NASDAQ:PERI Perion Network Q1 2024 Earnings Report $10.57 -0.25 (-2.31%) Closing price 08/1/2025 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$10.81 +0.24 (+2.27%) As of 08/1/2025 07:38 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. ProfileEarnings HistoryForecast Perion Network EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.35Consensus EPS $0.36Beat/MissMissed by -$0.01One Year Ago EPSN/APerion Network Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$157.82 millionExpected Revenue$156.96 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$860.00 thousandYoY Revenue GrowthN/APerion Network Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2024Date5/8/2024TimeN/AConference Call DateWednesday, May 8, 2024Conference Call Time8:30AM ETUpcoming EarningsPerion Network's Q2 2025 earnings is scheduled for Monday, August 11, 2025, with a conference call scheduled at 8:30 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Q2 2025 Earnings ReportConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Perion Network Q1 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 8, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.Key Takeaways Search impact: Despite 26% year-over-year search growth in Q1, recent Microsoft Bing pricing changes are expected to pull search revenue down in Q2 and 2024, with guidance updated accordingly. Growth engines: Retail media surged 134%, connected TV advertising jumped 108%, and programmatic digital out-of-home grew 25% pro forma, fueled by organic expansion and the HiveStack acquisition. Advertiser-centric universe: New brand identity and AI-powered suite leverage dynamic creative optimization across web, search, DOOH, social, CTV, and audio to “Elevate with Perion.” Product innovation: Launched Sort 2.0 for privacy-focused AI audience segmentation on web and CTV, and Wave dynamic audio technology with multi-language capabilities. Financial results: Q1 revenue rose 9% to €157.8 million, while adjusted EBITDA fell 35% to €20.3 million and GAAP net income declined 51%, yet net cash increased to €479.7 million and a €75 million share buyback was authorized. AI Generated. May Contain Errors.Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallPerion Network Q1 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xThere are 14 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Hello, everybody, Speaker 100:00:00and welcome to the Perion Network's Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. The press release detailing the financial results is available on the company's website at www.terion.com. Before we begin, I would like to read the following Safe Harbor statement. Today's discussion includes forward looking statements. Speaker 100:00:19These statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events. These forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those discussed under the heading Risk Factors and elsewhere in the company's annual report on Form 20F that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different and any future results, performance or achievements anticipated or implied by these forward looking statements. The company does not undertake to update any forward looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. As in prior quarters, the results reported today will be analyzed both on a GAAP and a non GAAP basis. While to their comparable GAAP measures in our earnings release, which is available on our website and has also been filed on form 6 ks. Speaker 100:01:14Hosting the call today are Tal Jacobsen, Perion's Chief Executive Officer and Myles Siglone, Perion's Chief Financial Officer. I would now like to turn the call over to Tal Jacobsen. Please go ahead. Operator00:01:25Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. With me today at our New York office are HiveStack General Manager, Andreas Suppliolis, who leads our out of home advertising technologies and our Chief Product Officer, Kenny Lau, who leads our advertising solutions. Our CFO, Maroz Sighon, is joining us from our Israeli office. Today, we face our challenges heads on, with a determined spirit to navigate forward. Operator00:01:58As we previously announced, the Q1 of 2024 presented specific challenges. Notably, a decline in our search advertising activity that began during the Q1 and will be mostly reflected from our Q2. This is largely due to recent changes in advertising pricing and mechanisms by Microsoft Bing. These changes led to reduction in revenue per 1,000 searches for both Perion and other Microsoft Bing distribution partners. Let's take a deeper look into what this means for us. Operator00:02:40Perron has been working with Microsoft on a revenue share model. This model did not change, yet both Microsoft and Perion earned a revenue based on how much Microsoft charges their advertisers. This is where the changes were made. It is common for major tech companies such as Microsoft to periodically adjust their pricing strategies. Microsoft's advertising pricing and mechanism changes do not affect our contract. Operator00:03:14You'll notice that despite our announcement about the changes that Microsoft made, our search activity actually grew 26% year over year in Q1. Again, we expect the changes to mostly affect us from Q2 forward, and our new guidance reflects that. We believe that our relationship with Microsoft remains strong, with ongoing collaboration between our teams. This event didn't change Perion's execution abilities and future possibilities. Now let's move to talk about the future. Operator00:03:51I'm excited to present the next phase of Perion's evolution, an advertiser centric universe with technologies that power brand presence across the entire consumer journey. The Perion universe is built to connect advertisers with their target audience throughout the entire day, online and in the physical world, such as in store advertising. We harness the power of dynamic creative optimization to generate demand. We use our technologies in web and search supply, in digital out of home, in social, connected TV, and in audio ads. All our technologies are leveraged to create an harmonious blend of consumer engagement. Operator00:04:40This new chapter of Perion is wrapped in a fresh brand identity. Our new brand reflects our evolution as a company. At Perion, we architect AI Power Technology solutions to anticipate consumer behavior and adjust to it. Our AI solutions are designed to help brands and advertisers elevate their strategies and seize every advertising moment. Our new slogan, Elevate with Perion, embodies our commitment to advertisers to stay ahead of the curve. Operator00:05:17Our objective is to ensure that wherever their audiences are in their journey, Perion is there to elevate their brand and outcome. As Perion keeps evolving, we add more technologies and solutions to our universe, either by acquisitions or through our in house talented R and D teams. Later, you will hear from our Chief Product Officer for Advertising Solutions about the new innovations we have lined up. While we at Perion have many growth engines, we are highlighting for you the fastest growing drivers in each quarter. We've seen significant growth across the key areas. Operator00:06:04Retail media solution grew by 134%. Our CTV advertising surged 108 percent. And our programmatic digital out of home advertising increased by 25% on a pro form a basis. A basis. These engines are pivotal in our growth path. Operator00:06:22Within retail, we replicated the the success that we had with large retailers and grocers in the food and beverage industry. In the Q1, for example, our technology significantly enhanced the top U. S. Beer brand with a cross channel campaign. We use advanced AI driven dynamic mapping and high impact advertising units to achieve a 14% sales lift. Operator00:06:50And we generated nearly $500,000 in incremental in store sales. This approach leveraged real time data, such as sporting events, to optimize ad delivery that create more foot traffic to multiple retail locations. It's important to highlight the strength that HiveStack brought to our Retail Media solutions. As you can see, the impressive 100 and 34% year over year growth of our retail media solutions was fueled by both our organic and our new digital out of home advertising solutions. We believe that digital out of home will increasingly support the growth of our retail media solutions going forward. Operator00:07:38Within CTV advertising that enjoyed a remarkable 108% growth, This quarter, the most popular features among our customers were live and dynamic CTV, branded CTV, and pause ads. Here's an example of a live CTV ad that we ran for STLouder that was part of an international cross screen campaign. Speaker 200:08:04There was just no one around him. He stops to throw and blows his knee. Buckeyes have it back. I grew up on game day. It's been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. Speaker 200:08:17Now I'm passing my love of the game to my 4 little girls. There's more than one way to get game day ready, from early morning wake up calls to kickoffs after dark. I need my look to last all day. I need my skin glowing whether I'm in the stands or the studio Because as fans, we love this game. I believe every fan and every shade has a story. Speaker 200:08:39What's yours? Speaker 300:08:42Into that Speaker 200:08:46Notre Dame game for 3 weeks. What is it? 3 weeks? Operator00:08:46This specific campaign shows that the consumers' journey constantly changes, with the current trend of cosmetic companies advertising during football events. Within digital out of home advertising, we achieved a remarkable 25% year over year growth. This success demonstrates the strategic value of our recent acquisition of HiveStack. This acquisition unlocks revenue potential, especially retail media revenue, from retailers that leverage programmatic digital out of home advertising technology to attract consumers to their stores. To elaborate on our digital out of home advertising activity and success, I'll hand it over to Andres, the founder and general manager of HiveStack, who's leading our out of home advertising activities. Speaker 400:09:42Thank you, Tal. Out of home advertising is the oldest traditional media channel undergoing a massive renaissance that is being helped by advanced technology. As digital screens replace printed signs and programmatic technology eventually complements direct sales, the stage is set for a massive upside for the rise of programmatic digital out of home. A recent e marketer study in the United States suggests that 30% of all digital out of home advertising transactions will be programmatic by 2025, while 70% will be non programmatic. That's an awesome growth story for programmatic digital out of home, when we observe that it represented only 3% in 2019. Speaker 400:10:33This represents a whopping 969% growth over 6 years, and it's not stopping. Extrapolating this trend line could suggest that programmatic digital out of home is on track to represent about 50% of all digital out of home transactions in 5 years. From a marketer's perspective, this growth is driven by technological advances afforded by programmatic digital out of home on how to reach precise audiences at scale through compelling digital experiences. Purion's HiveStack advanced technology sits at the epicenter of this massive growth story and is used by marketers globally to drive business outcomes at all stages in the consumer sales funnel. Retailers, in particular, are taking advantage of programmatic digital out of home technology to drive consumers into their retail stores, which is now part of Purion's retail media solution universe. Speaker 400:11:36Let's look at our real life case study of how an awesome Canadian brand, Lululemon, used Purion's HypeStack platform and their agency, Zenith, to drive in store visitation to their retail stores. Speaker 500:11:51Lululemon was looking to drive brand awareness and increase in store traffic in key cities across Germany. A strategy was developed to promote 2 products, the Lululemon shorts and the performance leggings. The shorts campaign used custom audience and location targeting to drive impactful reach and engagement with core lululemon buyers through outdoor screens in relevant environments. Screens along marathon event routes in Munich and Berlin were used to promote performance leggings to audiences when receptivity would be at an all time high. Thanks to its ability to optimize the campaigns in real time, Lululemon continued to run ads throughout the year via the HiveStack platform. Speaker 500:12:37The campaign exceeded core objectives resulting in over 4,000 walk ins. A brand LiveStudy also recorded a 640 increase in brand image, a 208% increase in interest, and a 314% increase in football traffic, showing programmatic digital out of home's ability to make all the right moves. Speaker 400:13:07As you can see, we have become a key part of Lululemon's toolbox to drive in store visitation. And the measurement data proves that digital out of home drives results. I want to thank Tal and Purion for adding HiveStack's advanced technology and our amazing team to the Purion universe. The best is yet to come for programmatic digital out of home, And Perion's HiveStack is a global leader in this space and sits at the epicenter of it all. Operator00:13:38Thank you, Andreas. Exciting time indeed. And now, our Chief Product Officer of our Advertising Solutions, Kenny Lau, will present 2 of our new and exciting innovations. Speaker 600:13:52Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I'd like to share some of the exciting things we are developing internally to equip our customers with the most comprehensive set of products and solution in the ever evolving digital advertising space. As we prepare for Cockelet's future, we seek to prioritize user privacy while enhancing accuracy in targeting. And we've been doing so with Sort, our AI based audience segmentation technology for our high impact and video advertising campaigns. Now this award winning technology is getting a major upgrade, Sword 2.0, which has more capabilities for web, but even more exciting, it is now also for CTV, one of the fastest growing areas in digital advertising. Speaker 600:14:36What does that mean for advertisers and brands? So 2.0 technology offers privacy focused targeting, ensuring that your brand connects with the most receptive audiences for your message, regardless of their browser or device preferences. SOAR analyzes non personal identifiable information signals at the moment someone lands in our network, and then immediately classifies them into the most likely intent group. This allows us to serve the most relevant ad, maximizing engagement and return Speaker 200:15:11on investment. Speaker 600:15:15It is not just about reaching more viewers, it's about reaching the right audiences with position while respecting their privacy. Alongside our proprietary solution Sort, we have developed Wave, our AI based dynamic audio technology to bring unparalleled position to audio ads. We are proud of the progress our Wave audio ads technology has made, delivering personalized audio experiences that drive engagement and sales. This quarter, we expanded Wave's reach into new verticals, including CPG, quick service restaurant and travel. Moreover, we are thrilled to announce the launch of Wave's multi language capabilities, signed with Spanish. Speaker 600:15:54Let's listen to a sample for super shoes. And remember, this is not a real person. It's all generative AI. And you wouldn't know the difference. Operator00:16:31Super Shoes. Thank you, Kenny. It's always a pleasure to see our AI team producing groundbreaking products for our customers. Now, I'm proud to share our recent industry recognition and certifications. Perion has been granted 2 tax certifications for 2020 4, symbolizing our unwavering commitment to integrity and quality in the digital advertising space. Operator00:17:02These awards and industry recognitions reflect our team's hard work and our commitment to excellence. They are proof of what Perion is capable of achieving. Thank you once again for joining us today. We're excited about the future and invite all of you to continue with us on this promising journey. And now, our CFO, Mao Tigron, will present the financial results for Q1. Speaker 700:17:32Thank you, Tal. Good afternoon and good morning to those of you joining us from the U. S. As Tal mentioned, the Q1 was a challenging one. We experienced a decline in search advertising activity that is attributed to changes in advertising prices and new that Microsoft being implemented in its search distribution marketplace. Speaker 700:17:59These changes in pricing strategies affected all Microsoft distribution partners. Our relationship with Microsoft remains strong. As a result of Microsoft changes and to a limited extent, a reduction in video activity will reduce the 2024 full year guidance in our announcement on April 8. We at Perion have a history of meeting challenges. We are resilient and agile. Speaker 700:18:25We continuously focus on enhancing our growth engines, which include retail media, CTV and digital out of home. Thanks to Perion's assets, technology, know how and expertise along with our core growth engines, I am confident that our team will take Perion to the next successful growth chapter. Moving to the Q1 main financial highlights. Revenue increased by 9% year over year to 157,800,000 euros Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 35% year over year to €20,300,000 resulting in a 13% adjusted EBITDA margin and 34% ex TAC margin. GAAP net income decreased by 51% to 11,800,000 Cash flow from operations decreased by 61 percent to €6,900,000 Net cash slightly increased over the previous quarter to €479,700,000 Revenue for the Q1 was €157,800,000 an increase of 9% year over year. Speaker 700:19:33This growth was achieved despite a 52% decrease in video and is the result of our ability to execute our diversification strategy. While Search advertising grew by 26% year over year, we expect revenue to decline next quarter due to the changes to Microsoft Bank pricing strategies as we discussed earlier. Revenue from advertising solutions decreased by 5% year over year to €75,800,000 and accounted for 48% of total revenue. The year over year decrease in revenue was a result of a continuous decline in video revenue and was partially offset by significant year over year increase of our growth engines. Our CTV business grew by 108% year over year to €8,200,000 representing 11% of advertising solutions revenue compared with 5% last year and was driven by strong customers' adoption of our impact CTV solutions. Speaker 700:20:33Digital out of form grew by 25 percent year over year on a pro form a basis to 9,700,000. We are also happy with the consistent growth delivered by our Retail Media vertical, which grew by 134% year over year to $14,900,000 accounted for 20% of advertising solutions revenue, compared with 8% in the same period last year. These results were driven by new customers and increased spending of existing customers, aided by the positive progress we are making to introduce new products and new technology. Revenue from Search Advertising increased by 26% year over year in the Q1 to 82,000,000. During the quarter, average daily searches increased by 20% over the same period last year and the number of publishers grew by 8% year over year. Speaker 700:21:28While having a relatively minor impact on revenue in the Q1, we expect the changes recently instituted by Microsoft Bing to significantly impact search advertising revenue in the Q2 and throughout 2024. Contribution excluding TAC to revenue was 38% compared with 45% in the Q1 last year, mostly due to shifts in product mix and higher revenue share for some of our search publishers in the Q1 of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 35% year over year to €20,300,000 or 13% of revenue from 22% in the Q1 of 2023 80% in the Q1 of 2022. The decrease in adjusted EBITDA was mainly a result of the reduction in search advertising activity during the quarter and higher operation expenses following the integration of Ice Tech. Adjusted EBITDA to contribution ex TAC decreased to 34% compared with 84% in the Q1 of 2023 42% in the Q1 of 2022. Speaker 700:22:36On a GAAP basis, 1st quarter net income decreased by 51% to 11,800,000 or €0.24 diluted share compared with €23,800,000 or 0.48¢ per diluted share in the Q1 of 2023. On a non GAAP basis, net income decreased by 25 percent to $22,600,000 or $0.44 per diluted share for the Q1, compared with €29,900,000 or €0.60 per diluted share last year. Operating cash flow for the Q1 was €6,900,000 compared with 17,800,000 in the same period last year. The decrease in operating cash flow was mainly attributed to the reduction in search advertising activity and one time working capital needs for the Ice Tech operations. We are proud of our consistent ability to generate positive cash flow and to increase our net cash position despite the challenges we are facing. Speaker 700:23:34As of March 31, 2024, net cash, including cash, cash equivalents, short term deposits and marketable securities was €479,700,000 up from €472,700,000 at the end of the Q4 of 2023. The increase in cash and cash equivalents was the result of the positive operating cash flow generated in the quarter. Consistent with our previous announcement, we are confident that Perion's diversified and holistic solutions will expand our opportunities to better serve our customers. We are reiterating our full year 2024 guidance that we provided on April 8, adding guidance to the Q2 of 2024 as well. This concludes my financial overview And now we'll open the line for questions. Speaker 800:24:29Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. Our first question today is coming from Max Michalis from Lake Street Capital. Your line is now live. Speaker 900:25:07Hey guys, thanks for taking my questions. First one for me. If we look at video revenue, I think it was down 33% last quarter and then down 52% here in Q1. And where internally, where did you guys expected that to end up? And then I guess going forward, what is your expectations for the year just for video revenue? Speaker 900:25:27And then I guess you can tie in a macro question with that as well. Have you seen any improvement in the macro here maybe in the second quarter? Operator00:25:36Yes. Mohitman, do you want to take this? Speaker 1000:25:39Yes, of course. Thank you for the question. As we said, the headwinds of the video is expected to end in the Q2 this year. So we're expecting to move to a normal growth on Q3. So we have another quarter of a negative comparison between 2024 to 23, and we're expecting H2 to move to be a positive one. Speaker 1000:26:06We are moving with the market. As we said historically, there is a reason why the video is moving down. The idea here is optimization and we believe that this impact will end at the end of this quarter or the second quarter. Speaker 900:26:29Okay. Thanks guys. And then my last question here. I know you guys increased the buyback authorization last quarter. Are you guys active at all in Q1 or have you been since the announcement? Speaker 1000:26:43So the buyback is yet in process. As we said, 1st, the 20 F5. So now we don't have any problem and we can move on with the plan. But as we need to file the plan when we are open and we are not in the blackout period, which is going to be this weekend. So next week we are going to file a plan which will execute 2 weeks later. Speaker 1000:27:10So we're expecting this plan to start at the end of May and we are going immediately to start the buyback plan in the quarter already. I believe that when we'll get to the end of the quarter and we will share the result, you will see already the buyback take place in our balance sheet. Speaker 800:27:39Thank you. Next question today is coming from Jason Helfstein from Oppenheimer. Your line is now live. Speaker 100:27:46Hi. Speaker 1100:27:47This is Steve Roman on for Jason. So just first on Sort 2, was just wondering if you've broadly launched that to all of your CTV advertisers or whatever percentage. And then wondering if you can give any metrics in terms of who how many advertisers are using it, etcetera. And then secondly, on Hive Stack growth, you guys posted 25% pro form a. I'm just wondering if this is in line or exceeding your expectations? Speaker 1100:28:17And what do you think on the full year in terms of digital adiform? Thank you. Operator00:28:21Right. So let's start on the Sword 2.0. We are just launching it now. So this is getting shipped out today. So obviously, we don't have the results yet. Operator00:28:35But the big news here is it got a major upgrade with all the new technologies for the new formats of Qukulase and obviously the audience segmentation for CTP, which is huge. Once it's out and we're going to have more metrics, we'll be happy to share that. What was that one? Speaker 1000:28:59The second question was Dan, I can take it. It was about IFSAC. So yes, this is really exciting quarter. This is the first time we have IFESTech in full and this is definitely aligned with our expectation as we shared with the KPIs. They are in the ending quarter with 25% year over year growth, which is very much aligned with our expectation. Speaker 1000:29:23We're expecting to end the year with more or less our original model. No dramatic change, this is Q1 and we're expecting more to come in the next quarters. Speaker 800:29:38Thank you. Next question today is coming from Mark Kelley from Stifel. Your line is now live. Speaker 300:29:44Great. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. First question, just on cookie deprecation getting pushed out again to 25 on Chrome, does that provide, I guess, a little bit of cushion in the back half of this year or especially for the non search business or is that not the right way to think about it? And second one, just going back to HiveStack. Speaker 300:30:09A few weeks ago, we saw that Lamar chose Vistar to power their digital billboards. I'm just curious, how does your tech back up relative to Vistar? Maybe they were looking for something that the high stack suite of products didn't offer. I guess what's the right way to think about that? And were you a part of that RFP process? Speaker 300:30:31Thank you. Operator00:30:33Yeah. Well, thank you very much for the question. So, cookieless. Yeah, I think the fact that Google keeps pushing this back for me it's not a surprise but you know we were ready for the calculus era 2 years ago and now as time goes by more and more technologies are coming out to address that. So we want to make sure that we're ready for that whenever my Google finally decide to do that. Operator00:31:04So we're going to be perfectly ready and we are perfectly ready now. Now in terms of Vistar, you know, for everything we've been hearing from our clients, high stack is the most advanced solutions out there. This is what we're hearing, this is what we believe. And obviously, Vistar's, those guys are great. We know them very well. Operator00:31:30They're a competitor. So they're getting some deals. We're getting some deals. This is just the nature of the business, but our technology is from everything we know it's the most advanced technology out there. Speaker 800:31:48Okay. Thank you very much. Operator00:31:49Thank you. Speaker 800:31:56Our next question is coming from Laura Martin from Needham and Company. Your line is now live. Speaker 1200:32:01Good morning. Good morning. Just thinking about the overall context of the demand from a vertical point of view, Are you can you talk about what you're seeing in the marketplace right now, please? Operator00:32:17From the vertical point of view? Speaker 1200:32:20Yes, strong verticals. Operator00:32:22Yes. Most do you have that vertical? Speaker 1000:32:26Of course. Yes, I can take that. Thank you, Laura, and good morning. So, you know, hi, Laura. So the same trend, as you say, I can say from the financial from the perspective, the retail is, let's say, very strong. Speaker 1000:32:41Consumer goods as well, Travel is strong, Healthcare and Auto is strong. These are the areas that are more dominant in Q1. Speaker 1200:32:55Okay. That's interesting because that's exactly the opposite of what Doubleverify said yesterday. So that's super interesting. Okay. And when you think about you sorry, go ahead. Speaker 1000:33:06No, I agree. It's interesting that this is different from what other reporting, but this is the nature of this business. Speaker 1200:33:15Yes. And then in terms of your expense growth, G and A was sort of much higher than we thought, but sales and marketing was much lower than what we thought. So could you talk about that sort of reallocation of resources between the cost lines, why money is moving towards G and A and away from sales and marketing, please? Speaker 1000:33:38This is more related to the GAAP numbers and less to the non GAAP. There are some stock based compensation adjustment that we did in the quarter that are part of the GAAP. The non GAAP is very normal and with our trends. This is more accounting changes that we did in the SBC during the quarter and not more than that. Speaker 1200:34:03Okay. Super helpful. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 800:34:07Thank you. Our next question today is coming from Jeff Martin from Roth Speaker 200:34:12M. Cam. Your line is now live. Speaker 1300:34:13Thanks. Good morning, guys. Wanted to touch on search a little bit more. What specifically is the mechanism that changed at Bing and how has that affected your publisher count in Q2? Operator00:34:25Right. So Microsoft changed the mechanism of pricing for the distribution channels right And the way the reason it affected our publishers is at the end of the day it all needs to make economic sense for them. I mean, they have other options, right? They can switch between vendors, they can do whatever they want And this is exactly what happened. Does that give you the answer? Speaker 1300:34:59Publisher what yes, sure. What's the publisher count changed so far in Q2? Operator00:35:05So we cannot disclose Q2 numbers yet, but we did disclose that although the average was high, we actually saw growth. We towards the end of the quarter, we actually saw a decline. So again, numbers of Q2 are going to be reported in 3 months from now. But let me just add one more thing. But it's important to say that the guidance that we gave already took that into consideration, right? Operator00:35:48So this is already what you see in front of you in terms of guidance. Speaker 800:35:58Okay. Speaker 1300:35:59And then in terms of capital allocation, you've got the 75 $1,000,000 authorized for repurchase. Has there been activity in the past month or so since you made the pre release announcement? And then what's the potential to up that materially over time? Do you plan to be aggressive in buying back shares? Speaker 1000:36:22So as we said, buyback plan is not yet started. We're expecting to start in more or less 2 weeks you know, from now. This is part of regulations and other requirements that we have. First is the filing of the 20 F and second is the period that we need to wait after we're filing the plan, but we're expecting to execute the plan this quarter and we are running with a €75,000,000 plan and this is very much in line with what we said a few weeks ago. On the preliminary from M and A. Speaker 1000:36:57You know, we have the same plan, same structure. We know what we are looking for and once we get the right opportunity, we will do that. This is very much aligned with our high level view on the cash that we have so far. One is the buyback, which already announced and second, of course, is the M and A effort, which is of course relevant to what we're expecting to do next with the cash. Speaker 1300:37:27Thank you. Operator00:37:28Let me just I just get an answer for my team about the previous question. Why Vistar got the deal with Lamar? So it turns out that Lamar actually owns part of Vistar. So there was no RFP there. That was just part of the ownership. Speaker 800:37:50Thank you. We've reached the end of our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to management for any further or closing comments. Operator00:37:58Thank you. Thank you everyone for joining us today and thank you for being part of our journey. Even though we saw a big change lately, we are confident in our future. We're investing in technology, we're investing in our clients and we have all the resources needed to succeed. So thank you again and I hope to see you again in our next earnings call. Operator00:38:25Thank you. Speaker 800:38:28Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.Read morePowered by Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K) Perion Network Earnings HeadlinesPerion Network Ltd (NASDAQ:PERI) Receives $12.38 Average Price Target from AnalystsJuly 31 at 2:27 AM | americanbankingnews.comPerion to Announce Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results and Progress on the Perion One StrategyJuly 10, 2025 | finance.yahoo.comToo busy to trade? Good.Too busy to trade? That might be your edge. This after-hours strategy is built for people who don’t sit at screens all day. Just enter near the close, exit the next morning—and move on. Some trades have hit 200%+ overnight.August 2 at 2:00 AM | Timothy Sykes (Ad)Perion Network Ltd. Annual Income Statement - MarketWatchJuly 9, 2025 | marketwatch.comPerion Network: 2025 Is A Transformative Year, But Stock Is Not That CheapJune 28, 2025 | seekingalpha.comPERI - Perion Network Ltd Financials - MorningstarJune 27, 2025 | morningstar.comMSee More Perion Network Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Perion Network? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Perion Network and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Perion NetworkPerion Network (NASDAQ:PERI). provides digital advertising solutions to brands, agencies, and publishers in North America, Europe, and internationally. It offers Wildfire, a content monetization platform; search monetization solutions, including website monetization, search mediation, and app monetization; and cross-channel digital advertising software as a service platform. The company also provides supply management platform; demand management platform for campaign planning and design; analytics platform, which provides information and performance insights; creative platform, a robust media platform; and an AI platform that uses machine learning to bring intelligence to the various phases of campaigns. In addition, it offers an actionable performance monitoring platform to support the various phases of campaign management; an online video player and integrated ad server to upload, manage, and stream video content; content monetization system, which integrates ads within the content layouts at the page level. Further, the company provides a publisher management system that provides analytics and performance optimization tools, as well as reports; search-demand management systems; monetization products that integrate and onboards demand vendors; and AI Systems. Additionally, it offers Intelligent HUB (iHUB), which connects the supply and demand sides of the marketplace; and strategic optimization of relevant traits (SORT), a provisional patent technology that eliminates the need for cookies. The company was formerly known as IncrediMail Ltd. and changed its name to Perion Network Ltd. in November 2011. Perion Network Ltd. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Holon, Israel.View Perion Network ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Amazon's Earnings: What Comes Next and How to Play ItApple Stock: Big Earnings, Small Move—Time to Buy?Microsoft Blasts Past Earnings—What’s Next for MSFT?Visa Beats Q3 Earnings Expectations, So Why Did the Market Panic?Spotify's Q2 Earnings Plunge: An Opportunity or Ominous Signal?RCL Stock Sinks After Earnings—Is a Buying Opportunity Ahead?Amazon's Pre-Earnings Setup Is Almost Too Clean—Red Flag? 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There are 14 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Hello, everybody, Speaker 100:00:00and welcome to the Perion Network's Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. The press release detailing the financial results is available on the company's website at www.terion.com. Before we begin, I would like to read the following Safe Harbor statement. Today's discussion includes forward looking statements. Speaker 100:00:19These statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events. These forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those discussed under the heading Risk Factors and elsewhere in the company's annual report on Form 20F that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different and any future results, performance or achievements anticipated or implied by these forward looking statements. The company does not undertake to update any forward looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. As in prior quarters, the results reported today will be analyzed both on a GAAP and a non GAAP basis. While to their comparable GAAP measures in our earnings release, which is available on our website and has also been filed on form 6 ks. Speaker 100:01:14Hosting the call today are Tal Jacobsen, Perion's Chief Executive Officer and Myles Siglone, Perion's Chief Financial Officer. I would now like to turn the call over to Tal Jacobsen. Please go ahead. Operator00:01:25Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. With me today at our New York office are HiveStack General Manager, Andreas Suppliolis, who leads our out of home advertising technologies and our Chief Product Officer, Kenny Lau, who leads our advertising solutions. Our CFO, Maroz Sighon, is joining us from our Israeli office. Today, we face our challenges heads on, with a determined spirit to navigate forward. Operator00:01:58As we previously announced, the Q1 of 2024 presented specific challenges. Notably, a decline in our search advertising activity that began during the Q1 and will be mostly reflected from our Q2. This is largely due to recent changes in advertising pricing and mechanisms by Microsoft Bing. These changes led to reduction in revenue per 1,000 searches for both Perion and other Microsoft Bing distribution partners. Let's take a deeper look into what this means for us. Operator00:02:40Perron has been working with Microsoft on a revenue share model. This model did not change, yet both Microsoft and Perion earned a revenue based on how much Microsoft charges their advertisers. This is where the changes were made. It is common for major tech companies such as Microsoft to periodically adjust their pricing strategies. Microsoft's advertising pricing and mechanism changes do not affect our contract. Operator00:03:14You'll notice that despite our announcement about the changes that Microsoft made, our search activity actually grew 26% year over year in Q1. Again, we expect the changes to mostly affect us from Q2 forward, and our new guidance reflects that. We believe that our relationship with Microsoft remains strong, with ongoing collaboration between our teams. This event didn't change Perion's execution abilities and future possibilities. Now let's move to talk about the future. Operator00:03:51I'm excited to present the next phase of Perion's evolution, an advertiser centric universe with technologies that power brand presence across the entire consumer journey. The Perion universe is built to connect advertisers with their target audience throughout the entire day, online and in the physical world, such as in store advertising. We harness the power of dynamic creative optimization to generate demand. We use our technologies in web and search supply, in digital out of home, in social, connected TV, and in audio ads. All our technologies are leveraged to create an harmonious blend of consumer engagement. Operator00:04:40This new chapter of Perion is wrapped in a fresh brand identity. Our new brand reflects our evolution as a company. At Perion, we architect AI Power Technology solutions to anticipate consumer behavior and adjust to it. Our AI solutions are designed to help brands and advertisers elevate their strategies and seize every advertising moment. Our new slogan, Elevate with Perion, embodies our commitment to advertisers to stay ahead of the curve. Operator00:05:17Our objective is to ensure that wherever their audiences are in their journey, Perion is there to elevate their brand and outcome. As Perion keeps evolving, we add more technologies and solutions to our universe, either by acquisitions or through our in house talented R and D teams. Later, you will hear from our Chief Product Officer for Advertising Solutions about the new innovations we have lined up. While we at Perion have many growth engines, we are highlighting for you the fastest growing drivers in each quarter. We've seen significant growth across the key areas. Operator00:06:04Retail media solution grew by 134%. Our CTV advertising surged 108 percent. And our programmatic digital out of home advertising increased by 25% on a pro form a basis. A basis. These engines are pivotal in our growth path. Operator00:06:22Within retail, we replicated the the success that we had with large retailers and grocers in the food and beverage industry. In the Q1, for example, our technology significantly enhanced the top U. S. Beer brand with a cross channel campaign. We use advanced AI driven dynamic mapping and high impact advertising units to achieve a 14% sales lift. Operator00:06:50And we generated nearly $500,000 in incremental in store sales. This approach leveraged real time data, such as sporting events, to optimize ad delivery that create more foot traffic to multiple retail locations. It's important to highlight the strength that HiveStack brought to our Retail Media solutions. As you can see, the impressive 100 and 34% year over year growth of our retail media solutions was fueled by both our organic and our new digital out of home advertising solutions. We believe that digital out of home will increasingly support the growth of our retail media solutions going forward. Operator00:07:38Within CTV advertising that enjoyed a remarkable 108% growth, This quarter, the most popular features among our customers were live and dynamic CTV, branded CTV, and pause ads. Here's an example of a live CTV ad that we ran for STLouder that was part of an international cross screen campaign. Speaker 200:08:04There was just no one around him. He stops to throw and blows his knee. Buckeyes have it back. I grew up on game day. It's been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. Speaker 200:08:17Now I'm passing my love of the game to my 4 little girls. There's more than one way to get game day ready, from early morning wake up calls to kickoffs after dark. I need my look to last all day. I need my skin glowing whether I'm in the stands or the studio Because as fans, we love this game. I believe every fan and every shade has a story. Speaker 200:08:39What's yours? Speaker 300:08:42Into that Speaker 200:08:46Notre Dame game for 3 weeks. What is it? 3 weeks? Operator00:08:46This specific campaign shows that the consumers' journey constantly changes, with the current trend of cosmetic companies advertising during football events. Within digital out of home advertising, we achieved a remarkable 25% year over year growth. This success demonstrates the strategic value of our recent acquisition of HiveStack. This acquisition unlocks revenue potential, especially retail media revenue, from retailers that leverage programmatic digital out of home advertising technology to attract consumers to their stores. To elaborate on our digital out of home advertising activity and success, I'll hand it over to Andres, the founder and general manager of HiveStack, who's leading our out of home advertising activities. Speaker 400:09:42Thank you, Tal. Out of home advertising is the oldest traditional media channel undergoing a massive renaissance that is being helped by advanced technology. As digital screens replace printed signs and programmatic technology eventually complements direct sales, the stage is set for a massive upside for the rise of programmatic digital out of home. A recent e marketer study in the United States suggests that 30% of all digital out of home advertising transactions will be programmatic by 2025, while 70% will be non programmatic. That's an awesome growth story for programmatic digital out of home, when we observe that it represented only 3% in 2019. Speaker 400:10:33This represents a whopping 969% growth over 6 years, and it's not stopping. Extrapolating this trend line could suggest that programmatic digital out of home is on track to represent about 50% of all digital out of home transactions in 5 years. From a marketer's perspective, this growth is driven by technological advances afforded by programmatic digital out of home on how to reach precise audiences at scale through compelling digital experiences. Purion's HiveStack advanced technology sits at the epicenter of this massive growth story and is used by marketers globally to drive business outcomes at all stages in the consumer sales funnel. Retailers, in particular, are taking advantage of programmatic digital out of home technology to drive consumers into their retail stores, which is now part of Purion's retail media solution universe. Speaker 400:11:36Let's look at our real life case study of how an awesome Canadian brand, Lululemon, used Purion's HypeStack platform and their agency, Zenith, to drive in store visitation to their retail stores. Speaker 500:11:51Lululemon was looking to drive brand awareness and increase in store traffic in key cities across Germany. A strategy was developed to promote 2 products, the Lululemon shorts and the performance leggings. The shorts campaign used custom audience and location targeting to drive impactful reach and engagement with core lululemon buyers through outdoor screens in relevant environments. Screens along marathon event routes in Munich and Berlin were used to promote performance leggings to audiences when receptivity would be at an all time high. Thanks to its ability to optimize the campaigns in real time, Lululemon continued to run ads throughout the year via the HiveStack platform. Speaker 500:12:37The campaign exceeded core objectives resulting in over 4,000 walk ins. A brand LiveStudy also recorded a 640 increase in brand image, a 208% increase in interest, and a 314% increase in football traffic, showing programmatic digital out of home's ability to make all the right moves. Speaker 400:13:07As you can see, we have become a key part of Lululemon's toolbox to drive in store visitation. And the measurement data proves that digital out of home drives results. I want to thank Tal and Purion for adding HiveStack's advanced technology and our amazing team to the Purion universe. The best is yet to come for programmatic digital out of home, And Perion's HiveStack is a global leader in this space and sits at the epicenter of it all. Operator00:13:38Thank you, Andreas. Exciting time indeed. And now, our Chief Product Officer of our Advertising Solutions, Kenny Lau, will present 2 of our new and exciting innovations. Speaker 600:13:52Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I'd like to share some of the exciting things we are developing internally to equip our customers with the most comprehensive set of products and solution in the ever evolving digital advertising space. As we prepare for Cockelet's future, we seek to prioritize user privacy while enhancing accuracy in targeting. And we've been doing so with Sort, our AI based audience segmentation technology for our high impact and video advertising campaigns. Now this award winning technology is getting a major upgrade, Sword 2.0, which has more capabilities for web, but even more exciting, it is now also for CTV, one of the fastest growing areas in digital advertising. Speaker 600:14:36What does that mean for advertisers and brands? So 2.0 technology offers privacy focused targeting, ensuring that your brand connects with the most receptive audiences for your message, regardless of their browser or device preferences. SOAR analyzes non personal identifiable information signals at the moment someone lands in our network, and then immediately classifies them into the most likely intent group. This allows us to serve the most relevant ad, maximizing engagement and return Speaker 200:15:11on investment. Speaker 600:15:15It is not just about reaching more viewers, it's about reaching the right audiences with position while respecting their privacy. Alongside our proprietary solution Sort, we have developed Wave, our AI based dynamic audio technology to bring unparalleled position to audio ads. We are proud of the progress our Wave audio ads technology has made, delivering personalized audio experiences that drive engagement and sales. This quarter, we expanded Wave's reach into new verticals, including CPG, quick service restaurant and travel. Moreover, we are thrilled to announce the launch of Wave's multi language capabilities, signed with Spanish. Speaker 600:15:54Let's listen to a sample for super shoes. And remember, this is not a real person. It's all generative AI. And you wouldn't know the difference. Operator00:16:31Super Shoes. Thank you, Kenny. It's always a pleasure to see our AI team producing groundbreaking products for our customers. Now, I'm proud to share our recent industry recognition and certifications. Perion has been granted 2 tax certifications for 2020 4, symbolizing our unwavering commitment to integrity and quality in the digital advertising space. Operator00:17:02These awards and industry recognitions reflect our team's hard work and our commitment to excellence. They are proof of what Perion is capable of achieving. Thank you once again for joining us today. We're excited about the future and invite all of you to continue with us on this promising journey. And now, our CFO, Mao Tigron, will present the financial results for Q1. Speaker 700:17:32Thank you, Tal. Good afternoon and good morning to those of you joining us from the U. S. As Tal mentioned, the Q1 was a challenging one. We experienced a decline in search advertising activity that is attributed to changes in advertising prices and new that Microsoft being implemented in its search distribution marketplace. Speaker 700:17:59These changes in pricing strategies affected all Microsoft distribution partners. Our relationship with Microsoft remains strong. As a result of Microsoft changes and to a limited extent, a reduction in video activity will reduce the 2024 full year guidance in our announcement on April 8. We at Perion have a history of meeting challenges. We are resilient and agile. Speaker 700:18:25We continuously focus on enhancing our growth engines, which include retail media, CTV and digital out of home. Thanks to Perion's assets, technology, know how and expertise along with our core growth engines, I am confident that our team will take Perion to the next successful growth chapter. Moving to the Q1 main financial highlights. Revenue increased by 9% year over year to 157,800,000 euros Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 35% year over year to €20,300,000 resulting in a 13% adjusted EBITDA margin and 34% ex TAC margin. GAAP net income decreased by 51% to 11,800,000 Cash flow from operations decreased by 61 percent to €6,900,000 Net cash slightly increased over the previous quarter to €479,700,000 Revenue for the Q1 was €157,800,000 an increase of 9% year over year. Speaker 700:19:33This growth was achieved despite a 52% decrease in video and is the result of our ability to execute our diversification strategy. While Search advertising grew by 26% year over year, we expect revenue to decline next quarter due to the changes to Microsoft Bank pricing strategies as we discussed earlier. Revenue from advertising solutions decreased by 5% year over year to €75,800,000 and accounted for 48% of total revenue. The year over year decrease in revenue was a result of a continuous decline in video revenue and was partially offset by significant year over year increase of our growth engines. Our CTV business grew by 108% year over year to €8,200,000 representing 11% of advertising solutions revenue compared with 5% last year and was driven by strong customers' adoption of our impact CTV solutions. Speaker 700:20:33Digital out of form grew by 25 percent year over year on a pro form a basis to 9,700,000. We are also happy with the consistent growth delivered by our Retail Media vertical, which grew by 134% year over year to $14,900,000 accounted for 20% of advertising solutions revenue, compared with 8% in the same period last year. These results were driven by new customers and increased spending of existing customers, aided by the positive progress we are making to introduce new products and new technology. Revenue from Search Advertising increased by 26% year over year in the Q1 to 82,000,000. During the quarter, average daily searches increased by 20% over the same period last year and the number of publishers grew by 8% year over year. Speaker 700:21:28While having a relatively minor impact on revenue in the Q1, we expect the changes recently instituted by Microsoft Bing to significantly impact search advertising revenue in the Q2 and throughout 2024. Contribution excluding TAC to revenue was 38% compared with 45% in the Q1 last year, mostly due to shifts in product mix and higher revenue share for some of our search publishers in the Q1 of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 35% year over year to €20,300,000 or 13% of revenue from 22% in the Q1 of 2023 80% in the Q1 of 2022. The decrease in adjusted EBITDA was mainly a result of the reduction in search advertising activity during the quarter and higher operation expenses following the integration of Ice Tech. Adjusted EBITDA to contribution ex TAC decreased to 34% compared with 84% in the Q1 of 2023 42% in the Q1 of 2022. Speaker 700:22:36On a GAAP basis, 1st quarter net income decreased by 51% to 11,800,000 or €0.24 diluted share compared with €23,800,000 or 0.48¢ per diluted share in the Q1 of 2023. On a non GAAP basis, net income decreased by 25 percent to $22,600,000 or $0.44 per diluted share for the Q1, compared with €29,900,000 or €0.60 per diluted share last year. Operating cash flow for the Q1 was €6,900,000 compared with 17,800,000 in the same period last year. The decrease in operating cash flow was mainly attributed to the reduction in search advertising activity and one time working capital needs for the Ice Tech operations. We are proud of our consistent ability to generate positive cash flow and to increase our net cash position despite the challenges we are facing. Speaker 700:23:34As of March 31, 2024, net cash, including cash, cash equivalents, short term deposits and marketable securities was €479,700,000 up from €472,700,000 at the end of the Q4 of 2023. The increase in cash and cash equivalents was the result of the positive operating cash flow generated in the quarter. Consistent with our previous announcement, we are confident that Perion's diversified and holistic solutions will expand our opportunities to better serve our customers. We are reiterating our full year 2024 guidance that we provided on April 8, adding guidance to the Q2 of 2024 as well. This concludes my financial overview And now we'll open the line for questions. Speaker 800:24:29Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. Our first question today is coming from Max Michalis from Lake Street Capital. Your line is now live. Speaker 900:25:07Hey guys, thanks for taking my questions. First one for me. If we look at video revenue, I think it was down 33% last quarter and then down 52% here in Q1. And where internally, where did you guys expected that to end up? And then I guess going forward, what is your expectations for the year just for video revenue? Speaker 900:25:27And then I guess you can tie in a macro question with that as well. Have you seen any improvement in the macro here maybe in the second quarter? Operator00:25:36Yes. Mohitman, do you want to take this? Speaker 1000:25:39Yes, of course. Thank you for the question. As we said, the headwinds of the video is expected to end in the Q2 this year. So we're expecting to move to a normal growth on Q3. So we have another quarter of a negative comparison between 2024 to 23, and we're expecting H2 to move to be a positive one. Speaker 1000:26:06We are moving with the market. As we said historically, there is a reason why the video is moving down. The idea here is optimization and we believe that this impact will end at the end of this quarter or the second quarter. Speaker 900:26:29Okay. Thanks guys. And then my last question here. I know you guys increased the buyback authorization last quarter. Are you guys active at all in Q1 or have you been since the announcement? Speaker 1000:26:43So the buyback is yet in process. As we said, 1st, the 20 F5. So now we don't have any problem and we can move on with the plan. But as we need to file the plan when we are open and we are not in the blackout period, which is going to be this weekend. So next week we are going to file a plan which will execute 2 weeks later. Speaker 1000:27:10So we're expecting this plan to start at the end of May and we are going immediately to start the buyback plan in the quarter already. I believe that when we'll get to the end of the quarter and we will share the result, you will see already the buyback take place in our balance sheet. Speaker 800:27:39Thank you. Next question today is coming from Jason Helfstein from Oppenheimer. Your line is now live. Speaker 100:27:46Hi. Speaker 1100:27:47This is Steve Roman on for Jason. So just first on Sort 2, was just wondering if you've broadly launched that to all of your CTV advertisers or whatever percentage. And then wondering if you can give any metrics in terms of who how many advertisers are using it, etcetera. And then secondly, on Hive Stack growth, you guys posted 25% pro form a. I'm just wondering if this is in line or exceeding your expectations? Speaker 1100:28:17And what do you think on the full year in terms of digital adiform? Thank you. Operator00:28:21Right. So let's start on the Sword 2.0. We are just launching it now. So this is getting shipped out today. So obviously, we don't have the results yet. Operator00:28:35But the big news here is it got a major upgrade with all the new technologies for the new formats of Qukulase and obviously the audience segmentation for CTP, which is huge. Once it's out and we're going to have more metrics, we'll be happy to share that. What was that one? Speaker 1000:28:59The second question was Dan, I can take it. It was about IFSAC. So yes, this is really exciting quarter. This is the first time we have IFESTech in full and this is definitely aligned with our expectation as we shared with the KPIs. They are in the ending quarter with 25% year over year growth, which is very much aligned with our expectation. Speaker 1000:29:23We're expecting to end the year with more or less our original model. No dramatic change, this is Q1 and we're expecting more to come in the next quarters. Speaker 800:29:38Thank you. Next question today is coming from Mark Kelley from Stifel. Your line is now live. Speaker 300:29:44Great. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. First question, just on cookie deprecation getting pushed out again to 25 on Chrome, does that provide, I guess, a little bit of cushion in the back half of this year or especially for the non search business or is that not the right way to think about it? And second one, just going back to HiveStack. Speaker 300:30:09A few weeks ago, we saw that Lamar chose Vistar to power their digital billboards. I'm just curious, how does your tech back up relative to Vistar? Maybe they were looking for something that the high stack suite of products didn't offer. I guess what's the right way to think about that? And were you a part of that RFP process? Speaker 300:30:31Thank you. Operator00:30:33Yeah. Well, thank you very much for the question. So, cookieless. Yeah, I think the fact that Google keeps pushing this back for me it's not a surprise but you know we were ready for the calculus era 2 years ago and now as time goes by more and more technologies are coming out to address that. So we want to make sure that we're ready for that whenever my Google finally decide to do that. Operator00:31:04So we're going to be perfectly ready and we are perfectly ready now. Now in terms of Vistar, you know, for everything we've been hearing from our clients, high stack is the most advanced solutions out there. This is what we're hearing, this is what we believe. And obviously, Vistar's, those guys are great. We know them very well. Operator00:31:30They're a competitor. So they're getting some deals. We're getting some deals. This is just the nature of the business, but our technology is from everything we know it's the most advanced technology out there. Speaker 800:31:48Okay. Thank you very much. Operator00:31:49Thank you. Speaker 800:31:56Our next question is coming from Laura Martin from Needham and Company. Your line is now live. Speaker 1200:32:01Good morning. Good morning. Just thinking about the overall context of the demand from a vertical point of view, Are you can you talk about what you're seeing in the marketplace right now, please? Operator00:32:17From the vertical point of view? Speaker 1200:32:20Yes, strong verticals. Operator00:32:22Yes. Most do you have that vertical? Speaker 1000:32:26Of course. Yes, I can take that. Thank you, Laura, and good morning. So, you know, hi, Laura. So the same trend, as you say, I can say from the financial from the perspective, the retail is, let's say, very strong. Speaker 1000:32:41Consumer goods as well, Travel is strong, Healthcare and Auto is strong. These are the areas that are more dominant in Q1. Speaker 1200:32:55Okay. That's interesting because that's exactly the opposite of what Doubleverify said yesterday. So that's super interesting. Okay. And when you think about you sorry, go ahead. Speaker 1000:33:06No, I agree. It's interesting that this is different from what other reporting, but this is the nature of this business. Speaker 1200:33:15Yes. And then in terms of your expense growth, G and A was sort of much higher than we thought, but sales and marketing was much lower than what we thought. So could you talk about that sort of reallocation of resources between the cost lines, why money is moving towards G and A and away from sales and marketing, please? Speaker 1000:33:38This is more related to the GAAP numbers and less to the non GAAP. There are some stock based compensation adjustment that we did in the quarter that are part of the GAAP. The non GAAP is very normal and with our trends. This is more accounting changes that we did in the SBC during the quarter and not more than that. Speaker 1200:34:03Okay. Super helpful. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 800:34:07Thank you. Our next question today is coming from Jeff Martin from Roth Speaker 200:34:12M. Cam. Your line is now live. Speaker 1300:34:13Thanks. Good morning, guys. Wanted to touch on search a little bit more. What specifically is the mechanism that changed at Bing and how has that affected your publisher count in Q2? Operator00:34:25Right. So Microsoft changed the mechanism of pricing for the distribution channels right And the way the reason it affected our publishers is at the end of the day it all needs to make economic sense for them. I mean, they have other options, right? They can switch between vendors, they can do whatever they want And this is exactly what happened. Does that give you the answer? Speaker 1300:34:59Publisher what yes, sure. What's the publisher count changed so far in Q2? Operator00:35:05So we cannot disclose Q2 numbers yet, but we did disclose that although the average was high, we actually saw growth. We towards the end of the quarter, we actually saw a decline. So again, numbers of Q2 are going to be reported in 3 months from now. But let me just add one more thing. But it's important to say that the guidance that we gave already took that into consideration, right? Operator00:35:48So this is already what you see in front of you in terms of guidance. Speaker 800:35:58Okay. Speaker 1300:35:59And then in terms of capital allocation, you've got the 75 $1,000,000 authorized for repurchase. Has there been activity in the past month or so since you made the pre release announcement? And then what's the potential to up that materially over time? Do you plan to be aggressive in buying back shares? Speaker 1000:36:22So as we said, buyback plan is not yet started. We're expecting to start in more or less 2 weeks you know, from now. This is part of regulations and other requirements that we have. First is the filing of the 20 F and second is the period that we need to wait after we're filing the plan, but we're expecting to execute the plan this quarter and we are running with a €75,000,000 plan and this is very much in line with what we said a few weeks ago. On the preliminary from M and A. Speaker 1000:36:57You know, we have the same plan, same structure. We know what we are looking for and once we get the right opportunity, we will do that. This is very much aligned with our high level view on the cash that we have so far. One is the buyback, which already announced and second, of course, is the M and A effort, which is of course relevant to what we're expecting to do next with the cash. Speaker 1300:37:27Thank you. Operator00:37:28Let me just I just get an answer for my team about the previous question. Why Vistar got the deal with Lamar? So it turns out that Lamar actually owns part of Vistar. So there was no RFP there. That was just part of the ownership. Speaker 800:37:50Thank you. We've reached the end of our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to management for any further or closing comments. Operator00:37:58Thank you. Thank you everyone for joining us today and thank you for being part of our journey. Even though we saw a big change lately, we are confident in our future. We're investing in technology, we're investing in our clients and we have all the resources needed to succeed. So thank you again and I hope to see you again in our next earnings call. Operator00:38:25Thank you. Speaker 800:38:28Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.Read morePowered by