華納兄弟探索 (WBD) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Warner Bros. Discovery Second 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，歡迎參加華納兄弟探索頻道 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）此外，請注意，今天的電話會議正在錄音。

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

我現在將會議交給全球投資者戰略執行副總裁安德魯·斯萊賓 (Andrew Slabin) 先生主持。先生，您現在可以開始了。

Good morning, and welcome to Warner Bros. Discovery's Q2 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，歡迎參加華納兄弟探索頻道第二季度財報電話會議。今天與我在一起的是總裁兼首席執行官 David Zaslav； Gunnar Wiedenfels，我們的首席財務官； JB Perrette，全球流媒體和遊戲首席執行官兼總裁。

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.

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聲明。前瞻性聲明包括有關該公司的評論未來的業務計劃、前景和財務業績。這些陳述是基於管理層目前的知識和對未來事件的假設而做出的，涉及可能導致實際結果與我們的預期存在重大差異的風險和不確定性。

In providing projections and other forward-looking statements, the company disclaims any intent or obligation to update them. For additional information on important 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 Q2 earnings release, trending schedule and accompanying slide deck will be available on our website at ir.wbd.com.

在提供預測和其他前瞻性陳述時，該公司不承擔任何更新它們的意圖或義務。有關可能影響這些預期的重要因素的更多信息，請參閱該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，包括但不限於該公司最新的 10-K 表格年度報告及其 10-Q 表格和表格8- K。我們的第二季度收益發布、趨勢時間表和隨附幻燈片的副本將在我們的網站 ir.wbd.com 上提供。

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

至此，我很高興將電話轉給大衛。

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us. When we merged the 2 legacy companies and launched Warner Bros. Discovery 16 months ago, we did so with the ambition to be the greatest media and entertainment company in the world. And we continue to carry out our attack plan in all areas of the business. When you look back at what we said we would do, we're doing it. We said we were going to reimagine the company for the future and focus on free cash flow and delevering the balance sheet, and we are.

大家好，感謝您加入我們。 16 個月前，當我們合併兩家傳統公司並推出華納兄弟探索頻道時，我們的目標是成為世界上最偉大的媒體和娛樂公司。我們繼續在業務的所有領域執行我們的攻擊計劃。當你回顧我們說過要做的事情時，我們正在做。我們說過，我們將重新構想公司的未來，重點關注自由現金流和去槓桿化資產負債表，我們確實做到了。

This quarter alone, we generated over $1.7 billion in free cash flow, and we're anticipating about the same in Q3. This is the result of the hard work of our teams, who have been bold, decisive and disciplined. We've restructured our businesses for the future to position them to drive both profitability and long-term growth. And the results have been significant.

僅本季度，我們就產生了超過 17 億美元的自由現金流，我們預計第三季度也將達到同樣水平。這是我們團隊勇敢、果斷、紀律嚴明的艱苦努力的結果。我們已經針對未來重組了我們的業務，以推動盈利能力和長期增長。結果是顯著的。

And as a further sign of our confidence in our free cash flow capability, this morning we announced a tender for up to $2.7 billion of our short-dated debt. We paid down $1.6 billion in debt in Q2, bringing our total debt retirement before today's tender to $9 billion since the merger.

為了進一步表明我們對自由現金流能力的信心，今天早上我們宣布對高達 27 億美元的短期債務進行招標。我們在第二季度償還了 16 億美元的債務，使今天招標前我們的債務清償總額達到了自合併以來的 90 億美元。

And as we've said, we expect to be comfortably below 4x levered by the end of the year, firmly within the investment-grade rating by midpoint next year and at our target of 2.5 to 3x gross leverage by the close of 2024. With our free cash flow and leverage targets in sight, we are better positioned to lean into top line growth opportunities across the company, and that's increasingly been our focus, starting with direct consumer.

正如我們所說，我們預計到今年年底槓桿率將輕鬆低於 4 倍，到明年中點牢牢保持在投資級評級之內，並在 2024 年底前達到總槓桿率 2.5 至 3 倍的目標。我們的自由現金流和槓桿目標在望，我們能夠更好地抓住整個公司的營收增長機會，這越來越成為我們的重點，從直接消費者開始。

We said we were going to build a strong, sustainable direct-to-consumer strategy focused on profitable growth as opposed to chasing subs at any cost, and we are. In fact, we continue to track way ahead of our own financial projections. And as we told you last quarter, we expect our U.S. direct-to-consumer business to be profitable for the year 2023, this year, a year ahead of our prior guidance.

我們說過，我們將建立一個強大的、可持續的直接面向消費者的戰略，專注於盈利增長，而不是不惜一切代價追逐潛艇，我們確實做到了。事實上，我們繼續遠遠超出我們自己的財務預測。正如我們上個季度告訴您的那樣，我們預計我們的美國直接面向消費者業務將於 2023 年（今年）實現盈利，比我們之前的指導提前了一年。

In fact, our global direct-to-consumer business was roughly breakeven in Q2 and modestly EBITDA positive for the first half of this year. And our U.S. direct-to-consumer business is generating healthy EBITDA, which is helping to offset international losses, even with the product development costs and sizable marketing campaign associated with the launch of Max.

事實上，我們的全球直接面向消費者業務在第二季度大致實現盈虧平衡，今年上半年 EBITDA 略有正值。我們的美國直接面向消費者的業務正在產生健康的 EBITDA，這有助於抵消國際損失，即使考慮到與 Max 的推出相關的產品開發成本和大規模的營銷活動。

The migration to Max has gone exceedingly well with the overwhelming majority of subscribers in the U.S. successfully transferred. While we have seen some expected subscriber disruption, we have experienced lower-than-expected churn throughout this process. And by all measures, the third-party metrics, the consumer experience is top notch.

向 Max 的遷移進展非常順利，美國絕大多數訂戶均已成功遷移。雖然我們看到了一些預期的訂戶中斷，但在整個過程中我們經歷了低於預期的客戶流失。從所有指標來看，第三方指標來看，消費者體驗都是一流的。

The most important metric at this stage only 2 months into our launch is the amount of time people are spending watching our content. And we're seeing early and encouraging signs of stronger engagement. And they're not only watching for longer, they're also exploring new genres, adventure and discovery, true crime, home improvement and other nonfiction content. The mix of blockbuster originals from HBO, together with the nourishment and great personalities found on discovery+ content, makes for a very compelling content proposition. Truly something for everyone.

在我們發布僅兩個月後的這個階段，最重要的指標是人們觀看我們內容的時間。我們看到了早期的、令人鼓舞的跡象，顯示出更強的參與度。他們不僅觀看時間更長，還在探索新的類型、冒險和發現、真實犯罪、家居裝修和其他非小說類內容。 HBO 的大片原創作品與 Discovery+ 內容中的滋養和偉大個性相結合，形成了非常引人注目的內容主張。真正適合每個人的東西。

We're preparing to launch Max in markets around the globe over the next year plus. There is significant opportunity internationally in markets we have yet to attack. And importantly, the platform now has full capability to deliver live programming. We'll have more to say about that soon.

我們準備在明年起在全球市場推出 Max。在我們尚未攻克的國際市場中存在著巨大的機遇。重要的是，該平台現在完全有能力提供現場節目。我們很快就會對此有更多的說法。

While Max will be a cornerstone of our company's growth, we also see great potential across a number of our other businesses. One is gaming. We're the only company among our peers scaled in gaming. Next up is Mortal Kombat 1, the highly anticipated new title in the acclaimed 30-year franchise set for release next month. This comes on the heels of the success of Hogwarts Legacy, which is still the biggest game of 2023. And there's more planned, including the one of Hogwarts Legacy on the Nintendo Switch in November, just in time for the holidays. More broadly, we are positioning our gaming business to be a much more strategic piece of our IP and consumer engagement puzzle, and we're investing accordingly.

雖然 Max 將成為我們公司發展的基石，但我們也看到了許多其他業務的巨大潛力。一是遊戲。我們是同行中唯一一家在遊戲領域規模化的公司。接下來是《真人快打 1》，這是備受讚譽的 30 年系列遊戲中備受期待的新遊戲，將於下個月發布。在此之前，《霍格沃茨遺產》取得了成功，該遊戲仍然是2023 年最大的遊戲。而且還有更多計劃，包括11 月在Nintendo Switch 上推出《霍格沃茨遺產》，正好趕上假期。更廣泛地說，我們將游戲業務定位為我們的知識產權和消費者參與難題中更具戰略意義的部分，並且我們正在進行相應的投資。

At Warner Bros. Discovery, we're one of the largest makers and sellers of content in the world, and it's quality content people want to watch. We had an industry-leading 181 Emmy nominations, including 127 for HBO and Max, the most of any network for a platform. As a critical supplier of some of the most highly resonant television series, we are adding incremental asset value to our world-class portfolio. And as we window that content around the globe, we expect to continue to see a tailwind of growth in our production business.

在華納兄弟探索頻道，我們是世界上最大的內容製造商和銷售商之一，人們想要觀看的是優質內容。我們獲得了行業領先的 181 項艾美獎提名，其中 HBO 和 Max 獲得了 127 項艾美獎提名，是所有網絡平台中提名最多的。作為一些最引起共鳴的電視劇的重要供應商，我們正在為我們的世界級投資組合增加增量資產價值。隨著我們在全球範圍內傳播這些內容，我們預計我們的製作業務將繼續出現增長勢頭。

Likewise, we have real ambition for the future of our motion picture business in the wake of the creative tour de force and global cultural phenomenon that is Barbie. While the studio's performance has been challenged in recent years and they've clearly under-earned their potential, we are taking meaningful steps with respect to the creative direction of both Warner Bros. Pictures Group and DC.

同樣，在芭比娃娃這一創意傑作和全球文化現象之後，我們對電影業務的未來抱有真正的雄心。雖然工作室的業績近年來受到了挑戰，而且他們顯然沒有充分發揮自己的潛力，但我們正在針對華納兄弟電影集團和 DC 的創意方向採取有意義的步驟。

And a key facet of this strategy will be to lean into some of our great underutilized storytelling IP. It's been 10 years since we made a stand-alone Superman movie, and 9 years since the last Lord of the Rings feature, for example.

這一戰略的一個關鍵方面是利用我們一些未得到充分利用的優秀講故事知識產權。距離我們製作獨立的超人電影已有 10 年了，距離上一部《指環王》故事片也有 9 年了。

For many years, the secret to Warner Bros. profitability was tentpole films. They'd make 2 to 3 of them together with a slate of new original content, and that was the winning formula. We too believe in the power of tentpoles, featuring great IP recognized by people everywhere in the world, our core strength. And we intend to get back to doing what we know works. While we've still got lots to do, we're very optimistic about the growth potential of this business.

多年來，華納兄弟盈利的秘訣就是主打電影。他們會製作 2 到 3 個，並添加一系列新的原創內容，這就是獲勝的秘訣。我們也相信支柱的力量，擁有世界各地人們認可的偉大知識產權，這是我們的核心力量。我們打算重新做我們知道有效的事情。雖然我們還有很多工作要做，但我們對這項業務的增長潛力非常樂觀。

The culmination of what we're winning at both our film and television studios is further bolstering what is already among the industry's biggest film and TV libraries. And this asset offers a wealth of opportunity in terms of feeding our own platforms as well as others. It's a mainstay of our business to create great content and window it through, creating value in each window. And as you would expect, a lot of analysis and strategic discussion goes into these decisions. In some cases, we'll want to keep premium content exclusively on our platform for a very long time. In other cases, we may sell it to third parties, and we don't lose anything by growing the pie.

我們在電影和電視工作室所取得的成就進一步鞏固了行業內最大的電影和電視庫的地位。這種資產為我們自己的平台以及其他平台提供了豐富的機會。創建精彩內容並通過窗口展示，在每個窗口中創造價值是我們業務的支柱。正如您所期望的，這些決策涉及大量分析和戰略討論。在某些情況下，我們希望在很長一段時間內將優質內容獨家保留在我們的平台上。在其他情況下，我們可能會將其出售給第三方，並且我們不會因做大蛋糕而損失任何東西。

The fact is licensing some library content to other SVOD platforms, like Netflix or Amazon, as part of a co-exclusive agreement is just smart business. We're expanding our audience while maximizing the value of the asset and providing more revenue streams. And that is our job, to optimize the windowing to get the best possible return on investment.

事實上，將一些圖書館內容授權給其他 SVOD 平台（例如 Netflix 或 Amazon），作為共同獨家協議的一部分，這只是明智之舉。我們正在擴大受眾群體，同時最大限度地提高資產價值並提供更多收入來源。這就是我們的工作，優化窗口以獲得最佳的投資回報。

We're also a global leader in sports, including great sports rights from many of the top leagues in the U.S. that, in many cases, run through 2028 and beyond. We have the best digital and social sports platform for younger fans in Bleacher Report, and we have significant digital rights in the U.S. that we're not currently deploying but plan to in the future, and that has a real chance to create meaningful strategic value.

我們還是體育領域的全球領導者，包括美國許多頂級聯賽的優質體育賽事轉播權，這些轉播權在許多情況下會持續到 2028 年及以後。我們在《看台報告》中為年輕球迷提供了最好的數字和社交體育平台，並且我們在美國擁有重要的數字權利，我們目前尚未部署但計劃在未來部署，這確實有機會創造有意義的戰略價值。

We've had some good success in Europe and Latin America with layering sports into streaming with various business models. And this experience is informing our view on how to best deploy these sports rights here in the U.S. Our recent venture with BT in the U.K. is a great example, having merged BT Sport with Eurosport U.K. What is now called TNT Sports is available on both linear and streaming, and bundled with discovery+, our current streaming entertainment product in that market. We believe there's significant opportunity in the streaming space for sports, and we look forward to leaning into this incremental growth avenue.

我們通過各種商業模式將體育賽事融入流媒體，在歐洲和拉丁美洲取得了一些良好的成功。這一經驗告訴我們如何在美國最好地部署這些體育賽事轉播權。我們最近與英國BT 的合作就是一個很好的例子，將BT Sport 與Eurosport U.K. 合併。現在稱為TNT Sports 的內容可在兩個線性頻道上使用和流媒體，並與我們目前在該市場的流媒體娛樂產品 Discovery+ 捆綁在一起。我們相信體育流媒體領域存在巨大機遇，我們期待著進入這一增量增長途徑。

Underpinning all of the work we are doing is our strong commitment to operating Warner Bros. Discovery as one company. Consider Barbie, early this year we created an attack plan for the summer of Barbie in anticipation of the launch of the movie, which broke records and is now approaching $1 billion in global box office. Over the last 6 months, every area of the company has played a part in promoting this great film. From the 4-part series, Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge on HGTV, which premiered in the U.S. to 4 million viewers, and was then broadcast across 146 countries; to Food Network's Barbie-themed Summer Baking Championship; to Turner Sports' sneak peak of the film during the NBA Eastern Conference finals, it has truly been a one-company effort.

我們對華納兄弟探索公司作為一家公司進行運營的堅定承諾是我們所做的所有工作的基礎。以芭比娃娃為例，今年年初，我們為芭比娃娃的夏天制定了一個進攻計劃，以期電影的上映，這部電影打破了紀錄，目前全球票房接近 10 億美元。在過去的六個月裡，公司的各個部門都為宣傳這部偉大的電影發揮了作用。 HGTV 上的 4 集系列節目《芭比夢幻屋挑戰》在美國首播，吸引了 400 萬觀眾，隨後在 146 個國家/地區播出；食品網絡以芭比娃娃為主題的夏季烘焙錦標賽；從特納體育公司在 NBA 東部決賽期間搶先觀看這部電影來看，這確實是一家公司的努力。

This is one of the big differentiators and super strengths of Warner Bros. discovery where a property or a title can benefit from eventizing it across our global platforms. We're able to put the full weight and power of all of our diverse media assets, domestically and globally behind it to drive awareness and excitement. And the result is truly unmatched.

這是華納兄弟發現的最大區別和超級優勢之一，在我們的全球平台上進行活動可以使財產或頭銜受益。我們能夠充分利用國內和全球所有多元化媒體資產的影響力和力量來提高知名度和興奮度。結果確實是無與倫比的。

Of course, in light of the cyclical and secular headwinds facing the industry, we are working through some challenges. With respect to linear, the fact is we have a uniquely different hand, one that we believe makes us more resilient. On any given night, we reach an average of 1/3 of all cable viewers. And it's a great platform for driving our brands and products as we saw with promotions from Max, Barbie and Shark Week. Our ability to make unscripted content quickly inexpensively and tailored to viewers' preferences is also a key differentiator. And we believe this optionality provides us with greater longevity and sustainability.

當然，鑑於行業面臨的周期性和長期阻力，我們正在努力應對一些挑戰。就線性而言，事實是我們有一隻獨特的不同的手，我們相信這隻手讓我們更有彈性。在任何一個晚上，我們平均覆蓋所有有線電視觀眾的 1/3。正如我們在 Max、Barbie 和 Shark Week 的促銷活動中看到的那樣，這是一個推動我們品牌和產品發展的絕佳平台。我們能夠以低廉的成本快速製作無腳本內容並根據觀眾的喜好量身定制，這也是我們的一個關鍵優勢。我們相信這種選擇為我們提供了更長的壽命和可持續性。

At the same time, we've worked really hard on driving efficiency and productivity, enhancing our margins, recognizing that we need to do that because the overall business is facing secular decline. That said, it's still generating real meaningful free cash flow that we are able to use to fund growth.

與此同時，我們非常努力地提高效率和生產力，提高利潤，認識到我們需要這樣做，因為整體業務正面臨長期衰退。也就是說，它仍然產生真正有意義的自由現金流，我們可以用它來為增長提供資金。

While the linear business is being further challenged by the soft ad sales market, we do see cause for optimism. We've nearly completed the U.S. upfront, and our volume is up and our price levels are consistent with prior year, a very good result in a tough market.

儘管線性業務正受到軟廣告銷售市場的進一步挑戰，但我們確實看到了樂觀的理由。我們幾乎已經完成了美國的前期工作，我們的銷量有所增加，價格水平與去年一致，這在嚴峻的市場中是一個非常好的結果。

One more thing before turning it over to Gunnar. At Warner Bros. Discovery, we're in the business of storytelling. Our goal is to tell great stories, stories with the power to entertain and when we're at our best, inspire, with stories that come to life on screens big and small. And we cannot do any of that without the entirety of the creative community, the great creative community, without the writers, directors, editors, producers, actors, the whole below-the-line crew.

在將其交給 Gunnar 之前還有一件事。在華納兄弟探索公司，我們從事的是講故事的業務。我們的目標是講述偉大的故事，那些具有娛樂性的故事，當我們處於最佳狀態時，通過大大小小的屏幕上栩栩如生的故事來激發靈感。如果沒有整個創意社區，沒有偉大的創意社區，沒有編劇、導演、編輯、製片人、演員以及整個線下工作人員，我們就無法做到這一切。

Our job is to enable and empower them to do their best work. We're hopeful that all sides will get back to the negotiating room soon and that these strikes get resolved in a way that the writers and actors feel they are fairly compensated and their efforts and contributions are fully valued.

我們的工作是幫助他們並賦予他們最好的工作能力。我們希望各方能夠盡快回到談判室，並希望這些罷工能夠得到解決，讓編劇和演員感到他們得到了公平的補償，他們的努力和貢獻得到了充分的重視。

With that, I'll turn it over to Gunnar, and he'll take you through the specifics of the quarter. Gunnar?

接下來，我會將其交給 Gunnar，他將帶您了解本季度的具體情況。貢納爾？

Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. We have been hard at work at WBD, and much of our focus over the past 15 months has been on driving thoughtful efficiencies, merger-related and otherwise, and on implementing a cash flow mindset across the whole company.

謝謝大衛，大家早上好。我們在 WBD 一直在努力工作，過去 15 個月我們的重點主要是提高與合併相關的效率和其他方面的效率，以及在整個公司實施現金流思維。

Our second quarter results demonstrate the fruits of that labor. Our disciplined transformation efforts have not only been a key factor in our ability to drive financial outcomes, but they have also made us ever more confident in the strategic vision we presented early on following our merger. Simply put, we have begun to conduct our business fundamentally differently. And so much of what we identified very early on as a near and long-term potential, we are beginning to realize. These are durable performance improvements borne out of true change, and we see a lot more opportunity.

我們第二季度的業績證明了我們的勞動成果。我們嚴謹的轉型努力不僅是我們推動財務成果的能力的關鍵因素，而且還使我們對合併後早期提出的戰略願景更加充滿信心。簡而言之，我們已經開始以根本不同的方式開展業務。我們很早就發現的近期和長期潛力，現在已經開始認識到了。這些是真正變革帶來的持久性能改進，我們看到了更多機會。

To that end, adjusted EBITDA grew 23% in Q2, marking the second consecutive quarter of meaningful year-over-year adjusted EBITDA growth. Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA is now up more than $600 million despite a persistently challenging macroeconomic backdrop. We have accelerated the delivery of our transformation initiatives, where appropriate, and have already delivered more than $2 billion in incremental cost synergies thus far this year. This has allowed us to offset the impact of the market challenges and grow profits, while at the same time, funding many foundational investment opportunities.

為此，第二季度調整後 EBITDA 增長了 23%，標誌著連續第二個季度調整後 EBITDA 同比大幅增長。儘管宏觀經濟背景持續充滿挑戰，今年迄今為止，調整後的 EBITDA 仍增長了 6 億多美元。我們在適當的情況下加快了轉型計劃的實施，今年迄今已實現了超過 20 億美元的增量成本協同效應。這使我們能夠抵消市場挑戰的影響並增加利潤，同時為許多基礎投資機會提供資金。

Our transformation team is still very much focused on generating new initiatives. And based on the successful implementation I am seeing and the size of the funnel, I am confident that we'll achieve $4 billion in total synergies much sooner than previously thought and now see a clear path to achieving $5 billion or more through 2024 and beyond.

我們的轉型團隊仍然非常專注於製定新舉措。基於我所看到的成功實施和漏斗的規模，我相信我們將比之前想像的更快地實現40 億美元的總協同效應，並且現在看到了到2024 年及以後實現50 億美元或更多的明確路徑。

Our second quarter free cash flow of over $1.7 billion is strong proof of these efforts. Clearly, it was a healthy number and nicely ahead of our expectations. I am incredibly proud of this result, not only because it allows us to continue to quickly delever, but perhaps, more importantly, I'm excited because this outperformance is coming through across a number of components of our cash flow statement, and I view this as true cash focus becoming evident across the company.

我們第二季度超過 17 億美元的自由現金流是這些努力的有力證明。顯然，這是一個健康的數字，遠遠超出了我們的預期。我對這一結果感到無比自豪，不僅因為它使我們能夠繼續快速去槓桿化，而且也許更重要的是，我很興奮，因為這種優異表現體現在我們現金流量表的許多組成部分，我認為這表明真正的現金焦點在整個公司變得越來越明顯。

Key factors of the outperformance were, number one, slightly better-than-expected adjusted EBITDA; number two, improvements across virtually all elements of our working capital and other below-the-line items, part of a very long runway of opportunity that we are beginning to chip away at; number three, the closing of the gap between cash spend and amortization, partly due to shifts in the timing of production and partly as a result of implementing our new content strategy initiated last year; number four, modest cash savings from the impact of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which we estimate were in the low $100 million range during the quarter.

業績優異的關鍵因素是，第一，調整後 EBITDA 略好於預期；第二，我們的營運資本和其他線下項目的幾乎所有要素都得到了改善，這是我們開始逐漸蠶食的漫長機會的一部分；第三，現金支出與攤銷之間的差距縮小，部分原因是製作時間的變化，部分原因是實施我們去年啟動的新內容戰略；第四，WGA 和 SAG-AFTRA 罷工的影響帶來了適度的現金節省，我們估計本季度的現金節省量在 1 億美元左右。

We also absorbed $200 million of cash restructuring and integration-related expense during the quarter, in line with our expectations. We repaid over $1.6 billion of debt, $1.1 billion of the term loan and over $500 million of notes. As you saw, we launched a tender offer this morning for up to $2.7 billion of notes that are maturing through the first half of 2024.

本季度我們還吸收了 2 億美元的現金重組和整合相關費用，符合我們的預期。我們償還了超過 16 億美元的債務、11 億美元的定期貸款和超過 5 億美元的票據。正如您所看到的，我們今天早上對高達 27 億美元的票據發起了要約收購，這些票據將於 2024 年上半年到期。

Our net leverage came down significantly this quarter and is now at 4.6x. Consistent with our capital allocation policy, we remain focused on debt pay down and have a clear path to net leverage nicely below 4x at the end of the year, and reiterate our expectation to achieve target leverage of 2.5x gross by the end of 2024.

本季度我們的淨槓桿率大幅下降，目前為 4.6 倍。與我們的資本配置政策一致，我們仍然關注債務償還，並有明確的途徑在年底將淨槓桿率遠低於 4 倍，並重申我們預計到 2024 年底實現總槓桿率 2.5 倍的目標。

Turning now briefly to the segments, which I will discuss as always on a constant currency basis. Starting with B2C. I'm very encouraged with the results that effectively breakeven EBITDA and quite a bit better than we expected, notwithstanding the significant investments in the development and marketing of our new Max platform in the U.S. Q2 nicely demonstrates the underlying traction and efficiency from the integration of legacy D2C operations and organization.

現在簡單地談談各個部分，我將一如既往地在固定匯率的基礎上討論這些部分。從B2C開始。儘管我們在美國新Max 平台的開發和營銷方面投入了大量資金，但我對有效實現EBITDA 盈虧平衡的結果感到非常鼓舞，而且比我們預期的要好得多。第二季度很好地展示了整合帶來的潛在吸引力和效率。傳統的 D2C 運營和組織。

I do want to call out, while we saw growth across all 3 revenue streams, content was the standout, helped by the timing of license deals. And while selling content to third parties has been and will be a core element of our company-wide operating model, we would expect some smoothing out of content licensing in the second half of the year.

我確實想指出，雖然我們看到所有 3 個收入來源都在增長，但在許可交易時機的幫助下，內容表現最為突出。雖然向第三方銷售內容已經並將成為我們全公司運營模式的核心要素，但我們預計下半年內容許可會有所平滑。

We saw a sequential net subscriber loss of $1.8 million in Q2. As expected, trends were impacted by overlapping subscriber bases between Max and discovery+; expected churn from the end of some key tentpole series such as The Last of Us and Succession; and wholesale declines, including the unwinding of some very low ARPU international wholesale distribution deals that were struck under the prior strategy that prioritized subscribers over ARPU, profitability and value.

我們看到第二季度的連續淨用戶損失為 180 萬美元。正如預期的那樣，Max 和 discovery+ 之間重疊的用戶群影響了趨勢；預計《最後生還者》和《繼承之戰》等一些主要主力系列的完結後會出現流失；批發業務下降，包括取消一些 ARPU 非常低的國際批發分銷交易，這些交易是根據之前的策略達成的，該策略優先考慮用戶數而不是 ARPU、盈利能力和價值。

And with respect to the overlapping subscriber base, we did see several hundred thousand subs churn off during the quarter, meaningfully less than we had anticipated. And while we do expect to see some more elevated churn on discovery+, we also see engagement patterns consistent with what we saw prior to Max launch, making us optimistic that our strategy to keep offering these 2 products was the right one for customers and for our business.

就重疊的用戶群而言，我們確實看到本季度有數十萬用戶流失，明顯低於我們的預期。雖然我們確實預計discovery+ 的流失率會更高，但我們也看到了參與模式與Max 推出之前所看到的一致，這讓我們樂觀地認為，我們繼續提供這兩種產品的策略對於客戶和我們來說是正確的。商業。

Our streaming team really did an outstanding job with this transition. We continue to see traction on the streaming advertising opportunity, supported by gains in ad-light subscribers, early initiatives on HBO and Max Originals and increased engagement. While the overall advertising market remains soft, we see the streaming and advertising opportunity well positioned to benefit from secular tailwinds over the long term. This is particularly true against the backdrop of the enormous value of some of our iconic shows for advertisers who, in the past, have no access to this inventory.

我們的流媒體團隊在這一轉變中確實做得非常出色。我們繼續看到流媒體廣告機會的吸引力，這得益於廣告燈訂閱者的增長、HBO 和 Max Originals 的早期舉措以及參與度的提高。儘管整體廣告市場仍然疲軟，但我們認為流媒體和廣告機會處於有利位置，可以從長期的長期順風中受益。考慮到我們的一些標誌性節目對於過去無法訪問此庫存的廣告商來說具有巨大價值，這一點尤其如此。

We remain focused on further scaling this segment of our offering, and the relaunch of Max will certainly be a driver, both here in the U.S. and later abroad. I am proud of the meaningful strides we made in the first half of the year and see D2C as an important contributor to total company profit growth year-over-year in the second half.

我們仍然專注於進一步擴大我們產品的這一部分，Max 的重新推出肯定會成為一個推動力，無論是在美國還是後來在國外。我對我們上半年取得的有意義的進步感到自豪，並將 D2C 視為下半年公司總利潤同比增長的重要貢獻者。

Turning to studios. The studios' performance has clearly been inconsistent. Our box office results in Q2 underperformed our expectations, which weighed on financial results. And it's ironic to have to say that given how incredibly successful Barbie has been impacting Q3, of course, not Q2. Unpacking this a bit, overall content revenues declined 25% due to: number one, the slate, as I mentioned as well as the timing of production of certain TV series and fewer CW Series orders following the Nexstar transaction.

轉向工作室。工作室的表現顯然不一致。我們第二季度的票房成績低於我們的預期，這對財務業績造成了壓力。具有諷刺意味的是，考慮到芭比娃娃取得了令人難以置信的成功，當然，影響了第三季度，而不是第二季度。稍微展開一下，總體內容收入下降了 25%，原因是：第一，正如我提到的，片單以及某些電視劇的製作時間和 Nexstar 交易後 CW 系列訂單的減少。

Number two, lower internal sales to networks and D2C, in part, resulting from the more disciplined content investment and programming approach we've implemented, such as exiting direct-to-Max movies or certain scripted series on linear, for which we felt ratings did not justify the investments. Please note, these lower revenues are offset in lower eliminations on the group level but impacted segment level revenue.

第二，網絡和D2C 的內部銷售額下降，部分原因是我們實施了更嚴格的內容投資和節目製作方法，例如退出直接觀看Max 的電影或某些線性劇本系列，我們認為這些系列的收視率很高沒有證明投資的合理性。請注意，這些較低的收入被集團層面較低的抵銷額所抵消，但影響了部門層面的收入。

And number three, finally, in gaming, The LEGO Star Wars game was released in the second quarter last year, which created a tough comp for this year. Looking ahead, we're naturally delighted with the performance of Barbie thus far, which is now approaching $1 billion in global box office, and we're excited about its prospects through its remaining monetization window.

第三，最後，在遊戲領域，《樂高星球大戰》遊戲於去年第二季度發布，這為今年帶來了艱難的競爭。展望未來，我們自然對《芭比娃娃》迄今為止的表現感到高興，該片目前的全球票房已接近 10 億美元，我們對其剩余盈利窗口的前景感到興奮。

For the remainder of our feature films this year as well as Warner Bros. television productions, release dates and performance expectations are naturally fluid given the ongoing strikes, and we will evaluate our options and update the market accordingly. But it is possible we will see greater variability against our forecast.

對於我們今年剩餘的故事片以及華納兄弟的電視作品，考慮到持續的罷工，發行日期和性能預期自然是不穩定的，我們將評估我們的選擇並相應地更新市場。但我們可能會看到與我們的預測相比更大的變化。

Turning to networks. Advertising decreased 13%. As we called out last quarter, we faced tough comparisons as we did not have the NCAA Final Four and championship games this year. And although we did have the Stanley Cup finals for the first time, the net impact of these 2 sporting events was an approximate 200 basis point headwind. Adjusting for this, we did see underlying sequential improvement.

轉向網絡。廣告減少了 13%。正如我們上個季度所說的那樣，我們面臨著艱難的比較，因為今年我們沒有 NCAA 四強賽和冠軍賽。儘管我們確實第一次舉辦了斯坦利杯決賽，但這兩項體育賽事的淨影響大約是 200 個基點的逆風。對此進行調整後，我們確實看到了潛在的連續改善。

I would characterize the broader tone of the marketplace thus far in Q3 as similar to that in Q2, certainly here in the U.S., while international markets are broadly a touch stronger. That said, as David mentioned earlier, we are making strong progress on our upfront deals.

我認為第三季度迄今為止的市場整體基調與第二季度相似，尤其是在美國，而國際市場總體上稍強一些。也就是說，正如大衛之前提到的，我們在前期交易方面正在取得巨大進展。

Key callouts from my perspective are, number one, linear volume expected to be up, with pricing on balance pretty consistent with the prior year. Number two, D2C volume is up more than 50% in the marketplace in which CPMs were positioned to drive scale, for us as much as for the broader market.

從我的角度來看，最重要的一點是，第一，銷量預計將呈線性增長，總體定價與上一年基本一致。第二，在 CPM 被定位為推動規模的市場中，D2C 銷量增長了 50% 以上，對於我們和更廣泛的市場來說都是如此。

While visibility overall remains limited and the scatter market inconsistent, we expect continued modest sequential improvement through the end of the year and forecast global networks advertising revenues will decrease in the high single-digit range during the second half of the year, with Q4 sequentially better than Q3, which is overall meaningfully worse than our forecast from earlier in the year. Distribution revenues decreased 1%, a modest improvement versus last quarter as we continue to be pleased with the pricing and tiering of our networks and renewals, represented by their importance to both traditional and virtual bundles.

儘管總體能見度仍然有限​​且分散市場不一致，但我們預計到今年年底將繼續出現適度的環比改善，並預測下半年全球網絡廣告收入將在高個位數範圍內下降，第四季度將環比更好第三季度總體上比我們今年早些時候的預測要差得多。分銷收入下降了 1%，與上季度相比略有改善，因為我們對網絡和續訂的定價和分層仍然感到滿意，這體現在它們對傳統和虛擬捆綁的重要性。

Before wrapping up the segment discussion, I'd like to offer an update on the AT&T SportsNet. I am very pleased to say that we have been working diligently with the respective leagues and teams to formulate a plan to exit the RSN business in a manner that minimizes the disruption to teams and their fans. We expect each of the networks will be sold or operations seized by the end of the year.

在結束本部分討論之前，我想介紹一下 AT&T SportsNet 的最新情況。我很高興地說，我們一直在與各自的聯盟和球隊努力合作，制定退出 RSN 業務的計劃，以最大程度地減少對球隊及其球迷的干擾。我們預計每個網絡都將在年底前被出售或被沒收。

While we've positioned these to operate at adjusted EBITDA breakeven, this business generated nearly $400 million of revenues in 2022 and skewed heavily towards distribution revenues. As these networks are sold or wound down over the next few months, we expect a modest impact to Q3 distribution and advertising revenues, with a more meaningful impact in Q4 and into 2024.

雖然我們將這些業務定位為調整後的 EBITDA 盈虧平衡點，但該業務在 2022 年產生了近 4 億美元的收入，並且嚴重偏向於分銷收入。隨著這些網絡在未來幾個月內被出售或關閉，我們預計對第三季度的發行和廣告收入影響不大，而在第四季度和 2024 年會產生更有意義的影響。

Turning to guidance and our outlook for the year. Let me start with our most important financial metric, free cash flow. For Q3, I expect us to again generate free cash flow in the $1.7 billion ballpark, reflecting similar underlying trends as in Q2, with sequentially larger savings from the strikes as well as the success of Barbie, notwithstanding the roughly $900 million of semiannual interest payments.

轉向今年的指導和展望。讓我從我們最重要的財務指標——自由現金流開始。對於第三季度，我預計我們將再次產生17 億美元左右的自由現金流，這反映了與第二季度類似的基本趨勢，儘管半年利息支付約為9 億美元，但罷工以及芭比娃娃的成功帶來了連續更大的節省。

And based on this outlook, the health of the underlying free cash flow drivers and further opportunities in the pipeline, I see full year free cash flow in the range of $4.5 billion to $5 billion. This also assumes cash restructuring and integration-related costs for this year of roughly $1.2 billion, which is a couple of hundred million more than our prior expectations.

基於這一前景、潛在自由現金流驅動因素的健康狀況以及未來的更多機會，我預計全年自由現金流將在 45 億至 50 億美元之間。這還假設今年的現金重組和整合相關成本約為 12 億美元，比我們之前的預期高出幾億美元。

For adjusted EBITDA, I am now assuming we'll settle towards the low end of our target range of $11 billion to $11.5 billion. The key drivers for the final outcome will be centered around ad sales, D2C profit growth and contributions from the Studio segment.

對於調整後的 EBITDA，我現在假設我們將穩定在 110 億至 115 億美元目標範圍的低端。最終結果的關鍵驅動力將集中在廣告銷售、D2C 利潤增長和工作室部門的貢獻上。

Let me provide some puts and takes. First, the timing and magnitude of a potential ad market recovery continued to be the most important driver of upside and downside to our results.

讓我提供一些看跌期權。首先，潛在廣告市場復甦的時機和幅度仍然是我們業績上升和下降的最重要驅動因素。

Second, the D2C segment has been a driver of our year-over-year EBITDA improvement, and we expect that to continue, helped by efficiency gains and top line benefits. We see segment EBITDA losses of no more than a couple of hundred million dollars for the full year 2023.

其次，D2C 部門一直是我們 EBITDA 同比改善的推動力，我們預計在效率提升和營收效益的幫助下，這種情況將繼續下去。我們預計 2023 年全年該部門的 EBITDA 損失不會超過幾億美元。

Third, uncertainty in the studio segment has increased with the dual strikes. This may have implications for the timing and performance of the remainder of the film slate as well as our ability to produce and deliver content. And while we are hoping for a fast resolution, our modeling assumes a return-to-work date in early September. Should the strikes run through the end of the year, I would expect several hundred million dollars of incremental upside to our free cash flow guidance and some incremental downside for adjusted EBITDA.

第三，工作室領域的不確定性隨著雙重打擊而增加。這可能會對電影剩餘部分的時間安排和表現以及我們製作和交付內容的能力產生影響。雖然我們希望盡快得到解決，但我們的模型假設復工日期為 9 月初。如果罷工持續到今年年底，我預計我們的自由現金流指引將出現數億美元的增量增長，而調整後的 EBITDA 則會出現一些增量下降。

When I take a step back, notwithstanding the factors influencing the broader landscape, I am more and more convinced that the dedicated work of the leadership team and efforts throughout the company, marked by a meaningful shift in mindset about how to manage this company, is starting to pay dividends.

當我退後一步時，儘管有影響更廣泛前景的因素，我越來越相信領導團隊的專注工作和整個公司的努力，以管理公司的思維方式發生有意義的轉變為標誌，開始支付股息。

I believe our financial results this quarter speak volumes about this change. I am very confident in the trajectory of our delevering and debt pay down, the benefits of which will increasingly allow us to turn our dedication and focus to support further growth initiatives to ensure long-term, sustainable and profitable growth ahead.

我相信我們本季度的財務業績充分說明了這一變化。我對我們去槓桿化和債務償還的軌跡非常有信心，其好處將使我們能夠越來越多地將我們的奉獻精神和重點轉向支持進一步的增長舉措，以確保未來長期、可持續和盈利的增長。

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

這樣，我想將電話轉回給接線員並回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Vijay Jayant with Evercore ISI.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Vijay Jayant。

This is Kutgun Maral on for Vijay. One on M&A and one on the synergies. First, on M&A, based on commentary from your peers, it seems like there might be a willingness from some to reshape the media landscape a bit and that certain linear or maybe even streaming assets could swap hands.

我是庫特岡·馬拉爾 (Kutgun Maral) 為維杰 (Vijay) 發言。一篇關於併購，一篇關於協同效應。首先，關於併購，根據同行的評論，似乎有些人願意稍微重塑媒體格局，並且某些線性甚至流媒體資產可能會交換手。

From your end, it seems like there's a lot of comfort in getting to your leverage targets, the synergy capture machine is firing on all cylinders, free cash flow should ramp going forward. And of course, the second anniversary of the merger is close, if not too far away. So can you talk a bit about your latest views on M&A? And what's your appetite from a strategic or financial lens?

從你的角度來看，實現槓桿目標似乎很輕鬆，協同捕獲機器正在全速運轉，自由現金流應該會繼續增加。當然，合併兩週年就算不是太遠，也已經臨近了。那麼您能談談您對併購的最新看法嗎？從戰略或財務角度來看，您的興趣是什麼？

And on synergies, Gunnar, can you expand on your comments earlier a bit and help us understand where this increase to $5 billion is coming from? And how should we think about the timing flow-through in 2023 and 2024? Should we expect this $1 billion upside will mostly be reinvested in the business? And then are there any changes to the total cash cost achieve that we should be mindful of as we think of free cash flow over the coming years?

關於協同效應，Gunnar，您能否先詳細闡述一下您的評論，並幫助我們了解 50 億美元的增長來自何處？我們應該如何思考2023年和2024年的時間流程？我們是否應該預期這 10 億美元的收益將大部分重新投資於該業務？那麼，在考慮未來幾年的自由現金流時，我們應該注意的總現金成本實現是否有任何變化？

Thanks. Let me just start by saying the team has really worked hard the last 16 months to restructure this business for the future, to build a business that -- as a real storytelling company where we can continue to invest our meaningful free cash flow to serve all of our diverse businesses. So the delevering that we're doing now, which has really accelerated and is accelerating, is a key element of making this turn. And we've already started to focus on each of our businesses now for growth.

謝謝。首先我要說的是，在過去16 個月裡，我們的團隊確實非常努力地重組這項業務，以適應未來，打造一家真正講故事的公司，我們可以繼續投資我們有意義的自由現金流，為所有人服務。我們多元化的業務。因此，我們現在正在進行的去槓桿化確實已經加速並且正在加速，這是實現這一轉變的關鍵因素。我們現在已經開始關注每項業務的增長。

We like the businesses that we have. We have a diverse set of assets, global reach, great tentpoles that have been underused that we could now get into, whether it's Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, the whole DC plan for the next 10 years. And so we feel very good about our hand. And our focus now will be finish the delevering, which we've made the turn on now and is clearly in sight and focus on our own growth, which we think we give the same attention to and the same rigor. Gunnar?

我們喜歡我們擁有的業務。我們擁有多元化的資產、全球影響力、尚未得到充分利用的巨大支柱，無論是《哈利·波特》還是《指環王》，都是 DC 未來 10 年的整個計劃。所以我們對自己的牌感覺非常好。我們現在的重點將是完成去槓桿化，我們現在已經啟動了去槓桿化，並且顯然在眼前，並專注於我們自己的增長，我們認為我們對此給予了同樣的關注和同樣的嚴格性。貢納爾？

Yes. And Kutgun, on synergies, the headline here is, as David has said so many times, we have completely changed the way we're running a business here. This is not about synergies, this is not about an integration, it's just a fundamental shift in mindset that continues to come through. And again, the -- you saw the free cash flow number in the second quarter. I'm just amazed by the results, and it's coming through everywhere. And there -- as I said, there was a small strike impact here. But without the strike, it would have been a $1.6 billion number instead of a $1.7 billion number.

是的。庫特岡，關於協同效應，正如大衛多次說過的那樣，這裡的標題是，我們已經徹底改變了我們在這裡經營業務的方式。這與協同效應無關，與整合無關，而只是持續發生的思維方式的根本轉變。再說一次，你看到了第二季度的自由現金流數字。我對結果感到驚訝，它無處不在。正如我所說，這裡發生了輕微的罷工影響。但如果沒有罷工，這個數字將是 16 億美元，而不是 17 億美元。

And I'm pointing this out because it's not 1 or 2 things that stick out here, it's cash coming in everywhere across the P&L and then below the line. And so as I said a minute ago, we've achieved the $2 billion of incremental value capture with our transformation initiative. I do see $5 billion or more. And again, as we've said before, a lot of that is going to hit in '24 and beyond. We're still in the early innings of many of our systems transformations. I pointed this out before, we're rationalizing 260 systems across the company. So all of that is still in the pipeline.

我之所以指出這一點，是因為這裡突出的不是一兩件事，而是現金從損益表各處流入，然後流入線下。正如我剛才所說，我們通過轉型計劃實現了 20 億美元的增量價值捕獲。我確實看到了 50 億美元或更多。再次強調，正如我們之前所說，其中很多內容將在 24 年及以後發生。我們的許多系統轉型仍處於初期階段。我之前指出過，我們正在對整個公司的 260 個系統進行合理化。因此，所有這些仍在進行中。

To your point, where is this coming from, it's the same point that I've made in the past. It's really just looking at what's in the system. We have a very significant cushion in terms of the overall savings amount tied to all the initiatives that the company is working on. And then just looking at how those are flowing through the implementation milestones. And I have full confidence now that we're going to get $5 billion or more. And we'll continue -- again, this is not an integration exercise, it's a transformation of the entire operating model for the company.

就你的觀點而言，這是從哪裡來的，這和我過去說過的觀點是一樣的。這實際上只是查看系統中的內容。就與公司正在開展的所有舉措相關的總體節省金額而言，我們有非常重要的緩衝。然後看看這些是如何完成實施里程碑的。我現在完全有信心我們將獲得 50 億美元或更多。我們將繼續——再次強調，這不是一次整合活動，而是公司整個運營模式的轉變。

And yes, we're going to be reinvesting some. We actually have reinvested some. If you look at the numbers, I said $2 billion have flown through in the first half of the year. We've obviously not grown profits by $2 billion. We used some of that to offset the tougher macro environment, and we've used some of it to fund the investments everywhere in the company.

是的，我們將進行一些再投資。我們實際上已經進行了一些再投資。如果你看一下數字，我說今年上半年已經流轉了 20 億美元。顯然我們的利潤並沒有增加 20 億美元。我們用其中的一些來抵消更嚴峻的宏觀環境，並用其中的一些來為公司各地的投資提供資金。

Your next question comes from the line of Kannan Venkateshwar with Barclays.

您的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Kannan Venkateshwar。

Maybe one question on free cash flow. I mean the cash flow numbers are obviously very impressive for the quarter as well as the guidance for Q3. So Gunnar, could you help us understand the working capital tailwinds, I mean, the sources of those? And as you look beyond this year, to what extent can you keep harvesting that cash flow?

也許有一個關於自由現金流的問題。我的意思是，本季度的現金流數字以及第三季度的指導顯然非常令人印象深刻。 Gunnar，你能幫助我們了解營運資本的順風車嗎？我的意思是，這些順風車的來源？當你展望今年之後，你能在多大程度上繼續收穫現金流？

And as you get to next year, you obviously have the cash cost going down of integration and then you have interest costs going down, but then you have offsets potentially in the form of advertising or programming costs going up and DTC getting back to growth. So could you talk about those trade-offs as you look beyond this year in terms of free cash flow growth drivers and what they could look like in '24?

到了明年，顯然整合帶來的現金成本會下降，利息成本也會下降，但隨後廣告或節目成本上升以及 DTC 恢復增長的形式可能會帶來抵消。那麼，當您展望今年之後的自由現金流增長驅動力以及它們在 24 年可能會是什麼樣子時，您能談談這些權衡嗎？

Sure. So let me start with the floors, and I quickly went through them in my prepared remarks earlier. But again, the most important point is it's coming in across the entire cash flow statement. And Kannan, we have talked about this in the past, cash was never an objective in 3/4 of this company. And so when we went in and looked at the enormous amount of uncollected receivables, the enormous delays and even sending out invoices, the willingness to just pay our suppliers before even payments are due, it was just never a focus area. The discussion of a 10% margin business or a project, is that a good project? Could be, but it could be a bad project if it takes 3 or 4 years to get the cash in after you deploy the capital.

當然。讓我從發言開始，我在之前準備好的發言中快速瀏覽了一遍。但同樣，最重要的一點是它貫穿整個現金流量表。 Kannan，我們過去曾討論過這一點，現金從來都不是這家公司 3/4 的目標。因此，當我們走進並查看大量未收回的應收賬款、巨大的延誤甚至發送發票、甚至在付款到期之前就向供應商付款的意願時，這從來都不是重點領域。討論一個10%利潤的業務或者一個項目，這是一個好項目嗎？可能是，但如果在部署資本後需要三四年才能收回現金，那麼這可能是一個糟糕的項目。

So those are all factors and that are reflective of a mindset shift across the company. And importantly, I do also want to point out because we sometimes get the question on the securitization facility, we've said a number of times we're not intending to make that a major driver of free cash flow. It hasn't been a factor this quarter or year-to-date. And again, we're not expecting this to be a major driver. It might fluctuate on a quarter-by-quarter basis, but it's not included in a positive or negative way in any of our guidance.

這些都是因素，反映了整個公司的心態轉變。重要的是，我還想指出，因為我們有時會收到有關證券化工具的問題，我們已經多次說過，我們不打算使其成為自由現金流的主要驅動力。本季度或今年迄今為止，這都不是一個因素。再說一遍，我們並不認為這是一個主要驅動因素。它可能會按季度波動，但我們的任何指導中都不會以正面或負面的方式包含它。

And so looking beyond 2023 into the future, you're asking the question, how is this going to develop from here? I do think that we have multiple bites at the apple ahead still from a working capital perspective. We're really just getting started, and we're really still working with an incomplete instrumentation from a systems perspective. So there's a lot more for us to do.

因此，展望 2023 年以後的未來，您會問這樣的問題：從現在開始，情況將如何發展？我確實認為，從營運資金的角度來看，我們仍然會在未來的蘋果上多次咬一口。我們真的才剛剛開始，從系統角度來看，我們仍然在使用不完整的儀器。所以我們還有很多事情要做。

You've also gone through a number of the underlying positive drivers here. Cost to achieve is going to come down and, Kutgun, I realize, I forgot to answer your question. So we had guided to $1 billion to $1.5 billion in cost to achieve. We're going to be, as we said before, probably closer to the upper end of it. But $1.2 billion of that is going to flow through this year, and then it's going to come down.

您還在這裡了解了一些潛在的積極驅動因素。實現成本將會下降，庫特岡，我意識到，我忘了回答你的問題。因此，我們指導成本為 10 億至 15 億美元來實現。正如我們之前所說，我們可能會更接近它的上限。但其中 12 億美元今年將流過，然後就會下降。

Over time, interest is going to come down and CapEx is going to come down. We have a slightly elevated CapEx level as part of our transformation focus here, putting new systems in place, supporting JB's development, the Max platform, et cetera. So that's going to be a positive driver as well.

隨著時間的推移，利息將會下降，資本支出也會下降。作為我們轉型重點的一部分，我們略微提高了資本支出水平，部署新系統，支持 JB 的開發、Max 平台等。所以這也將是一個積極的驅動因素。

And then we'll see how we do on the P&L. Again, we've put ourselves in a position to really get behind all 3 of our businesses. And we'll update you as we get through to 2024. But there's definitely enormous opportunity, and I do not view this as sort of a onetime bump. We're changing the way we're operating the company, and we're changing the cash generation profile of this company. By the way, fully in line with what we've always said, longer term, we should be operating at a 60% cash conversion rate.

然後我們會看看我們的損益表表現如何。再次強調，我們已經能夠真正支持我們的所有 3 項業務。到 2024 年，我們會向您通報最新情況。但這絕對是巨大的機遇，而且我不認為這只是一次性的衝擊。我們正在改變公司的運營方式，我們正在改變公司的現金生成狀況。順便說一句，完全符合我們一直所說的，從長遠來看，我們應該以 60% 的現金轉化率運營。

Your next question comes from the line of Brett Feldman with Goldman Sachs.

您的下一個問題來自高盛的布雷特·費爾德曼 (Brett Feldman)。

And thanks for some of the help in terms of how to think about DTC segment EBITDA as we move ahead. I was hoping you could spend a little time talking about how we should be thinking about revenue in that segment, in particular, the key puts and takes around the net add volumes as you sort of move past the U.S. launch and start to move into international markets. And I'd also be curious for your updated thoughts on the balance between driving growth through pricing and ARPU versus focusing on volume.

感謝您在我們前進過程中如何思考 DTC 部門 EBITDA 方面提供的一些幫助。我希望您能花一點時間討論我們應該如何考慮該細分市場的收入，特別是當您超越美國市場並開始進入國際市場時，圍繞淨增加量的關鍵看跌期權和期權市場。我也很好奇您對通過定價和 ARPU 推動增長與關注數量之間的平衡之間的平衡的最新想法。

Okay. Well, let me start maybe and then pass to JB. As I laid out a minute ago, I do think that advertising for our D2C platform is a massive opportunity. I mean you see that we're growing advertising 25% in the quarter on the platform, and that is in a challenging market environment. And in fairness, we haven't really started prioritizing this.

好的。好吧，讓我開始吧，然後轉到 JB。正如我剛才所說，我確實認為為我們的 D2C 平台做廣告是一個巨大的機會。我的意思是，您會看到我們本季度在平台上的廣告增長了 25%，而且這是在充滿挑戰的市場環境中實現的。公平地說，我們還沒有真正開始優先考慮這一點。

And as I laid out, for the first time ever, advertisers are going to have access to some of the best shows in the entire landscape. And we're opening that up. We've got the technology in place, and it's definitely going to be a growth priority, especially since we know that, in many cases, we can generate higher ARPUs on the ad-light platform or offering then on the ad-free -- for ad-free subscribers.

正如我所指出的，廣告商將有史以來第一次能夠看到整個領域中一些最好的節目。我們正在開放它。我們已經掌握了技術，這肯定會成為增長的優先事項，特別是因為我們知道，在很多情況下，我們可以在少廣告平台上或在無廣告平台上產生更高的 ARPU——適用於無廣告的訂閱者。

Yes. I mean I think that -- to add to Gunnar's comments, I think we look at it as multiple levers as we go into 2024 is the add -- just picking up where Gunnar left off, the ad opportunity. We're just starting in the upfront. It was a huge driver of our success in the upfront, and so that will start to kick in further. We just started in February, as you know, with putting advertising units in our most highly valued, most premium content in terms of HBO and some of the legacy HBO library series.

是的。我的意思是，我認為——補充 Gunnar 的評論，我認為我們將其視為進入 2024 年的多個槓桿——只是繼續 Gunnar 留下的地方，即廣告機會。我們才剛剛開始。這是我們前期成功的巨大推動力，因此這將開始進一步發揮作用。如您所知，我們從 2 月份開始，在我們最有價值、最優質的 HBO 內容和一些 HBO 經典劇集中投放廣告單元。

And so that's -- we see advertising as a driver, we see ARPU as a driver. We've risen -- we've bumped prices up internationally and in the U.S. over the course of the last 9 months. In almost every market, we launched the Ultimate tier, which we've seen very healthy pickup here in the U.S., which is also incremental ARPU for us. And so that's an opportunity.

所以，我們將廣告視為一個驅動因素，我們將 ARPU 視為一個驅動因素。我們已經上漲了——在過去的 9 個月裡，我們提高了國際和美國的價格。我們在幾乎每個市場都推出了 Ultimate 套餐，我們在美國看到該套餐的健康增長，這對我們來說也是增量的 ARPU。這是一個機會。

I think engagement, as David mentioned in his prepared remarks, we've seen very positive initial trends on greater engagement, which is a precursor and a leading indicator to future churn, which is obviously something that is probably #1 in our bull's-eye of things we're trying to attack and lower, which will help us.

我認為，正如大衛在他準備好的講話中提到的那樣，我們已經看到了關於更大參與度的非常積極的初步趨勢，這是未來流失的先兆和領先指標，這顯然是我們靶心中的第一名。我們試圖攻擊和降低的事物，這將對我們有所幫助。

And then obviously, on the net adds side, as we roll out internationally and as we get the platform rolled out, and as we lend to even more content offerings, as David alluded to, potentially in the live space, we think there's incremental opportunity to drive subscribers and more importantly, revenue growth.

顯然，在網絡增加方面，隨著我們在國際上推出，隨著我們推出平台，隨著我們向更多內容產品提供貸款，正如大衛提到的，可能在現場空間，我們認為存在增量機會推動訂閱者，更重要的是，推動收入增長。

Your next question comes from the line of John Hodulik with UBS.

您的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的約翰·霍杜利克 (John Hodulik)。

Great. Recent press reports suggest that ESPN is going to go direct in 2025. I think it's sort of the first time we have a potential sort of date for that. I mean, David, do you see that as a sort of meaningful change in the TV landscape?

偉大的。最近的媒體報導表明，ESPN 將於 2025 年實現直播。我認為這是我們第一次確定可能的日期。我的意思是，大衛，你認為這是電視領域的一種有意義的變化嗎？

And then as it relates to your own sports portfolio, you talked about TNT in Europe. I mean any update on the timing of adding sports and news to your streaming offering? Whether it's the timing or the sort of method of what you do, I mean, do you foresee it just being folded in with the Max offering? Or could you potentially see sort of a separate offering that could be bundled with the current Max offering?

然後，由於涉及您自己的體育投資組合，您談到了歐洲的 TNT。我的意思是關於將體育和新聞添加到您的流媒體服務中的時間有什麼更新嗎？我的意思是，無論是時間安排還是工作方法，您是否預見到它會與 Max 產品合併在一起？或者您是否有可能看到一種可以與當前 Max 產品捆綁在一起的單獨產品？

Thanks, John. First, when it comes to our sports rights domestically and globally, taken as a whole, we're money good. So we have good deals with -- here in the U.S. and around the world that are -- that provide real value to us. One of the elements of those deals is that we own the digital rights to our sports. So we have the ability for no incremental cost to put that content on our platforms.

謝謝，約翰。首先，就我們在國內和全球的體育權利而言，整體而言，我們的資金狀況良好。因此，我們在美國和世界各地都有很好的交易，這為我們提供了真正的價值。這些交易的要素之一是我們擁有我們體育運動的數字版權。因此，我們有能力將這些內容放到我們的平台上，而無需增加成本。

And we're doing it in Europe. We're doing it in different ways. In some cases, we're doing it as an incremental tier. And in some cases, we're putting it on the entire platform. And we've been at it now for about 1.5 years or 2 years, and it's pretty compelling. I've talked about news and sports as our artillery and a real opportunity for us. So we'll be coming to you guys soon.

我們正在歐洲這樣做。我們正在以不同的方式來做這件事。在某些情況下，我們將其作為增量層進行。在某些情況下，我們會將其放在整個平台上。我們現在已經在這方面投入了大約 1.5 年或 2 年的時間，而且非常引人注目。我說過新聞和體育是我們的大砲，也是我們真正的機會。所以我們很快就會來找你們。

We've been working this summer very hard. Number one, we wanted to get this platform right. We wanted to do no harm. Let's get a transition. There was a fair amount of overlap. And we got the transition, the platform is working exceptionally well. Consumers are very happy. Engagement is up.

今年夏天我們一直在努力工作。第一，我們希望這個平台是正確的。我們不想造成傷害。讓我們進行一個過渡。有相當多的重疊。我們已經完成了過渡，該平台運行得非常好。消費者非常高興。訂婚度上升了。

One of our thesis of having how well this overall mix of content will work, directionally, is very -- it looks like it's working. More than 20% of the viewership is going to some of the more diverse content in different time periods. We still have a lot of work to do. We're early on. But news and sports are important, they're differentiators, they're compelling, and they make these platforms come alive.

我們的論點之一是確定整個內容組合在方向上的運作效果如何，看起來非常有效。超過20%的收視率流向了不同時間段的一些更加多樣化的內容。我們還有很多工作要做。我們還早呢但新聞和體育很重要，它們是差異化因素，它們引人注目，並且它們使這些平台變得活躍起來。

And that's -- when -- if you're on an SVOD platform and something that's going on in the world and you could see it, it has that platform, makes that platform really alive. So you will hear from us on that soon.

那就是——當——如果你在一個 SVOD 平台上，並且你可以看到世界上正在發生的事情，它擁有這個平台，讓這個平台真正活躍起來。因此，您很快就會收到我們的回复。

Great. And ESPN direct side of things?

偉大的。和 ESPN 直接的一面？

I think how everybody determines -- we're focused on how we're going to use our sports domestically and globally to create more shareholder value and stronger economics, and help the leagues who all are very interested in reaching more people, more demographics. And so that's our focus.

我認為每個人都如何決定——我們專注於如何在國內和全球範圍內利用我們的體育運動來創造更多的股東價值和更強大的經濟，並幫助那些對接觸更多人、更多人口統計數據非常感興趣的聯盟。這就是我們的重點。

And in addition, as you know, we have Bleacher, which is the -- and House of Highlights, which are a -- which is a huge funnel for us and a big opportunity. And we're focused on how we use that in tandem because it is the largest platform for people under 30 in sport.

此外，如您所知，我們還有 Bleacher，這是 - 以及 House ofhighlights，這是 - 這對我們來說是一個巨大的漏斗，也是一個巨大的機會。我們專注於如何協同使用它，因為它是 30 歲以下人群參與體育運動的最大平台。

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

您的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Jessica Reif。

Just on film, maybe just to go a little deeper. I mean Barbie was so outstanding. So are there lessons learned from having original IP and -- like brilliant marketing. How does this shape your film strategy going forward? Can you talk about the impact to Max when a hit film hits the platform?

只是在電影中，也許只是為了更深入一些。我的意思是芭比是如此出色。那麼，我們是否可以從擁有原創知識產權中吸取教訓，比如出色的營銷。這對您未來的電影策略有何影響？您能談談當一部熱門電影登陸平台時對 Max 的影響嗎？

And then I guess, also in kind of the studio segment, but you talked about selling to third parties which obviously makes a lot of sense. Have you seen any change in demand given the strikes? Or can you just talk about overall demand for your content?

然後我想，也是在工作室部分，但你談到了向第三方出售，這顯然很有意義。鑑於罷工，您是否看到需求發生變化？或者您能談談對您的內容的總體需求嗎？

Well, thanks, Jessica. Barbie is really important for us because -- which -- we think one of the big unlocks of value is running this as one company. So we started having each of the businesses, we meet together every week and all the creatives, we meet together every week. We first got behind House of the Dragon, and we had the dragons going across the bottom of all 30 channels and across the baseball field and the playoffs and having our analysts -- we got them the content in advance and they talk about it.

嗯，謝謝，傑西卡。芭比娃娃對我們來說非常重要，因為我們認為最大的價值釋放之一就是作為一家公司來運營。因此，我們開始開展每一項業務，我們每週都會聚在一起，所有的創意人員，我們每週都會聚在一起。我們首先支持了《House of the Dragon》，我們讓龍穿過所有30 個頻道的底部，穿過棒球場和季后賽，並讓我們的分析師- 我們提前向他們提供了內容，他們對此進行了討論。

We then did The Last of Us. This idea of super sizing by going -- using the fact that we reach 30% or 40% of America on a given night. And at each of our -- all of our platforms globally can have an impact. And we saw it with The Last of Us. We then brought the entire company together on Hogwarts Legacy and supersized it. We don't -- we're not doing it for everything. We're trying to figure out what are the strategic assets, and then we did it on Max.

然後我們拍了《最後生還者》。利用我們在某一晚到達美國 30% 或 40% 的事實，實現超大規模的想法。我們在全球的所有平台都可以產生影響。我們在《最後生還者》中看到了這一點。然後我們將整個公司聚集到霍格沃茨遺產並對其進行了超大規模的改造。我們不會——我們不會為所有事情做這件事。我們試圖找出什麼是戰略資產，然後我們在 Max 上做到了。

And we're getting better at it. We're just getting started. This is such a diverse set of amazing assets, but how do we use them to help each other? And how do we use them also that we don't have to go out and spend money when we already have huge marketing platforms that we could use on our own? And using some of -- having Barkley and Shaq talk about something that they already love could -- is often more powerful than running a commercial.

我們在這方面做得越來越好。我們才剛剛開始。這是一組如此多樣化的令人驚嘆的資產，但我們如何利用它們來互相幫助呢？當我們已經擁有可以自己使用的龐大營銷平台時，我們如何使用它們，我們不必出去花錢？使用一些內容——讓巴克利和沙克談論他們已經喜歡的事情——通常比投放廣告更有效。

And so it's important for the confidence and the culture of the company that we can get behind these assets in a unique way. We're a very unusual company with the assets that we have. And it starts to build our muscle memory.

因此，我們能夠以獨特的方式支持這些資產，這對於公司的信心和文化非常重要。我們是一家非常不尋常的公司，擁有我們所擁有的資產。它開始建立我們的肌肉記憶。

And the idea that this can work, this idea of Barbie Summer, and then every week what is everyone around the table going to do? And the cakes were pink on Food Network. We turned the fields pink across Europe. And it -- of course, it started with an amazing movie by Greta, and Margot going around the world. So it starts with great content, obviously. But this -- but the fact that we can supersize it uniquely, globally, is a big deal for us.

這個想法可行，芭比之夏的想法，然後每週餐桌旁的每個人都會做什麼？食品網絡上的蛋糕是粉紅色的。我們把整個歐洲的田野變成了粉紅色。當然，它始於格蕾塔和瑪戈特環遊世界的一部精彩電影。顯然，它從精彩的內容開始。但事實上，我們可以在全球範圍內以獨特的方式擴大規模，這對我們來說是一件大事。

I think it will -- we're going to let -- we really believe in the motion picture window. Let this movie go to the motion picture window, play it up, build up that brand, then have it go into PVOD, take it through these windows of economics that have worked forever and we think work extremely well, and then put it on Max. And when it goes on Max, we think it will have a very good impact, and that will be in the fall. JB?

我認為我們真的相信電影窗口。讓這部電影進入電影窗口，播放它，建立這個品牌，然後讓它進入PVOD，讓它通過這些一直有效的經濟窗口，我們認為效果非常好，然後把它放在Max上。當它在 Max 上播出時，我們認為它將產生非常好的影響，而且會在秋季。傑布？

Yes. I mean, Jessica, as you know, films, obviously, and movies continue to be a very important part of the Max offering. I should remind people that in the U.S., obviously, we're particularly more reliant on the Warner slate. Outside of the U.S., we are a multistudio service still, including the Warner slate. But films are incredibly important.

是的。我的意思是，傑西卡，正如你所知，電影顯然是 Max 產品中非常重要的一部分。我應該提醒人們，顯然，在美國，我們尤其更加依賴華納的名單。在美國之外，我們仍然是一家多工作室服務公司，其中包括華納影業。但電影非常重要。

And I will say what we've seen so far is -- obviously, we sort of benefit on Max in both ways. Even content -- even the titles that don't necessarily perform as well as we wanted to them in the box office, by the time they get to Max, because fewer people have seen them and they are newer to more people, they do well.

我想說的是，到目前為止我們所看到的是——顯然，我們在兩方面都從 Max 中受益。即使是內容——即使是那些在票房上表現不一定達到我們想要的效果的標題，當它們到達Max 時，因為看過它們的人越來越少，而且對更多人來說它們是新的，它們也做得很好。

And the bigger titles like we had in Batman last year or Dune when it came to the service, and we expect the same of Barbie that do incredibly well, people want to resee. And so it continues to be an incredibly important part of the SVOD business.

去年我們推出的《蝙蝠俠》或《沙丘》等更大的遊戲在服務方面也取得了同樣的成績，我們預計《芭比娃娃》也能做得非常好，人們希望重新觀看。因此，它仍然是 SVOD 業務中極其重要的一部分。

Look, the key for us is, as we have accelerated the delevering now and made the turn, that we focus on growth. And focus on growth will be we now have command and control of each of our businesses. And we're going to give the same rigor and focus on how do we drive growth across each of our businesses.

看，對我們來說，關鍵是，隨著我們現在加速去槓桿化並實現轉變，我們專注於增長。我們現在對每項業務都有指揮和控制權，重點關注增長。我們將同樣嚴格並專注於如何推動每項業務的增長。

And one of those key initiatives is one company. How do we use this -- the unique set of assets that we have that no one else has globally to drive growth? And that's what we're continuing. We're starting much more on -- to focus on growth, and you'll see it, and we'll be talking more about it.

這些關鍵舉措之一就是一家公司。我們如何利用這一點——我們擁有的、全球範圍內其他人都沒有的獨特資產來推動增長？這就是我們正在繼續的事情。我們正在開始更多地關注增長，你會看到它，我們將更多地談論它。

The content licensing, look, we have one of the best TV and motion picture libraries in the world. As you -- if you look at our overall -- the overall economics, I think we're actually below the last couple of years in terms of what we're selling. If the strike continues, there may be more demand. We are always looking to maximize. We're hoping this strike gets settled as soon as possible. It's important. It's important that we get going, that we get back to work doing what we love, and we're hoping that both of these strikes get resolved soon. That's our focus.

就內容許可而言，我們擁有世界上最好的電視和電影庫之一。正如你——如果你看看我們的整體——整體經濟狀況，我認為我們的銷售量實際上低於過去幾年。如果罷工繼續下去，可能會有更多的需求。我們一直在尋求最大化。我們希望這次罷工能夠盡快得到解決。這一點很重要。重要的是我們要繼續前進，回到工作中去做我們喜歡的事情，我們希望這兩次罷工都能盡快得到解決。這是我們的重點。

Your next question comes from the line of Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.

您的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的本·斯溫伯恩 (Ben Swinburne)。

David, you've been through lots and lots of cycles, advertising cycles in particular in your career. And I'm wondering how you would describe this kind of environment...

大衛，你經歷了很多很多的周期，尤其是在你的職業生涯中的廣告週期。我想知道你會如何描述這種環境......

You saying I'm old, Ben?

你說我老了，本？

Experienced. So I guess the question is, I think about your Jack Welch story from all these years, talking about ratings going down and advertising going up and whether there's any concern in your mind that we -- maybe linear TV has reached that point. And the corollary would be, with Max, it would seem like you have a great opportunity to sort of move some of that linear money over to D2C. And I'm wondering if you're optimistic that you can kind of capture that one for once. So it's sort of a bigger picture advertising question, but would love to hear your thoughts.

有經驗的。所以我想問題是，我想了想你這些年來傑克·韋爾奇的故事，談論收視率下降和廣告上升，以及你是否擔心我們——也許線性電視已經達到了這一點。推論是，對於 Max，你似乎有一個很好的機會將部分線性資金轉移到 D2C。我想知道你是否樂觀地認為你可以一次性捕捉到這一點。所以這是一個更大的廣告問題，但很想听聽你的想法。

Thanks, Ben. Look, the market is -- it improved a little bit last quarter, and we think it feels like it's improving a little bit this quarter. We're seeing some more improvement, not anything great, but we're seeing some more meaningful improvement outside the U.S. But this is unusual. In my 35 years, I think a lot of us expected that there would be a -- that we'd see a meaningful recovery in the second half of the year, and we haven't seen it. And we've needed to figure out how to make up for that.

謝謝，本。看，市場上個季度略有改善，我們認為本季度感覺也有所改善。我們看到了一些更多的改進，但並不是什麼偉大的改進，但我們看到美國以外的地方出現了一些更有意義的改進，但這很不尋常。在我 35 年的經歷中，我想我們很多人都預計下半年會出現有意義的複蘇，但我們還沒有看到。我們需要弄清楚如何彌補這一點。

We just came out of an upfront that is encouraging, at least for us. We're seeing mid-single increase on the sports side. We got price increases with some of our affinity networks. Some of these networks are really important to advertisers, and we're still doing a lot of original content which makes us unique. And some of our smaller networks were slightly down.

我們剛剛完成了令人鼓舞的前期工作，至少對我們來說是這樣。我們看到體育方面的中單增長。我們的一些親和網絡的價格上漲了。其中一些網絡對廣告商來說非常重要，我們仍在製作大量原創內容，這使我們與眾不同。我們的一些較小的網絡略有下降。

Max was the star. I mean a big star. As JB said, some of this content, the greatness of HBO and Max, the KC, all that content, that we have 127 Emmy nominations, the idea that you can get in front of Succession, you can get in front of the highest quality content for the first time. And it's very uncluttered. It's one spot, right, for now on the front end of it, and some of the older content is limited. And so we're seeing really good pricing.

馬克斯是明星。我指的是大明星。正如JB 所說，其中一些內容，HBO 和Max 的偉大之處，KC，所有這些內容，我們獲得了127 項艾美獎提名，你可以在《繼任者》中獲得提名，你可以在最高質量的作品中獲得提名內容第一次。而且非常整潔。這是一個位置，對吧，目前在它的前端，一些舊的內容是有限的。所以我們看到了非常好的定價。

We can't say one for one. We need to build up Max for now. It's -- there's a huge demand for it. We're going to be pushing for -- as we look at growth everywhere, we're going to be pushing now for how we reduce churn and grow Max. But it's very helpful to us that we have a significant digital footprint. We have a really strong product in Max.

我們不能一一說。我們現在需要構建 Max。對此有巨大的需求。我們將努力推動——當我們關注各地的增長時，我們現在將推動如何減少客戶流失並增加 Max。但我們擁有重要的數字足跡，這對我們非常有幫助。我們的 Max 是一款非常強大的產品。

And look, for us, we can't predict what's going to go on with the linear business. But we have a lot of command and control, as I talked about earlier. And the viewership on our platforms are actually quite strong, it's just that they're older. And there's a load of people still loving and watching our content. And most of our content now is going over to Max. So they're watching Diners and Dives (sic) [Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives] and then we're getting -- we're monetizing it again to all of our subscribers on our ad tier and around the world.

瞧，對於我們來說，我們無法預測線性業務將會發生什麼。但正如我之前談到的，我們有很多命令和控制權。而且我們平台上的收視率其實還是挺強的，只是年齡比較大而已。還有很多人仍然喜歡並觀看我們的內容。現在我們的大部分內容都將交給 Max。因此，他們正在觀看 Diners and Dives（原文如此）[Diners、Drive-Ins and Dives]，然後我們再次將其貨幣化給我們廣告層和世界各地的所有訂閱者。

So we have that symmetry. We need to build up the other side. But we've been very aggressive, and we will continue to be about driving the margin. And we're aware that there's a decline in the traditional business. And we're fighting to keep that free cash flow, and we'll pull every lever we can.

所以我們就有了這種對稱性。我們需要建立另一面。但我們一直非常積極，並且將繼續致力於提高利潤率。我們意識到傳統業務正在衰退。我們正在努力保持自由現金流，我們將竭盡全力。

Your next question comes from the line of Michael Morris with Guggenheim.

你的下一個問題來自邁克爾·莫里斯與古根海姆的對話。

I want to ask one about the strikes and one about the international business. First, on the strikes, David. From the outside, it does feel like the 2 sides are very far apart. And so I'd love to hear if you could characterize how far apart you feel that the sides are, recognizing that you're being negotiated on behalf of. But your interests are obviously very much at stake here, so I'd love to hear just sort of your thoughts on how far apart the sides are and how influential do you feel like you can be on bringing the sides together.

我想問一個關於罷工的問題，一個關於國際業務的問題。首先，關於罷工，大衛。從外面看，確實感覺兩側相隔很遠。因此，我很想听聽您是否能描述一下您認為雙方之間的差距有多大，並認識到您是在代表您進行談判。但你的利益顯然在這裡受到很大的威脅，所以我很想听聽你的想法，關於雙方的分歧有多大，以及你認為你可以在將雙方團結在一起方面發揮多大的影響力。

And then second, on the international business. You made constructive comments about the opportunity there. Obviously, your international business has a pretty big mix of brands and partnerships, licensing arrangements. So can you maybe talk about the strategic vision here? Is your ambition to have one strong single brand over time, similar to the way Netflix is structured? And maybe more tactically, what are some of the milestones or initiatives over the next 12 months that you're looking to achieve?

其次，關於國際業務。您對那裡的機會提出了建設性的評論。顯然，您的國際業務擁有相當多的品牌、合作夥伴關係、許可安排。那麼您能在這裡談談戰略願景嗎？您是否希望隨著時間的推移擁有一個強大的單一品牌，類似於 Netflix 的結構方式？也許更具策略性的是，您希望在未來 12 個月內實現哪些里程碑或計劃？

Thanks so much. Well, look, on the strike, I'm very focused on it because this is our business, this is all we do. And get it -- and it's critically important that everybody, the writers, the directors, the actors, the producers, all the below-the-line crews, everyone needs to be fairly compensated, and they need to feel valued and feel that they're fairly compensated in order to do their best work. And we have to focus on getting that done. I'm hopeful that it's going to happen soon.

非常感謝。好吧，看，關於罷工，我非常關注它，因為這是我們的事，這就是我們所做的一切。明白這一點——至關重要的是，每個人，編劇、導演、演員、製片人、所有的線下工作人員，每個人都需要得到公平的補償，他們需要感到被重視，並感到自己被尊重。為了盡最大努力工作，他們得到了公平的補償。我們必須集中精力完成這項工作。我希望這會很快發生。

I'm going to -- I think all of us in this business are very keen to figure out a solution as quickly as possible. We are in some uncharted waters in terms of the world as it is today and measuring it all. And so I think in good faith, we all got to fight to get this resolved, and it needs to be resolved in a way that the creative community feels fairly compensated and fully valued.

我想——我認為這個行業的所有人都非常渴望盡快找到解決方案。就當今世界而言，我們正處於一些未知的水域並正在測量這一切。因此，我真誠地認為，我們都必須努力解決這個問題，並且需要以一種讓創意社區感到得到公平補償和充分重視的方式來解決。

And then, Michael, as it relates to international, certainly on the streaming side, we will be moving to one unified consistent brand with the launch of Max over the next 12 months, with the rollout plan for LatAm, EMEA and then APAC. So absolutely, over the course of sort of the next 12 months, that's the road map and the plan we're on.

然後，邁克爾，就國際而言，當然是在流媒體方面，我們將在未來12 個月內推出Max，併計劃在拉丁美洲、歐洲、中東和非洲以及亞太地區推出，從而轉向一個統一一致的品牌。毫無疑問，在接下來的 12 個月內，這就是我們正在進行的路線圖和計劃。

I think the second piece is we're obviously excited as we think about content mix, particularly in an environment where, to David's point about the strike, we do have great original productions happening outside the U.S. as well, both for Max as a platform as well as our local networks, and that content will feed Max as well.

我認為第二點是，當我們考慮內容組合時，我們顯然感到很興奮，特別是在大衛關於罷工的觀點中，我們確實在美國境外也有很棒的原創作品，無論是作為平台還是 Max以及我們的本地網絡，這些內容也將為Max 提供信息。

And so this mix of powerful global IP and global content coming largely out of the U.S. as well as local content produced by our local teams in markets, particularly in Europe and LatAm, that mix to drive penetration of Max outside the U.S. we think is very powerful. And then on top of that, we have, obviously as David alluded to earlier, our sports. And as we think about Europe, in particular with the Olympics and in coming home to Europe next summer will be a great launch platform for us in EMEA.

因此，強大的全球知識產權和主要來自美國的全球內容以及我們當地團隊在市場（特別是歐洲和拉丁美洲）製作的本地內容的組合，我們認為這種組合將推動 Max 在美國以外的滲透。強大的。除此之外，顯然正如大衛之前提到的，我們還有我們的體育運動。當我們想到歐洲時，特別是奧運會以及明年夏天回到歐洲，這將成為我們在歐洲、中東和非洲地區的一個很好的啟動平台。

Your final question comes from the line of Phil Cusick with JPMorgan.

你的最後一個問題來自菲爾·庫西克（Phil Cusick）與摩根大通的對話。

Congrats on Barbie. I'm excited for Shaq and Charles to discuss some Barbie-Superman team up, that would be great. Following up -- 2 things. Following up on John's question, it sounds like NHL is coming to Max, and we should think about Max as the path for more of your Turner Sports over time. How does that impact Max pricing? Can you put those sports on and keep prices around this level? Or do you think we need a substantial increase to get there?

恭喜芭比。我很高興沙克和查爾斯討論一些芭比超人團隊，那太好了。跟進——兩件事。繼續約翰的問題，聽起來 NHL 正在走向 Max，我們應該將 Max 視為隨著時間的推移，更多特納體育的道路。這對最高定價有何影響？你能推出這些運動並將價格保持在這個水平嗎？或者您認為我們需要大幅增加才能實現這一目標？

And then second, on lower DTC churn in the quarter, was that driven by, I think you mentioned -- what's the remaining discovery HBO overlap, that sort of latent churn? And what do you see in the pace of that consolidation going forward?

其次，本季度 DTC 流失率較低，我想你提到過，這是否是由 HBO 剩餘的發現重疊（即潛在的流失）驅動的？您對未來整合的步伐有何看法？

We think it's a real asset, all the sports rights that we have. We will -- we have a real strategic plan that we're finalizing, and we'll take it to you guys and be very clear about exactly how we're going to use news and sports in -- on our platforms and for -- to build value for the future in the near term. JB?

我們認為這是一項真正的資產，是我們擁有的所有體育權利。我們將——我們有一個正在敲定的真正的戰略計劃，我們會將其交給你們，並非常清楚地說明我們將如何在我們的平台上使用新聞和體育—— - 在短期內為未來創造價值。傑布？

Yes. I mean I think as David alluded to earlier, in sports, we have a mix of models today across. Largely in Europe, it is priced in an incrementally priced tier. In LatAm, we have some sports bundle -- a mix there as well. We have some local football or soccer in a separately priced tier. We have Champions League in Mexico and Brazil priced within the entertainment offering.

是的。我的意思是，我認為正如大衛之前提到的，在體育領域，我們今天有多種模式。主要在歐洲，它的定價是遞增的。在拉丁美洲，我們有一些體育捆綁包——也是混合的。我們有一些當地的足球或單獨定價的足球。我們將墨西哥和巴西的冠軍聯賽納入娛樂產品的定價中。

I think generally, our view is sports is a such a premium offering with a very focused and passionate fan base that generally, the model will require some way to find -- needs to find incremental value to get out of it. And so exactly how that comes to market, we will have more to say later in the year. But generally, our view is that it needs to be monetized incrementally, let's put it that way.

我認為總的來說，我們的觀點是體育是一種非常優質的產品，擁有非常專注和熱情的粉絲群，一般來說，該模型需要某種方式來找到——需要找到增量價值來擺脫它。那麼它到底如何進入市場，我們將在今年晚些時候有更多的消息要說。但總的來說，我們的觀點是它需要逐步貨幣化，這麼說吧。

And then as it relates to the overlap, I think as we said publicly before, we had about 4 -- we estimated about 4 million global overlapping subscribers between d+ and HBO Max at the time, with a large portion of that in the U.S. In Gunnar's remarks, he talked to the fact that we've now seen several hundred thousands come out of that in the U.S. And we will continue to presumably -- to see some further tailing off that overlapping sub base, but it has been materially less than we expected. And so that's the story on the overlap.

然後，就重疊而言，我認為正如我們之前公開說過的那樣，我們當時估計 d+ 和 HBO Max 之間大約有 400 萬全球重疊訂戶，其中很大一部分在美國。在Gunnar 的講話中，他談到了這樣一個事實，即我們現在已經看到美國有數十萬人從那裡出來，而且我們可能會繼續看到一些人進一步減少重疊的子基地，但它已經大大少於我們預計。這就是重疊的故事。

Can I follow up quickly on the Max side? Do you think that CNN would also require incremental value? Or do you think that could be integrated sort of on the regular product?

Max這邊可以快速跟進嗎？您認為 CNN 也需要增量價值嗎？或者您認為這可以集成到常規產品上嗎？

We're going to talk about news and sports. We'll be back to you soon on that. And one of the things you're also seeing with us is we're winding out a very -- there were some low ARPU deals that were -- that internationally, that we just looked at, and we just said, that's not who we are, let's get out of those deals.

我們要談論新聞和體育。我們很快就會回复您。你們在我們身上看到的一件事是，我們正在結束一項非常——有一些低 ARPU 交易——國際上，我們剛剛看了，我們只是說，這不是我們想要的。是，讓我們退出這些交易吧。

And so there has been a focus to say, let's focus on profitability, let's focus on really good subs. Real value, the economics that we get, the ability to nourish our audience and build on those economics, that's our future. And let's get out of these deals that were bargain basement and providing very little ARPU or value.

因此，我們有一個重點要說，讓我們關注盈利能力，讓我們關注真正優秀的潛艇。真正的價值，我們獲得的經濟，滋養我們的觀眾並在這些經濟的基礎上發展的能力，這就是我們的未來。讓我們擺脫這些廉價且提供很少 ARPU 或價值的交易。

This concludes the question-and-answer session as well as today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

問答環節和今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開線路。