Vivek Shah : Thank you, Ross. So let me start with 2024. Obviously, you’re right, it’s early. But what I will say is that I do view Q3 as an inflection point for us. Just as a reminder, I mean, we’ve had 6 consecutive quarters of low- to mid-single-digit organic decline as a company organically flat in Q3, but in the Digital Media segment actually organically up. So I think that’s a very positive sign, and I think an indication of where we think things are going to go for 2024. You also rightly point out that the comps are — should the comps benefit us from a year-over-year growth perspective next year. So we’re looking for that. And as I said, the part of the advertising equation that has been most problematic, which is the tech piece, is narrowing.
So for all of those reasons, we feel reasonably bullish about our ability to grow at or better than market. We think that, again, market has to be taken from a category point of view, not from an overall point of view. And then also remember, we have a fairly even balance between display and performance marketing. But what I’ll also say about our display business is that our display business is 65% health. So the part of the — the largest part of our display business is the category that why we call it display, I actually kind of view it as performance. Remember, the delineation that we make between display and performance is actually a pricing delineation. Is it — do we charge on ad serve or we charging on clicks, actions or bounties. That is the delineation in our company between display and performance.
It doesn’t mean that display isn’t performative and it is performance-driven. So look, I think overall, we feel good about that. On the AI question, absolutely. So in my own opinion and what’s infused in the company strategically, if AI really is a way to improve user interfaces. And it’s more than just content. So accessing content like complicated game guides, as I described with IGN or complicated medical information, as I described at Everyday Health, or even within kind of stacking savings within RetailMeNot where you take cash back here, a coupon code here and then a sale — a product on sale here for sure. But also on the software side of the equation, what you’ll find is that UI and improvements in UI using AI will make things like Moz Pro, Campaigner and VIPRE, our software businesses really, I think, engage consumers — sorry, customers in a different and better way.
So I am very bullish on it. We talked about a few of them in the prepared remarks, but there are a long list of activities aligned with what you just asked about across the company.
Operator: The next question is coming from Shyam Patil from SIG.
Shyam Patil : I had a couple of questions. First one, cookie deprecation slated to start next year with, I think, Google’s ecosystem. So like how are you thinking about this — and when you think you — how you’re preparing for it and how the industry is prepared for it? And then for next year, just in terms of the revenue seasonality, you expect it to kind of be similar to what we’ve seen in ’23? Do you expect it to be more back-end loaded? Just maybe if you can talk about revenue seasonality next year.
Vivek Shah : Shyam, so with respect to cooked deprecation, again, remember, our advertising model doesn’t rely on or really involve the collection of cookies to then target people outside of our properties. And that’s where that makes a lot of sense or you’re using third-party cookies to inform the placement of advertising on your properties. That is not what we do. So our advertising is a function of context. We place advertising based on the contextual relevance. When we do use data to further refine targeting on our own properties, it’s our own data set. So in that sense, none of what’s happening with cookie deprecation has an impact or effect on what we do. What you could start to think is, well, it may have an impact and effect on what everyone else does, and this contextual targeting regain its footing and currency in the overall ad market.
If that happens, that’s only good for us. And then remember, on our performance marketing, it really is about driving clicks, conversions, leads, bounty-based activity from our property directly to another property. Having said all that, one of the things that I think as a company we’ve done an exceptionally good job at is building our database of users, our database of information around those users, e-mail addresses. We probably have one of the larger e-mail databases within the marketplace that when you think about the value of e-mail, it’s persistent, it is actually identity and can be used in a very — in a variety of ways in which to reach customers, whether it’s in the inbox or on other platforms. So look, I think it is — the cookie deprecation issue doesn’t affect us, but at the same time, I don’t want to leave you with the idea that we’re not database marketers, in mindset, we are, we just do it within our closed ecosystem.
On the question around quarters, if 2024 is too early to talk about, quarters are probably really too early to talk about. And so probably wait another quarter to really get into that. But look, the seasonality is a known seasonality. You know it. Q4 is always going to be heavy. Q1 is always our lightest quarter, and the middle quarters are kind of in between. And so it’s going to resemble that, I think, again, too.
Operator: The next question is coming from Cory Carpenter from JPMorgan.
Cory Carpenter : I had 2 on AI. I wanted to dig a little more into the 20% keywords prompting AI response as you mentioned on the call. I think — so 2 questions here. First, just curious what you learned in terms of which of your verticals or properties were being directed or were not being directed to the AI experience and any learnings there? And then second, curious if you think this 20% level is perhaps uniquely low? Is it Ziff Davis or in your portfolio or broadly consistent across the industry?
