Zeta Global Holdings Corp (ZETA) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Zeta Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Scott Schmitz, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

您好，歡迎參加 Zeta 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。現在我很高興向您介紹主持人，投資者關係高級副總裁斯科特·施密茨(Scott Schmitz)。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Zeta's third quarter 2023 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，接線生。大家好，感謝您參加 Zeta 2023 年第三季電話會議。今天的演示和收益發布可在 Zeta 的投資者關係網站 Investors.zetaglobal.com 上獲取，您還可以在其中找到我們向 SEC 提交的文件的連結以及有關 Zeta 的其他資訊。今天和我一起參加電話會議的還有 Zeta 共同創辦人、董事長兼執行長 David Steinberg；和 Zeta 財務長 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.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒大家，本次電話會議以及演示和收益發布中的陳述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陳述，包括有關我們產品的市場潛力、潛在競爭和我們產品的收入以及我們的目標和策略。這些陳述存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與預測有重大差異。

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. 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 other filings with the SEC.

這些風險和不確定性包括公司收益報告和向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中所述的風險和不確定性，並且僅在今天發表。此外，我們今天的討論將包括參考某些補充性非公認會計準則財務指標，這些指標應作為我們公認會計準則結果的補充而不是替代。我們使用這些非公認會計準則衡量標準來管理業務，並相信它們為我們的投資者提供了有用的信息。非 GAAP 衡量標準與相應 GAAP 衡量標準的調整（如果適用）可以在我們網站上的收益報告以及我們向 SEC 提交的收益報告和其他文件中找到。

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

現在，我將把電話轉給大衛。

Thank you, Scott. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Our third quarter of 2023 was one of our most eventful and productive quarters yet, highlighted by key events, including ZETA LIVE, our Customer Advisory Board Meeting and our first Investor Day. Most importantly, we continued our track record of consistent execution, delivering results above our guidance for the ninth consecutive time. In the quarter, we delivered record revenue of $189 million, up 24% year-over-year, with adjusted EBITDA of $34 million, up 51% year-over-year.

謝謝你，斯科特。大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。 2023 年第三季是我們迄今為止最忙碌、最有成效的季度之一，其中包括 ZETA LIVE、我們的客戶諮詢委員會會議和我們的第一個投資者日等重大活動。最重要的是，我們繼續保持一致執行的記錄，連續第九次交付高於我們指導的結果。本季度，我們實現了創紀錄的營收 1.89 億美元，年增 24%，調整後 EBITDA 為 3,400 萬美元，年成長 51%。

This translates to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 17.9%, up 310 basis points year-over-year. We generated $23 million of cash from operating activities, up 17% with free cash flow of $13 million, up 43% year-over-year. On a year-to-date basis, our adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow have grown approximately 70% faster than our revenue. Our strong results reflect our growing impact in the marketplace, which was evidenced by the 50% increase in viewers for our third annual ZETA LIVE Conference to over 12,000 people.

這意味著調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 17.9%，較去年同期成長 310 個基點。我們從經營活動中產生了 2,300 萬美元的現金，年增 17%，自由現金流為 1,300 萬美元，年增 43%。今年迄今，我們調整後的 EBITDA 和自由現金流的成長速度比我們的營收成長約 70%。我們強勁的業績反映了我們在市場中日益增長的影響力，第三屆年度 ZETA LIVE 會議的觀眾人數增加了 50%，達到 12,000 多人，就證明了這一點。

This year's ZETA LIVE conference brought together thought leaders from around the world to learn about the growing impact of AI, discuss innovation that drives business growth and hear from practitioners about the emergence of intelligence powered marketing. A full replay of every session is available in the Resource Center section of our website at zetaglobal.com. With hundreds of new brands and existing customers added to our pipeline, ZETA LIVE continues to be an investment in accelerating our business and raising our brand awareness.

今年的 ZETA LIVE 會議匯集了來自世界各地的思想領袖，了解人工智慧日益增長的影響，討論推動業務成長的創新，並聽取從業者關於智慧驅動行銷的出現的看法。我們網站 zetaglobal.com 的資源中心部分提供了每次會議的完整重播。隨著數百個新品牌和現有客戶加入我們的管道，ZETA LIVE 繼續成為加速我們業務發展和提高品牌知名度的投資。

The evolution of Zeta who to why Zeta was evident in record third quarter RFP volumes with even greater growth in dollar values as we experienced an increase in more complex multi-channel opportunities, which was further driven by ZETA LIVE. Growing deal activity is just one indication of the market moving in our direction. We were also recognized in key industry reports. In the third quarter, we were named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape for omni-channel marketing platforms for B2C enterprises. The ZMP was recognized for simplifying the complex marketing ecosystem.

Zeta 的演變在創紀錄的第三季 RFP 數量中顯而易見，隨著我們經歷了更複雜的多通路機會的增加，這在 ZETA LIVE 的進一步推動下，美元價值出現了更大的增長。不斷增長的交易活動只是市場朝著我們的方向發展的跡象之一。我們也在重要產業報告中獲得認可。第三季度，我們被IDC MarketScape評為B2C企業全通路行銷平台領導者。 ZMP 因簡化複雜的行銷生態系統而受到認可。

While we still have further to go to achieve broader recognition across industry analysts, we believe our differentiated approach of bringing identity, intelligence and activation together in a single platform position us well to win against our core competitors, including Oracle, Salesforce and Adobe. Our industry recognition, along with our pipeline growth is fueled by our innovative product road map, which was on full display at ZETA LIVE with the release of the Zeta Opportunity Engine or ZOE, marketers have the ability to ask critical marketing questions and receive real-time answers.

雖然我們仍然需要進一步努力才能獲得行業分析師的更廣泛認可，但我們相信，我們將身份、智慧和激活整合在一個平台上的差異化方法使我們能夠很好地戰勝我們的核心競爭對手，包括Oracle、Salesforce 和AdAdobe。我們的創新產品路線圖推動了我們的行業認可以及產品線的成長，隨著Zeta 機會引擎或ZOE 的發布，該路線圖在ZETA LIVE 上得到了全面展示，行銷人員能夠提出關鍵的營銷問題並獲得真實的訊息時間給出答案。

And through new forecasting and recommendation tools, marketers can generate new ideas and strategies with speed and scale so they can deliver higher ROI and accelerate results. In addition, recent customer requests have highlighted an opportunity to innovate upon basic mobile capabilities that have been the status quo in the market. Similar to the enterprise market, moving on from its first-generation CDPs, sophisticated marketers are seeking mobile to be integrated into a more comprehensive platform rather than used as a point solution. To capitalize on this opportunity, Zeta is making investments into expanding our enterprise mobile capabilities to fuel conversational experiences.

透過新的預測和推薦工具，行銷人員可以快速、大規模地產生新的想法和策略，從而實現更高的投資報酬率並加速取得成果。此外，最近的客戶請求凸顯了對市場現狀的基本行動功能進行創新的機會。與企業市場類似，從第一代 CDP 開始，經驗豐富的行銷人員正在尋求將行動裝置整合到更全面的平台中，而不是用作單點解決方案。為了利用這個機會，Zeta 正在投資擴展我們的企業行動功能，以增強對話體驗。

Feedback from customers and prospects at ZETA LIVE also reinforced our belief that we are at the beginning of a marketing cloud replacement cycle. In fact, at ZETA LIVE we signed a multiyear 8-figure deal with one of the largest discount retailers in the United States to replace their legacy Marketing Cloud and consolidate seven different vendors in their technology stack with just the ZMP. After an extensive search, they chose our next-generation technology because of our identity, personalization, customer journey and AI capabilities.

ZETA LIVE 的客戶和潛在客戶的回饋也堅定了我們的信念，即我們正處於行銷雲端更換週期的開始。事實上，在ZETA LIVE，我們與美國最大的折扣零售商之一簽署了一項為期8 位數的多年協議，以取代他們的傳統行銷雲，並僅使用ZMP 整合七個不同供應商的技術堆疊。經過廣泛的搜索，他們選擇了我們的下一代技術，因為我們的身份、個人化、客戶旅程和人工智慧功能。

This retailer is in the process of a multiyear digital transformation that has re-architected their entire tech stack to include our partner, Snowflake, which is another key driver of our current record RFP volumes. This customer is an excellent example of our belief that Zeta helps marketers with modern data architectures to deliver better experiences for consumers and reduce the total cost of ownership for enterprises seeking to replace legacy technologies. One of the fundamental problems marketers face today is the inability to deliver what consumers want due to a personalization gap created by legacy systems.

這家零售商正在進行多年的數位轉型，重新建構了整個技術堆棧，將我們的合作夥伴 Snowflake 納入其中，它是我們當前 RFP 數量創紀錄的另一個關鍵驅動因素。這個客戶是我們信念的一個很好的例子，即 Zeta 可以幫助行銷人員利用現代資料架構為消費者提供更好的體驗，並降低尋求替代傳統技術的企業的總擁有成本。行銷人員當今面臨的基本問題之一是由於遺留系統造成的個人化差距而無法提供消費者想要的東西。

Even though data is abundant, intelligence is scarce because legacy systems lack the sophistication to turn data and insights into action. Our software platform solves this problem by unifying complex and disparate sources of data into a single view of the customer. Our proprietary AI synthesizes billions of behavioral signals and environmental data to create intent-based scores tied directly to the individual. We then activate this intelligence through marketing programs that combine precision and scale across every channel. This is intelligence powered marketing.

儘管數據豐富，但智慧卻稀缺，因為遺留系統缺乏將數據和見解轉化為行動的複雜性。我們的軟體平台透過將複雜且不同的資料來源統一到客戶的單一視圖中來解決這個問題。我們專有的人工智慧綜合了數十億的行為訊號和環境數據，以創建與個人直接相關的基於意圖的分數。然後，我們透過將每個管道的精準度和規模相結合的行銷計劃來激活這種情報。這是情報驅動的行銷。

Unlike legacy systems, the Zeta Marketing Platform has data and AI as native to the application layer, offering a differentiated approach for sophisticated marketers seeking to control their data and extract more value from each interaction. This quarter, we also continued to grow our relationships with key players in the value chain, including agencies where our strategy is to find opportunities to partner to enhance their assets and capabilities so that together, we deliver more to the world's biggest brands. Because this allows us to serve many brands to a single business relationship, this one-to-many strategy accelerates our market penetration and exposes Zeta to marketing decision-makers across a broad range of the enterprise brands.

與傳統系統不同，Zeta 行銷平台將數據和人工智慧作為應用程式層的原生數據，為尋求控制數據並從每次互動中獲取更多價值的成熟行銷人員提供了差異化的方法。本季度，我們也繼續發展與價值鏈中關鍵參與者的關係，包括我們的策略是尋找合作機會以增強其資產和能力的代理機構，以便我們共同為全球最大的品牌提供更多服務。因為這使我們能夠為多個品牌提供單一業務關係服務，所以這種一對多策略加速了我們的市場滲透，並使 Zeta 接觸到廣泛的企業品牌的營銷決策者。

As we discussed at our Investor Day, the number of brands we serve is nearly 40% larger than our reported scaled customer count. Looking forward, in addition to our continued growth with agencies, the emergence of the partner channel and the benefits of the replacement cycle, we expect the macro environment will continue to drive scrutiny on how and where enterprises invest in marketing technology. As the need for efficiency and effectiveness rises enterprises are more likely to change to improve their marketing programs and lower their total cost of ownership.

正如我們在投資者日討論的那樣，我們服務的品牌數量比我們報告的規模客戶數量多出近 40%。展望未來，除了我們與代理商的持續成長、合作夥伴管道的出現以及更換週期的好處之外，我們預計宏觀環境將繼續推動對企業如何以及在何處投資行銷技術的審查。隨著對效率和效益的需求上升，企業更有可能進行變革以改善其行銷計劃並降低總擁有成本。

As we heard at ZETA LIVE marketers are looking to consolidate spend with fewer vendors and simplify their technology stacks. Marketing budgets must be tied to measurable outcomes that generate a strong verifiable return on investment, which Zeta delivers. In summary, I'm incredibly proud of our team and what we have accomplished this quarter. We continue to be well-positioned to capitalize on the need for more efficient and effective marketing technology. As always, I would like to sincerely thank our customers, our partners, team Zeta and all our shareholders for the ongoing support of our vision.

正如我們在 ZETA LIVE 上聽到的那樣，行銷人員正在尋求與更少的供應商整合支出並簡化他們的技術堆疊。行銷預算必須與可衡量的結果掛鉤，從而產生可驗證的強大投資回報，而這正是 Zeta 所提供的。總之，我對我們的團隊以及我們本季所取得的成就感到非常自豪。我們繼續處於有利地位，可以利用對更有效率、更有效的行銷技術的需求。一如既往，我衷心感謝我們的客戶、合作夥伴、Zeta 團隊以及所有股東對我們願景的持續支持。

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

現在讓我把它交給克里斯來更詳細地討論我們的結果。克里斯？

Thank you, David, and good afternoon, everyone. During today's call, I'll focus on the drivers of our consistent execution, along with key considerations for the fourth quarter's outlook. Starting with the results; we delivered $189 million in revenue, up 24% year-to-year. On an organic basis and adjusting for last year's political revenue growth accelerated from 24% in 2Q to 26% this quarter. I'll note our growth rate also includes continued headwinds from the insurance and automotive verticals. Our reported growth would have been in the mid-30s plus, excluding these two verticals.

謝謝大衛，大家下午好。在今天的電話會議中，我將重點討論我們一致執行的驅動因素，以及第四季度前景的關鍵考慮因素。從結果開始；我們實現了 1.89 億美元的收入，年增 24%。在有機基礎上，根據去年的調整，政治收入成長從第二季的 24% 加速至本季的 26%。我要指出的是，我們的成長率還包括來自保險和汽車垂直行業的持續阻力。如果不包括這兩個垂直行業，我們報告的成長將在 30 多歲左右。

The strength of our revenue growth this quarter was once again driven by scaled customer additions coming in above the high end of the model we updated at our Investor Day of 8% to 12% growth. We ended the third quarter with 440 scaled customers, up 15% from 2Q and up 13% year-to-year. We also saw healthy growth from our 1 million-plus superscaled customers, which increased by 6% quarter-to-quarter to 124, up 17% year-on-year. The addition of scaled customers came from industries ranging from travel and hospitality to education to several across advertising and marketing.

本季我們營收成長的強勁勢頭再次受到規模化客戶增加的推動，客戶數量的增長超出了我們在投資者日更新的模型的上限，即 8% 至 12% 的增長。截至第三季末，我們擁有 440 家規模客戶，較第二季成長 15%，年增 13%。我們也看到超100萬超大規模客戶的健康成長，較上季成長6%至124家，較去年同期成長17%。規模客戶的增加來自旅遊、酒店、教育、廣告和行銷等多個行業。

As such, we continue to see strong diversification across industries with six of our 10 largest verticals once again growing more than 25% year-to-year. And for the 13th consecutive quarter, scaled customer ARPU grew double digits, coming in at $418,000, growing at the same 10% rate we've seen throughout the year and at the midpoint of our 8% to 12% growth model. Like we've discussed in calls earlier this year, ARPU growth is influenced by the success we've seen in closing pilots this year with half of the 51 scaled customers added in the last 12 months and the less than $500,000 revenue band. This is an encouraging data point for us.

因此，我們繼續看到跨行業的強勁多元化，10 個最大垂直行業中有 6 個行業的同比增長率再次超過 25%。規模化客戶 ARPU 連續第 13 個季度實現兩位數成長，達到 418,000 美元，與我們全年看到的 10% 成長率相同，處於我們 8% 至 12% 成長模式的中點。正如我們在今年早些時候的電話會議中討論的那樣，ARPU 的成長受到我們今年結束試點所取得的成功的影響，其中51 個規模的客戶中有一半是在過去12 個月內增加的，收入範圍低於50 萬美元。這對我們來說是一個令人鼓舞的數據點。

If you refer to slide 28 in our earnings supplemental, we show a multiyear trend, demonstrating how scaled customers reliably grow spend longer than on Zeta's platform. As illustrated on the slide, scaled customers less than one year on the platform, spend an average of $400,000 compared to the one to three-year cohort spending $1.5 million and the more than three-year cohort spending over $1.8 million. Not only does this draw a trend line for the scaling potential of these less than 500 scaled customers, but it also bodes well for net revenue retention. To that end, on a year-to-date basis, total Zeta net revenue retention was within our 110% to 115% target range as we remain on track to generate half of our growth from new customers and half from existing customers.

如果您參考我們收益補充中的投影片 28，我們將展示多年趨勢，顯示規模化客戶如何可靠地成長比在 Zeta 平台上花費更長的時間。如投影片所示，在平台上使用不到一年的客戶平均花費 40 萬美元，而使用一到三年的客戶平均花費 150 萬美元，三年以上的客戶平均花費超過 180 萬美元。這不僅為規模不到 500 家的客戶的擴展潛力繪製了一條趨勢線，而且對於淨收入保留來說也是一個好兆頭。為此，今年迄今，Zeta 總淨收入保留率在我們 110% 至 115% 的目標範圍內，因為我們仍有望實現一半成長來自新客戶、一半來自現有客戶。

Now let me transition to the expansion opportunities we're seeing with agencies and how their contribution this quarter is flowing through our metrics and results. Our early experience with agencies has affirmed the effectiveness of our one-to-many strategy to accelerate market penetration. I'll outline in steps what we're learning from those engagements, how those learnings manifest themselves in our results and what it means to our P&L in the near, mid and longer term. Starting with lesson one, by filling an intelligence and omni-channel engagement gap, we believe we're providing the agency with a more comprehensive platform for them to win more business.

現在讓我談談我們在代理商中看到的擴張機會，以及他們本季的貢獻如何影響我們的指標和結果。我們早期與代理商的合作經驗證實了我們一對多策略在加速市場滲透的有效性。我將分步驟概述我們從這些活動中學到了什麼，這些知識如何在我們的結果中體現出來，以及它對我們的近期、中期和長期損益意味著什麼。從第一課開始，透過填補情報和全通路參與差距，我們相信我們正在為該機構提供一個更全面的平台，幫助他們贏得更多業務。

Lesson two, the agency's success in our platform with a single brand can quickly lead to expansion into more brands. By way of example, the 15 scaled customers we added this quarter resulted in an incremental 45 unique brands. In 3Q, most unique brands came from agencies and this should continue. Lesson three because Zeta has close partnerships with social and search engagement channels, agencies can quickly pivot already budgeted spend to data at the starting point. The agency can leverage our data cloud and intelligence to build higher ROI campaigns in fiber walled garden. This shows up its integrated platform revenue, which due to third party of media has a lower margin profile.

第二課，代理商在我們的平台上以單一品牌取得的成功可以迅速擴展到更多品牌。舉例來說，我們本季新增的 15 個規模客戶導致了 45 個獨特品牌的增量。第三季度，大多數獨特品牌來自代理商，這種情況應該會持續下去。第三課，由於 Zeta 與社交和搜尋參與管道有著密切的合作關係，各機構可以從一開始就將已經預算的支出快速轉向數據。該機構可以利用我們的數據雲和情報在纖維圍牆花園中開展更高投資回報率的活動。這顯示了其綜合平台收入，由於第三方媒體的影響，其利潤率較低。

This is where we stand today in the very early days of those engagements. So as we've ramped with agency customers, integrated platform revenue has been the first to grow, up 63% year-to-date and 44% in the third quarter. And lesson four, agencies need omni-channel engagement strategies beyond just social and search. This is typically the next phase of Zeta's engagement, and it translates to the use of Zeta's owned and operated channels such as CTV, display video, messaging and e-mail. These are proven to drive a better ROI. And this shows up as direct revenue and has a margin profile in the low to mid-70s.

這就是我們今天在這些接觸的早期階段所處的立場。因此，隨著我們與代理客戶的合作不斷增加，綜合平台收入首先實現成長，今年迄今成長了 63%，第三季成長了 44%。第四個教訓是，代理商需要超越社交和搜尋的全通路參與策略。這通常是 Zeta 參與的下一階段，即使用 Zeta 擁有和經營的管道，例如 CTV、顯示視訊、訊息傳遞和電子郵件。事實證明，這些可以帶來更好的投資報酬率。這表現為直接收入，利潤率在 70 多歲左右。

In the third quarter, our direct revenue mix was 70% with our direct revenue growing 17% year-to-year, improving from 15% last quarter. By the way, direct revenue growth is also adversely impacted by the insurance and automotive verticals this quarter. Growth otherwise would have been in the mid-20s. And lastly, agencies are great long-term customers. Their platform evolution from integrated to direct channels can take place over many quarters, resulting in both positive mix shift and increased spend. As an example, Zeta's first large agency customer in 2020 started with 7% direct mix and $3 million in revenue, growing to 76% direct mix and over $20 million in revenue over a three-year period.

第三季度，我們的直接收入組合為 70%，直接收入年增 17%，較上季的 15% 有所改善。順便說一句，本季的直接收入成長也受到保險和汽車垂直行業的不利影響。否則增長將在 20 多歲。最後，代理商是偉大的長期客戶。他們的平台從綜合管道到直接管道的演變可能會持續多個季度，從而帶來積極的組合轉變和支出增加。例如，Zeta 的第一個大型代理商客戶在 2020 年開始採用 7% 的直接組合，營收為 300 萬美元，在三年內成長到 76% 的直接組合，營收超過 2,000 萬美元。

And the pipeline of agency customers we've signed and expect to sign have the potential to do the same and more. Bringing this back to third quarter's results, our success in adding new agency business is the driver of integrated platform mix being up and for GAAP cost of revenue of 38.9%, being up 110 basis points year-to-year and 280 basis points quarter-to-quarter. I want to reiterate the margin profile of our direct revenue continues to hold firmly in the low to mid-70s. So the change in margin is principally driven by how early we are in the life cycle with new agency customers.

我們已經簽署和預計簽署的代理商客戶管道有潛力做同樣的事情甚至更多。回到第三季的業績，我們成功增加新代理業務是綜合平台組合上升的推動力，GAAP 收入成本為 38.9%，同比增長 110 個基點，季度增長 280 個基點。至季度。我想重申一下，我們直接收入的利潤率繼續穩定在 70 多歲左右。因此，利潤率的變化主要取決於我們與新代理客戶的生命週期的早期程度。

Because we have visibility into the mix and margin dynamics of our agency growth strategy, with plenty of runway to optimize operating expenses without having to compromise new product investments, growing ZETA LIVE or increasing quota carriers. To this end, total OpEx growth slowed to 11% year-to-year, excluding stock-based compensation on a dollars basis and is down 490 basis points as a percentage of revenue. We're seeing expense to revenue leverage through two primary drivers: first, (inaudible) G&A; and second, from wrapping on prior year sales and marketing infrastructure investments. On a combined basis, these two drivers accounted for 420 basis points of the overall 490 basis point reduction year-to-year in operating expense to revenue efficiency.

因為我們可以清楚地了解代理商成長策略的組合和利潤動態，並有足夠的空間來優化營運費用，而不必犧牲新產品投資、發展 ZETA LIVE 或增加配額承運人。為此，營運支出總額年增率放緩至 11%（不包括以美元計算的股票薪酬），佔收入的百分比下降了 490 個基點。我們看到收入槓桿的支出透過兩個主要驅動因素：首先，（聽不清楚）一般行政費用；其次，來自上一年銷售和行銷基礎設施投資的結束。整體而言，這兩個驅動因素佔營業費用與收入效率年減 490 個基點的 420 個基點。

As we sit here today, our quota-carrier headcount is at 132, and we anticipate ending the year in the high 130s to low 140s, roughly in line with our updated Zeta 2025 model. Our disciplined expense management and better productivity resulted in an acceleration of our adjusted EBITDA growth to 51% year-to-year or $34 million compared to 45% growth last quarter. In fact, adjusted EBITDA margin of 17.9% increased 310 basis points year-to-year. This is the 11th straight quarter in which we've expanded adjusted EBITDA margins year-over-year.

當我們今天坐在這裡時，我們的配額承運人人數為 132 人，我們預計今年結束時人數將在 130 人左右到 140 人左右，大致與我們更新的 Zeta 2025 模型一致。我們嚴格的費用管理和更高的生產力使我們的調整後 EBITDA 同比增長加速至 51%，即 3,400 萬美元，而上一季的增長為 45%。事實上，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 17.9%，較去年同期成長 310 個基點。這是我們連續第 11 季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率較去年同期擴大。

On a GAAP basis, third quarter net loss was $43 million, which includes $58 million of stock-based compensation. Excluding the accelerating expenses related to our IPO, stock-based compensation would have been $25 million. We continue to drive strong cash generation. Cash flow from operating activities was $23 million, up 17% year-to-year with free cash flow of $13 million, up 43% year-to-year. Now let me transition from the results to our outlook. The big picture first. We're fully flowing through our third quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA beat and raising the fourth quarter, as seen on slide 13 in our earnings supplemental presentation.

以 GAAP 計算，第三季淨虧損為 4,300 萬美元，其中包括 5,800 萬美元的股票薪酬。不包括與我們的 IPO 相關的加速費用，基於股票的薪酬將為 2500 萬美元。我們持續推動強勁的現金生成。經營活動現金流為 2,300 萬美元，年增 17%，自由現金流為 1,300 萬美元，年增 43%。現在讓我從結果轉向我們的展望。首先是大局。正如我們收益補充簡報中投影片 13 所示，我們第三季的營收和調整後的 EBITDA 都超過並提高了第四季的營收。

Speaking first to revenue, we're increasing the midpoint of full year revenue guidance by $10 million to $725 million, representing 23% growth. And we're taking fourth quarter guidance up $500,000 at the midpoint to $207 million or 18% year-to-year growth. As a reminder, our fourth quarter revenue growth rate includes a 3-point headwind from last year's political revenue and faces continued pressure from automotive and insurance verticals. As we look around the quarter to 2024, we expect these industries to become tailwinds with the insurance and automotive headwinds likely persisting into the first quarter and then turning positive in 2Q with political being most prevalent in the second half of '24.

首先談到收入，我們將全年收入指導中位數提高 1,000 萬美元，達到 7.25 億美元，成長 23%。我們將第四季指導值中點上調 50 萬美元，達到 2.07 億美元，即年增 18%。提醒一下，我們第四季的營收成長率比去年的政治收入低了 3 個百分點，並且面臨來自汽車和保險垂直產業的持續壓力。當我們展望2024 年的季度時，我們預計這些行業將成為順風，保險和汽車行業的逆風可能會持續到第一季度，然後在第二季度轉為積極因素，其中政治因素在24 年下半年最為普遍。

Also relevant to revenue, we expect 4Q direct mix to look a lot like the third quarter with a similar cost of revenue profile as well. In terms of adjusted EBITDA, we're increasing the midpoint of full year guidance by $2.1 million to $126.6 million, an increase of 37% year-to-year or 17.5% margin, up 190 basis points year-to-year. The fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA midpoint of guidance is $42 million, an increase of 29% year-to-year or 20.3% margin, up 180 basis points year-to-year. Before turning to Q&A, let me quickly close with a couple of final thoughts.

同樣與收入相關的是，我們預計第四季度的直接組合看起來很像第三季度，收入成本狀況也類似。就調整後 EBITDA 而言，我們將全年指引中點提高 210 萬美元，達到 1.266 億美元，年增 37%，利潤率 17.5%，年增 190 個基點。第四季調整後 EBITDA 指導中點為 4,200 萬美元，年增 29%，利潤率 20.3%，年增 180 個基點。在開始問答之前，讓我快速結束一些最後的想法。

We're growing revenue rapidly even in the face of industry-specific headwinds with over 90% of the portfolio growing in the mid-30s plus year-to-year. We're growing customers rapidly. The 15 scaled customers added this quarter resulted in 3x as many unique brands added, evidence of the very early days of scaling of our new agency customers. And we're rapidly expanding adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. We're striking the balance of expanding adjusted EBITDA margins while managing for agency customer mix and gross margin dynamics with disciplined expense management and investment prioritization.

即使面對特定產業的逆風，我們的收入仍在快速成長，超過 90% 的投資組合在 30 多歲左右逐年成長。我們的客戶正在迅速成長。本季新增的 15 個規模客戶數量是新增的獨特品牌數量的 3 倍，證明了我們新代理客戶規模的早期擴張。我們正在迅速擴大調整後的 EBITDA 和自由現金流。我們正在擴大調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率，同時透過嚴格的費用管理和投資優先順序來管理代理客戶組合和毛利率動態，從而取得平衡。

Now let me hand the call back to the operator for David and me to take your questions. Operator?

現在讓我把電話轉給接線員，讓我和大衛回答你的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) First question comes from Jason Kreyer with Craig-Hallum.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自 Jason Kreyer 和 Craig-Hallum。

Perfect. Chris, I just wanted to clarify a little bit more detail on gross margin. You indicated ZMP mix for Q4 would be pretty similar to Q3. Look, I know it's too early to give a guide for 2024. But I'm just curious what that progression looks like? Do you think next year looks more like the second half of the year? Do you think it looks more like the first half of the year or do we just start to kind of see a progression in between those two figures?

完美的。克里斯，我只是想澄清一下更多關於毛利率的細節。您表示第四季的 ZMP 組合將與第三季非常相似。我知道現在給 2024 年的指導還為時過早。但我只是好奇這個進展是什麼樣的？您認為明年看起來更像下半年嗎？您認為這看起來更像是今年上半年的情況，還是我們剛開始看到這兩個數字之間的進展？

Jason, thanks for the question. I appreciate it. I don't want to get too far into 2024 yet. But I think you can draw a trend line for -- we're in the early days with a lot of these agencies. I do believe that as we work across 2024 that mix will then begin to become -- there'll still be an integrated component, but it will be more and more direct mix over time. So I think you said it well that the first half of 2024, could look more similar to the second half of 2023 and then improving in the second half of 2024 as that direct mix and those agency relationships get bigger and a positive mix shift happens.

傑森，謝謝你的提問。我很感激。我還不想離 2024 年太遠。但我認為你可以畫一條趨勢線——我們與許多這樣的機構都處於早期階段。我確實相信，隨著我們在 2024 年開展工作，這種混合將開始變得——仍然會有一個整合組件，但隨著時間的推移，它將變得越來越直接。所以我認為你說得很好，2024 年上半年可能看起來與2023 年下半年更加相似，然後隨著直接組合和這些代理關係的擴大以及積極的組合轉變的發生，2024 年下半年會有所改善。

Appreciate the detail. And then David, we've talked for a few quarters on bigger deal sizes. Obviously, we're seeing that happen in the ARPU growth figures. Can you just dissect that in terms of what you're seeing from customers today, just new channels that are being added, new use cases or any changes that you're noticing that are driving that bigger ARPU growth and bigger deal size?

欣賞細節。然後大衛，我們已經就更大的交易規模討論了幾個季度。顯然，我們在 ARPU 成長數據中看到了這種情況。您能否根據今天從客戶那裡看到的情況來剖析一下，即正在添加的新管道、新用例或您注意到的推動 ARPU 成長和交易規模更大的任何變化？

Yeah. First of all, thank you very much. I appreciate the question. I think what we're seeing first and foremost is, as we've switched from Zeta who to why Zeta, we're seeing much bigger RFPs, much larger organizations that in the past might not have chosen us. They might have put us in the RFP. We might have gotten a good look at it. But we wouldn't have won because we didn't have the reputation and we didn't have the brand.

是的。首先，非常感謝。我很欣賞這個問題。我認為我們首先看到的是，當我們從 Zeta who 轉向 Why Zeta 時，我們看到了更大的 RFP、更大的組織，而這些在過去可能不會選擇我們。他們可能已將我們納入 RFP 中。我們可能已經仔細觀察過了。但我們不會贏，因為我們沒有聲譽，也沒有品牌。

We're now winning those. So it's not just channel expansion and use case expansion. It's just substantially larger organizations with substantially larger budgets choosing us. Now what we're seeing a lot of is connected messaging. We're seeing messaging connected to CTV, and we're seeing messaging connected to social, both of which are very, very powerful when you look at the return on investment through our use case capabilities.

我們現在正在贏得這些。所以這不僅僅是渠道擴展和用例擴展。只是規模更大、預算更大的組織選擇了我們。現在我們看到的很多都是互聯訊息傳遞。我們看到訊息傳遞與 CTV 相關，我們看到訊息傳遞與社交相關，當您透過我們的用例功能查看投資回報時，這兩者都非常非常強大。

Next question comes from Ryan MacWilliams with Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Ryan MacWilliams。

This is [Amin] on for Ryan. From a macro perspective, would you say that the environment was consistent from 2Q to 3Q? And what are you baking into guidance in terms of holiday season spend at this point?

這是瑞安的[阿明]。從宏觀角度來看，您認為第二季到第三季的環境是一致的嗎？您目前在假期季節支出有何指導？

Well, first, yes, I mean, we saw some headwinds in automotive and insurance in the first three quarters of the year or the first two quarters here prior to this quarter. So that was pretty consistent. The good news was all of our other verticals really hung in there. And we saw most of them growing in the mid-20s and some growing in the 30s. So we continue to see a tale of two nations. The good news is there's far more good than bad, which is why we continue to over deliver. But there's still some choppiness in the marketplace, and we continue to grapple with that.

嗯，首先，是的，我的意思是，我們在今年前三個季度或本季之前的前兩個季度看到了汽車和保險領域的一些不利因素。所以這是非常一致的。好消息是我們所有其他垂直領域確實存在。我們看到他們中的大多數在 20 多歲左右生長，有些在 30 多歲左右生長。所以我們繼續看到兩個國家的故事。好消息是好處遠多於壞處，這就是我們繼續超額交付的原因。但市場仍存在一些波動，我們將繼續努力解決這個問題。

I think yeah, there's -- it's a good [illustration]. It also goes to Jason's question around your deals. We included a new slide in the earnings supplemental, you'll find in slide 20, where a lot of the feedback we received coming out of the Investor Day was continuing to clarify the competitive universe. And what we've done is we've broken down how that marketer buys into categories around data management or CDPs, marketing automation or the marketing clouds, if you will, and then paid media.

我想是的，這是一個很好的[插圖]。這也涉及傑森關於您的交易的問題。我們在收益補充中新增了一張新投影片，您可以在投影片 20 中找到，其中我們從投資者日收到的許多回饋都在繼續澄清競爭領域。我們所做的是將行銷人員的購買方式細分為資料管理或 CDP、行銷自動化或行銷雲（如果您願意的話）以及付費媒體等類別。

What's interesting about the 8-figure deal that David mentioned, the discount retailer in his prepared remarks, here you had Zeta's Marketing Platform that was able to address what seven vendors were doing in one. We replaced Salesforce for the Marketing Cloud. We replaced (inaudible) for the data management CDP, and we replaced five other activation vendors on the engagement channel side. So a good illustrative why deals are getting bigger because we can consolidate all that. But there is still a need and a push with the replacement cycle and Zeta is filling that through lowering total cost of ownership and creating a better ROI. So it just kind of brings those two questions together.

David 在他準備好的演講中提到的 8 位數交易的有趣之處在於，折扣零售商在這裡擁有 Zeta 的營銷平台，它能夠解決七個供應商在一個平台上所做的事情。我們將 Salesforce 替換為 Marketing Cloud。我們更換了（聽不清楚）資料管理 CDP，並更換了參與管道方面的其他五個啟動供應商。這很好地說明了為什麼交易規模越來越大，因為我們可以整合所有這些。但更換週期仍然存在需求和推動力，Zeta 正在透過降低總擁有成本和創造更好的投資報酬率來滿足這一需求。所以它只是將這兩個問題結合在一起。

Yeah. And quite frankly, as you're seeing choppiness in the marketplace, we're seeing deals close faster. And I think that was one of the reasons you saw our scaled customer count and our superscaled customer count grow faster than expected. Clients are willing to take more risk in this environment, especially now that we're more of a known entity. They know who we are. They see us winning in the marketplace. They see the amount of savings we're able to drive to them through the elimination of point solutions and the ability to get to that very high level of intent quickly, and we're seeing enterprises move faster to go through that pipeline.

是的。坦白說，當你看到市場波動時，我們看到交易完成得更快。我認為這就是您看到我們規模化客戶數量和超大規模客戶數量成長速度快於預期的原因之一。客戶願意在這種環境下承擔更多風險，尤其是現在我們已經是一個知名實體了。他們知道我們是誰。他們看到我們在市場上獲勝。他們看到了我們透過消除單點解決方案能夠為他們帶來的節省量以及快速達到非常高水平的意圖的能力，並且我們看到企業更快地通過該管道。

Got it. Perfect. And how do you -- how do you guys think of enterprise customers in their budgets for 2024? And would you say there's any difference between the buying patterns in normal customers and scaled customers?

知道了。完美的。你們如何看待企業客戶 2024 年的預算？您認為一般客戶和規模客戶的購買模式有什麼不同嗎？

Yeah. Interestingly enough, there's always been this narrative that marketing is one of the first things you can cut in a down environment. We are not seeing that. Now we're seeing some headwinds in certain industries, and we're trying to be very transparent about that. Some of that had to do with strikes, which fortunately have now settled. And some of that had to do with under-reserving for coming out of COVID as it related to how people were going to drive and get into accidents.

是的。有趣的是，一直有這樣一種說法，即行銷是在低迷環境中首先可以削減的事情之一。我們沒有看到這一點。現在，我們在某些​​行業看到了一些不利因素，我們正在努力對此保持透明。其中一些與罷工有關，幸運的是現在已經解決了。其中一些與新冠疫情後的準備金不足有關，因為這關係到人們如何駕駛和發生事故。

We do believe those headwinds become tailwinds going into some point next year. And quite frankly, we're not seeing enterprises cut marketing. We're seeing enterprises invest the same, if not more, but at the same time, we're taking substantial market share in a growing market, which is once again, not to say that we're not without challenges as we've been very open with. But on the most part, we're seeing enterprises investing in their marketing and growing it.

我們確實相信，這些逆風在明年的某個時候會變成順風。坦白說，我們沒有看到企業削減行銷活動。我們看到企業的投資相同，甚至更多，但同時，我們在不斷增長的市場中佔據了可觀的市場份額，這並不是說我們沒有遇到挑戰，因為我們已經一直很開放。但在大多數情況下，我們看到企業投資於行銷並不斷發展。

Yeah. The only clarification, Amin, in your question, maybe you didn't mean it, but if I'm interpreting correctly, the scaled customers, all 440 of them, these are very large enterprises and obviously, large agencies as we've been discussing. So the difference between -- if you're at a $100,000 to $1 million and $1 million plus is really the time you've spent on Zeta's platform, your tenure with us. And there's a slide in the earnings supplemental that shows those less than 12-month enterprise scaled customers that have been with us, again, less than a year, spend an average of $400,000. The one to three-year cohort then accelerates to an average of [1.5] and the greater than three-year cohort grows or spends more than [1.8]. So it's not really a kind of a normal and a superscaled customer. They're all large enterprises, just time when the platform drives net revenue retention growth.

是的。唯一需要澄清的是，阿明，在你的問題中，也許你不是這個意思，但如果我的解釋正確的話，規模化的客戶，全部440 個，這些都是非常大的企業，顯然是我們一直以來的大型機構討論。因此，如果您的資產在 10 萬美元到 100 萬美元之間，與 100 萬美元以上之間的區別實際上是您在 Zeta 平台上花費的時間，以及您在我們的任期。收益補充中的一張投影片顯示，那些與我們合作不到 12 個月的企業規模客戶，同樣也不到一年，平均支出為 40 萬美元。然後，一到三年的隊列加速到平均 [1.5]，三年以上的隊列成長或支出超過 [1.8]。所以它並不是一種真正的普通和超大規模的客戶。他們都是大型企業，正是平台推動淨收入留存成長的時候。

Next question, Arjun Bhatia with William Blair.

下一個問題是阿瓊·巴蒂亞和威廉·布萊爾。

Perfect. And congrats on the execution and organic acceleration here. Chris, it seems like -- or maybe for David, this one, but it seems like the agencies still continue to be a strong growth driver. As you're thinking about just how the business evolves and how you dedicate your own go-to-market resources over the next year or two, how do you think about balancing how much you're focusing on the agencies versus which customers you want to have a direct relationship with? Like are there pros and cons? And how do you allocate sales and marketing, your own sales and marketing resources to reflect that?

完美的。祝賀這裡的執行力和有機加速。克里斯，或者對大衛來說，這似乎是一個，但這些機構似乎仍然是強勁的成長動力。當您考慮業務如何發展以及在未來一兩年內如何投入自己的上市資源時，您如何考慮平衡對代理商的關注程度與您想要的客戶的關注程度與有直接關係？例如有優點和缺點嗎？您如何分配銷售和行銷以及您自己的銷售和行銷資源來反映這一點？

As usual, Arjun, great, great question. It is a bifurcation. It is a different team of salespeople who sell into agencies and then go into work with the enterprises as a subset of the agency than it is the salespeople who go directly to an enterprise. And I think the truth of the matter is we're trying to staff up in both. We have far more enterprise salespeople than we have agency salespeople by the vast majority because that's what we've been doing for many years. But like a lot of sort of baseball franchises, we're trying to bring in the world's best free agents in the agency space who can really bat cleanup.

像往常一樣，阿瓊，好問題。這是一個分叉。與直接向企業銷售的銷售人員相比，向代理商銷售產品然後作為代理商的子集與企業合作的銷售人員團隊是不同的。我認為事情的真相是我們正在努力在這兩方面都配備人員。我們的企業銷售人員遠多於絕大多數代理銷售人員，因為這就是我們多年來一直在做的事情。但就像許多棒球特許經營權一樣，我們正在努力在代理領域引進世界上最好的自由球員，他們可以真正擊球清理。

And the people we're bringing in -- and you guys have heard me talking about this, I've been laying groundwork in the agency ecosystem for four or five years now. And the sales cycles there took a long time to crack the code. They're cracked, and we're now seeing that scale. But I want to be very, very clear. When we partner with an agency, we are partnering with that agency and the enterprise client directly. The agency is not hiring us and saying go across our customer base. They are bringing us in to the enterprise as the partner to the agency to either fill holes for product categories they do not have or help them scale certain components faster.

我們引進的人——你們已經聽我談論過這件事了，我已經在代理生態系統中奠定了四、五年的基礎。那裡的銷售週期需要很長時間才能破解密碼。它們已經破裂了，我們現在看到了這樣的規模。但我想說得非常非常清楚。當我們與代理商合作時，我們是直接與該代理商和企業客戶合作。該機構沒有僱用我們並要求我們調查我們的客戶群。他們將我們作為代理商的合作夥伴引入企業，以填補他們沒有的產品類別的漏洞，或幫助他們更快地擴展某些組件。

But in 100% of the cases, we're directly working with the enterprise in partnership with the agency. So when you look at it, one sales rep can close multiple brands simultaneously by working with an agency, whereas on an enterprise basis, it's 1:1. I would say that we want to continue to focus on both. We're going to continue to staff up in both. And the good news about being ahead, which is where we are, is we're in a position to hire the world's best sales people on both sides of the house.

但在 100% 的情況下，我們是與該機構合作直接與企業合作。因此，當你看到它時，一個銷售代表可以透過與代理商合作同時關閉多個品牌，而在企業基礎上，這是 1:1。我想說的是，我們希望繼續關注這兩方面。我們將繼續在這兩個方面增加人員配置。我們處於領先地位的好消息是，我們能夠在公司兩側聘請世界上最好的銷售人員。

Yeah, I think bringing -- it's a great point, David, bringing the math to it. I think there's an interesting sales productivity statistic on how we're investing in our go-to-market Arjun. It continued to be led by quality over quantity. And when we add, it's very data-driven. For example, last quarter, we talked about, on a trailing 12-month basis we had added 52 scaled customers while adding 15 quota carriers over that same period of time so roughly 3.5 quota carriers per scaled customer added.

是的，我認為大衛，這是一個很好的觀點，將數學引入其中。我認為有一個有趣的銷售生產力統計數據顯示了我們如何投資我們的 Arjun 上市產品。它繼續以質量而非數量為主導。當我們添加時，它是非常數據驅動的。例如，上個季度，我們談到，在過去12 個月的基礎上，我們增加了52 個規模化客戶，同時在同一時間段內增加了15 個配額承運商，因此每個規模化客戶大約增加了3.5 個配額承運商。

This quarter we saw that improve pretty meaningfully quarter-to-quarter, where we've added 51 scale customers over the last 12 months, while adding 11 quota carriers, so going from a 3.5x to 5x leverage. And those 15 scaled customers this quarter alone equated to 45 unique brands, each of which fit the scaled customer definition of spending at least $100,000 on a trailing 12-month basis. So productivity continues to be in our favor. We get really good leverage, as David mentioned, from the agency relationship in addition to what we're seeing on the enterprise side.

本季我們看到這一情況環比顯著改善，在過去 12 個月內我們增加了 51 家規模客戶，同時增加了 11 家配額承運商，因此槓桿率從 3.5 倍增至 5 倍。光是本季這 15 個規模化客戶就相當於 45 個獨特品牌，每個品牌都符合規模化客戶的定義，即過去 12 個月的支出至少為 10 萬美元。因此，生產力仍然對我們有利。正如大衛所提到的，除了我們在企業方面看到的之外，我們還從代理關係中獲得了非常好的影響力。

Perfect. That's very helpful color. And then, Chris, for you, I think you had mentioned that the headwinds in auto and insurance have kind of continued this quarter and maybe sometime in 2024, those flip and become a benefit. Can you just give a sense for how the magnitude of the headwinds are trending quarter-to-quarter from Q2 to Q3? And what visibility you have into any improvement with those verticals? I mean, what might those customers be saying qualitatively, that gives you some conviction that they might improve from a spending perspective next year?

完美的。這是非常有用的顏色。然後，克里斯，我想你已經提到，汽車和保險領域的逆風在本季度持續存在，也許在 2024 年的某個時候，這些逆風會逆轉並成為一種好處。您能否介紹一下從第二季到第三季每季的逆風趨勢有多大？您對這些垂直領域的改進有何了解？我的意思是，這些客戶可能會在定性上說些什麼，這讓你相信他們明年的支出可能會有所改善？

Sure. Mathematically, the third quarter was a little bit worse in terms of an aggregate headwind than the second. Fourth quarter will be better than the third, but it will still be with us as a headwind, and it will still be with us, although less so in the first quarter of next year, and we expect that headwind to then turn into a tailwind going into second quarter and beyond of 2024. Quantitatively, or I should say, from what we're hearing from our public company customers, we all are also seeing them from financial metrics they're posting, what they're saying in their earnings calls that they are also seeing the environment improve. So I don't think we're at the -- I think we're on our way kind of upward again versus still on that downward trend.

當然。從數學上講，第三季的整體阻力比第二季要差一些。第四季將好於第三季度，但它仍然會是我們的逆風，而且仍然會伴隨著我們，儘管明年第一季度的情況會有所好轉，我們預計逆風將變成順風進入第二季度及2024 年以後。從數量上來說，或者我應該說，從我們從上市公司客戶那裡聽到的情況來看，我們也從他們發布的財務指標以及他們在收益中所說的內容中看到了他們的情況呼籲他們也看到環境得到改善。所以我不認為我們正處於——我認為我們正再次走上上升之路，而不是仍然處於下降趨勢。

It's also conversations we're having. Remember, we have a tremendous number of success-oriented people in our organization that are helping our enterprise clients to figure out how to better manage their marketing. And we're embedded with most of these clients. They're very large customers on a historic basis. And we're getting buying signs that are very clear, asking for plans, talking about the future for the first time in quite some time. So I think it's quantitative and it's qualitative that we do believe this will go from being a headwind to a tailwind here sometime in the near future.

這也是我們正在進行的對話。請記住，我們的組織中有大量以成功為導向的人員，他們正在幫助我們的企業客戶弄清楚如何更好地管理他們的行銷。我們與大多數此類客戶都有聯繫。從歷史上看，他們是非常大的客戶。我們收到了非常明確的購買跡象，詢問計劃，相當長一段時間以來第一次談論未來。因此，我認為無論是定量還是定性，我們確實相信在不久的將來，這將從逆風轉變為順風。

Next question comes from Elizabeth Porter with Morgan Stanley.

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 Porter. David, maybe one for you. I know you all have talked about getting kind of more [bats] can lead to accelerating growth. So just curious, when you think about the new (inaudible) that you're getting today, what go-to-market channels are those mostly coming in through? And where do you think more of those -- that bats can come from over the next year?

我是伊麗莎白·波特的克里斯·金特羅。大衛，也許有一個適合你。我知道你們都說過要獲得更多的[蝙蝠]可以加速生長。所以只是好奇，當您考慮今天獲得的新產品（聽不清楚）時，這些產品主要透過哪些進入市場管道？您認為明年蝙蝠可能來自哪裡？

Yeah. Great question. Thank you. I think that, first of all, people are undervaluing our relationship with Snowflake. It's really been an important component of our RFP strategy, both when they're bringing clients to us from a partnership perspective and when we are bringing clients to them, where we're able to do more as a collective. And we continue to see a large number of [at bats]. In my prepared statement, I did say that RFP volumes hit an all-time record in Q3, which was up from a record in Q2.

是的。很好的問題。謝謝。我認為，首先，人們低估了我們與雪花的關係。這確實是我們 RFP 策略的重要組成部分，無論是當他們從合作夥伴的角度為我們帶來客戶時，還是當我們為他們帶來客戶時，我們都能夠作為一個集體做更多的事情。我們繼續看到大量的[擊球]。在我準備好的聲明中，我確實說過第三季的 RFP 數量創下了歷史記錄，高於第二季的記錄。

So we continue to see a lot of at bats . We're also really focused for the first time on building channel partnerships in addition to agency relationships, where we could potentially be partnering with professional services firms and working with them for more at bats . But on an absolute gross basis, I have never seen our pipeline go up more than I did after ZETA LIVE. We just had an incredible group of potential clients come.

所以我們繼續看到很多擊球手。除了代理關係之外，我們第一次真正專注於建立通路合作夥伴關係，我們有可能與專業服務公司合作，並與他們進行更多合作。但從絕對總量來看，我從未見過我們的管道比 ZETA LIVE 之後增加得更多。我們剛剛迎來了一群令人難以置信的潛在客戶。

We had an incredible group of existing clients come and came out saying, wow, what -- how do we do this together or how do we do that together? And we were really as it relates to at bats , I think we're starting to see a really exciting number of them. And quite frankly, I think that we're continuing to win a disproportionate percentage of the RFPs and engagements that we get invited to do, which is why we had such a large growth in scaled customers and super scaled customers in the third quarter.

我們有一群令人難以置信的現有客戶，他們出來後說，哇，什麼——我們如何一起做這件事，或者我們如何一起做那件事？我們確實與擊球有關，我認為我們開始看到數量非常令人興奮的擊球數。坦白說，我認為我們將繼續贏得不成比例的 RFP 和受邀參與的業務，這就是為什麼我們在第三季度的規模客戶和超規模客戶出現如此大的成長。

Awesome. Very helpful. And then I also wanted to ask on the mobile opportunity. I know you all have talked about it being a key channel and one where you're looking to improve your capabilities there. I guess how big of an opportunity could this be for you? And what do you need to exactly improve upon? And could M&A be a part of that solution there?

驚人的。很有幫助。然後我還想問一下移動機會。我知道你們都談到這是一個關鍵管道，也是你們希望提升自己能力的管道。我想這對你來說有多大的機會？您到底需要改進什麼？併購可以成為該解決方案的一部分嗎？

Yeah. We always look at buyer [build]. But the truth of the matter is that today, we have a series of partnerships, and we have a series of products in mobile. We believe with the elimination of Apple's IDFA, which I will remind everybody again, we never used in the first place. There is now a unique opportunity in the mobile environment for the first time to really consolidate and grow our business.

是的。我們總是關注買家[build]。但事實是，今天我們擁有一系列合作夥伴，我們在行動領域擁有一系列產品。我們相信，隨著蘋果 IDFA 的取消（我將再次提醒大家），我們從一開始就從未使用過。現在，行動環境首次提供了一個真正鞏固和發展我們業務的獨特機會。

And we are starting to see meaningful RFPs as it relates to connected campaigns that include not just vesting and not just CTV and not just social and other, but mobile. And we continue to have the right products at the right time. We are continuing to build out our own products, and we continue to partner where we think they're our best-of-breed partners that we can work with. Quite frankly, we have bought some of those guys in the past and we might in the future.

我們開始看到有意義的 RFP，因為它與互聯活動相關，其中不僅包括歸屬，不僅包括 CTV，不僅包括社交和其他，還包括行動。我們繼續在正確的時間提供正確的產品。我們將繼續開發自己的產品，並繼續與我們認為可以合作的最佳合作夥伴合作。坦白說，我們過去已經購買了其中一些人，將來也可能購買。

But as I always say, I believe that transformative deals transform both companies for the worse. So we will continue on with our discussed M&A strategy that we talked about at length at our Investor Day, where we'll continue to do smaller tuck-in deals where we think we can pick up great people, great technology, great data and can syndicate those products or, I should say, integrate those products into the ZMP and then allow all of our clients to use them.

但正如我常說的，我相信變革性交易會讓兩家公司變得更糟。因此，我們將繼續我們在投資者日上詳細討論過的併購策略，我們將繼續進行規模較小的交易，我們認為我們可以招募優秀的人才、優秀的技術、優秀的數據，並且可以聯合這些產品，或者我應該說，將這些產品整合到ZMP 中，然後允許我們所有的客戶使用它們。

Next question, DJ Hynes with Canaccord Genuity.

下一個問題是 Canaccord Genuity 的 DJ Hynes。

Congrats on nice quarter. Chris, one for you on the direct revenue mix as it pertains to the agency customers. As those customer relationships mature, would you expect that mix of direct and indirect revenue to start to look like your direct enterprise relationships over time or will it always be kind of structurally a little bit higher indirect revenue?

恭喜您度過了美好的季度。克里斯，為您介紹與代理商客戶相關的直接收入組合。隨著這些客戶關係的成熟，您是否期望直接和間接收入的組合隨著時間的推移開始看起來像您的直接企業關係，或者它總是在結構上更高一點的間接收入？

No. I mean, look, I think you got to learn from experience. And in our case, we have a number of examples. The most material of which, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, the first large global agency we began working with in 2020, spent $3 million with us, and only 7% of that was direct revenue. If you fast forward to ending 2022, it was an over $20 million a year customer and 76% of that spend was using our direct channels.

不，我的意思是，聽著，我認為你必須從經驗中學習。在我們的案例中，我們有很多例子。其中最重要的是，正如我在準備好的演講中所提到的，我們在 2020 年開始合作的第一個大型全球機構與我們花費了 300 萬美元，其中只有 7% 是直接收入。如果快轉到 2022 年底，您會發現該客戶每年超過 2000 萬美元，其中 76% 的支出是透過我們的直接管道進行的。

And as you'd expect, the margin profile of that business evolved half of our direct revenue mix, and it's been holding steady, the gross margin profile there is between the low 70s and mid-70s, and this quarter was closer to the mid-70s. So yeah, we do expect that as those relationships get more tenured, not only do they get bigger, but the mix starts to balance out and look a lot like our first example with that large global HoldCo in 2020.

正如您所料，該業務的利潤率占我們直接收入組合的一半，並且一直保持穩定，毛利率在 70 年代低至 70 年代中期之間，本季度接近中間水平-70年代。所以，是的，我們確實預計，隨著這些關係的期限越來越長，它們不僅會變得更大，而且這種組合會開始平衡，看起來很像我們在2020 年與大型全球控股公司合作的第一個例子。

Yes. Okay, got it. Makes sense. And then, David, maybe a high-level question for you. So I'm sure you're early kind of in the planning cycle for '24. But as you think about the sequencing of investment dollars, like what are your highest priority initiatives at this point as you look out to next year?

是的。好，知道了。說得通。然後，大衛，也許有一個高層次的問題要問你。所以我確信您處於 24 世紀規劃週期的早期階段。但當你考慮投資資金的順序時，例如展望明年，你目前最優先的舉措是什麼？

Well, as Chris said, it's a little early to get into 2024. But I mean, I think you will see us continue to invest heavily in Generative AI, where our goal is to automate everything. We'll continue to invest heavily into salespeople and high-quality engineers, right, that can help us to do those things, which, quite frankly, were also things we talked about on our Investor Day. I do think mobile is going to be a bigger and bigger part of what we do.

好吧，正如 Chris 所說，現在進入 2024 年還為時過早。但我的意思是，我認為你會看到我們繼續大力投資生成式 AI，我們的目標是實現一切自動化。我們將繼續對銷售人員和高素質工程師進行大量投資，對吧，這可以幫助我們做這些事情，坦白說，這也是我們在投資者日討論的事情。我確實認為移動將成為我們工作中越來越重要的一部分。

And I think we're going to start more heavily investing in the partner channel, where we are working with larger professional services firms that have direct relationships with enterprises where we can partner with them to bring our products through them into the enterprise and roll out a suite of analytics products as partners, roll out different deliverables that the professional services firms can build on top of the ZMP. We've already begun meaningful conversations in that ecosystem, and we'll be investing in that as we continue to grow the business.

我認為我們將開始增加對合作夥伴管道的投資，我們正在與與企業有直接關係的大型專業服務公司合作，我們可以與他們合作，透過他們將我們的產品引入企業並推出作為合作夥伴的一套分析產品，推出專業服務公司可以在ZMP 基礎上建構的不同交付成果。我們已經在該生態系統中開始了有意義的對話，隨著我們繼續發展業務，我們將對此進行投資。

Next question is Ryan MacDonald with Needham & Company.

下一個問題是來自 Needham & Company 的 Ryan MacDonald。

Congrats on a great quarter. Maybe piggybacking off of the agency question from before from DJ, I'm curious, as you continue to add brands and deepen those relationships, do you expect that when you start with a new brand that it will continue to be at that heavy mix of indirect or will the agencies as you grow with them, have better experience saying as we add on an incremental brand that, that each incremental brand will start with a greater mix of direct versus indirect. Hopefully, that was clear.

恭喜您度過了一個出色的季度。也許借用之前 DJ 提出的代理問題，我很好奇，當你繼續增加品牌並加深這些關係時，你是否期望當你開始一個新品牌時，它會繼續處於這種沉重的混合狀態間接或隨著你與代理商一起成長，他們會有更好的經驗說，當我們添加增量品牌時，每個增量品牌將從直接與間接的更大組合開始。希望這很清楚。

No, it was clear, and it's a great question. And the answer is absolutely the latter. As the agency gets more comfortable with the platform, they start with new brands already on platform. And we are seeing a lot of that, where when they jump from social, which is integrated to CTV or online video or integrated messaging, all of that is on platform. So what happens is usually, it's a nose under the tent, and it's not usually with one brand. It's usually with two or three where you're starting un-integrated. And as we get to know them and they start using the platform, they see the power of being on our platform.

不，這很清楚，這是一個很好的問題。而答案絕對是後者。隨著該機構對平台越來越熟悉，他們會從平台上已有的新品牌開始。我們看到很多這樣的情況，當他們從社交媒體跳出來時，社交媒體已整合到 CTV、線上影片或整合訊息中，所有這些都在平台上。所以發生的情況通常是，它是帳篷下的鼻子，而且通常不是一個品牌的。通常從兩到三個開始，你就開始不整合了。當我們逐漸了解他們並且他們開始使用該平台時，他們看到了在我們平台上的力量。

So one of the most interesting things about this is why did that other agency go from 7% on platform to 76% on platform? It wasn't just because they like us. It's because the power of being on platform is very evident and very clear when you begin to use it. The return on investment, the attribution capabilities, the ability to access data [assets] are substantially higher. Therefore, once they start using it, they want to use it for all their clients, which is why you see that accelerate as a percentage of revenue as they grow to new brands.

因此，最有趣的事情之一是為什麼其他機構的平台佔有率從 7% 上升到 76%？這不僅僅是因為他們喜歡我們。這是因為當你開始使用平台時，平台的力量是非常明顯和清晰的。投資回報、歸因能力、存取數據[資產]的能力都顯著提高。因此，一旦他們開始使用它，他們就會希望將它用於所有客戶，這就是為什麼隨著他們發展到新品牌，您會看到收入百分比加速成長。

Super helpful. And then, David, in terms of the priorities for next year, you talked about having meaningful conversations and really investing in the partner channel. As we've been at industry conferences, it's clearly an area where the SIs are putting a lot of focus in terms of making an investment. How competitive are the conversations, if you will, amongst the best-of-breed vendors like a Zeta and others to try to be the established partner or CDP for some of these large SIs right now? Do you think it's a, I guess, a winner or takes all in terms of the partnership side or do you get the sense it's going to be sort of multi-sourced opportunities?

超有幫助。然後，大衛，就明年的優先事項而言，您談到了進行有意義的對話並真正投資於合作夥伴管道。正如我們在行業會議上所看到的那樣，這顯然是系統整合商在投資方面非常關注的領域。如果你願意的話，像 Zeta 和其他同類最佳供應商一樣，目前試圖成為其中一些大型 SI 的既定合作夥伴或 CDP 的對話的競爭力如何？我想，從伴侶的角度來看，您認為這是一個贏家還是通吃，或者您是否感覺到這將是一種多來源的機會？

Unfortunately, I think it's going to be multi-sourced opportunities. I don't think you're going to see the large service providers consolidating behind one, which, by the way, is really good for us because they're already working with two or three of our competitors. So it allows us to get in there and get our nose under the tent. What I do believe is I believe that our products are best to breed. I believe we have the best CDP. I believe we have the best data cloud. I believe we have the best messaging system, and I believe we have the best activation system in the world.

不幸的是，我認為這將是多源機會。我認為你不會看到大型服務提供者整合到一個服務提供者背後，順便說一句，這對我們來說確實有好處，因為他們已經與我們的兩三個競爭對手合作。所以它允許我們進入那裡並把我們的鼻子放在帳篷下面。我確實相信我們的產品是最好的繁殖產品。我相信我們有最好的 CDP。我相信我們擁有最好的數據雲。我相信我們擁有世界上最好的訊息系統，我相信我們擁有世界上最好的啟動系統。

So all things being equal, I believe that those service providers are going to recommend our products over our competitors because our products are superior. The other thing that I think is really important here is we've never really had a deliverable that the service provider could build on top of what we do before. And one of the things we learned is if they don't have a deliverable that can be built on top of your platform when our platform doesn't really require the type of integration that most of our competitors do, right? Because if you choose Salesforce, Oracle, Adobe, you're going to have to spend millions of dollars on integrating those platforms with Accenture, Merkle or others.

因此，在所有條件相同的情況下，我相信那些服務提供者會比競爭對手更推薦我們的產品，因為我們的產品更優越。我認為這裡真正重要的另一件事是，我們從未真正擁有服務提供者可以在我們之前所做的基礎上建立的可交付成果。我們了解到的一件事是，當我們的平台並不真正需要大多數競爭對手所做的整合類型時，如果他們沒有可以在您的平台上建立的可交付成果，對吧？因為如果您選擇 Salesforce、Oracle、Adobe，您將不得不花費數百萬美元將這些平台與 Accenture、Merkle 或其他平台整合。

With ours, you don't need to do that. So that -- we were coming from behind. We've now built some direct deliverables that these service providers can build -- build to their clients as added value on top of the ZMP, which are also subscription services to the service provider, which I don't know anybody else who's doing that. So as I talk to the service providers, they want to move as much of their revenue to subscription as possible and the deliverables that we've built for them are recurring revenue in nature versus our competitors, which is integration revenue in nature. And we're getting a lot of excitement on that.

對於我們來說，您不需要這樣做。所以——我們後來居上。我們現在已經建立了一些這些服務提供者可以構建的直接可交付成果 - 作為 ZMP 之上的附加價值為其客戶構建，這也是服務提供者的訂閱服務，我不知道還有其他人在這樣做。因此，當我與服務提供者交談時，他們希望將盡可能多的收入轉移到訂閱中，而我們為他們構建的可交付成果本質上是經常性收入，而我們的競爭對手則本質上是集成收入。我們對此感到非常興奮。

The next question from Richard Baldry with ROTH MKM.

下一個問題來自 ROTH MKM 的 Richard Baldry。

If we look historically, 4Q is on a dollar basis, it's always been sequentially a lot stronger than what we see out of the third quarter. That's not implied in your guidance this time around. Sort of curious, is there anything we need to normalize out of there or do you think it's just your typical conservatism or is there something about macro that we should be thinking about?

如果我們從歷史角度來看，第四季是以美元為基礎的，它總是比我們在第三季看到的要強得多。這次您的指導中並沒有暗示這一點。有點好奇，我們有什麼需要正常化的地方嗎？或者你認為這只是你典型的保守主義，還是我們應該考慮宏觀方面的一些事情？

No, Rich, it's really -- if you look at the starting point growth rate for the fourth quarter at 18%, I think we've started every quarter's next quarter's guide at a similar level, 18% or 19%. What you do, and I think is a fair normalization is last year's political is a 3-point headwind. So you could say the 18% is really 21%. But no, I mean, we're very comfortable with the guide, very comfortable with both the top and the bottom line guide. And as we look forward to 2024, the tailwinds we've had from some of these very strong signings quarters.

不，Rich，確實如此——如果你看看第四季度 18% 的起點成長率，我認為我們每季的下一季指南都以類似的水平開始，即 18% 或 19%。我認為你所做的就是公平的正常化，去年的政治是一個三點逆風。所以你可以說 18% 實際上是 21%。但不，我的意思是，我們對指南非常滿意，對頂部和底部指南都非常滿意。當我們展望 2024 年時，我們從一些非常強勁的簽約季度中獲得了順風。

And by the way, if you -- when the Q comes out tomorrow, you'll see that it's not cause for a victory lap by any stretch, but it's a big improvement in RPO going from $135 million in RPO to $210 million this quarter. So I think that tailwind kicks in next year, political kicks in. As I mentioned, auto and insurance, we think, in the second quarter, turned positive. So we think fourth quarter is going to be a nice running start into the first quarter of next year.

順便說一句，如果明天 Q 發佈時，您會發現這無論如何都不是勝利的原因，但 RPO 有了很大的改善，從本季度的 1.35 億美元增加到 2.1 億美元。因此，我認為明年將會出現順風，政治也會開始發揮作用。正如我所提到的，我們認為汽車和保險在第二季度將轉為積極。因此，我們認為第四季將是明年第一季的良好開端。

And you talked about sales cycles accelerating, which is not the experience of a lot of other companies. Can you talk about maybe on the competitive win side of the table, the win rates? As you're getting into larger engagements and people are more, say, committed to legacy vendors, it obviously should be harder to displace those.

您談到銷售週期加快，這不是許多其他公司的經驗。您能談談在競爭獲勝方面的獲勝率嗎？當你參與更大規模的活動並且人們更致力於傳統供應商時，顯然要取代這些供應商會更困難。

So do you think there's some trade-off over maybe the intermediate term where competitive win rates might come down a little, but it's still a net positive because you're getting into engagements you might not have previously but just a little tougher to pull the legacy vendor out maybe your first go around, but it might set you up to win at the next time around.

那麼，您是否認為在中期可能需要進行一些權衡，競爭性獲勝率可能會略有下降，但這仍然是一個淨積極因素，因為您正在參與以前可能沒有的活動，但要更難拉動傳統供應商可能是您的第一次嘗試，但它可能會讓您在下一次獲勝。

It's funny you say that. We thought that would happen. I've said privately and publicly that as we dramatically increased RFPs, we would probably see our close rate go below 50%. We've not seen that, Rich. We continue to close greater than 50% of the RFPs and engagements we get invited to. I think what's happening is we are really entering a cycle where people are looking to upgrade from their first-generation marketing clouds and their first-generation CDPs. And they know that the large legacy vendors have not invested $0.01 into their products in the last few years. As I like to joke, right?

你這麼說真有趣。我們認為這會發生。我曾在私下和公開場合說過，隨著我們大幅增加 RFP，我們的成交率可能會低於 50%。我們還沒有看到這一點，里奇。我們繼續完成超過 50% 的 RFP 和受邀活動。我認為我們正在真正進入一個週期，人們希望從第一代行銷雲和第一代 CDP 進行升級。他們知道大型傳統供應商在過去幾年中沒有在他們的產品上投資 0.01 美元。因為我喜歡開玩笑，對嗎？

Salesforce's side hustle used to be their marketing cloud. Now their side hustle is Slack and their marketing cloud is the side hustle to the side hustle. And as those organizations have cut investment, which we've seen across the board, we're seeing a lot of those cuts being done in Marketing Cloud, which is allowing us to further the distance in capabilities and quality of our technology to theirs. And quite frankly, we're winning bigger deals than we've ever won before at the same percentage that we've current -- consistently won over the years, which even in some cases, surprises us. I probably shouldn't say that on this call, but quite frankly, it does.

Salesforce 的副業曾經是他們的行銷雲。現在他們的副業是 Slack，他們的行銷雲是副業。隨著這些組織全面削減投資，我們看到行銷雲中的大量削減，這使我們能夠進一步拉近我們技術的能力和品質與他們的差距。坦白說，我們正在以與目前相同的百分比贏得比以往任何時候都更大的交易——多年來一直贏得勝利，即使在某些情況下，這也讓我們感到驚訝。我可能不應該在這次電話會議上這麼說，但坦白說，確實如此。

Next question Zach Cummins with B. Riley Securities.

下一個問題是 B. Riley Securities 的 Zach Cummins。

David, I know you outlined Generative AI as one of the key areas of investment going into next year. Can you just talk about some of the early adoption you've seen from your ZOE product and how really that could transform into maybe driving even further adoption of your Zeta marketing platform over the next 12 or 18 months?

大衛，我知道您將生成式人工智慧概述為明年的關鍵投資領域之一。您能否談談您從 ZOE 產品中看到的一些早期採用情況，以及這些產品如何在未來 12 或 18 個月內真正推動 Zeta 行銷平台的進一步採用？

Yeah. It's almost incredible how many people are using the ZOE component of the data analysis tool. It's effectively today, a Generative AI platform that becomes your own internal data scientists. So you can ask real-world questions. What are my most valuable audiences, where am I losing money from a marketing investment perspective? What cohorts of my existing customers are buying more products from my competitors than they are from me? All of those are real-world questions that people are using.

是的。有多少人在使用數據分析工具的 ZOE 組件，這幾乎令人難以置信。今天，它實際上是一個生成式人工智慧平台，可以成為您自己的內部資料科學家。所以你可以問現實世界的問題。我最有價值的受眾是什麼？從行銷投資的角度來看，我在哪裡賠錢？我現有的哪些客戶群從我的競爭對手那裡購買的產品比從我這裡購買的產品更多？所有這些都是人們正在使用的現實世界問題。

And what we're finding is clients who are using ZOE are spending substantially more money on the platform. And our goal is to roll ZOE out to all of our clients in the very near future. And we think that will continue to drive additional adoption rate and additional utilization of platform. As Chris points out all the time, if you look at the period of time that clients are on our platform, you can draw a line up into the right with the amount of money they spend. We believe ZOE will accelerate that and take the top of that line even higher.

我們發現使用 ZOE 的客戶在該平台上花費的錢要多得多。我們的目標是在不久的將來向所有客戶推出 ZOE。我們認為這將繼續推動平台的採用率和利用率的提高。正如克里斯一直指出的那樣，如果您查看客戶在我們平台上的時間段，您可以根據他們花費的金額在右側畫一條線。我們相信 ZOE 將加速這一進程，並將目標推得更高。

Understood. That's helpful. And Chris, just one question from me regarding free cash flow. With the increasing traction with agencies in the near term, I mean, can you talk about the dynamics and how we should think about free cash flow conversion over the coming quarters?

明白了。這很有幫助。克里斯，我只想問一個關於自由現金流的問題。我的意思是，隨著近期機構的吸引力不斷增加，您能談談動態以及我們應該如何考慮未來幾季的自由現金流轉換嗎？

I think the best example is if you look through our financial statements in the Q and what's been published in the press release, you'll see that there was about an $8 million working capital headwind -- and that's principally driven by the days sales outstanding going from 55 days to 68, driven by the agencies period. If you plug that back in, you would have been looking at a cash conversion to EBITDA in the 60s. So we -- but it is a reality that we're going to wrap on that. We think by the second half of next year that normalizes. So we'll live with it for another couple of quarters, but you should start to see that cash conversion move up.

我認為最好的例子是，如果您查看我們在 Q 中的財務報表以及新聞稿中發布的內容，您會發現大約有 800 萬美元的營運資金逆風 - 這主要是由未償銷售天數驅動的在在機構週期的推動下，從55 天增加到68 天。如果你把它重新插入，你會在 20 世紀 60 年代考慮將現金轉換為 EBITDA。所以我們——但這是我們要解決的現實。我們認為到明年下半年這種情況就會正常化。因此，我們將在接下來的幾個季度繼續忍受這種情況，但您應該開始看到現金轉換率上升。

And we don't expect it to affect our 2025 plan in any way shape or form.

我們預計它不會以任何方式影響我們的 2025 年計劃。

Next question, Camden Levy with Oppenheimer.

下一個問題是卡姆登·利維和奧本海默。

This is Camden Levy sitting in for Brian Schwartz. In regards to the updated 2025 guidance for direct revenue mix, is most of the expansion on a forward basis going to be coming from channel expansion or is it more so brand adoption? And I was wondering can you like stack rank the drivers for that metric as it relates to 2024? And then additionally, did the mix shift impact your ARPU growth expectations directly? Anything there that you could provide would be helpful.

我是卡姆登·利維 (Camden Levy)，替補布萊恩·施瓦茨 (Brian Schwartz)。關於更新後的 2025 年直接收入組合指南，未來的大部分擴張是否將來自通路擴張，還是更多地來自品牌採用？我想知道您能否對與 2024 年相關的該指標的驅動因素進行堆疊排名？另外，這種組合轉變是否直接影響了您的 ARPU 成長預期？您可以提供的任何內容都會有所幫助。

Sure. Thanks and good to meet you -- good to get the question. If I go back to the Investor Day, when we adjusted the direct revenue mix to 75%, we really pegged it to what we've seen over the last 12 months. And if you think about the growth of the overall business, not just the direct revenue, but the overall business and the ARPU, it's driven principally by three different forces, continuing to do more with existing customers through a single channel they've chosen.

當然。謝謝，很高興見到你——很高興回答這個問題。如果我回到投資者日，當我們將直接收入組合調整為 75% 時，我們確實將其與過去 12 個月的情況掛鉤。如果你考慮整體業務的成長，不僅僅是直接收入，而是整體業務和 ARPU，它主要由三種不同的力量驅動，繼續透過現有客戶選擇的單一管道為他們做更多的事情。

Although now it's more driven by multichannel adoption so this quarter, for example, our scaled customers, and there's about a third of them now that are using three or more channels is up over 40% year-over-year, and then expansion of use cases. And when we look at our use case growth rates -- the grow and retain and the acquired use case, both grew well into the double digits year-over-year in revenue in the third quarter.

儘管現在更多是由多渠道採用推動的，但以本季度為例，我們的規模化客戶，其中大約有三分之一正在使用三個或更多渠道，同比增長超過40%，然後使用範圍擴大案例。當我們觀察我們的用例成長率時——成長和保留以及獲得的用例，第三季的營收年比均大幅成長至兩位數。

And by the way, we don't expect our long-term direct versus indirect revenue to change. And we have not changed guidance for that for 2024 or 2025 at this point.

順便說一句，我們預計我們的長期直接收入與間接收入不會改變。目前我們尚未更改 2024 年或 2025 年的指導。

Okay. Awesome. And then just thinking about the gross margin, do you guys expect gross margins to have troughed here and improved? I know you guys said that they should be more similar sequentially, but anything that we should keep in mind in regards to modeling 2024 gross margin and the considerations there?

好的。驚人的。然後考慮毛利率，你們是否預計毛利率會觸底並有所改善？我知道你們說它們應該按順序更加相似，但是在建模 2024 年毛利率和其中的考慮因素方面，我們應該記住什麼？

Yes. Yes. Of course. No, it's a good question. I think there was an earlier question in the same realm and how we entered that was the first half of next year probably looks a lot like the second half of 2023. And then in the second half of 2024, you'd start to see a sequential improvement from there as the mix and the business grows with the agencies we're working with becomes more and more direct.

是的。是的。當然。不，這是一個好問題。我認為在同一領域有一個較早的問題，我們如何進入明年上半年，可能看起來很像 2023 年下半年。然後在 2024 年下半年，你會開始看到隨著與我們合作的機構的組合和業務的成長，從那裡開始的連續改進變得越來越直接。

Next question is [Cody Kiechle] with Bank of America Securities.

下一個問題是 [Cody Kiechle] 與美國銀行證券公司的合作。

This is [George] on for [Koji]. It's great to hear encouraging about sales cycles improving and win rates kind of remaining strong. I was just going to ask, have you guys seen any notable changes in the competitive landscape? And kind of when did you notice the sales cycles kind of improving?

這是[喬治]為[Koji]服務的。很高興聽到銷售週期改善和獲勝率保持強勁的鼓舞人心的消息。我只是想問一下，你們看到競爭格局有什麼顯著的改變嗎？什麼時候注意到銷售週期有所改善？

Yeah. So good question. Thank you. I think starting earlier this year we started to see a number of the big legacy competitors not getting invited into the final stages of RFPs. And that was a really interesting sort of turning point because it used to be a few years ago, we would get down to the final three and they would choose one of the big legacy providers because they were the big known brand.

是的。好問題。謝謝。我認為從今年早些時候開始，我們開始看到一些大型傳統競爭對手沒有被邀請進入 RFP 的最後階段。這是一個非常有趣的轉折點，因為幾年前，我們會進入最後三名，他們會選擇大型傳統提供者之一，因為他們是知名品牌。

Now what we're seeing is we're not even seeing a lot of the big legacy providers make it to the final round, even when they are the incumbent. And that has allowed us to shine in a very unique way, and it's allowed us to continue to close at this greater than 50% rate even while we're seeing more [at bats], which once again, is why we delivered so many scaled customers and super scaled customers in the second and third quarter combined.

現在我們看到的是，我們甚至沒有看到很多大型傳統提供者進入最後一輪，即使他們是現任提供者。這讓我們能夠以一種非常獨特的方式大放異彩，並且讓我們能夠繼續以超過 50% 的比率收盤，即使我們看到更多[擊球數]，這也是我們交付如此之多的原因第第二季和第三季規模客戶和超規模客戶的總和。

That makes sense. And I know you called out kind of greater brand awareness. This is kind of one of the reasons you're getting more RFPs. Is there anything else to kind of call out there and what's kind of driving the strength there?

這就說得通了。我知道您呼籲提高品牌知名度。這是您收到更多 RFP 的原因之一。還有什麼可以呼籲的嗎？是什麼推動了那裡的力量？

Yeah. We're seeing a lot of analysts give us attention that we never would have gotten before. As I said in my prepared remarks, we were named one of the best CDPs in the world. I believe that was by IDC. Forrester continues to have us in the furthest, rightest quadrant of the leader category in marketing automation, messaging and a number of other categories.

是的。我們看到很多分析師給予我們以前從未得到的關注。正如我在準備好的演講中所說，我們被評為世界上最好的 CDP 之一。我相信這是 IDC 提供的。 Forrester 繼續讓我們處於行銷自動化、訊息和許多其他類別的領導者類別中最遠、最右的象限。

And I think that as they've evaluated our products, we've seen analysts which are very responsible for the RFPs, right? So a lot of these RFPs start with the analyst groups. We're seeing analysts say, you have to talk to Zeta. We simplify complex marketing problems. And by putting data and AI as native to the application layer, not as step-outs, we're able to move at a substantially accelerated speed with substantially more intelligence behind the marketing decisions we're making.

我認為，當他們評估我們的產品時，我們看到了對 RFP 非常負責的分析師，對嗎？因此，許多 RFP 都是從分析師小組開始的。我們看到分析師說，你必須與澤塔談談。我們簡化複雜的行銷問題。透過將數據和人工智慧作為應用程式層的原生內容，而不是作為退出，我們能夠以大幅加快的速度前進，並在我們所做的行銷決策背後提供更多的智慧。

I would like to turn the floor over to David Steinberg for closing remarks.

我想請大衛‧史坦伯格致閉幕詞。

Thank you, everybody. Obviously, an incredible quarter for Zeta in a very choppy market. I could not be more proud of our Zeta people than I am today because to get to these types of outputs, we must have the inputs. And as we look at our business and we look at our innovation and we look at our product development and we look at the evolution of our sales motion, we're really firing on all cylinders.

謝謝大家。顯然，在一個非常動蕩的市場中，Zeta 度過了一個令人難以置信的季度。我對我們的 Zeta 員工感到無比自豪，因為要獲得這些類型的輸出，我們必須有意見。當我們審視我們的業務、我們的創新、我們的產品開發以及我們的銷售活動的演變時，我們確實在全力以赴。

And as we continue to drive through what appears to be the beginning stages of a legacy replacement cycle for Marketing Clouds, CDPs and marketing technology, Zeta is at the forefront from a product, people and innovation perspective, we expect to continue to win in the marketplace. So we thank you very much for your time today, and we look forward to speaking to you again in the near future.

隨著我們繼續推動行銷雲、CDP 和行銷技術的傳統更換週期的開始階段，Zeta 從產品、人員和創新的角度來看處於最前沿，我們預計將繼續在市場。因此，我們非常感謝您今天抽出時間，我們期待在不久的將來再次與您交談。

Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。