它們會在不同的領域，我們無法準確預測什麼時候，你會看到這家公司的快速轉變。因此，我們可以在今年結束的想法，推動 - 槓桿率低於 4 倍，成本結構非常緊湊，對這項業務進行指揮和控制，擁有全世界人們喜愛的強大品牌，然後突然之間，事情有所改善，你會看到加速。

The NBA.

NBA。

The NBA. Look, I was just -- saw Adam 2 days ago at the Knicks game. Go Knicks, big night at The Garden. Wow, I've been waiting a long time for that one and -- but we're doing a terrific job with the NBA. When you look at Barkley and Ernie and that team and Shaq, the programming we're putting on, we're setting records with the NBA. We're setting records with hockey. We also have March Madness, where we did very well.

NBA。看，我只是——兩天前在尼克斯隊的比賽中看到了亞當。去尼克斯，在花園度過一個重要的夜晚。哇，我已經等了很長時間了——但我們在 NBA 做得非常好。當你看看巴克利和厄尼以及那支球隊和沙克時，我們正在進行的編程，我們正在創造 NBA 的記錄。我們正在用曲棍球創造記錄。我們還有 March Madness，我們做得很好。

We couldn't do as well with the marketplace because sports is relatively strong. But sports used to be strong enough that it was also able to help you with the rest of the business. And that was happening for a long time. And the market was just quite soft. And so we're able to take advantage of the sport. But we weren't able to take advantage of the piggyback halo. And I think that's true in the industry. It just got more difficult.

我們不能在市場上做得那麼好，因為體育運動相對強大。但運動曾經足夠強大，它還能夠幫助你處理其他業務。這種情況持續了很長時間。市場非常疲軟。所以我們能夠利用這項運動。但是我們無法利用搭載光環。我認為這在行業中是正確的。它只是變得更加困難。

But between baseball playoffs, March Madness, hockey, we have long-term deals that are quite favorable to us. We like the NBA. The deal is coming up in '25. There's lots of ways that could be reconjugated. We did a very favorable deal in the U.K. with our BT/Eurosport business, where we ended up with 90% of the football -- the soccer games and Amazon got less than 10% of the Champions League games. We produce that content for Andy Jassy. And they promote to us, we promote to them.

但是在棒球季后賽、瘋狂三月、曲棍球之間，我們有對我們非常有利的長期交易。我們喜歡NBA。這筆交易將在 25 年達成。有很多方法可以重新結合。我們在英國與我們的 BT/Eurosport 業務達成了非常有利的交易，我們最終獲得了 90% 的足球比賽——足球比賽，而亞馬遜獲得了不到 10% 的冠軍聯賽比賽。我們為 Andy Jassy 製作該內容。他們向我們推銷，我們向他們推銷。

And the economics of that deal were very favorable for us. And so there's lots of ways to reconjugate it. We like the NBA. We hope we can get there. But we're going to be very disciplined. We work very hard to build this company to drive profitability, to have a strong balance sheet, to provide real growth and real free cash flow. That's the long-term sustainable nature of this great company. And we're not going to jeopardize that for any piece of IP.

那筆交易的經濟效益對我們非常有利。所以有很多方法可以重新結合它。我們喜歡NBA。我們希望我們能到達那裡。但我們會非常有紀律。我們非常努力地建立這家公司來提高盈利能力，擁有強大的資產負債表，提供真正的增長和真正的自由現金流。這就是這家偉大公司的長期可持續發展本質。而且我們不會因為任何 IP 而危及這一點。

I'd like to add one slightly less strategic, more operational point that, nonetheless, I think is super important, Jessica. And that is our -- for the sake of the argument, we're spending $20 billion of content. A lot of that still goes through siloed systems, still imperfect processes. And in many cases, still through a mindset that's very business unit-oriented. So I have no doubt we're in the very early innings of looking at this as one Warner Bros. Discovery content. And we talk a lot about the stuff that we discontinued because it didn't make sense financially. I think the opposite is true as well.

傑西卡，我想補充一個稍微不那麼戰略性、更具操作性的觀點，儘管如此，我認為它非常重要。這就是我們——為了論證，我們在內容上花費了 200 億美元。其中很多仍然通過孤立的系統，仍然是不完善的流程。在許多情況下，仍然是通過非常以業務部門為導向的思維方式。所以我毫不懷疑我們正處於將其視為華納兄弟發現內容的早期階段。我們談論了很多我們停產的東西，因為它在經濟上沒有意義。我認為反之亦然。

I think the company also passed on very, very interesting and attractive investment opportunities just because some intercompany budget wasn't in place. And so all of that is going to change. We'll get much better in allocating capital as a company. And we'll get much better in the day-to-day operational management of spending of that cash. We just harmonized those processes and centralized those teams that were all fragmented. So looking at that, the ROI on our capital, in the ballpark of $20 billion, hopefully growing over the next few years, is set to improve. And I have full conviction in that.

我認為公司也錯過了非常非常有趣和有吸引力的投資機會，只是因為一些公司間預算沒有到位。所以這一切都將改變。作為一家公司，我們在分配資本方面會做得更好。我們將在現金支出的日常運營管理方面做得更好。我們只是協調了這些流程並集中了那些支離破碎的團隊。因此，從這一點來看，我們資本的投資回報率在 200 億美元左右，有望在未來幾年內增長，並將有所改善。我對此深信不疑。

When we talk about a marketing campaign, one of the things to bear in mind is we're using our platforms now. That wasn't happening in -- we are really hyper-focused. As I said, on many nights now, we're getting 48%, 45%, close to 50% of all viewership, broadcast, cable. On any given night, we have 25% to 30% of viewership on the platform. And using that, using Bleacher and House of Highlights, which has a very young demo, using CNN.com, so yes, we're -- the campaigns are bigger. But we're one company. And so the ability to promote on HBO on our own platform is a big savings. It's a big savings for us internationally. And we're deploying it.

當我們談論營銷活動時，要記住的一件事是我們現在正在使用我們的平台。這並沒有發生——我們真的非常專注。正如我所說，現在很多個晚上，我們獲得了所有收視率、廣播和有線電視的 48%、45%、接近 50%。在任何一個晚上，我們在平台上都有 25% 到 30% 的收視率。使用它，使用 Bleacher 和 House of Highlights，它有一個非常年輕的演示，使用 CNN.com，所以是的，我們 - 活動更大。但我們是一家公司。因此，在我們自己的平台上推廣 HBO 的能力是一個很大的節省。這對我們在國際上節省了一大筆錢。我們正在部署它。

Your last question comes from the line of Matthew Thornton with Truist Securities.

你的最後一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Matthew Thornton。

Maybe a couple on Max, if I could. Could you update us just how you were thinking about migration later this month, just in terms of any friction as folks go from one app to the next, just your latest thoughts on any potential friction there and how you're managing that?

如果可以的話，也許有一對 Max。您能否在本月晚些時候向我們介紹您對遷移的看法，就人們從一個應用程序到另一個應用程序的任何摩擦而言，只是您對那裡的任何潛在摩擦的最新想法以及您如何管理它？

Secondly, you talked about the overlap of discovery+ users that also have HBO Max. What about those that don't and how you're attacking and trying to up-sell those to the more -- the higher price point Max service? Any color there?

其次，你談到了同時擁有 HBO Max 的發現+用戶的重疊。那些不這樣做的人呢？你是如何攻擊並試圖將它們推銷給更多——更高價位的 Max 服務的？那裡有什麼顏色？

And then just final one, just I think this was mentioned on a prior question, but any thoughts around FAST here, just how to think about FAST here around Max to help drive top of funnel, help drive advertising, help monetize deep library? Any incremental updated color there would be great as well.

然後是最後一個，只是我認為這是在先前的問題中提到的，但是這里關於 FAST 的任何想法，只是如何在 Max 周圍考慮 FAST 以幫助推動漏斗頂部，幫助推動廣告，幫助通過深度庫獲利？任何增量更新的顏色也會很棒。

Yes. Thanks, Matthew. Just on the migration point first, a couple of things. Number one is, remember, there's been no change in the billing process. So as it relates to revenue, there is no change and there's no migration as it relates to billings. So revenue and billing continues to be exactly the same, irrespective of whether somebody has actually "migrated", i.e., accepted the new app or downloaded the new app if they need to.

是的。謝謝，馬修。首先在遷移點上，有幾件事。第一，請記住，計費流程沒有任何變化。因此，就收入而言，沒有變化，也沒有與賬單相關的遷移。因此，無論是否有人真正“遷移”，即接受新應用或在需要時下載新應用，收入和賬單仍然完全相同。

Number two is, as we said at the April 12 event, there's a large portion of the base that will have to do absolutely nothing, where the app will automatically convert. And upon streaming again, you will have accepted the terms of use and you'll be off and running. For the portion of the base that actually has to download or re-download, we've done everything we can to make it as seamless as possible, including not having to input -- basically, it will be two clicks to get to the -- to streaming again your video content.

第二，正如我們在 4 月 12 日的活動中所說，有很大一部分用戶無需執行任何操作，應用程序將自動轉換。再次流式傳輸時，您將接受使用條款並開始運行。對於實際上必須下載或重新下載的基礎部分，我們已盡一切努力使其盡可能無縫，包括不必輸入——基本上，只需單擊兩次即可到達—— - 再次流式傳輸您的視頻內容。

You have no need to -- your username and password will all be migrated, your watch list. All your history will be migrated. And so we tried to make everything as possible. Now inevitably, in these processes, you're going to find some friction. But we think it's fairly limited in terms of the subscriber risk associated to the migration. And so we feel very good going into it. We've tested it. We're all ready for the migration.

您不需要——您的用戶名和密碼將全部遷移，您的監視列表。您的所有歷史記錄都將被遷移。所以我們試圖讓一切成為可能。現在不可避免地，在這些過程中，你會發現一些摩擦。但我們認為，就與遷移相關的訂戶風險而言，它相當有限。所以我們感覺很好。我們已經測試過了。我們都為遷移做好了準備。

And the flip side is on then switching to the discovery+. As Gunnar said, we do see about 4 million subs largely in the U.S., but there's some of that internationally as well that overlap between the two services. And obviously, we're going to be doing everything we can to up-sell those that are not subscribed. But as we said again, the flip side is we're not going to be too in their face about it.

另一方面是然後切換到發現+。正如 Gunnar 所說，我們確實看到大約 400 萬訂閱者主要在美國，但在國際上也有一些訂閱者在這兩種服務之間存在重疊。顯然，我們將盡我們所能來追加銷售那些未訂閱的產品。但正如我們再次說過的那樣，另一方面是我們不會太在意他們。

At the end of the day, if people want to stay subscribed to discovery+ and that's the environment they prefer, that business by itself is profitable, and we will continue to maintain it and serve them there. But we will, over time, initially through marketing efforts, try and see if we can get them to come in and sample it. We'll have offers that incentivize them to sample it for some period of time at favorable economics. And we'll see how successful we can be in upgrading them.

歸根結底，如果人們想繼續訂閱 Discovery+，而這正是他們喜歡的環境，那麼該業務本身就是有利可圖的，我們將繼續維護它並在那里為他們提供服務。但隨著時間的推移，我們將首先通過營銷努力，嘗試看看我們是否能讓他們進來試用。我們將提供激勵他們在有利的經濟條件下試用一段時間的優惠。我們將看到我們在升級它們方面能取得多大的成功。

Oh, on FAST. So look, on FAST, we always believe in, what we call, a hybrid strategy, which is ultimately, first and foremost, kind of what we call channel syndication, which is ultimately -- we realize that the platforms and the distributors out there, there are many who have the scale and the size. And we want to get our channel portfolio out there and viewed. And since it's an audience aggregation and advertising business, we've already gotten out with Roku and Tubi.

哦，快點。所以看，在 FAST 上，我們始終相信我們所說的混合策略，最終，首先也是最重要的，我們稱之為渠道聯合，最終 - 我們意識到那裡的平台和分銷商，有許多人有規模和規模。我們希望將我們的頻道組合放在那裡並進行查看。由於這是一項受眾聚合和廣告業務，我們已經與 Roku 和 Tubi 合作。

And we've been very pleased with the initial success with a very small but a handful of channels that we are out there already. We will continue to look to see if we can increase that volume, to your point, for a second, third, fourth monetization windows for certain content. And then we are continuing to explore the owned and operated strategy. And at some point in time, longer term, we do see this opportunity for this WB TV brand and platform to exist in an owned and operated environment.

我們對最初的成功感到非常高興，我們已經有一些非常小但少數的渠道。我們將繼續研究是否可以針對某些內容增加第二個、第三個、第四個貨幣化窗口的數量。然後我們將繼續探索擁有和經營的戰略。在某個時間點，從長遠來看，我們確實看到了這個 WB 電視品牌和平台存在於自有和運營環境中的機會。

I think at some point, that will be dovetailed with the state of the advertising business. And we want to make sure we come to market at the right time when the demand is sufficient. But we will continue to execute this hybrid strategy of syndicated channels initially and then over time, at the right time, launch our own service.

我認為在某些時候，這將與廣告業務的狀況相吻合。我們希望確保我們在需求充足的正確時間進入市場。但我們最初會繼續執行這種聯合渠道的混合策略，然後隨著時間的推移，在適當的時候推出我們自己的服務。

Great. I think that's it. Thank you very much for joining, and we will speak with you soon.

偉大的。我想就是這樣。非常感謝您的加入，我們將很快與您交談。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect your lines.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開線路。