Taboola.com Ltd. (NASDAQ:TBLA) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

James Kopelman: Great. And then a quick follow-up for Steve. We’ve been hearing other companies describe somewhat of a stabilization in the digital ad environment over the last couple of months. How would you guys characterize what you’re hearing in conversations with advertisers both in the U.S and internationally? For example, have you seen any change in the video advertising trends, which I think were somewhat soft earlier in the year? Thanks a lot.

Stephen Walker: Yes. So thanks for the questions, James. So yes, we would say that what we’re seeing in the digital advertising environment right now is stability. So in fact, ever since about Q3 last year, we’ve seen relative stability compared to obviously the first or the second and third quarter of last year. So we see relatively normal seasonality, we’re seeing relative stability of budgets, et cetera. And I think most advertisers that we talked to, what they’re basically saying is, they’re still watching the macro a bit. They’re probably getting a bit more bullish, like a lot of people are about the potential for a soft landing and not a recession. But I think they’re still cautious, but stable, their spend is stable, they’re still spending kind of as they were.

Now we are seeing ups and downs in different portions of our business, for instance, eCommerce has been particularly strong. Bottom of funnel, things where you’re helping to convert directly into revenue have been particularly strong. Top of funnel video still remain soft relative to historical norms. So we haven’t seen a further softening of it, but it’s definitely soft relative to historic — history. And I think that’s consistent with what we’ve said in the past, which is, the further down the funnel you go, the more stability you get, and the more strength you get. And the further towards the top of the funnel you are, the softer things are. So generally, that’s consistent with what we’re seeing. So we’ve seen pretty much relative stability since the end of Q3 of last year, and nothing has changed dramatically on that.

James Kopelman: Great. Thanks, guys.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Laura Martin from Needham. Please go ahead.

Laura Martin: Good morning. Staying on the eCommerce spin, Adam, I’m interested in whether you have channel conflict because of these new companies where you’re doing content, doesn’t that threaten the actual companies that are in your core business where their core business is doing content? Why is this a channel conflict for you guys?

Adam Singolda: So, hey, Laura. Good morning. It’s — [indiscernible] we’re working together, so the editorial team of the publisher works very closely with the editorial team that we’ve built to — to create that content. So this is not sort of like a vendor ship type of relationship. It’s very much a partnership that is deep. And in fact, what I like about is that I think publishers in general, want to work with companies that are more partner type. CPM and being ad tech is just part of the past, it sounds good enough. So you need to be able to build relationship that is driven by trust with the editorial team, the subscription team, the audience team, the commerce team. So all of those people on the publisher side take part in deciding who they’re going to work with side by side to the revenue person.