Viant Technology Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 7, 2023

There are 10 speakers on the call.

Operator

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Viant's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Catherine, and I will be your operator today. Before I hand the call over to Viant's leadership team, I'd like to go over just a few housekeeping notes for the program. As a reminder, this webinar is being recorded. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

Operator

If you plan to ask a question, please ensure you set your Zoom name to display your full name and firm. Thank you for your attendance today. And I will now turn the call over to Ben Tapper with Fiant Technology.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Catherine. Good afternoon, and welcome to Viant Technology's Q2 2023 earnings conference call. On the call today are Tim Vanderhook, Co Founder and Chief Executive Officer Chris Vanderhook, Co Founder and Chief Operating Officer and Larry Madden, Chief Financial Officer. I'd like to remind you that we will make forward looking statements on our call today, including our guidance for Q3 2023 And our platform development initiatives that are based on assumptions and subject to future events, risks and uncertainties that could cause Actual results to differ materially from those projected. These forward looking statements speak only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to For more information about these factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward looking statements In our entire Safe Harbor statement, please refer to the news release issued today, as well as the risks and uncertainties described in our quarterly report On Form 10 Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, under the heading Risk Factors and other filings with the SEC.

Speaker 1

During today's call, we will also present both GAAP and non GAAP financial measures. Additional disclosures regarding these non GAAP measures, including a reconciliation Non GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the news release issued today, Which has been posted on the Investor Relations page of the company's website and in our filings with the SEC. I would now like to turn the call over to Tim Vanderhoek, Chief Executive Officer of ViaSat. Tim?

Speaker 2

Thanks, Ben, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. I'm excited to share that we had a great second quarter as we built on our momentum through the Q1 amid an improving macro environment. We significantly exceeded our guidance range on both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. The increasing adoption rates of our household ID, Advanced reporting and data platform products drove our outperformance in the quarter as customers look for smarter And more efficient ways to deliver their ad campaigns. At the same time, leveraging our internally developed AI Drove our own productivity.

Speaker 2

As we look into the rest of the year and throughout 2024, we see a number of tailwinds accelerating our growth. First, the continued application of artificial intelligence. 2nd is Google's deletion of cookies in 2024 And third, the ongoing transition of $60,000,000,000 of linear television moving into connected TV. I want to share a bit more on each of these areas and provide more clarity on how we see them driving our growth and profitability. The promise of artificial intelligence is not really new for the ad tech industry.

Speaker 2

At Viant, we're working aggressively toward our vision of building an Similar to the way the automotive industry has its sights set on self driving cars To boost the number of vehicles sold per year, we believe an autonomous ad platform that leverages AI to help advertisers achieve Superior campaign performance will grow our total addressable market. Our goal is to leverage AI to make the programmatic Add opportunity available to millions of small and midsized businesses by making it simple for them to reach new customers and grow their businesses. We envision AI as the key to scaling our customer count from the 100 into the 1000000. And unlike autonomous vehicles, Our industry hasn't fully realized this vision yet. However, we have been focused on laying the groundwork of automation and training deep learning models That solve programmatic traders' problems 1 by 1 to help them improve their campaign results in a more automated fashion.

Speaker 2

One great example of this is the release of our new AI powered bid optimizer late in the second quarter. This translated into immediate benefits for our advertisers in the form of more efficient CPM pricing. For customers who have opted into the AI powered bid optimizer, we have achieved a CPM savings on average Of over 35% for the same publisher ad inventory. Bid Optimizer is achieving incredible results For our clients, it is a great example of how Viant is leveraging newly developed AI to increase the value of our ad platform to our customers, which drives them to consolidate more of their ad budget into our platform. We believe that the application of AI into programmatic is the largest market opportunity since the invention of real time bidding itself.

Speaker 2

These new AI powered solutions are allowing us to deliver a best in class experience and results to our customers. We have an exciting product pipeline, and I'm excited to share more with you in the future. On the second point I touched on, Google's impending deletion of cookies, Which they have recently stated is set to start in Q1 of 2024. This will create additional revenue opportunities for Viant. I'd like to remind investors that Viant's patented technology gives marketers the ability to execute omnichannel advertising Using our household ID, and this does not rely on the cookie like other solutions in the market.

Speaker 2

Our household ID Has achieved more than 80% availability across all ad requests that we see. We believe that Google's Pending deletion of cookies and other identifiers will further accelerate the growth of ad spend flowing through our platform. On the 3rd opportunity, linear TV to streaming. The adoption of Streaming services will continue to shift marketers' dollars, and we see an additional $60,000,000,000 of ad spend coming into the programmatic ad market. In CTV, our household ID is available on over 90% of all ad requests, which is a significant advantage in this fast growing space.

Speaker 2

I'm happy to report that we outpaced the market in Q2 with strong double digit growth in CTV. There are multiple factors that contributed to this growth, but our ability to measure return on ad spend against a household rather than a device It's critical in a cookie less environment like CTV. And it's important to remember why CTV gets so much attention. Nearly 70% of Americans engage with CTV, and there's still significant room to grow. As linear TV dominance wanes, No single measurement protocol has been developed.

Speaker 2

With the application of our Viant household ID, marketers can confidently apply the ad spend Previously allocated to Linear TV to a far more sophisticated CTV ecosystem. Now, with the use of Bison's ad platform, those marketers can run campaigns in this high growth channel with the same precision and visibility expected And to close, we had a very strong second quarter. We're making immediate strides on our AI initiatives that are translating directly into value for our customers and our shareholders. We are well positioned and excited to share the strong financial results we are expecting for Q3 as well, which Larry will touch on in a bit. We are accelerating our momentum into the second half, and we look forward to providing an update on our product pipeline at an innovation event this fall, With more details on that to come soon.

Speaker 2

Now, I will hand the call over to Chris to discuss more around our products and customers. Thanks, Tim. Q2 was another strong quarter of wins across our client base, with particularly strong results within the mid market, where we believe our Efficiency, attribution and measurement capabilities along with our unrivaled customer support have made us a go to choice for marketers Whose objective is maximizing their return on ad spend. In the past, I've discussed crucial elements that differentiate the Via platform and make us Such a formidable solution in the mid market. 1st and foremost, you must offer the best product, which means the lowest CPM to deliver the best return on ad 2nd, you must demonstrate superior performance in the form of comprehensive measurement and reporting.

Speaker 2

And finally, you have to provide the support infrastructure to ensure the customer experience is seamless. With more than 14,000 ad agencies in the U. S. Alone, the mid market is a large and dynamic marketplace and one in which we are particularly well suited to win. In much the same way, mid market agencies have become attractive choices for brands looking to establish themselves in innovative and creative ways, So too are their preferred tech partners.

Speaker 2

In this way, Vine is working with these mid market agencies and brands to break free From a tired paradigm of 1 size fits all platforms by offering industry leading tools, approaches and service. The benefits of the self-service programmatic model are well known. But at Viant, we specialize in multiple pathways to get our clients up to speed on our platform. Our intuitive user interface and focus on automation further enhances that ramp up, while our unique data tools enable targeting, forecasting, Reporting and ultimately visibility that is largely unavailable anywhere else. I want to talk a little bit more about 2 specific areas of our DSP that Truly differentiate us, and each in their own right are vital to the success of mid market customers.

Speaker 2

For several quarters, we've discussed investments we've been making in the Viant data platform. With a long history of effectively and safely leveraging massive datasets To drive our customer success, the Viant data platform in many ways is the culmination of that journey. How to manage data and how to extract value from that data Our two questions faced by nearly all of our clients. They want to be able to use their first party data in conjunction with their advertising campaigns. Through integrations with industry leading data warehouses and clean room providers, we're able to provide secure solutions that deliver real time insights That can be inserted directly into campaign design and implementation.

Speaker 2

None of our competitors have a tool suite this comprehensive. And more importantly, none of our competitors have Viant's track record to leverage that data in a commercially viable and privacy friendly way. The Viad Data platform is being leveraged by our largest customers and has future proofed their programmatic advertising strategy for the impending deletion of third party cookies By Google next year. Clients that leverage our household ID along with the Viant data platform are able to deliver relevant ads while Still being able to measure the impact of those ads in a cookie less world. Next, I want to share more information on our supply path optimization initiative, Direct Access.

Speaker 2

Direct Access is a program that develops the most efficient supply path for our customers by creating partnerships with premium content owners to monetize their content directly, while lowering costs for advertisers by eliminating the reselling of inventory amongst middlemen. Our focus for the Direct Access program has centered on CTV. Tim discussed the strong results we're seeing in the CTV space And Direct Access is helping to drive that success. With a more efficient supply chain, advertisers see lower cost of media with a higher win rate in ad auctions, As well as lower instances of fraud, which all boils down to better campaign performance and higher return on ad spend. Notably, we've partnered with many of the largest connected TV content owners in the industry, representing some of The most premium inventory being watched by consumers.

Speaker 2

Although still early, our direct access program is gaining a lot of attention by both new and Existing customers who are seeking lower CPMs on premium inventory by leveraging a more efficient supply path. In the Q2, direct access represented more than 10% of CTV spend, and we expect that to increase throughout the year as we see steady adoption by our clients. Additionally, I'm proud to announce client's recent inclusion in prebid.org. Prebid It's open source technology that provides an alternative path for premium publishers to take bids directly on their advertising inventory rather than through multiple resellers. This leads to better economics for publishers and advertisers alike, and ultimately a more efficient programmatic ecosystem.

Speaker 2

We expect to release new technology in this area as more and more publishers look to gain direct access to our customers' demand across all channels. And with that, I'll close by saying we've wrapped an excellent first half of the year, and we're encouraged by the strong buying signals we're seeing from our customers As we move into the second half, we continue to focus on delivering best in class product, and we believe the gains we've made so far this year are only the beginning. Thank you. And I'll now turn it over to Larry to provide more details on our financial performance.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Chris. Before I begin, I'd like to remind everyone that we have posted a presentation to our Investor Relations website that includes supplemental financial information to accompany Today's call. As Tim mentioned, we successfully capitalized on our Q1 momentum, exceeding our revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for Q2 And achieving the high end of our guidance for contribution ex TAC. Revenue for the quarter was $57,200,000 An increase of 12% versus the prior year period, 37% higher than Q1 and exceeding the high end of our guidance. Contribution ex tax for the quarter was $33,700,000 an increase of 6% versus the prior year period, 20% higher than Q1 and at the high end of our guidance.

Speaker 3

We continue to see improving signs with regards to ad spend, As evidenced by Q2 revenue and contribution ex TAC growth rates accelerating from Q1 levels. We expect this encouraging trend to persist and strengthen throughout the second half of the year. In terms of customer verticals, we saw a strong rebound across our retail and consumer goods verticals, with both delivering solid double digit growth in the quarter. Spending across our travel, online gambling and automotive verticals also remained strong. In terms of channels, we saw a robust growth in CTV in the quarter, driven in part by the promising outcomes of our direct access program.

Speaker 3

Additionally, our customers continue to positively respond to our unique ability to deliver highly targeted messaging At the household level in this cookieless environment, in the Q2, CTV accounted for over 1 third of total advertisers' From a format perspective, video encompassing both CTV and mobile video accounted for more than half the spend on our platform and had strong growth in the quarter. Streaming audio, though still in its early stages, Also experienced solid double digit growth in the quarter. The promising upward trajectory of streaming audio in many ways mirrors the early We had with CTV, reaffirming our commitment to remaining at the forefront of the driving forces behind present and future ad spending. Advertiser spend per active customer increased 7% on a year over year basis, and our percent of spend customers spent On average, more than 3 times that of fixed price customers. It is important to highlight that the cohort effect Created by the power and scale of our self serve DSP, continues to widen the gap between our percent of spend customers and fixed price customers.

Speaker 3

Our percent of spend customers not only exhibit higher retention rates, they also have a greater propensity to expand their business with us. We ended the quarter with 314 active customers, a net decline of 13 customers during the period. As discussed on previous earnings calls, our philosophy around customer growth centers on cultivating deeper relationships with high quality customers Capable of higher spending levels. As part of that strategy, we are gradually shifting away from servicing lower end customers, While actively attracting and onboarding customers with greater long term value potential, this strategic shift Allows us to focus on building enduring partnerships that contribute to sustainable growth and success. Moving on to operating expenses.

Speaker 3

In the quarter, our non GAAP operating expenses totaled $26,900,000 Reflecting a year over year decrease of 23%. This reduction reflects our commitment to driving operating leverage across the business. While achieving these cost efficiencies, we remain equally dedicated to investing in future growth as demonstrated by a notable 39% increase in the size of our product and engineering teams over the same period. Our approach is to strike a balance between efficiency gains And investing in the teams and technologies that will propel our long term success. The integration of generative AI technologies across our organization Has also had a profound impact, resulting in a significant increase in productivity.

Speaker 3

These transformative initiatives have enabled us to achieve remarkable end results with fewer resources, Further strengthening our confidence in our ability to substantially grow our operating margins. One metric we use internally to measure productivity is revenue per employee, which grew 27% in the current quarter versus the prior year period. By leveraging cutting edge AI, we are well positioned to continue driving both innovation and operational efficiency. For the Q2, we generated adjusted EBITDA of $6,800,000 well above the high end of our guidance And representing an increase of approximately $10,000,000 from the prior year period and $7,200,000 from the prior quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin as a percentage of contribution ex TAC was 20.2% for the quarter, representing a 30 percentage point improvement For the Q2, non GAAP net income, which excludes stock based compensation, Totaled $5,100,000 which compares to a non GAAP net loss of $5,900,000 in the prior year period.

Speaker 3

Non GAAP earnings per Class A share totaled $0.06 in the current quarter, which compares to a loss of $0.08 in the prior year period. In terms of share count, we ended the quarter with 62,400,000 Class A and Class B common shares outstanding. We also ended the quarter with $204,000,000 in cash, which translates to a noteworthy $3.27 per share outstanding. We had $224,000,000 of positive working capital and no debt at quarter end, and we continue to have access to a $75,000,000 undrawn credit This solid financial foundation positions us extremely well to fully capitalize on the substantial market opportunity ahead of us. As we look ahead to Q3, we're optimistic about the accelerating growth rates of our business and the continuing improvement in the advertising environment.

Speaker 3

For the Q3, we expect revenue in the range of $56,000,000 to $59,000,000 representing a year over year increase of 18% at the midpoint. We expect contribution ex TAC in the range of $35,000,000 to $37,000,000 a year over year increase of 12% at the midpoint. Non GAAP operating expenses are expected to be $28,500,000 to $29,500,000 Representing a year over year decline of 14% at the midpoint. And finally, we expect adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of 6.5 To $7,500,000 which represents a year over year increase of $8,800,000 at the midpoint. In closing, Q2 marked another quarter of strong execution.

Speaker 3

The power of our platform combined with our unparalleled service Continue to be strong drivers in attracting new business and fostering growth in existing relationships. As the broader economy shows encouraging signs of improvement, we are well positioned to build on our momentum and further grow our market share. Our robust financial profile, disciplined cost management and relentless focus on execution position us to achieve strong top line growth And EBITDA margin expansion going forward. Above all, our dedication to delivering long term value to both our customers and shareholders And with that, we have concluded our prepared remarks, and I will now turn it back over to the operator to open the video

Operator

We have now reached our questions and answers part of the presentation. 1st, I would like to call upon Maria Ripps from Connect Cord. Maria, you can now begin.

Speaker 4

All right. Thanks so much for taking my questions. Can you hear me okay?

Speaker 5

Yes.

Speaker 4

Yes. Well, thanks so much. Could you maybe touch on how sort of the macro environment progressed throughout Q2 and so far in Q3 relative to your expectations. And were better than expected results more of a function of Maybe stronger broader macro environment or you've seen some signs that sort of suggesting that all investments in the platform are enabling you To take market share?

Speaker 2

Yes. Larry, you want to take the first one? Yes.

Speaker 3

I mean, I think the key here is, and we said this last Quarter, it's truly stabilized. Coming out of January, really the second half of last year into January, there was Much more uncertainty. And really since that point, we have seen stabilization across the board. Q2 grew faster than Q1. We expect that trend to continue in Q3.

Speaker 3

Part of that, in Q3 at least, is easier comps Given that we were impacted last Q3 and Q4 by the macro challenges, but we are also winning a larger share of our customer budget. So it's really twofold In terms of the acceleration of growth rates? On the We're not assuming that the economy is going to improve

Speaker 2

I do believe we're gaining market share in the mid market. Product is performing very, very nicely. Our team is executing Very well. And we offer what they need, which is the household ID, the data platform, the level of analytics that the Holdcos Have to offer their customers. So I do believe it was macroeconomic improving somewhat, but I also believe that we are gaining market share in that mid market area.

Speaker 2

I

Speaker 3

would add one other point to that is where we're seeing the improvement in areas like retail and CPG, Which had been down for a couple of quarters. That came back nicely in Q2. That's more of a macro development.

Speaker 4

Got it. That's very helpful. And then how much of incremental upside do you think it's reasonable to expect as a result of 3P cookie dilution next year? And do you think most marketers are sort of prepared for this transition at this point?

Speaker 2

I would say that most marketers are not prepared for Transition, they continue to operate with the current platforms that utilize cookies until they don't work anymore. There's no point to make a change until they do. In terms of how to size the upside opportunity, I my personal opinion towards it is that it's an enormous wall of money That's currently being spent that needs to get re platformed into platforms that operate in this new world of consumer privacy friendly Or a lack of identifiers in the old way. So to me, a huge wall of cash that will be re platformed. Our platform has been out for multiple years now being tested, poked, prodded, questioned and yet it continues to deliver results that marketers are looking for In these environments.

Speaker 2

And so, I think we're very well positioned as that shift away from cookies happens. And I think the larger one just in terms of the market, Maria, If you look back to Apple's changes with the IDFA, you saw the impact that that had on Meta and Snap immediately. A few quarters later, you saw that hit even YouTube. Most people aren't focused on what's happening in 2024 here when Google deletes So cookie, they've been somewhat muted around the Google's mobile ad ID, but the same exact thing is going to happen. So we not only expect If you hit open web players that are completely cookie based, we think that we'll be a beneficiary of that.

Speaker 2

But we also believe that this is going to hit Meta, it's Yes. Our estimate is Apple's iOS was about a third of the ad spend. That's how we our best guess on social platforms like that. The Google change should have a twice the size impact on those businesses. So it will be a tough challenge for them.

Speaker 4

Got it. That's very helpful. Thank you so much for the color.

Speaker 6

Thank you. Next up, we have Laura Martin from Needham.

Speaker 7

Hi, guys. I'll ask 2. The first one, I'm very curious that your 3rd leg was the $60,000,000,000 moving from linear TV to connected television. And I think it's great you guys are doing the My question to you is, have you really gotten any inclination that advertisers on linear are willing to substitute Content based buying and targeting with audience based buying and targeting, which is required if they're really going to move money into the open Internet?

Speaker 2

I would say my answer is yes. I think if that answer was no, digital would have never grown in the first All we've seen is that digital Eats analog technologies over time because they're more sophisticated and produce better returns for the publishers and better results for the advertisers. So, there is no doubt in my mind that addressable advertising crushes traditional broadcast advertising And in no way shape or form is competitive. So digital will far outcompete linear. That was part of my addressed remarks.

Speaker 2

I think the big challenge is that linear is measured from a Nielsen panel that gets gross rating points. Digital is measured in which are real impressions delivered, verified and there's just a difference there in the way that they're measured and marketers are trying to resolve those too. But it is certainly I wouldn't characterize anyone that I've spoken to as not willing to Spend in streaming or addressable CTV. It's just that they're waiting for consumers to fully adopt that channel.

Speaker 7

Okay. Super cool. And then the second thing I was really interested in is this 35% number. So you implemented EAI, and now you're getting your Customers, because you're a buy side platform, 35% lower prices for the same content.

Speaker 2

Unreal, Unreal was like But

Speaker 7

it sort of gives Unfortunately, I take the negative side of this, like what the hell were you guys doing before overcharging your clients 35%. I mean, that's sort of the way. Why is it you're able to get such Great improvements by now using AI, because AI machine learning has been out there for like 5 years and what's new is Are you using generative AI? Is that why these improvements are so radical?

Speaker 2

I wouldn't classify it as generative AI. I would Classified as deep learning versus machine learning, that's really the difference of the 2 that were applied. And you're right, 35 Percent is an enormous number and one that we're really proud of. And I think the one thing that is important is we achieved 35% savings on what we believe is already The lowest CPMs getting cleared through all competitive DSPs. So we do believe we had the lowest CPMs and we just raised the bar again.

Speaker 2

And that is our goal. If you watch Any of the discussions that I have in the industry, we go to war with the sell side to drive pricing down and we unleash technologies, data, Algorithms everything we can to work on behalf of that advertiser. And this is just another breakthrough innovation that's changed the game for the buy side And one that's going to reap huge benefits for us as we continue to compete in the market. And I think one thing to point out, nearly all of our customers are all Self-service at this point. So they themselves control bid pricing.

Speaker 2

So that's one piece. Our platform always It has worked well to achieve the lowest price when they are bidding. But in the end, the customer has a control. And I think with our new AI powered bid optimizer here, We're not only we're doing it behind the scenes when they opt into it, but it's still giving them the insights that not only number 1 that they still remain In control of the bid price, but it's working harder on their behalf. And I would say that the CPM savings is massive, and this is great, and the clients love it.

Speaker 2

What it also does, it's a multi KPI based optimization. So, we clients find that even with this, their pacing and their Ad performance is more streamlined, more even as well. And so there's other benefits here. We've gotten great response from our customers out of It's part of the reason in the prepared remarks, we feel the AI opportunity is more important than the invention of the real time bidding protocol itself because of the numbers that we're Seeing internally, when it's applied and trained properly and given the chance to go, it really is a transformative technology for Ad Tech in general and I think for many other industries as well.

Speaker 7

Great. Thank you very much. Great numbers.

Speaker 3

Thank you. Thanks.

Speaker 6

Thank you. Our next question will be from Andrew Boone from JMP.

Speaker 8

Hi, guys. Congrats on the strong results. The key takeaway for me this quarter is the inflection Right. EBITDA came in much better than we expected. If I go back and I look at 'twenty and 'twenty one, assuming a stable macro environment, do you guys have a path To kind of high 20s margins next year or how do we think about you guys balancing the profile of growth versus profitability?

Speaker 2

Yes. It's hard to comment on next year, Larry. Please comment if you'd like to. I think what we're focused on is the application of artificial intelligence on internally as well as Externally for our clients. And then we're going to see adoption rates of these technologies.

Speaker 2

AI is also a scary concept for some users of it. They don't know how it's They don't want to mess up results. So, it's watching the adoption rates. In a perfect world, certainly those numbers you talk about Are achievable in a perfect world. But again, customers have to adopt it.

Speaker 2

The product has to perform. But certainly, the early results we're seeing are encouraging.

Speaker 3

I would add in terms of next year, we'll continue to make strategic investments and continue to innovate. But I would say that I would not expect to see our operating expenses growing anywhere near what our Contribution ex STACK and revenue will grow. So hence, to your question, our EBITDA margins will be higher next year than they are this year.

Speaker 8

That's helpful. And then I wanted to go back to the mid market, right? You guys answered this in a certain respect with Maria's question. But how do you guys think about the needs of the middle market agency and how are they different than the hold codes and how are you guys addressing that, right? So how are you guys winning that business?

Speaker 8

Thanks so much.

Speaker 2

Number 1, I think the right off the bat, the mid market agencies and the mid market customers in general, They need it's all about campaign performance. They have to see the return on ad spend. These aren't customers who, in Laura's question, like in the HoldCo's you get a lot of broadcast style buying where there's buying content and you're delivering ads. You're delivering X millions of impressions of ads. So the bar that you have to clear from an ad performance isn't very high.

Speaker 2

When it gets to the mid market, these customers Our staring at customer acquisition costs, it has to perform. That's number 1. A big component of that is the price that you are paying for the ad impression. So, we're really standing out there as we highlighted with our AI bid optimizer. The second I'll say is that the mid markets don't carry the level of We typically see in trading or programmatic trading.

Speaker 2

So the platform has to be a lot more automated. So they demand it just because they don't have That same level of headcount. And again, we have a huge focus on automation, so that's why we continue to win there. But in the end, The mid market needs exactly what the holdcos have by partnering with Google Meta at huge levels and $1,000,000,000 of ad spend. They need a sophisticated ad platform that's able to get the right ad in front of the right user and pay the right price.

Speaker 2

I think that's where the DSP steps And helps them accomplish those goals very efficiently from an employee productivity perspective. Thanks, Andrew.

Speaker 6

Thank you. Next up, we have Andrew Merrick from Raymond James.

Speaker 5

Yes. Thank you for taking my questions. Understanding that you're making intentional efforts in terms of which customers Resources, too. I guess, in light of that customer list optimization, how many of the remaining 314 customers do you think are ones that you can forge These higher value relationships with, I guess, how does that impact your sales strategy and potentially the sales and marketing line as well?

Speaker 2

The predominant amount of them are those types of customers, without a doubt. So, we feel really good around the engagement I think what you're highlighting is just the decision that we made with lower spending customers who don't show the same level of adoption as the higher spending ones That we basically it's not that we kick them off the platform, but if they don't spend a certain amount, They're going to have higher pricing. And so we do expect some of those to continue to drop off. Again, the customers We won although we're in the mid market, we're aiming for customers that are going to spend in the tens of 1,000,000, And that's really where we're focused. At this stage, yes.

Speaker 2

It's important to scale with customers that can scale with you.

Speaker 5

Great. And then with Direct Access, we've seen a good number of peers introducing these kinds of disintermediating products, Whether coming from the demand side into the supply side or vice versa, I guess, can you talk about how you see that space evolving if everyone has a direct product? And then how does Vyen kind of set themselves apart in that future scenario?

Speaker 2

Yes. Well, one, I don't think it's so much so about disintermediating. What I think it is from our standpoint, again, buy We represent the advertiser. It's about getting them the lowest possible price or eliminating Unnecessary tech tax in the middle. And there's a lot look, in programmatic, historically, there's been a lot of middlemen trading That I think the buy side has really been focused on driving out.

Speaker 2

And I think that's what you're seeing. So anyone who has direct relationships with Publishers, they're going to continue to do well there. This is just a I would say this has been going on for probably 3 to 4 years, This concept of supply path optimization, that's really what it's about is they want the most direct path To the content owner and they don't want a bunch of unnecessary people in the middle taking attacks. So that's really what it's about. In the end, price drives It was a huge component of campaign performance.

Speaker 2

And at the end of the day, customers rely on us to drive that campaign performance. So Again, we're going to remain completely on the buy side. We don't these aren't sell side initiatives. It's giving the sell side direct access

Operator

Our next question is from Jason Kreyer from Craig Hallum.

Speaker 6

Hey, guys. Thank you. Great results. You talked a lot about mid market. And so after the quarter, we saw the announced bankruptcy of one of your competitors, and I think They had a presence in the mid market.

Speaker 6

Just curious if you see an opportunity for further share gain on the heels of that?

Speaker 2

Yes. I believe you're referring

Speaker 6

to the bankruptcy of MediaMath that happened right

Speaker 2

at the end of Q2 there. See of MediaMath that happened right at the end of Q2 there. We had many shared customers with MediaMath. We believe we were gaining market share from MediaMath regardless of the bankruptcy and obviously they filed bankruptcy, which was tough to see for the employees. But I think it's due to we offer a superior product and that was just capitalism playing out.

Speaker 2

We saw benefits The day of MediaMath's bankruptcy filing, we had many shared customers and we saw budgets flowing out of MediaMath and into our And so we were evaluating MediaMath from an acquisition perspective. Unfortunately, we couldn't get conviction on their cost structure. It was just upside down there. But ultimately, we felt like our product was going to beat them competitively and organically. And so, we decided not to deploy capital there, Which I think proved to be a good decision.

Speaker 2

We gained many more ad dollars, not necessarily new customers, But more ad dollars in the platform the day they did file bankruptcy. So I think, one, they're just one competitor in the mid market. We compete against Yahoo! A lot In the mid market head to head and we're very focused on beating them in that area as well too and we've done a good job at that. And so I think overall, we're gaining market share from multiple people and what happened to MediaMath was an unfortunate event.

Speaker 6

One numbers follow-up for Larry. The GAAP revenue outperformance was greater than the contribution ex tech performance. I don't know if that's related to a shift between revenue models between fixed fee and percent of spend. That would be my speculation. Just wondering if you can add I'll unpack the difference.

Speaker 3

Yes. I mean, first of all, as compared to last year, the growth rates across spend, revenue and contribution of STACK Have are beginning to converge. So they're getting closer. Last year, that was not the case when we were going through the mix shift. But that being said, there may be some variability Relative growth rates in any given quarter based on mix, based on seasonality of customer spend, But we don't expect growth rates for the different top line metrics to be materially different from one another, certainly not like they were in last year.

Speaker 3

Longer term, as fixed price continues to become a smaller and smaller percentage of total revenue, we do expect contribution ex TAC Growth rates to outpace revenue growth rates. And we'll see that quarter by quarter, but long term, we do expect that to be the scenario.

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Operator

And our last question of the day is from Chris Kantarich from

Speaker 9

UBS.

Speaker 2

Hi, Chris. Are you there?

Speaker 3

I think you're on mute, Chris.

Speaker 9

Can you guys hear me now?

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 9

Great. Can we just talk about some cost efficiencies? It seems like you guys have gotten great leverage there, just visibility into the ability to take further Cost efficiencies as you guys are growing your headcount in the R and D group at 39%?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, a lot of The cost efficiencies, we knew we had a predominant amount of them already in the bag from the actions that we took at the end of last year. But I would just say the productivity gains that we're seeing by leveraging AI tools internally has been tremendous, whether that be in Our marketing group, them leveraging LLMs, whether that be, I would say, on our data science team, Anyone in our analytics groups, utilizing that for customers on top of campaign performance data And then in engineering as well. I mean, just doing using basic tools like GitHub's Copilot, we're seeing just incredible productivity gains And we think we're only scratching the surface. So that's really where we're looking.

Speaker 2

And I think there's some offset to those as we leverage AI tools There are some technology cost increases there, but nowhere near the benefits that we're gaining from it. So that's a big focus That's going to remain in the back half of the year.

Speaker 9

Got it. And just as we kind of think about some of the idiosyncratic wins that you guys hear, the AI Bit Optimizer definitely stands out, and we're getting the 35% CPM savings here. Just curious like if you could Potentially quantify what the contribution was in the quarter or if just more anecdotally you're seeing more budgets open up, it's Bringing more you guys to more conversations on the table, just help us frame up the upside from that.

Speaker 2

Yes. Well, it's a revenue driver as well. It's important to About the business model as we roll this out, when we achieve savings for our customers, we make a percentage of that savings. So we charge in general, it's about 20% of savings. And so as we create value for our customers, it creates value and grows our revenue.

Speaker 2

Adoption was it was very early, Chris, in Q2, so we wanted to just share some of the data points on some of these exciting numbers. So, adoption is low. The positive is That scales into the future and it's just another revenue driver for Viant as we exit 'twenty three and enter 'twenty four With more widespread adoption by the customer base. But when you have 35% savings in the initial data points, that helps accelerate adoption And I was just going to say that if a customer has typically what they do is they go in the platform, they put in their budget. If you're getting 35% lower CPMs, that means you get more ad impressions.

Speaker 2

More ad impressions is more reach. You're influencing consumers. Therefore, that Turns into more customers and the campaign performance is therefore increased. That's why we talk so much around price. It might be.

Speaker 2

It depends on who it is, but it may be the largest determiner of campaign performance is the price that you pay. Easy example, if you paid a $10 CPM versus a $5 CPM, the $10 CPM price has to perform Twice the rate of the $5 So, CPM pricing is so important to performance. When we hit the performance level Versus other platforms they may be using, it helps us win share of dollars. So it's just this circular effect that although since that was early, we're really excited about it, We expect the adoption to steadily increase throughout the end of the year.

Speaker 9

Got it. And as we think about this kind of ramping, I understand from the adoption side, maybe just From the upside to that 35%, are we going to be having a conversation around 40%, 50% Kind of lower CPMs this time for 3Q earnings or is it kind of 35% and it's held pretty steady in your early findings?

Speaker 2

Yes, 35% is the average. So we saw as high as high 40s, high double digit 40s. And so on some advertiser campaigns, it all depends on what they're doing. We also saw further increases on top of our own Prior bid optimization using machine learning. So, there's many benchmarks.

Speaker 2

Some customers use a third party AI Algorithm to try and predict bids and we were able to beat those as well too. So I think that's the value of when all these products Integrated into the DSP, not various third parties doing it. But it's a range and it's also a range by channel as well, CTV, display, online video. There's a wide disparity of pricing out there on CPMs and what it's worth. So the ability for us to come in and apply a consistent algorithm Every channel format on behalf of the trader and make sure it's working on their behalf.

Speaker 2

One big important thing is a human can only check a campaign so many times, But a deep learning model can actually check it all the time consistently and make more changes than a human. So, man versus machine, machine is always going to be able to And I think what we're seeing, I want to just And I shared this on our last earnings call. When we talk about direct access, so it's something that's different. But When you combine the 2, really what we're seeing is what we're finding is not that publishers are getting lower CPMs interestingly, They're getting higher CPMs because what we see is that the win rate in the auction actually, our win rate goes up. So, what we're identifying is in the middle, we're finding that there are multiple intermediaries that really are getting squeezed.

Speaker 2

So, when you combine Our efforts on direct access and then our AI bid optimizer, we're finding true market price. That's what clients that's really what we're getting to. And that is always changing, clearly, right? One quarter to the next, market may be stronger. Certain publishers may be selling out, so maybe pricing increases

Speaker 9

And

Operator

And that concludes our questions portion.

Speaker 2

Great. Well, I'd like to thank everyone for joining the earnings call. I want to thank the Viant team for an incredible execution in the Q2 and we will see you all at In Innovation Day later this year and at our next earnings call. Thanks for joining.

Operator

Thank you everyone for joining us today. This now concludes today's webinar. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.

Powered by Quartr
Earnings Conference Call
Viant Technology Q2 2023
00:00 / 00:00