Applovin(US:APP)2025-11-05 23:02Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - Revenue for Q3 was approximately $1,405 million, up 68% year-over-year due to model updates in the core gaming business [10] - Adjusted EBITDA was $1,158 million, up 79% with an 82% margin, reflecting a 1% quarter-over-quarter increase from operational leverage [10] - Free cash flow reached $1,049 million, up 92% year-over-year, with a free cash flow margin improving sequentially [10] - The company ended the quarter with $1.7 billion in cash and cash equivalents and repurchased approximately 1.3 million shares for $571 million [10][11] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - The gaming advertising segment continued to show strong performance, with the MAX supply side platform growing at healthy rates [4][10] - Self-service platform launched on October 1, showing early growth with spend from self-service advertisers increasing approximately 50% week-over-week [6][10] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - The company opened up international traffic for advertisers ahead of schedule, expanding its reach beyond the U.S. market [4][8] - The market is recognizing the scalability and reach of the company's platform, particularly following its inclusion in the S&P 500 [4][8] Company Strategy and Development Direction - The focus for Q4 and 2026 includes improving onboarding flows, ramping AI agents into workflows, and testing generative AI-based ad creatives [7][8] - The company aims to broaden access to its self-service platform and scale globally, while maintaining strict compliance and transparency in ad tech practices [8][9] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management expressed confidence in the company's growth trajectory, emphasizing the importance of improving conversion rates and expanding advertiser density [21][50] - The company is committed to optimizing the customer experience and ensuring a seamless onboarding process for new advertisers [40][72] Other Important Information - The board of directors increased the share repurchase authorization by an incremental $3.2 billion [11] - The company is actively testing paid marketing to promote the Axon Ads platform to new customers [7][74] Q&A Session Summary Question: Characteristics of advertisers onboarded since October 1 - Advertisers are predominantly shops, comparable in mix to the initial cohort, but not materially smaller [14] Question: Guidance philosophy for Q4 - Guidance reflects a combination of factors including optimism around the e-commerce referral program and normal holiday seasonality [16] Question: Conversion rates and growth in impressions - Increasing conversion rates is a key growth lever, with model enhancements and advertiser density expected to drive improvements [20][22] Question: Supply growth expectations - Supply growth is driven by higher quality ads and unlocking demand from publishers who previously did not run ads [25][27] Question: Context for 50% week-over-week growth in e-commerce customers - Early growth is promising, with a focus on optimizing the customer experience and ensuring a smooth onboarding process [36][40] Question: Balancing growth and managing core gaming customers - The company does not intend to gate growth, believing that increased advertiser density will benefit all customers [48][50] Question: Update on web-based availability to EU advertisers - The company can work with EU advertisers but has not opened inventory for website or shop advertisers in the EU yet [84] Question: Performance of the current cohort in Q3 - The return on ad spend for customers has improved due to better tools and understanding of the platform [101]