Zeta Global Holdings Corp (ZETA) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Zeta Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) And the conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你的支持。這是會議接線員。歡迎參加 Zeta 2022 年第四季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）會議正在錄製中。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the conference over to Scott Schmitz, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係高級副總裁 Scott Schmitz。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Zeta's fourth quarter 2022 conference call. Today's presentation and earnings release are available on Zeta's Investor Relations website at investors.zetaglobal.com, where you will also find links to our SEC filings, along with other information about Zeta. Joining me on the call today are David Steinberg, Zeta's Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Chris Greiner, Zeta's Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，運營商。大家好，感謝您參加 Zeta 2022 年第四季度電話會議。 Zeta 的投資者關係網站 investors.zetaglobal.com 上提供了今天的演示文稿和收益發布，您還可以在該網站上找到我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件的鏈接，以及有關 Zeta 的其他信息。今天和我一起參加電話會議的還有 Zeta 的聯合創始人、董事長兼首席執行官大衛·斯坦伯格 (David Steinberg)；和 Zeta 的首席財務官 Chris Greiner。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that statements made on this call as well as in the presentation and earnings release contain forward-looking statements regarding our financial outlook, business plans and objectives and other future events and developments, including statements about the market potential of our products, potential competition and revenues of our products and our goals and strategies. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These risks and uncertainties include those described in the company's earnings release and other filings with the SEC and speak only as of today's date.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒大家，在本次電話會議以及演示文稿和收益發布中所做的聲明包含有關我們的財務前景、業務計劃和目標以及其他未來事件和發展的前瞻性聲明，包括關於我們產品的市場潛力、我們產品的潛在競爭和收入以及我們的目標和戰略。這些陳述受風險和不確定因素的影響，可能導致實際結果與預期結果存在重大差異。這些風險和不確定性包括公司收益發布和向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中描述的風險和不確定性，並且僅在今天發表講話。

In addition, our discussion today will include references to certain supplemental non-GAAP financial measures, which should be considered in addition to and not as a substitute for our GAAP results. We use these non-GAAP measures in managing the business and believe they provide useful information for our investors. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures to the corresponding GAAP measures, where appropriate, can be found in the earnings presentation available on our website as well as our earnings release and our filings with the SEC.

此外，我們今天的討論將包括對某些補充性非 GAAP 財務措施的參考，這些措施應被視為補充而不是替代我們的 GAAP 結果。我們使用這些非 GAAP 措施來管理業務，並相信它們為我們的投資者提供了有用的信息。非 GAAP 措施與相應 GAAP 措施的對賬（如適用）可在我們網站上提供的收益報告以及我們的收益發布和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中找到。

With that, I will now turn the call over to David.

有了這個，我現在將把電話轉給大衛。

Thank you, Scott. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. 2022 was a stellar year for Zeta, which we capped off with an incredible Q4 that once again exceeded our expectations. For the full-year 2022, we delivered revenue of $591 million, up 29% year-over-year, with adjusted EBITDA of $92 million, up 46% year-over-year. The leverage in our model resulted in 180 basis points of adjusted EBITDA margin expansion to 15.6% in 2022. And importantly, we generated $78 million of cash from operations with free cash flow of $39 million, up 123% year-over-year. On the back of this momentum, we are providing initial 2023 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance above current consensus, which Chris will discuss in detail shortly.

謝謝你，斯科特。大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。 2022 年對 Zeta 來說是輝煌的一年，我們以令人難以置信的第四季度結束，再次超出了我們的預期。 2022 年全年，我們實現收入 5.91 億美元，同比增長 29%，調整後 EBITDA 為 9200 萬美元，同比增長 46%。我們模型中的槓桿導致調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率在 2022 年擴大 180 個基點，達到 15.6%。重要的是，我們從運營中產生了 7800 萬美元的現金，自由現金流為 3900 萬美元，同比增長 123%。在這種勢頭的支持下，我們提供了高於當前共識的 2023 年初始收入和調整後的 EBITDA 指導，克里斯將在短期內詳細討論。

The strength of our results highlight the power of Zeta's patented AI and proprietary data to help large enterprise brands improve their ability to acquire, grow and retain customers more efficiently and effectively than ever before. And evidenced by our 48 new scaled customer additions in 2022, it is clear that Chief Marketing Officers who are under pressure to do more with less, are willing to make changes to improve the effectiveness of their marketing programs and lower their total cost of ownership. The Zeta Marketing Platform or ZMP was purpose-built to improve marketing efficiency and effectiveness by unifying identity, intelligence and activation to create better experiences for our customers and deliver better outcomes for brands. As we look forward, we believe our competitive position has never been stronger. The market continues to move in our direction as foundational elements of the ZMP are now boardroom topics.

我們結果的優勢凸顯了 Zeta 獲得專利的人工智能和專有數據的力量，可以幫助大型企業品牌比以往任何時候都更有效地提高獲取、發展和留住客戶的能力。我們在 2022 年增加了 48 家規模化的新客戶，這表明首席營銷官顯然願意做出改變，以提高營銷計劃的有效性並降低總擁有成本。 Zeta 營銷平台或 ZMP 旨在通過統一身份、智能和激活來提高營銷效率和有效性，從而為我們的客戶創造更好的體驗並為品牌帶來更好的結果。展望未來，我們相信我們的競爭地位從未像現在這樣強大。市場繼續朝著我們的方向發展，因為 ZMP 的基本要素現在是董事會的主題。

Artificial intelligence has exploded and is now vital to setting corporate strategy. First-party data and CDPs are essential for making mission-critical business decisions and greater personalization and addressability are crucial to improving the efficacy of marketing campaigns. The underpinnings of our competitive position started 15 years ago with a focus on reducing complexity by making data actionable and eliminating multi-point solutions. We assembled one of the largest proprietary opt-in databases to improve an enterprise's understanding of its customers, identify potential new customers and grow existing customers. We made very early investments in machine learning and artificial intelligence, which are combined with our data cloud and is the foundation of the ZMP. AI is in our DNA.

人工智能已經爆炸式增長，現在對於製定企業戰略至關重要。第一方數據和 CDP 對於製定關鍵任務業務決策至關重要，而更大的個性化和可尋址性對於提高營銷活動的有效性至關重要。我們競爭地位的基礎始於 15 年前，重點是通過使數據可操作並消除多點解決方案來降低複雜性。我們匯集了最大的專有選擇加入數據庫之一，以提高企業對其客戶的了解，識別潛在的新客戶並發展現有客戶。我們很早就對機器學習和人工智能進行了投資，它們與我們的數據云相結合，是 ZMP 的基礎。人工智能存在於我們的 DNA 中。

Our goal at Zeta is to create actionable intelligence. Our AI technology and deep learning capabilities have become progressively better at distinguishing signal from noise, making it easier for marketers to make smart decisions. As an example of our innovative approach, we recently introduced ChatBotZeta, which incorporates Zeta's proprietary data cloud with chat ChatGPT's generative AI capabilities to produce conversational attributes and descriptions of individuals. As we incorporate this functionality into the ZMP, it will allow Zeta to operate even more efficiently and become a more strategic partner to enterprises by replacing more of their existing tech stack.

我們在 Zeta 的目標是創造可操作的情報。我們的人工智能技術和深度學習能力在區分信號和噪音方面變得越來越好，使營銷人員更容易做出明智的決策。作為我們創新方法的一個例子，我們最近推出了 ChatBotZeta，它將 Zeta 的專有數據云與聊天 ChatGPT 的生成人工智能功能相結合，以生成對話屬性和個人描述。當我們將此功能整合到 ZMP 中時，它將使 Zeta 能夠更高效地運營，並通過替換更多企業現有的技術堆棧，成為企業更具戰略意義的合作夥伴。

Most of the legacy marketing clouds we compete against are non-core assets varied within larger technology conglomerates. And as technology peers change their investment priorities and initiate cutbacks, these non-core assets are likely to see deeper cuts causing them to fall even further behind us. As it currently stands, legacy marketing clouds are no longer good enough. And as a result, point solutions that plug into traditional stacks are also feeling the pinch. We believe the opportunity to gain share has never been greater. In this uncertain macro environment, we are capitalizing on the replacement cycle of legacy solutions and point products within enterprise environments.

我們競爭的大多數傳統營銷雲是大型技術集團中的非核心資產。隨著技術同行改變他們的投資重點並開始削減開支，這些非核心資產可能會看到更大幅度的削減，導致他們進一步落後於我們。就目前而言，傳統的營銷雲已經不夠好了。因此，插入傳統堆棧的單點解決方案也感受到了壓力。我們相信獲得份額的機會從未如此巨大。在這種不確定的宏觀環境中，我們正在利用企業環境中遺留解決方案和單點產品的更換週期。

Let me give you an example. We recently replaced the legacy marketing cloud at a leading specialty retailer. Not only did the ZMP deliver more personalized audiences with strong intent signals, resulting in higher ROI, but we substantially lowered the total cost of ownership by consolidating 4 different point solutions. In a short amount of time, we built a strong relationship with this retailer who view Zeta as an extension of their marketing team and have now signed a 5-year agreement. In addition to being complex and expensive to integrate, legacy marketing clouds are also ill suited for emerging marketing channels. At Zeta, orchestrating an omnichannel journey across all addressable channels is another area where we stand out.

讓我給你舉個例子。我們最近更換了一家領先的專業零售商的遺留營銷雲。 ZMP 不僅通過強烈的意圖信號提供了更多個性化的受眾，從而帶來更高的投資回報率，而且我們通過整合 4 種不同的單點解決方案大大降低了總擁有成本。在很短的時間內，我們與這家零售商建立了牢固的關係，他們將 Zeta 視為其營銷團隊的延伸，現在已經簽署了一份為期 5 年的協議。除了複雜且集成成本高之外，傳統營銷雲也不適合新興營銷渠道。在 Zeta，協調所有可尋址渠道的全渠道旅程是我們脫穎而出的另一個領域。

A good example is our continued rapid growth in CTV, which grew over 300% again this quarter, accounting for a double-digit percentage of usage on our platform versus low single-digits last year. And when we combine more addressable channels with our always-on intelligence, the results are even better. For instance, we are currently helping one of the leading U.S. pharmaceutical companies reduce wasted spend from their linear TV budget by leveraging our data cloud and AI capabilities to better target in-market consumers that could benefit from their drugs and therapies. It is difficult to find another single company that could have solved this problem for them.

一個很好的例子是我們 CTV 的持續快速增長，本季度再次增長超過 300%，占我們平台使用率的兩位數百分比，而去年則為低個位數。當我們將更多可尋址渠道與我們始終在線的智能相結合時，結果會更好。例如，我們目前正在幫助美國一家領先的製藥公司減少其線性電視預算中的浪費支出，方法是利用我們的數據云和人工智能功能更好地瞄準可以從他們的藥物和療法中受益的市場消費者。很難找到另一家可以為他們解決這個問題的公司。

Traditional solutions require a system integrator to stitch together multiple point solutions, an expensive and error-prone approach that is no longer sustainable in today's environment in which CMOs seek both greater efficiency and greater effectiveness. Our disruptive and differentiated approach is also creating the strongest hiring environment we have seen in years. We are attracting and retaining exceptional people, while many of our peers are undergoing workforce reductions.

傳統解決方案需要係統集成商將多個點解決方案整合在一起，這是一種昂貴且容易出錯的方法，在當今 CMO 尋求更高效率和效力的環境中不再可持續。我們的顛覆性和差異化方法也正在創造我們多年來看到的最強大的招聘環境。我們正在吸引和留住優秀人才，而我們的許多同行正在裁員。

In summary, 2022 was a stellar year for Zeta, with results exceeding even our expectations. We have maintained a balanced growth and profitability profile while continuing to invest in our people, products and go-to-market initiatives. This is resulting in better experiences for consumers and better outcomes for enterprises, in addition to creating a better place for people to work. We're extremely proud to share that Zeta was recently recognized as one of built-in best places to work in both New York and L.A. We believe our One Zeta culture has been critical to our success and we continue to invest time and resources to build an inclusive, innovative and collaborative environment for all employees.

總之，2022 年對 Zeta 來說是輝煌的一年，結果甚至超出了我們的預期。我們保持了平衡的增長和盈利狀況，同時繼續投資於我們的人員、產品和上市計劃。這不僅為人們創造了更好的工作場所，還為消費者帶來了更好的體驗，為企業帶來了更好的成果。我們非常自豪地告訴大家，Zeta 最近被公認為紐約和洛杉磯最適合工作的地方之一。我們相信我們的 One Zeta 文化對我們的成功至關重要，我們將繼續投入時間和資源來打造為所有員工創造包容、創新和協作的環境。

We also achieved our goal of carbon net neutrality in 2022, which is an incredibly important achievement to prospective and existing clients as well as our employees. We intend to be a leader in this critical area and we will continuously work to reduce our emissions. I would like to sincerely thank our Zeta team, our customers, our partners and our shareholders for their ongoing support of our vision. And while we have come a long way on our journey, as we like to say at Zeta, we are just getting started.

我們還在 2022 年實現了碳淨中和的目標，這對潛在客戶和現有客戶以及我們的員工來說都是一項極其重要的成就。我們打算成為這一關鍵領域的領導者，我們將不斷努力減少排放。我要衷心感謝我們的 Zeta 團隊、我們的客戶、我們的合作夥伴和我們的股東，感謝他們對我們願景的持續支持。儘管我們在旅途中取得了長足的進步，但正如我們喜歡在 Zeta 所說的那樣，我們才剛剛開始。

Now, let me turn it over to Chris to discuss our results in greater detail. Chris?

現在，讓我把它交給 Chris 來更詳細地討論我們的結果。克里斯？

Thank you, David, and good afternoon, everyone. I will cover 3 topics on today's call. First, we continue to be a business delivering beyond its commitments. Fourth quarter results once again exceeded expectations, highlighted by top and bottom line growth rates pacing ahead of the Zeta 2025 model. Second, 2022's results established yet another data point in a multiyear trend of accelerating revenue growth, sustained operating leverage and margin expansion. And third, just like last year, our 2023 guidance is above the Street and still set purposely conservative in tending to be the starting point for how we build throughout the year. Additionally, we're adding free cash flow as a component of our Zeta's 2025 plan. So, lots of great things to cover, so let's dive in.

謝謝你，大衛，大家下午好。我將在今天的電話會議上討論 3 個主題。首先，我們繼續成為一家超越承諾的企業。第四季度業績再次超出預期，突出表現在 Zeta 2025 模型之前的營收和利潤增長率。其次，2022 年的業績為收入加速增長、持續經營槓桿和利潤率擴張的多年趨勢確立了又一個數據點。第三，就像去年一樣，我們的 2023 年指導方針高於華爾街，並且仍然有意保守地設定為我們全年建設方式的起點。此外，我們將自由現金流作為我們 Zeta 2025 計劃的組成部分。所以，有很多很棒的東西要講，所以讓我們開始吧。

Our credibility is our currency. Since going public, we built a track record of beat and raise execution with 6 straight quarters delivering above our guidance. This last quarter was no exception. In the fourth quarter, revenue was $175 million, up 30% year-to-year and 9 points above the midpoint of guidance. Upside in the quarter was broad-based and not attributable to any single factor. Our U.S. revenue grew 32% year-to-year, the third straight quarter growing over 30% and is 96% of total Zeta revenue. Large enterprises from diverse industries are choosing data in what we see as early innings of a replacement cycle. We ended the quarter with 403 scaled customers, up 14 from the third quarter and up 14% year-to-year, both pacing well ahead of our Zeta 2025 model.

我們的信譽是我們的貨幣。自上市以來，我們連續 6 個季度的表現超出了我們的指導，建立了擊敗和提高執行力的記錄。最後一個季度也不例外。第四季度，收入為 1.75 億美元，同比增長 30%，比指引中點高出 9 個百分點。本季度的上漲是廣泛的，而不是歸因於任何單一因素。我們在美國的收入同比增長 32%，連續第三個季度增長超過 30%，佔 Zeta 總收入的 96%。來自不同行業的大型企業正在選擇數據，我們認為這是替換週期的早期階段。本季度結束時，我們擁有 403 家規模化客戶，比第三季度增加 14 家，同比增長 14%，均遠遠領先於我們的 Zeta 2025 模型。

Peeling this back a couple more layers, 6 new scaled customers came from consumer and retail, 2 from financial services, 2 from advertising and marketing and 4 from technology services and others. Out of the 14 new scaled customers, 5 were new to Zeta and 9 were existing customers that became scaled, a consistent mix from prior periods. Scaled customers are adding more channels and more use cases as they achieve better return on investment outcomes from the Zeta Marketing Platform. By way of evidence, scaled customer quarterly ARPU of $424,000 grew 15% year-to-year and while ahead of our Zeta 2025 model, what really stood out was ARPU growth within our super scaled cohort.

再剝離幾層，6 個新的規模化客戶來自消費者和零售業，2 個來自金融服務，2 個來自廣告和營銷，4 個來自技術服務和其他。在 14 個新的規模化客戶中，5 個是 Zeta 的新客戶，9 個是規模化的現有客戶，與前期一致。隨著規模化客戶從 Zeta 營銷平台獲得更好的投資回報，他們正在添加更多渠道和更多用例。作為證據，規模化客戶的季度 ARPU 為 424,000 美元，同比增長 15%，而在我們的 Zeta 2025 模型之前，真正引人注目的是我們超級規模化隊列中的 ARPU 增長。

Super scaled quarterly ARPU was $1.3 million, up 26% year-to-year. This drove 34% year-to-year revenue growth in our super scaled cohort despite a small decrease in super scaled customer count due to the oscillation around the 1 million scaled versus super scaled cutoff point. You'll recall, we increased ARPU from upsell and cross-sell activity tied to adding channels and use cases. During the fourth quarter, we continued our strong trend on each dimension. From an adding channels perspective, scaled customers now average over 2 channels per customer. In fact, scaled customers using 4 or more channels grew over 50% from a year ago to 53 and associated with the strong super scaled ARPU growth I just highlighted, the average channels used per super scaled customer is approaching 3 at 2.8.

超大規模季度 ARPU 為 130 萬美元，同比增長 26%。儘管由於圍繞 100 萬規模與超級規模的截止點的振盪，超級規模客戶數量略有減少，但這推動了我們超級規模隊列的收入同比增長 34%。您會記得，我們通過與添加渠道和用例相關的追加銷售和交叉銷售活動增加了 ARPU。在第四季度，我們在各個方面都延續了強勁的趨勢。從添加渠道的角度來看，擴大規模的客戶現在平均每個客戶擁有 2 個以上的渠道。事實上，使用 4 個或更多渠道的規模客戶比一年前增長了 50% 以上，達到 53 個，並且與我剛才強調的超大規模 ARPU 強勁增長相關，每個超大規模客戶使用的平均渠道接近 3 個，達到 2.8。

In terms of increasing multiple use cases, we continue to make exciting inroads. All 3 of data's use cases, acquire, grow and retain grew double digits year-to-year, led by acquire and grow. And the number of new scale customers using more than 1 use case increased to 46%, up from 33 a year ago or 39% year-to-year. Our diversification of customers was evident across verticals, with 6 out of our top 10 growing over 25%. No vertical represents more than 13% of our revenue. And of note, fourth quarter midterm candidate revenue was $4.5 million, slightly better than our guidance of $4 million.

在增加多個用例方面，我們繼續取得令人興奮的進展。數據的所有 3 個用例，即獲取、增長和保留均以兩位數的速度增長，其中以獲取和增長為首。使用超過 1 個用例的新規模客戶數量從一年前的 33 個或同比增長 39% 增加到 46%。我們的客戶多元化在各個垂直領域都很明顯，前 10 名中有 6 名增長超過 25%。沒有一個垂直領域占我們收入的 13% 以上。值得注意的是，第四季度中期候選人收入為 450 萬美元，略好於我們 400 萬美元的指導。

On a GAAP basis, our net loss was $52 million, which includes $68 million of stock-based compensation. Excluding the accelerating expensing related to our IPO, stock-based compensation would have been $15 million. For the quarter, we delivered adjusted EBITDA of $32.4 million, up 42% year-to-year, with adjusted EBITDA margin of 18.5%, up 150 basis points year-to-year. Briefly switching to our full-year 2022 results. Revenue of $591 million was up 29% year-to-year, which exceeded even our internal plan for the year. Our direct platform revenue mix for the year increased to 77%, up from 76% in 2021. And for the year, direct revenue grew 32% versus 2021.

根據 GAAP，我們的淨虧損為 5200 萬美元，其中包括 6800 萬美元的股票補償。排除與我們的首次公開募股相關的加速支出，基於股票的薪酬將達到 1500 萬美元。本季度，我們實現了 3240 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA，同比增長 42%，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 18.5%，同比增長 150 個基點。簡要切換到我們的 2022 年全年業績。 5.91 億美元的收入同比增長 29%，甚至超過了我們當年的內部計劃。我們今年的直接平台收入組合從 2021 年的 76% 增加到 77%。今年，直接收入比 2021 年增長了 32%。

Full year GAAP cost of revenue ended at 36.5%, down from 38.1% in 2021. And like many of our Zeta 2025 revenue KPIs, this decrease of 170 basis points from 2022 to 2021 is well ahead of our model of 60 basis points of improvement. We continue to see healthy expansion of existing customers as demonstrated by net revenue retention of 112% in 2022, consistent with our model of 110% to 115% and in line with last year. On a GAAP basis, our 2022 net loss was $279 million, which includes $299 million of stock-based compensation. Excluding the accelerated expensing related to our IPO, stock-based compensation would have been $57 million. And for the year, we delivered adjusted EBITDA of $92.2 million, up 46% year-to-year with adjusted EBITDA margin of 15.6%, up 180 basis points year-to-year.

全年 GAAP 收入成本為 36.5%，低於 2021 年的 38.1%。與我們的許多 Zeta 2025 收入 KPI 一樣，從 2022 年到 2021 年減少 170 個基點，遠遠超過我們模型的 60 個基點改進.我們繼續看到現有客戶的健康擴張，2022 年淨收入保留率為 112%，與我們 110% 至 115% 的模型一致，與去年一致。根據 GAAP，我們 2022 年的淨虧損為 2.79 億美元，其中包括 2.99 億美元的股票薪酬。排除與我們的首次公開募股相關的加速支出，基於股票的薪酬為 5700 萬美元。今年，我們實現了 9220 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA，同比增長 46%，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 15.6%，同比增長 180 個基點。

We realized strong cash generation at an increased conversion from adjusted EBITDA of 42% in 2022 versus 28% in 2021. And more specifically, cash flow from operating activity was $78 million, up 77% with free cash flow of $39 million, up 123%. This brings me to my second topic. Zeta has been delivering sustained operating leverage over a multiyear period, something we expect to continue as we drive towards Zeta 2025. In that setting, it's valuable to take a step back at the trajectory we've established in expanding profitability while simultaneously accelerating revenue growth at scale.

與 2021 年的 28% 相比，2022 年調整後的 EBITDA 為 42%，而 2021 年為 28%。更具體地說，經營活動產生的現金流為 7800 萬美元，增長 77%，自由現金流為 3900 萬美元，增長 123% .這就引出了我的第二個話題。多年來，Zeta 一直在提供持續的運營槓桿，我們預計在我們邁向 Zeta 2025 的過程中將繼續保持這種狀態。在這種情況下，我們在擴大盈利能力的同時加快收入增長的軌道上退後一步是很有價值的在規模上。

Since 2019, Zeta's head count has only grown from 1,404 team members to 1,604 ending 2022, just a 5% compound annual growth rate over that period. And because of our globally distributed resource model, we can add teammates for impact and efficiency at the same time. For example, from 2019 to 2022, U.S. headcount grew only 2% annually, while global centers, primarily India and Prague have expanded 7% annually. Meanwhile, revenue growth accelerated each year from 2019 to 2022 with a 3-year compound annual growth rate of 25% or 5x the rate of headcount growth over the same period. That's the recipe for sustained operating leverage.

自 2019 年以來，Zeta 的員工人數僅從 1,404 名團隊成員增加到 2022 年底的 1,604 名，在此期間的複合年增長率僅為 5%。由於我們的全球分佈式資源模型，我們可以同時增加隊友以提高影響力和效率。例如，從 2019 年到 2022 年，美國員工人數每年僅增長 2%，而全球中心（主要是印度和布拉格）每年增長 7%。與此同時，從 2019 年到 2022 年，收入增長每年都在加速，3 年復合年增長率為 25%，是同期員工人數增長率的 5 倍。這就是持續經營槓桿的秘訣。

Altogether, our adjusted EBITDA margins have grown from 8% in 2019 to 15.6% in 2022, averaging 260 basis points of expansion per year, well ahead of our Zeta 2025 model of 160 basis points. What we've accomplished over this period is humbling. We've achieved product category leadership as recognized by multiple industry analysts, while many competitors are pulling investments and going backwards. We transform to a new go-to-market by shifting to a hunter-farmer model and greatly expanding our branding and demand generation capabilities.

總的來說，我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率從 2019 年的 8% 增長到 2022 年的 15.6%，平均每年增長 260 個基點，遠遠超過我們的 Zeta 2025 模型的 160 個基點。我們在此期間取得的成就令人謙卑。我們已經取得了多個行業分析師認可的產品類別領導地位，而許多競爭對手正在撤資並倒退。我們通過轉變為獵人-農民模式並極大地擴展我們的品牌和需求生成能力，轉變為新的上市方式。

Total quota carriers have more than doubled from 2019 to 123 sales reps ending 2022. And of course, we established the back office infrastructure to be a public company and we're emerging as a leading place to work, a key component to Zeta 2025 inside our company. In fact, we're not only attracting great talent with our culture, we're retaining teammates as well. We have a 95% leadership retention rate at the VP level and above, and we've accomplished all of this while reducing G&A, excluding stock-based compensation as a percentage of revenue every year since 2019, going from 24% to now 17% in 2022.

從 2019 年到 2022 年底，總配額承運人增加了一倍多，達到 123 名銷售代表。當然，我們建立了後台基礎設施，成為一家上市公司，我們正在成為領先的工作場所，是 Zeta 2025 inside 的關鍵組成部分我們公司。事實上，我們不僅用我們的文化吸引優秀人才，我們也在留住隊友。我們在副總裁及以上級別的領導保留率為 95%，我們在減少 G&A 的同時實現了所有這一切，不包括自 2019 年以來每年基於股票的薪酬佔收入的百分比，從 24% 增加到現在的 17% 2022年。

The use of our own AI and automation is aiding in the realization of operational efficiencies, which brings me to my third topic. Our initial 2023 guidance and Zeta 2025 updates. Clearly, the market backdrop is turbulent, but we're still seeing strong demand for platforms delivering a lower total cost of ownership, generating verifiable ROIs and offering fast implementations. The ZMP delivers on each. As a point of reference, as Zeta CFO, I'm replacing multiple legacy point solution vendors in our back office by implementing a single platform, allowing us to lower expense and simplify systems. CXOs are using the same period of opportunity to make similar decisions across their technology stacks. Our sales pipeline reflects this theme of consolidation and is currently at an all-time high.

我們自己的人工智能和自動化的使用正在幫助實現運營效率，這讓我談到了我的第三個主題。我們最初的 2023 年指南和 Zeta 2025 更新。顯然，市場背景是動蕩的，但我們仍然看到對平台的強勁需求，這些平台可提供較低的總擁有成本、產生可驗證的投資回報率並提供快速實施。 ZMP 提供每一個。作為參考，作為 Zeta 首席財務官，我正在通過實施單一平台取代我們後台的多個遺留單點解決方案供應商，從而使我們能夠降低費用並簡化系統。 CXO 正在利用同一時期的機會在其技術堆棧中做出類似的決策。我們的銷售渠道反映了這一整合主題，目前處於歷史最高水平。

We've been speaking throughout 2022 about RFP volumes being up. What is also interesting is the dollar value of those deals is growing even faster. This is because brands need to consolidate multiple point solutions in their marketing stack, opening up bigger contract value opportunities for our ZMP to replace. And while we're optimistic about our win rates, sales capacity and opportunity pipeline, we believe it remains prudent to set initial 2023 guidance to purposely conservative. We want this to be clearly understood as a starting point for how we will build throughout the year, which is consistent with the approach we took at the same time last year. Even in doing so, our view of the full-year 2023 is $20 million higher than consensus on the top line and greater than the $15 million of upside we delivered in the fourth quarter.

整個 2022 年，我們一直在談論 RFP 數量的增加。同樣有趣的是，這些交易的美元價值增長得更快。這是因為品牌需要在其營銷堆棧中整合多個點解決方案，從而為我們的 ZMP 替代提供更大的合同價值機會。儘管我們對我們的贏率、銷售能力和機會管道持樂觀態度，但我們認為將 2023 年的初始指導設定為有意保守仍然是謹慎的做法。我們希望人們清楚地理解這一點，以此作為我們全年建設方式的起點，這與我們去年同期採取的方法是一致的。即使這樣做，我們對 2023 年全年收入的看法也比市場上的共識高出 2000 萬美元，也高於我們在第四季度實現的 1500 萬美元的上行空間。

Guidance figures are as follows, as seen on Slide 16 in our supplemental. With respect to full-year 2023 revenue, we expect to generate $691 million or 17% year-to-year growth at the midpoint of our range. From a quarterly cadence perspective, we expect 2023 to follow our 3-year average revenue linearity, which we outlined on Slide 17 of our earnings supplemental. The share of revenue delivered in each quarter as a percentage of the total has adhered to a very tight range that we expect to continue and therefore, is prudent to follow as you spread our full year guidance across the quarters.

指導數字如下，如我們補充的幻燈片 16 所示。關於 2023 年全年收入，我們預計將在我們範圍的中點產生 6.91 億美元或 17% 的同比增長。從季度節奏的角度來看，我們預計 2023 年將遵循我們的 3 年平均收入線性，我們在收益補充的幻燈片 17 中概述了這一點。每個季度交付的收入佔總收入的比例一直保持在我們預計會繼續的非常狹窄的範圍內，因此，在您將我們的全年指導分散到各個季度時，謹慎遵循。

With that in mind, in the first quarter of 2023, we expect to generate revenue of $150 million, up 19% year-to-year at the midpoint of our range. In terms of adjusted EBITDA for the full year of 2023, we expect to generate $117.4 million or 17% margin at the midpoint of our range. This represents 140 basis points of improvement from 2022 and consistent with the expansion required to achieve Zeta 2025 of adjusted EBITDA margins of at least 20%. One point of note, last year's adjusted EBITDA margin expansion was driven by a combination of a lower cost of revenue percentage as well as leverage in G&A and R&D. As we think about 2023 adjusted EBITDA margin expansion, it's our expectation, more leverage will come through each of our operating expense budgets rather than cost of revenue.

考慮到這一點，在 2023 年第一季度，我們預計將產生 1.5 億美元的收入，按我們範圍的中點計算，同比增長 19%。就 2023 年全年的調整後 EBITDA 而言，我們預計將產生 1.174 億美元或 17% 的利潤率，處於我們範圍的中點。這比 2022 年提高了 140 個基點，與實現調整後 EBITDA 利潤率至少 20% 的 Zeta 2025 所需的擴張一致。需要注意的一點是，去年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率增長是由較低的收入成本百分比以及 G&A 和 R&D 的槓桿作用共同推動的。當我們考慮 2023 年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率擴張時，我們的預期是，更多的槓桿將來自我們的每項運營費用預算，而不是收入成本。

For the first quarter, we expect to generate adjusted EBITDA of $22.6 million, representing a margin of 15% at the midpoint of our range. We're also introducing free cash flow as a target to Zeta 2025. In addition to generating at least $1 billion in revenue and at least $200 million in adjusted EBITDA, we also expect to yield at least $110 million of free cash flow. This implies 55% of our adjusted EBITDA will convert to free cash flow by 2025, up from 42% we achieved in 2022. It also factors the adverse impact of higher interest expense.

對於第一季度，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 為 2260 萬美元，相當於我們範圍中點的 15% 的利潤率。我們還將引入自由現金流作為 Zeta 2025 的目標。除了產生至少 10 億美元的收入和至少 2 億美元的調整後 EBITDA 外，我們還預計產生至少 1.1 億美元的自由現金流。這意味著到 2025 年，我們調整後 EBITDA 的 55% 將轉化為自由現金流，高於我們在 2022 年實現的 42%。這也考慮了利息支出增加的不利影響。

Finally, in terms of KPIs, we're increasing scaled customer count targets to more than 500 by 2025, up from our initial target of 450. To recap, our mantra as a public company is quite simple and continues to reflect 3 core principles. One, exceed expectations. Two, guide conservatively. And three, drive revenue and margins higher. We believe this approach gives investors confidence, confidence we can execute on our pipelines, derisk for an uncertain macro and further expand our operating leverage characteristics.

最後，在 KPI 方面，到 2025 年，我們將客戶數量目標從最初的 450 個目標增加到 500 個以上。總而言之，我們作為一家上市公司的口號非常簡單，並繼續反映 3 個核心原則。一、超出預期。二、保守引導。第三，提高收入和利潤率。我們相信這種方法給了投資者信心，讓我們有信心在我們的管道上執行，消除不確定的宏觀風險並進一步擴大我們的經營槓桿特徵。

With that, let's move to questions. Operator?

有了這個，讓我們轉向問題。操作員？

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Brian Schwartz of Oppenheimer.

謝謝。我們現在開始問答環節。 （操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Oppenheimer 的 Brian Schwartz。

Congratulations on the quarter. David, first thing I wanted to talk about was just an overall view from what you're hearing from customers when they're talking about marketing budgets for this New Year in 2023, what are you hearing from them? Are they thinking about growing them? Are they resetting them lower? Does the budget growth seem to be more resilient from their point of view? Any color will be helpful.

祝賀這個季度。戴維，我想談的第一件事就是您從客戶那裡聽到的關於 2023 年新年營銷預算的總體看法，您從他們那裡聽到了什麼？他們在考慮種植它們嗎？他們是否將它們重置得更低？從他們的角度來看，預算增長似乎更有彈性嗎？任何顏色都會有所幫助。

First of all, thank you, Brian. We appreciate you attending. The truth of the matter is, it's like almost anything. I meet with a ton of CEOs and a ton of customers, everybody says that we're dealing with. Their businesses are doing well, but there is some trepidation because of what they're hearing in the wider marketplace. To date, we are not seeing any marketing contraction in any of our customer's budgets. That could change later in the year. But right now, we're seeing very, very solid numbers. In fact, I would say more of them are talking about how do they grow the budget, but the topic in every boardroom and the topic with every CMO is efficiency, right? How do we take our existing budget and focus more on getting more with the exact same amount. It's not sort of how do we cut and then get more from that.

首先，謝謝你，布萊恩。感謝您的出席。事情的真相是，它就像幾乎任何東西。我會見了很多 CEO 和很多客戶，每個人都說我們正在打交道。他們的業務表現良好，但由於他們在更廣泛的市場上聽到的消息，他們感到有些不安。迄今為止，我們沒有看到任何客戶的預算有任何營銷收縮。這可能會在今年晚些時候改變。但是現在，我們看到了非常非常可靠的數字。事實上，我想說更多的人在談論如何增加預算，但每個董事會和每個 CMO 的話題都是效率，對吧？我們如何利用現有預算並更多地關注以完全相同的金額獲得更多。這不是我們如何削減然後從中獲得更多。

And then the follow-up I had, one for David, and then I'll layer in Chris, too. David, can you talk at all about the momentum that you're seeing with some of the bigger new partners that you signed up over the last couple of years? I'm thinking about Snowflake and Dun & Bradstreet, are you seeing meaningful interest in pipeline coming from them? And then for Chris, can you touch on how this can help the business and the sales and marketing leverage over the long term?

然後是我的後續行動，一個是給大衛的，然後我也會加入克里斯。大衛，你能談談你在過去幾年中與一些更大的新合作夥伴簽署的勢頭嗎？我在考慮 Snowflake 和 Dun & Bradstreet，您是否看到他們對管道產生了有意義的興趣？然後對於 Chris，您能否談談這如何長期幫助業務以及銷售和營銷槓桿？

No, of course, Brian. I would say, first of all, as I think Chris said, our pipeline is at an all-time high. We've gone from 50-some-odd salespeople to over 130 salespeople over the last few years, and we're seeing incredible throughput from that. But at the same time, the marketing partnerships, I would say, you mentioned Snowflake, them, in particular, have been an incredible partner and have generated a tremendous amount of deal flow. Some of our other partners have done well, but Snowflake really stands out as the absolute best, which is not to say the others haven't flowed deals, but we're really experiencing, quite frankly, as you saw, I think, in the numbers, the growth rates are even surprising us a little bit coming out of how strong those partnerships have been and how strong our new salespeople are. Chris?

不，當然，布萊恩。我想說的是，首先，正如我認為克里斯所說，我們的管道處於歷史最高水平。在過去的幾年裡，我們的銷售人員從 50 多名增加到 130 多名，我們看到了令人難以置信的吞吐量。但與此同時，營銷合作夥伴關係，我想說，你提到了雪花，他們尤其是一個令人難以置信的合作夥伴，並產生了大量的交易流量。我們的一些其他合作夥伴做得很好，但 Snowflake 確實脫穎而出，絕對是最好的，這並不是說其他合作夥伴沒有達成交易，但坦率地說，我們確實在經歷，正如你所看到的，我認為，從這些合作夥伴關係的強大程度以及我們的新銷售人員的強大程度來看，這些數字，增長率甚至讓我們感到有些驚訝。克里斯？

Yes. And Brian, as you'd expect, the extension of our partner networks and those -- the 3, the Amazon, Dun & Bradstreet and Snowflake, our expectation is we'll continue to grow those, add leverage to the sales model and would be incremental to Zeta 2025. We built Zeta 2025 on our own sales productivity. So, the further lift we get from those partners and more partners down the road should be incremental.

是的。布賴恩，正如你所期望的那樣，我們的合作夥伴網絡的擴展以及那些 - 3，亞馬遜，Dun＆Bradstreet 和 Snowflake，我們的期望是我們將繼續發展這些網絡，增加銷售模式的槓桿作用並且會是 Zeta 2025 的增量。我們建立 Zeta 2025 的基礎是我們自己的銷售生產力。因此，我們從這些合作夥伴和未來更多合作夥伴那裡獲得的進一步提升應該是漸進的。

Congratulations on the quarter.

祝賀這個季度。

Thanks, Brian.

謝謝，布萊恩。

Thanks, again.

再次感謝。

Our next question comes from Arjun Bhatia of William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自 William Blair 的 Arjun Bhatia。

I'll add my congrats on the quarter. David, you're obviously stressing that there is a need for efficiency with CMOs and the platform consolidation kind of plays into that perfectly. When you see the customers that are consolidating, is there a typical profile of customers that are looking to move off legacy platforms or point solutions? Maybe is it customers that have had a solution in place for 10 years, 15 years that they haven't modernized. Like what do you typically see out there? And is there an opportunity to use that profile to go out and target customers that are ripe for consolidation.

我將對本季度表示祝賀。大衛，你顯然是在強調 CMO 需要提高效率，而平台整合可以完美地發揮作用。當您看到正在整合的客戶時，是否有典型的客戶正在尋求擺脫遺留平台或單點解決方案？可能是客戶已經實施了 10 年、15 年的解決方案，但他們沒有進行現代化改造。比如你通常在那裡看到什麼？並且是否有機會使用該配置文件走出去並瞄準那些已經成熟的整合客戶。

Yes. So Arjun, first of all, thank you. Second, without question, what we're seeing is the vast majority of the customers that are looking for efficiency are currently using legacy and larger marketing clouds. And as I think I pointed out in my prepared remarks, most of these legacy marketing clouds, if not all of them, are subsidiaries of subsidiaries sitting inside of very large tech conglomerates. And the truth of the matter is, they've been underinvesting in these assets for many years as a percentage of what they invest because they're investing in their core products. And if I were them, I'd probably be doing the same thing. Our core product is us, right? We are bespoke to do this. So, what we're seeing is, as contracts are coming up with the legacy marketing clouds, they are going out to bid at a much higher rate than we've ever seen before and we're winning.

是的。所以 Arjun，首先，謝謝你。其次，毫無疑問，我們看到的是，絕大多數尋求效率的客戶目前都在使用傳統的和更大的營銷雲。正如我想我在準備好的發言中指出的那樣，這些傳統營銷雲中的大多數（如果不是全部的話）都是位於非常大的科技集團內部的子公司的子公司。事實是，多年來他們對這些資產的投資佔他們投資的百分比一直不足，因為他們投資於他們的核心產品。如果我是他們，我可能也會做同樣的事情。我們的核心產品是我們，對吧？我們被定制來做這件事。因此，我們所看到的是，隨著合同與傳統營銷雲一起出現，他們將以比我們以前見過的更高的價格出價，我們正在獲勝。

At the same time, our ability to sit alongside of them during the existing contract and help them with some of our functionality, meaning we can help with acquisition while they're using a legacy marketing cloud for CRM. And we can move through different functions with them, that's getting our nose under the tent. And then when they go out to bid, we are generally in the catbird seat. So, to answer your question simply, it is large marketers who are using legacy marketing clouds as they are coming up for contract, we are seeing them move at a much higher pace than in the past.

與此同時，我們有能力在現有合同期間與他們並肩作戰，並幫助他們使用我們的一些功能，這意味著我們可以在他們使用 CRM 的遺留營銷雲時幫助他們進行收購。我們可以和他們一起完成不同的功能，這讓我們的鼻子在帳篷裡。然後當他們出去投標時，我們通常處於貓鳥席位。因此，簡單地回答您的問題，大型營銷人員在簽訂合同時正在使用傳統營銷雲，我們看到他們的發展速度比過去快得多。

And one for Chris. I appreciate the Zeta 2025 free cash flow target. I'm curious, I did notice that the conversion ticks up -- the EBITDA conversion ticks up over the years. Can you give us a sense of what levers you have available to drive that conversion higher on free cash flow over the next couple of years?

還有一個給克里斯。我很欣賞 Zeta 2025 的自由現金流目標。我很好奇，我確實注意到轉換率在上升——多年來 EBITDA 轉換率在上升。您能否告訴我們您可以使用哪些槓桿在未來幾年內提高自由現金流的轉化率？

Sure. First, we've come a long way in a short period of time. So, if you just look back a couple of years, you'd see that the cash flow conversion was in the mid-20s, call it, and then ticked up to 28%, this year at 42%. So, the tools we have in our tool belt that we've been using over the last several years will continue to use. And I'll stress that $110 million is an at least just like the profit number, just like the revenue number is for Zeta 2025. But we feel like we've got -- we've learned a lot over the years, getting much more efficient in how much drops from EBITDA to cash flow and expect that efficiency to continue. And there's a reason why there's an at least on it.

當然。首先，我們在短時間內取得了長足的進步。所以，如果你回顧幾年，你會發現現金流轉換在 20 多歲左右，然後上升到 28%，今年是 42%。因此，過去幾年我們一直在使用的工具帶中的工具將繼續使用。我要強調的是，1.1 億美元至少與利潤數字一樣，就像 Zeta 2025 的收入數字一樣。但我們覺得我們已經 - 這些年來我們學到了很多東西，得到了很多更有效地從 EBITDA 到現金流下降多少，並期望這種效率繼續下去。至少有一個原因是有原因的。

Our next question comes from Richard Baldry of Roth Capital.

我們的下一個問題來自 Roth Capital 的 Richard Baldry。

So, getting back to the partnership idea, as you're scaling up now and driving so much more revenue per client, how about the opportunities to partner sort of with the non-traditional players like the agencies themselves, who I think they're battling for mindshare and the ability to do targeting versus the larger players like Google or Facebook. Is there -- we saw them talking on a panel at your user conference. Are there ways for those to really expand into a deeper partnership to go to market with?

因此，回到合作夥伴關係的想法，隨著您現在擴大規模並為每個客戶帶來更多收入，與非傳統參與者（如代理機構本身）合作的機會如何，我認為他們是與穀歌或 Facebook 等較大的玩家爭奪思想份額和定位能力。在那裡 - 我們看到他們在您的用戶會議上的小組討論中。有沒有辦法讓那些人真正擴展到更深層次的合作夥伴關係以進入市場？

First of all, thank you, Rich. Yes, I mean, it was not a coincidence. We had the Presidents of the largest U.S. holding companies at Zeta Live this year. We see the agencies as our partners and we have for quite some time. The difference is what's changed is the elimination of Apple's IDFA rippled through the efficacy and modeling of most of the agency's ability to focus on social media. And at the same time, I think you've got a big contingent in the agency world that are very nervous about pricing power from Google. And they're looking for alternative partners to scale with as it relates to that. So, we've made our living direct to enterprise. It's still the vast majority of our revenue. Even when we partner with an agency, we have a deep and very meaningful relationship with the underlying client. It's not like the agency just says here, go forth and conquer. It's we come in together as partners to that enterprise and we work lockstep.

首先，謝謝你，里奇。是的，我的意思是，這不是巧合。今年 Zeta Live 有美國最大控股公司的總裁。我們將這些機構視為我們的合作夥伴，我們已經有一段時間了。不同之處在於，Apple 的 IDFA 的取消通過該機構專注於社交媒體的大部分能力的功效和建模產生了漣漪效應。同時，我認為代理界有很多人對谷歌的定價權感到非常緊張。他們正在尋找與此相關的替代合作夥伴。所以，我們已經讓我們的生活直接進入企業。它仍然是我們收入的絕大部分。即使當我們與代理機構合作時，我們也與潛在客戶建立了深厚且非常有意義的關係。這不像該機構剛剛在這裡說的那樣，去征服。我們作為該企業的合作夥伴走到一起，我們步調一致。

It is a very exciting growth opportunity for Zeta. It's something we are spending a tremendous amount of time on. And I would say that the time I have personally invested into this segment of our business has been bearing some fruit, which we think could bear additional fruit going forward. Also, I will point out, we did mention we had 300% growth in our CTV business. There's a lot of linear TV that's going to move from linear to CTV over the next few years that today sits in the control of the agency holding corporation. So, we feel we're very well positioned to partner with them and help them to do a better job for their clients in lockstep.

對於 Zeta 來說，這是一個非常令人興奮的成長機會。這是我們花費大量時間的事情。我要說的是，我個人投資於我們這部分業務的時間已經取得了一些成果，我們認為這些成果可能會在未來取得更多成果。另外，我要指出，我們確實提到我們的 CTV 業務增長了 300%。在接下來的幾年裡，有很多線性電視將從線性電視轉向 CTV，而這些電視現在處於代理控股公司的控制之下。因此，我們覺得我們非常有能力與他們合作，並幫助他們步調一致地為他們的客戶做得更好。

And last one for me would be, you walked through how the headcount leverage has been pretty extraordinary over the past few years in terms of its slower pace of growth and revenue growth. Do you have any concern that if this top line keeps growing as fast it does that you could end up a little stressed on the service delivery side and maybe that's the way to talk about how much of what you do is automated versus high touch?

最後一個對我來說是，你從過去幾年的增長速度和收入增長放緩的角度來看，員工人數槓桿是如何表現得非常出色的。您是否擔心，如果這條收入增長如此之快，您最終可能會在服務交付方面承受一點壓力，也許這就是談論您所做的工作中有多少是自動化的，而不是高度接觸的方式？

I think you hit on a really good point. I mean our customers use and love our AI, and we're using the automation inside the company to become more efficient. So, I think that's Part A of why we feel comfortable with what we're adding in terms of capacity for the requirements we have for our customers. The second, though, is we have an impressive global footprint. So, while total headcount over the last 3 years has only grown 5%, U.S. grew 2%, our global centers, primarily in India and Prague have grown 7%. That gives us not just tremendous operating leverage, but we have very skilled, long tenured leaders at those locations that have built amazing culture and we can very quickly ramp up in resources. And David, you and Steve Gerber built it, so you should...

我認為你說得很對。我的意思是我們的客戶使用並喜歡我們的 AI，而我們正在使用公司內部的自動化來提高效率。所以，我認為這就是為什麼我們對我們在滿足客戶要求方面增加的能力感到滿意的部分。第二，雖然，我們有令人印象深刻的全球足跡。因此，雖然過去 3 年總員工人數僅增長 5%，但美國增長了 2%，而我們的全球中心（主要是印度和布拉格）增長了 7%。這不僅給了我們巨大的運營槓桿，而且我們在那些建立了令人驚嘆的文化的地方擁有非常熟練、長期任職的領導者，我們可以非常迅速地增加資源。大衛，你和史蒂夫格伯建造了它，所以你應該......

I mean, Steve really has spent a lot of time on the India and Czech Republic or I should say, Prague operation, and now we're standing up operations in the Philippines as well, which has been pretty exciting. I think it's important to note, Rich, that we onboarded 48 customers of scale last year. That is a big number for a company like us. We couldn't have done that without automation and we couldn't have done it with our amazing global people.

我的意思是，史蒂夫真的花了很多時間在印度和捷克共和國，或者我應該說，布拉格業務，現在我們也在菲律賓開展業務，這非常令人興奮。我認為重要的是要注意，Rich，我們去年吸引了 48 個規模化的客戶。對於像我們這樣的公司來說，這是一個很大的數字。如果沒有自動化，我們不可能做到這一點，我們也無法與我們出色的全球員工一起做到這一點。

The other thing I would say is we have over 100 patents either issued or close to being issued in artificial intelligence and machine learning. 15 years ago when we started out as a business, Big Data and AI were not even in the vernacular of what you would talk about as it relates to marketing or business intelligence. They were both things of science fiction. Today, they're table stakes, right? But what we really focused on, even from day 1 was owning a large pool of first-party permission-based data and 2, automation. And automation has sat at the core of what we are building.

我要說的另一件事是，我們在人工智能和機器學習方面擁有 100 多項已發布或即將發布的專利。 15 年前，當我們剛開始做生意時，大數據和人工智能甚至都不是你所說的與營銷或商業智能相關的術語。它們都是科幻小說中的東西。今天，他們是賭注，對吧？但我們真正關注的是，即使從第一天開始，我們就擁有大量基於第一方許可的數據，第二天是自動化。自動化是我們正在建設的核心。

We originally thought of ourselves many years ago as a marketing automation platform. In fact, that was sort of our tagline for many years. Today, it's AI at the core and is native to our platform. And one of the other things I'd like to point out is when you look at some of those legacy marketing clouds, to use their artificial intelligence, you have to step out of their platform and do a data dip into a separate platform to get to AI, same thing for their data sets when they're importing them. They sit outside of the core of the platform. The Zeta Marketing Platform has data and artificial intelligence as native to the application layer. And it just makes things so much faster. It allows decisioning to move in hundredth of a millisecond versus some much longer period of time. So, I think we're very well positioned to continue this trend.

多年前，我們最初認為自己是一個營銷自動化平台。事實上，這是我們多年來的標語。今天，它的核心是 AI，並且是我們平台的原生功能。我想指出的另一件事是，當您查看其中一些遺留營銷雲時，要使用他們的人工智能，您必須走出他們的平台並將數據浸入一個單獨的平台以獲取對於 AI，當他們導入數據集時也是如此。它們位於平台核心之外。 Zeta Marketing Platform 擁有應用層原生的數據和人工智能。它只會讓事情變得更快。它允許決策在百分之一毫秒內移動而不是更長的時間段。所以，我認為我們已經做好了繼續這一趨勢的準備。

Our next question comes from Jason Kreyer of Craig-Hallum.

我們的下一個問題來自 Craig-Hallum 的 Jason Kreyer。

Two for me. Maybe I'll start with David. Just on the Connected TV side, I wanted to dig into that increased contribution. I'm curious if there are meaningful changes to like your product set that you're going to market with? Or if this is just more awareness of the product and just organic improvement there? Second question for Chris. You mentioned bigger deals in the pipeline. Just wondering if you can expand on that, like are you talking about more use cases, more channels or just more committed volumes than those?

兩個給我。也許我將從大衛開始。在聯網電視方面，我想深入研究增加的貢獻。我很好奇是否有有意義的變化來喜歡您要推向市場的產品集？或者，如果這只是對產品的更多認識以及那裡的有機改進？克里斯的第二個問題。你提到了更大的交易正在進行中。只是想知道您是否可以對此進行擴展，比如您是在談論更多的用例、更多的渠道還是更多的承諾量？

So, I'll take the first part, second. I think, first of all, we are sitting at the precipice of what is a new dawn of the way people consume video content, right? So, when TV started out 100 years ago with The Milton Berle Texaco show, you had one channel, 2 channels, then 3 channels, then as my children like to point out in my lifetime, I started with 5 channels. Now, we're up to hundreds of channels. But at the end of the day, that's not the way the younger generation is consuming their video content. They're consuming it through Connected TV, online video or over-the-top TV. And you're beginning to see that in the results of the linear TV providers.

所以，我先講第一部分，再講第二部分。我認為，首先，我們正處於人們消費視頻內容方式的新曙光的邊緣，對吧？所以，當 100 年前電視以 Milton Berle Texaco 節目開始出現時，你有一個頻道，2 個頻道，然後是 3 個頻道，然後正如我的孩子們喜歡在我有生之年指出的那樣，我從 5 個頻道開始。現在，我們有數百個頻道。但歸根結底，這並不是年輕一代消費視頻內容的方式。他們通過聯網電視、在線視頻或 Over-the-top 電視消費它。你開始在線性電視提供商的結果中看到這一點。

So, I believe we have the world's best CTV platform and because the Zeta Data Cloud is able to identify a unique individual online through either programmatic or online video and through social, mobile and CTV. Same individual, same Zeta ID number can be identified across all of those channels as marketers are looking to move from linear TV to Connected TV, they want a platform that can help them focus on return on investment. The ability to do what we do with the direct target to CTV is game-changing. And I'm quite frankly not aware of anybody else out there that can do that. And there are other platforms that can do CTV campaigns, but they're doing it to probabilistic data sets, not deterministic data sets and they're going to have to catch a lot of dolphins in their net to get to that tune. We're able to really get down and just catch that tuna in our net, which allows the client to spend the same amount of money but drive substantially more customers.

所以，我相信我們擁有世界上最好的 CTV 平台，因為 Zeta 數據云能夠通過程序化或在線視頻以及社交、移動和 CTV 在線識別一個獨特的個體。同一個人、相同的 Zeta ID 號碼可以在所有這些渠道中識別，因為營銷人員希望從線性電視轉向聯網電視，他們需要一個可以幫助他們專注於投資回報的平台。將我們的目標直接指向 CTV 所做的事情的能力正在改變遊戲規則。坦率地說，我不知道還有其他人可以做到這一點。還有其他平台可以進行 CTV 活動，但它們是針對概率數據集而不是確定性數據集進行的，他們將不得不在網中捕捉大量海豚才能達到這種效果。我們能夠真正放下心來，用我們的網釣到金槍魚，這讓客戶花同樣多的錢，卻能吸引更多的顧客。

Chris, for the second question.

克里斯，第二個問題。

Yes. Thank you, Jason. It's interesting. If you look at the number of deals in our pipeline a year ago, and this is as of the end of the fourth quarter, it's a similar number of deals, they're up a little bit year-over-year, but the dollar value is what's so much greater. And I talked about it also through the lens of RFPs, which is obviously a subset of that pipeline. Not only is the RFP volume up. David, we talked about getting more chances at that as these marketing clouds come up. But the value of those deals is getting bigger.

是的。謝謝你，傑森。這真有趣。如果你看看我們一年前的交易數量，這是截至第四季度末的交易數量，交易數量與去年同期相比略有上升，但美元價值是更大的東西。我還通過 RFP 的角度討論了它，這顯然是該管道的一個子集。不僅 RFP 數量增加了。大衛，隨著這些營銷雲的出現，我們談到了獲得更多機會。但這些交易的價值越來越大。

And as you pointed out, yes, it's more use cases, yes, it's more channels. But it's a bigger opportunity to take out parts of their marketing stack than we were getting before. That's ultimately what's driving it. And we're not -- obviously, we're not shy about starting with pilots, but we equally love starting bigger. And we continue to see the deal sizes getting bigger, sales productivity stats and our ability to execute on that pipeline is also meeting our expectations and in many areas exceeding it.

正如您所指出的，是的，它是更多的用例，是的，它是更多的渠道。但這是一個比我們以前得到的更大的機會來取出他們的部分營銷堆棧。這是最終的驅動力。而且我們不是 - 顯然，我們並不羞於從飛行員開始，但我們同樣喜歡從更大的開始。我們繼續看到交易規模越來越大，銷售生產力統計數據以及我們在該管道上執行的能力也符合我們的預期，並且在許多領域都超過了預期。

Our next call comes from Zach Cummins of B. Riley Securities.

我們的下一個電話來自 B. Riley Securities 的 Zach Cummins。

David, the first question for me is just really around your CDP+ product. I mean it seems like that's really a great opportunity to really drive momentum within that product line. So, I'm just curious of the go-to-market function and how you're looking to really drive adoption there.

大衛，我的第一個問題是關於您的 CDP+ 產品。我的意思是，這似乎是真正推動該產品線發展勢頭的好機會。所以，我只是對上市功能以及您希望如何真正推動那裡的採用感到好奇。

Thanks, Zack. And listen, CDP+ sits at the core of every single conversation we have with existing and potentially new customers. And the ability to bring together all of an enterprise's disparate data sets into one data ecosystem and then allow them to append and add hundreds, if not thousands of fields of incremental data from the Zeta Data Cloud really begins to change the game as they think about, first and foremost, what is the difference between a marketing signal and what is the difference between just noise.

謝謝，扎克。聽著，CDP+ 是我們與現有客戶和潛在新客戶進行的每一次對話的核心。並且能夠將企業所有不同的數據集整合到一個數據生態系統中，然後允許他們從 Zeta 數據云中追加和添加數百個（如果不是數千個）增量數據字段，這真的開始改變遊戲規則，因為他們認為，首先，營銷信號和噪音之間的區別是什麼。

And what we are doing is we're synthesizing through our artificial intelligence, what signals are really relevant on their customer base to make sure that they can lower their churn rates and keep their customers as long as possible, what other products do they have in their arsenal that they should be selling to their existing customer set that they're actively researching for. And then third, how do we take the 240 million plus people in the United States who have opted into our data cloud and help extend that to help them add new customers. All of that sits in the center with the CDP+.

我們正在做的是通過我們的人工智能綜合，哪些信號與他們的客戶群真正相關，以確保他們可以降低客戶流失率並儘可能長時間地留住他們的客戶，他們還有哪些其他產品他們的武器庫，他們應該出售給他們正在積極研究的現有客戶群。然後第三，我們如何讓選擇進入我們的數據云的美國 2.4 億多人並幫助擴展它以幫助他們增加新客戶。所有這些都位於 CDP+ 的中心。

And quite frankly, we win well over half the engagements we go after in this category. It's when people see what the CDP+ can do, they are generally blown away. And for us, it's also in many ways a Trojan horse. How do we get into the enterprise, they start learning all of this incredible stuff about their consumer. One of the things I think most people don't understand is once they learn everything about that individual, they cannot activate to them unless they use the Zeta Marketing Cloud because everything synthesizes to the Zeta data ID. That Zeta ID does not allow them to identify that individual outside of the Zeta Marketing Platform. So, it's one of the reasons we talk about the sales motion, which Chris does so eloquently where you start with a pilot and then you grow. Once again, if you look at the 48 scaled customers we added this year, call it, 2/3 of them started small and then grew. And that is really a very, very powerful thing and the CDP+ is mission-critical to that.

坦率地說，在這一類別中，我們贏得了一半以上的參與。當人們看到 CDP+ 的功能時，他們通常會大吃一驚。對我們來說，它在很多方面也是特洛伊木馬。我們如何進入企業，他們開始學習關於他們消費者的所有這些令人難以置信的東西。我認為大多數人不明白的一件事是，一旦他們了解了關於那個人的一切，除非他們使用 Zeta 營銷雲，否則他們無法激活他們，因為一切都合成到 Zeta 數據 ID。該 Zeta ID 不允許他們在 Zeta 營銷平台之外識別該個人。所以，這是我們談論銷售動議的原因之一，克里斯在你從試點開始然後成長的地方如此雄辯。再一次，如果你看看我們今年增加的 48 個規模化客戶，可以說，其中 2/3 從小規模開始，然後發展壯大。這真的是一件非常非常強大的事情，而 CDP+ 對此至關重要。

And just one quick follow-up for Chris. Really appreciate the free cash flow guidance that's given for the Zeta 2025 target. When you're thinking about excess free cash flow, I mean, how are you thinking about allocating that to debt paydown versus stock buybacks versus maybe even incremental M&A?

克里斯只是一個快速的跟進。非常感謝為 Zeta 2025 目標提供的自由現金流指導。當你考慮過剩的自由現金流時，我的意思是，你如何考慮將其分配給償還債務、股票回購甚至增量併購？

Yes. I mean, the beauty of having a long-term plan in place is that not only do we have quarterly gates that each of our business units make their way through it, kind of releases funds, the same applies for multiyears out. Debt is becoming much more expensive today, obviously, than it was a year ago. So that's -- it's very topical and on our brain. We will continue to do small tuck-in deals as kind of has been our legacy history. But otherwise, we're going to continue to be very disciplined on investment rigor that we've had. David?

是的。我的意思是，制定長期計劃的美妙之處在於，我們不僅有季度門檻，我們的每個業務部門都可以通過它，釋放資金，這同樣適用於多年期。顯然，與一年前相比，今天的債務變得更加昂貴。這就是 - 它非常熱門並且在我們的大腦中。我們將繼續進行小額交易，因為這一直是我們的傳統歷史。但除此之外，我們將繼續嚴格遵守我們的投資紀律。大衛？

And by the way, you could see us as we do some of these tuck-ins, use a higher percentage of cash than we have in the past, where we feel like we're getting far more leverage in a business that we can tuck in and grow dramatically. But we'll make those decisions as we continue to go. And listen, the more cash we generate, the more flexibility we have as a company. Cash flow has been a key metric to us internally for many years. And as we look at the current market landscape, we thought adding an additional metric to Zeta 2025 made prudent sense where we believe at least 55% of our EBITDA by 2025 will convert to free cash flow. And to put it in perspective, we could pay down 100% of our debt in 2025 and 2024 from the proposed cash flow that we're currently forecasting. But our net debt continues to be pretty low as a company.

順便說一句，你可以看到我們在進行這些調整時使用了比過去更高比例的現金，我們覺得我們在我們可以調整的業務中獲得了更多的影響力並急劇增長。但我們會在繼續前進的過程中做出這些決定。聽著，我們產生的現金越多，我們作為一家公司的靈活性就越大。多年來，現金流一直是我們內部的一個關鍵指標。當我們審視當前的市場格局時，我們認為為 Zeta 2025 添加一個額外的指標是明智的，我們相信到 2025 年至少 55% 的 EBITDA 將轉化為自由現金流。從長遠來看，我們可以在 2025 年和 2024 年從我們目前預測的擬議現金流中償還 100% 的債務。但作為一家公司，我們的淨債務仍然很低。

Our next question comes from Ryan MacWilliams of Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Ryan MacWilliams。

Are you seeing any differences to start this year versus how Q4 ended? And any changes in customer interest across your acquire, grow and retain use cases?

您是否看到今年開始與第四季度結束時有什麼不同？在您獲取、發展和保留用例中，客戶興趣有何變化？

Well, just to answer your first question, we traditionally see a seasonally slower quarter in the first quarter from the fourth quarter and that is reflected in our guidance, even though we feel very comfortable with the guidance we put out. And like a lot of companies, we're trying to over-index on being conservative in the world today because there's a lot of turbulence going on. But the truth of the matter is if you look at the last number of years of this company, seasonally, Q4 is very, very strong. And then you come into Q1, where you're resetting a little bit. But at the middle of our range, I believe we projected a 19% growth rate year-over-year for the first quarter and continue to feel like we've been conservative.

好吧，為了回答你的第一個問題，我們傳統上看到第一季度比第四季度出現季節性放緩，這反映在我們的指導中，儘管我們對我們發布的指導感到非常滿意。和很多公司一樣，我們正試圖在當今世界上保持保守，因為正在發生很多動盪。但事實是，如果你看一下這家公司過去幾年的季節性，第四季度非常非常強勁。然後你進入第一季度，在那裡你要重新設置一點。但在我們範圍的中間，我相信我們預計第一季度的同比增長率為 19%，並且繼續感覺我們一直很保守。

Chris, do you want to answer the second question?

克里斯，你想回答第二個問題嗎？

Yes. In fact, on Slide 17 on the earnings supplemental, you'll see that we laid out the 3-year average revenue linearity and guidance by quarter. But to David's point, that's also where you see the seasonality show up.

是的。事實上，在關於收益補充的幻燈片 17 上，您會看到我們按季度列出了 3 年平均收入線性和指導。但就 David 的觀點而言，這也是您看到季節性出現的地方。

He asked about the use cases as well.

他還詢問了用例。

And use cases, I mean, we mentioned all of them are growing double digits. Acquire and grow are growing the fastest, both at about equal rates above the company's growth rate. What was interesting is, and this is now the second quarter in a row where we've added many more scaled customers that are using more than one use case. We're now almost at 50, we're at 46, but that's a 39% improvement year-over-year. And that in the last quarter also grew in the 30s. So, that's a big incremental opportunity for us. It's incremental to Zeta 2025. All the ARPU expansion in Zeta 2025 modeled off of channel expansion. So, our continued inroads here is only incremental upside.

用例，我的意思是，我們提到所有這些都在以兩位數的速度增長。收購和增長增長最快，兩者的增長率大致相等，高於公司的增長率。有趣的是，這是我們連續第二個季度增加了更多使用多個用例的規模化客戶。我們現在差不多是 50 歲，我們是 46 歲，但比去年同期提高了 39%。而且在最後一個季度也在 30 年代增長。所以，這對我們來說是一個巨大的增量機會。它是 Zeta 2025 的增量。Zeta 2025 中的所有 ARPU 擴展都以渠道擴展為模型。因此，我們在這裡的持續進軍只是漸進的上升空間。

(technical difficulty) with more channels. You guys got me interested in talking about the accelerating replacement opportunity for the legacy marketing cloud. I mean this is a pretty big opportunity since you previously called out there was like 10,000 customers that could potentially be scaled data customers. Are these legacy marketing cloud customers typically on the contract length of like 3 years or 5 years? Just trying to get to like what the yearly opportunity could be off a $36 billion US spend.

（技術難度）多渠道。你們讓我有興趣談論傳統營銷雲的加速替代機會。我的意思是這是一個相當大的機會，因為你之前曾說過有大約 10,000 個客戶可能是擴展數據客戶。這些傳統營銷雲客戶的合同期限通常是 3 年還是 5 年？只是想了解 360 億美元的美國支出每年可能帶來的機會。

They're almost all on 3 years. And you see effectively 1/3 of them come up every year. The big question is how do we -- and quite frankly, I think it's one of the things we did best last year was how do we begin to get far more shots at the basket, right? So, we've always said we close a disproportionate percentage of the RFPs or engagements we get invited to participate in. The big question was how did we grow that number at the top of the funnel. So, what did we do? We've built a whole new sales motion with a great team focused on lead generation.

他們幾乎都在 3 年。並且您實際上看到其中 1/3 每年都會出現。最大的問題是我們如何——坦率地說，我認為去年我們做得最好的事情之一就是我們如何開始在籃下獲得更多的投籃機會，對吧？因此，我們一直說我們關閉了不成比例的 RFP 或我們受邀參與的約定。最大的問題是我們如何在漏斗頂部增加這個數字。那麼，我們做了什麼？我們已經建立了一個全新的銷售活動，擁有一支專注於潛在客戶開發的優秀團隊。

We were named -- we are in the far right-hand upper corner of the Forrester report for marketing automation companies. We were named Top 5 in the world by multiple sources for CDPs. Zeta Live was an absolute blowout with over 7,000 attendees either in person or online, and we look forward to seeing everybody again this year. We just sent out the Save the Date. And that has materially increased the number of RFPs we're seeing, which allows us to get more bites at the apple. So, if you think of them as 3-year contracts, you're talking about every year, about 33% come up.

我們被命名為 - 我們位於 Forrester 營銷自動化公司報告的右上角。我們被多個 CDP 來源評為世界前 5 名。 Zeta Live 現場或在線參加人數超過 7,000 人，絕對是一場盛會，我們期待今年再次見到大家。我們剛剛發送了保存日期。這大大增加了我們看到的 RFP 數量，這使我們能夠獲得更多機會。因此，如果您將它們視為 3 年期合同，那麼您每年都在談論，大約有 33% 的合同出現。

Our next question comes from Ryan MacDonald of Needham.

我們的下一個問題來自 Needham 的 Ryan MacDonald。

Congrats on an excellent quarter and fiscal year. David, first for you, you talked about in one of your earlier responses that 2/3 of the deals of the 48 new customers you added this year started small and grew. Given this larger opportunity for multiproduct consolidation, do you feel like you need to change the way you go to market at all to win some of these larger deals on the initial land? And have you started to see any potential gaps or natural adjacencies you can expand to with the product portfolio to maybe capture more share on these consolidations?

祝賀一個出色的季度和財政年度。戴維，首先是你，你在之前的一個回復中談到，你今年添加的 48 個新客戶中有 2/3 的交易從小規模開始，然後逐漸增長。鑑於這種多產品整合的更大機會，您是否覺得您需要完全改變進入市場的方式以在初始土地上贏得一些更大的交易？您是否開始看到可以通過產品組合擴展到的任何潛在差距或自然鄰接，以便在這些整合中獲得更多份額？

Brian, that is not to suggest the other questions weren't great, but that's a really good question. And I think Chris even hinted at the size and scale of the deals we're seeing coming out of the gate are substantially larger than we've ever seen before. We are often now going to market with Fortune 1,000 companies for the whole shebang, where they're moving massive dollars in one fell swoop. And I think I pointed out the 1 retailer who signed a 5-year contract with us, that's not something that would have happened a few years ago, right?

布賴恩，這並不是說其他問題不好，但這是一個非常好的問題。而且我認為克里斯甚至暗示我們看到的交易的規模和規模比我們以前見過的要大得多。我們現在經常與財富 1,000 強公司一起進行市場營銷，他們一口氣轉移了大量資金。我想我指出了與我們簽訂了 5 年合同的 1 家零售商，這不是幾年前會發生的事情，對吧？

So, I think in order to go to market, what we've seen is with the turbulence that a number of the large legacy marketing clouds are having, we've been able to steal -- I shouldn't say that, a number of their very senior salespeople have left those organizations and then we have been able to hire them shortly thereafter. So, we're not just bringing in more salespeople, we're bringing in senior salespeople coming out of these marketing clouds who have made these very large sales and they're building a go-to-market strategy that, in many cases, is sort of all of it versus a very small part.

所以，我認為，為了進入市場，我們所看到的是許多大型傳統營銷雲所面臨的動盪，我們已經能夠竊取——我不應該這麼說，一些他們的非常資深的銷售人員已經離開了這些組織，然後我們很快就能夠僱用他們。因此，我們不僅引進了更多的銷售人員，還引進了來自這些營銷雲的高級銷售人員，他們取得了非常大的銷售額，他們正在製定一個進入市場的戰略，在許多情況下，是全部而不是很小的一部分。

Maybe as a follow-up for Chris. Chris, you mentioned in terms of the incremental leverage that you're going to see this year that it's going to come more from at the OpEx level than at the gross margin level. Is that being driven at all by sort of a continuation of maybe more of this mid-70s mix of direct platform? And if so, what's driving, I guess, maybe that mix shift that's going to remain in the mid-70s versus you put up a couple of, I think, high-70s to 80% quarters?

也許作為克里斯的後續行動。克里斯，你提到今年你將看到的增量槓桿將更多地來自運營支出水平而不是毛利率水平。這是否完全是由這種 70 年代中期的直接平台組合的延續所驅動的？如果是這樣，我想是什麼在推動，也許這種混合轉變將保留在 70 年代中期，而你提出了幾個，我認為，高 70 年代到 80% 的季度？

Yes. It's not as much that, Ryan. It was more a reflection that we are significantly ahead in terms of what we should be reducing our cost of revenue by. Our model says 60 points a year. Last year, for the full year, we reduced it by 170 bps. So, we're ahead. I think the second part is we wanted to add a layer of conservatism in the middle of the P&L just like we have at the top part of the P&L. Not to say that it just gives us flexibility, frankly. And then third, it's really more a reflection of the investments we made, particularly in sales and marketing, adding multiple CROs. David talked about adding mechanisms and infrastructure around marketing. We don't need to make those same investments this year. So, there's just going to be some natural leverage as we wrap around on those investments. But it's more around conservatism and leaving ourselves flexibility.

是的。不是那麼多，瑞安。這更多地反映了我們在減少收入成本方面明顯領先。我們的模型說每年 60 分。去年全年，我們將其減少了 170 個基點。所以，我們領先了。我認為第二部分是我們想在損益表的中間添加一層保守主義，就像我們在損益表的頂部一樣。坦率地說，並不是說它只是給了我們靈活性。第三，它實際上更多地反映了我們所做的投資，特別是在銷售和營銷方面，增加了多個 CRO。大衛談到了圍繞營銷添加機制和基礎設施。我們今年不需要進行同樣的投資。因此，當我們結束這些投資時，就會有一些自然的槓桿作用。但更多的是圍繞保守主義和讓我們自己保持靈活性。

Our next question comes from Elizabeth Porter of Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的伊麗莎白波特。

This is Chris Quintero on for Elizabeth. I wanted to better understand the reduction in the super scaled customers. I know it was primarily due to them falling below that spend threshold. But just curious kind of where that reduction was? Was it more kind of on the activation media passenger side? Or is it on the more kind of subscription side?

這是伊麗莎白的 Chris Quintero。我想更好地了解超大規模客戶的減少。我知道這主要是因為他們低於該支出門檻。但只是好奇這種減少在哪裡？它更像是在激活媒體乘客方面嗎？還是更偏向於訂閱？

It was usage driven, and it was frustratingly, I say, because it was -- it literally fell right at that cutoff point. None of them left. They're all now hanging around the hoop at that high $900,000 level and wouldn't be surprised if they jump back in. So, it was more fourth quarter usage driven. But I think the important point here is if you look at the ARPU of those customers, super scaled ARPU grew 26%, super scaled revenue as a contributor to overall Zeta's revenue grew 34%. And then even zooming out further, we've got a great slide in the supplemental that breaks out a cohort of those scaled customers and how long they've been with us, what's really exciting to see is those customers in the cohort of 1 year with Zeta to 3 years with Zeta, their average revenue went from $900,000 to $1.4 million in a year. So, to David's point, we're not shy about getting in on pilots because we've proven over time, the longer they stay with us, the bigger they become.

它是由使用驅動的，我說這令人沮喪，因為它確實恰好落在了那個截止點上。他們都沒有離開。他們現在都在 900,000 美元的高位附近徘徊，如果他們重新加入也不會感到驚訝。因此，這更多地是由第四季度的使用量驅動的。但我認為這裡的重點是，如果你看一下這些客戶的 ARPU，超規模 ARPU 增長了 26%，超規模收入作為 Zeta 整體收入的貢獻者增長了 34%。然後甚至進一步縮小，我們在補充中有一張很棒的幻燈片，它列出了一群規模化的客戶以及他們與我們在一起的時間，真正令人興奮的是看到這些客戶在 1 年的隊列中從 Zeta 到 3 年，他們的平均收入在一年內從 90 萬美元增加到 140 萬美元。因此，就大衛的觀點而言，我們並不羞於加入飛行員，因為隨著時間的推移，我們已經證明，他們與我們在一起的時間越長，他們就會變得越大。

Our next question comes from Koji Ikeda of Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Koji Ikeda。

This is Natalie Howe on for Koji. I wanted to ask for a bit more clarity on the impact from political customers. If you could help us understand the contribution there. We were hoping to get a bit more granular in particular with the impact on Q4.

我是 Koji 的 Natalie Howe。我想更清楚地了解政治客戶的影響。如果你能幫助我們了解那裡的貢獻。我們希望獲得更詳細的信息，尤其是對第四季度的影響。

Yes. So, our guidance entering the quarter was for $4 million midterm candidate revenue and it ended up being $4.5 million. So, we did a little bit better, but it was right in line with our expectations.

是的。因此，我們進入本季度的指導是 400 萬美元的中期候選人收入，最終為 450 萬美元。所以，我們做得好一點，但也符合我們的預期。

And we did disclose...

我們確實披露了...

Go ahead, sorry.

繼續，對不起。

I'm sorry, I was just going to say, we did disclose that. We think it's an important metric. We agree with you. So, we -- it was about $4.5 million of the $175 million.

對不起，我只是想說，我們確實透露了這一點。我們認為這是一個重要的指標。我們同意你的看法。所以，我們——這大約是 1.75 億美元中的 450 萬美元。

And then a quick follow-up. You guys mentioned you're investing more on brand recognition. Should we expect increase in expenses there? And is there any insight on the trajectory of that over this year and the next few years?

然後快速跟進。你們提到你們在品牌認知度上投入更多。我們應該期望那裡的開支增加嗎？是否對今年和未來幾年的發展軌蹟有任何見解？

Yes. Well, so we did say that we expected to get material leverage out of SG&A this year. So, that would imply that we will not be increasing overall expense as it relates to our sales, marketing and general and administrative expenses, which brand building fits into. We -- quite frankly, we've just shifted budget from other places and we've been very fortunate, right? Because over the last few years, we've materially lowered our cost of goods sold, which has given us more flexibility. I don't see us spending more money this year. I mean you might spend a little more on an absolute dollar perspective, but I don't see the percentage going up on brand build.

是的。好吧，所以我們確實說過，我們預計今年將從 SG&A 中獲得實質性槓桿。因此，這意味著我們不會增加整體開支，因為它與我們的銷售、營銷以及一般和行政開支有關，而品牌建設就屬於這些開支。我們 - 坦率地說，我們剛剛從其他地方轉移了預算，我們非常幸運，對吧？因為在過去的幾年裡，我們大幅降低了商品銷售成本，這給了我們更大的靈活性。我認為我們今年不會花更多的錢。我的意思是，從絕對的美元角度來看，你可能會多花一點錢，但我認為品牌建設的百分比不會上升。

The big thing last year was Zeta Live. We expect to do it again this year. The funny thing is Zeta Live was such an incredible success last year, a number of our partners have come to us and said, can we help sponsor this next year? Can we do a dinner? Can we host a session? So shockingly, we're now potentially going to lower the cost of building the brand for the company, while simultaneously hopefully, growing Zeta Live even bigger than it's ever been.

去年的大事件是 Zeta Live。我們希望今年再次這樣做。有趣的是，去年 Zeta Live 取得了令人難以置信的成功，我們的許多合作夥伴都來找我們說，我們明年可以幫助贊助嗎？我們可以共進晚餐嗎？我們可以主持會議嗎？令人震驚的是，我們現在有可能降低為公司打造品牌的成本，同時希望將 Zeta Live 發展得比以往任何時候都更大。

Thank you, Natalie. Operator, we have time for one more question please.

謝謝你，娜塔莉。接線員，我們有時間再問一個問題。

Our next question comes from DJ Hynes of Canaccord Genuity.

我們的下一個問題來自 Canaccord Genuity 的 DJ Hynes。

Congrats on all the momentum. The story sounds great. Chris, one for you. Just given the growth you're talking about in CTV, is there anything we should be aware of from a margin profile standpoint as that revenue layers in?

祝賀所有的勢頭。這個故事聽起來很棒。克里斯，一個給你。鑑於您在 CTV 中談論的增長，從利潤率的角度來看，隨著收入的增加，我們應該注意什麼？

No, nothing in particular. In fact, we've seen over the last several years, the margin profile of that channel improve steadily.

不，沒什麼特別的。事實上，我們在過去幾年中看到，該渠道的利潤率穩步提高。

And by the way, we've moved it. So, the vast majority of that is on platform, DJ. So, we feel good about that because it's plugging into our device graph, which is now the largest device graph in the United States and gives us a lot of flexibility, as it relates to targeting, which leads to higher margin.

順便說一句，我們已經移動了它。所以，其中絕大多數是在平台上，DJ。所以，我們對此感覺很好，因為它正在插入我們的設備圖，它現在是美國最大的設備圖，並為我們提供了很大的靈活性，因為它與目標相關，從而帶來更高的利潤。

Did you have a follow-up, DJ?

你有跟進嗎，DJ？

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to David Steinberg for any closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給 David Steinberg 作閉幕詞。

Well, spectacular quarter. I mean it's hard to say anything other than that. We really delivered on every metric we expected to. We were able and feel like in an incredibly conservative way we raised our guidance from where I think most people expected us to be. And we feel like we've got the right people, the right technology with our artificial intelligence and marketing platform and the right data set to continue to win in the marketplace and more than exceed on our 2025 plan.

嗯，壯觀的季度。我的意思是除此之外很難說什麼。我們確實實現了我們期望的每一個指標。我們能夠並且感覺以一種令人難以置信的保守方式，我們從我認為大多數人期望我們的地方提高了我們的指導。我們覺得我們擁有合適的人才、合適的技術以及我們的人工智能和營銷平台以及合適的數據集，可以繼續在市場上取勝，並超越我們的 2025 年計劃。

More than anything, I want to thank all of our Zeta people. They have just worked tirelessly to deliver on the metrics that we have put out and it is a team that really has come together and congealed in a way that makes me as the Co-Founder and CEO, incredibly proud. Steve Gerber, Chris Greiner, Steve Vine and their respective teams are -- I could go on and on with Chris Monberg and Neej Gore and Will Margiloff and just everybody who's really helping us to grow, build and deliver on this business, have just done an exceptional job.

最重要的是，我要感謝我們所有的 Zeta 人。他們不知疲倦地工作以實現我們制定的指標，這是一個真正團結在一起並凝聚在一起的團隊，這讓我作為聯合創始人兼首席執行官感到無比自豪。 Steve Gerber、Chris Greiner、Steve Vine 和他們各自的團隊——我可以繼續和 Chris Monberg、Neej Gore 和 Will Margiloff 以及真正幫助我們發展、建立和交付這項業務的每個人一起，剛剛完成一項出色的工作。

I hope everybody has a wonderful day, and I look forward to seeing everybody in person sometime soon. Bye.

我希望每個人都有美好的一天，我期待很快能見到大家。再見。

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與，祝您度過愉快的一天。