Acast (Stockholm:ACAST) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Hello, and welcome to ACAST earnings call for the Q2 twenty twenty six interim report. Joining us today are our CEO, Greg Glenday from New York and CFO, Anders Hague from Stockholm. You're welcome to submit questions throughout the presentation using the form next to the stream, and we will raise the questions during the q and a held after the presentation.

0:20 I would now like to start by handing over to our CEO, Greg Glenday. Greg, the floor is yours. Thank you, Lizzie. Welcome, and thanks for joining us today. In my section, I'll cover off our high level performance and momentum, and then Anders will take you through the numbers. ACAST is the world's largest independent pure play podcast company. We build the infrastructure that allows creators to monetize and advertisers to reach audiences through podcasts across audio, video, and beyond. We continue to be very excited about the momentum our strategic approach is generating. We've been working on this for more than a decade, and it's very rewarding to see this payoff. We strive to be the best place for creators. Great creators bring more valuable audiences. Valuable audiences attract advertising revenue.

1:06 Advertiser revenue attracts and motivates creators and so on. So we have created this infrastructure flywheel for podcasting. Acast is the engine room at the center of all of this. Talented people around the world and industry leading innovation, technology, and data. We wanna create an unencumbered relationship between creators, their audiences, and advertisers. Creator choice, open ecosystem, no editorial point of view, brand safety, those are the principles underlying everything we do. We believe podcasters aren't defined by audio or video. They're defined by their relationship with their audience, and we're excited to share a big development in how we think about that relationship. As video becomes an even bigger part of how audiences consume podcasts, we're taking a step toward a unified way of talking about that consumption, aligned with the industry and work that we're doing with the IB.

1:56 We're excited to be actively working with them on establishing industry standards for HLS measurement, podcast audience consumption that may be either audio or video, or a hybrid of the two. And from this quarter, we are moving to report both listens and views. Today, our reported audience numbers reflect RSS, audio, and HLS consumption. We expect to expand this to include YouTube by our q three report. So when I say ACAST is the best place for creators, I mean everything from premium publishers like Ted, Lamond, Perfect Day, or Slate to huge independent shows, all the way down to a large number of niche shows with passionate smaller followings. There are three reasons that creators come to ACAST and stay.

2:42 First, we are the best place to monetize. We've now paid out $690,000,000 to our creators since launch. Second, full independence. Creators keep both creative and commercial control over how the show sounds and looks, where it's distributed, and how it's monetized. We don't have an editorial point of view that we force on them. We deliver them the tools and create and monetize their shows the way they want to. Third, our global reach is unmatched. One relationship gives creator access to a global audience and revenue. The result, every creator gets the same infrastructure and access to monetization options without losing what makes their show their own. Now how does that translate to our advertisers? At one end, our premium publishers and our big independent shows pull the demand. Those are vertical sales. We do omnichannel. We're experts in that. They have deep authentic integrations that bring buyers to the household names and their fans.

3:39 At the other end of the spectrum, niche audiences unlock unmatched scale across more than a 140,000 exclusive shows. Our technology aggregates contextual and audience buys that no other platform can monetize at this depth. For example, 12 big shows may reach 5,000,000 people. We might have 500 niche shows that can reach the same 5,000,000. From the audience's seat, both deliver a one to one relationship with the brand. We package them into one buy, and that's what we mean when we say by the audience, not just the show. And as advertisers increasingly wanna go both deep and broad at once, running omnichannel campaigns on a handful of handpicked shows, then layering on audience buys on top to extend and deepen their reach. Our sales motions cover that full spectrum, omnichannel brand, programmatic, and self-service.

4:29 With precise data driven targeting, Acast is the only company that does all of this, and we do it well. That's exactly why we're also great for creators. You don't have to be a household name to earn here. A smaller niche show can be aggregated with others and sold to an advertiser. Every advertiser solution feeds creator monetization so the flywheel turns even faster.

4:53 Underpinning this approach is robust proprietary data, especially through our subsidiary company Podchaser. Over the past year, our teams have been working hard to develop ACAST intelligence tools on top of this data. One of the things that makes podcasting great is also one of the biggest challenges, fragmentation. Here's a live example of the intelligence layer that powers everything I've just described. Our team can use natural language to plan a campaign in seconds across our whole catalog, something that recently would have taken days or weeks. In addition to that, you can imagine a long menu of valuable use cases. Some examples our teams are already using include brand competitive snapshots, audience analysis, and narrative sentiment with so much more on the road map.

5:39 Podcasters have slowly but surely redefined influence, setting the cultural zeitgeist. Look at this data. The black and the gray dotted lines are search interest from Google and YouTube, and the purple line is podcast mentions. Whether it's a serious world event or the biggest cultural or sporting moments, this pattern is the same. Podcast consistently carry more of the conversation than traditional media well before search interest surges around the event itself. Take the twenty twenty six World Cup. Podcast attention ran at roughly three times search interest across the two weeks leading up to the event, surging closer to kickoff. And that's exactly where the opportunity lies for brands. If you're trying to break through during the event itself, it's incredibly crowded and incredibly expensive. But through podcasting, you can start that narrative early and be part of the conversation organically.

6:29 This is podcasting, and it's what we call narrative influence. Acast is the world's largest pure play podcast company. This is what our global scale and pure focus actually look like. A category of one. Specialists, not generalists. Podcasting isn't an add on for us. It's the entire business. We built ACAST to be global, but we prioritize local expertise and execution. We operate in 32 markets, and we have people on the ground in cities and offices around the world. This illustrative example represents the competitors our local MDs compete with on a daily basis. Of the companies we come up against, only a handful, four or so out of the 60 on this chart operate in more than two markets. And over time, our business model has grown further and further from Spotify, which has made us stronger partners.

7:16 The benefit for creators is that one relationship equals a worldwide audience and worldwide revenue. Podcasting does not need a corporate suit to green light a show in every country. It's a meritocracy. A show from The UK can be big in Australia or The US if the audience says so. For example, we have a show in The United States whose second largest market is Ireland. We're able to monetize that audience effectively there on day one. The benefit for advertisers is a single point of entry to a fragmented global market for both individual brands and big global advertising holding companies. All that's to say, we are very confident in our position for the next phase of podcasting's growth. Our advantages took years to develop. Global scale with local execution, platform agnostic distribution, creator choice and control, full spectrum sales motions, self-service to blue chip omnichannel deals, proprietary data and end to end tech, trust earned across the industry, network effects that strengthen with every creator we add.

8:21 These aren't separate USPs. They reinforce each other. That's what makes us hard to replicate. Our product road map and approach is really simple, but it's very hard for anyone else to do. We simply listen to our constituents, the creators, their audiences, and advertisers. Their desires, their frustrations, and their ideas become our road map, and that's what we build. We're obsessed with building and acquiring the tools needed to remove friction from this process and make that flywheel spin even faster. This will throw off more revenue to everyone involved. So this approach is exactly what's driving the results we will now take you through. Let me give you the headline numbers for the quarter. Net sales were up 28% with 29% organic growth, and that's on top of a similarly strong first quarter. So this isn't a one off. What I'm most pleased with is that we're growing and getting more profitable at the same time. EBITDA margin of 7% and an EBIT margin of 4%.

9:15 That combination, strong growth, expanding margins is exactly the shape of business we set out to build. Zooming out to the first half of the year, the picture is just as strong. Net sales were up 24% with 30% organic growth. But the real story is profitability. Adjusted EBITDA grew by nearly 600% year over year, taking EBITDA margin to 6% and our EBIT margin to 3%. That's the clearest proof that our strategy of scaling revenue ahead of cost is working.

9:49 So if I look at the key events for the quarter, in q two, we expanded our video work with Apple Podcasts, launching the first ever video advertiser campaigns on the platform with blue chip brands like State Farm and T Mobile. This is an early vote of confidence in this new advertising format and the start of a broader wave of advertisers coming to the format. And our roster of high quality content continues to expand at pace. Three recent highlights. I'm pleased to announce the respected publisher, The Washington Post, has partnered with ACAST in a deal that will see journalists Carolyn Hacks, Shane O'Neill, and Michelle Singletary work with ACAST Productions to launch and monetize two new multi format shows. Next, the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast hosted by Andy Samberg, Akiva Schafer, Yorma Taconi, and Seth Meyers has joined ACAST under a multiyear partnership, bringing household names to our US talent network.

10:45 And we're also delighted to welcome viral hit show, the comment section, with Drew Afwalo. These signings reflect ongoing success in attracting premium publishers and talent with highly engaging multichannel audiences. Finally, two high profile award wins this quarter. Divine Intervention from Acast Creative Studios won a twenty twenty six Peabody Award, one of the highest honors in broadcast storytelling. Acast Creative Studios is the team formerly known as Wonder Media Network, which was acquired at the end of twenty twenty four. And Acast creator, Pablo Torrey finds out, won the Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting, a true mark of quality. A Peabody and a Pulitzer in the same quarter, proof of what both podcasting and our creator centric model can produce.

11:32 I'll now hand it over to Anders for a financial deep dive. Thank you. Anders, please take it away. Thank you, Greg, and good afternoon, everyone. Let me walk you through the key financial metrics for quarter two twenty twenty six. And we have now updated our audience metrics, while reported listens and views and average revenue per listen or view now include all IAB valid listens plus HLS listens and views. We are working closely with the IAB as HLS measurement continues to evolve. Our new metric, Listens and Views grew 2% year over year. As always, our focus isn't on volume alone, but on the quality and value of each listen and view.

12:20 Our updated metric, average revenue per listener view, reached SEK0.69 in quarter two, a record high and 26% growth year over year. Net sales reached SEK776 million in quarter two twenty twenty six, up 28% year over year and our highest ever quarterly revenue. Organic growth adjusted for FX and M and A was 29%, broadly in line with a 30% organic growth we delivered in quarter one. That extends around to six consecutive quarters above 25% organic growth, underlining the consistency of underlying demand. The gap between reported and organic growth narrowed versus quarter one, as we saw a much smaller FX headwind in Q2.

13:16 Gross margin came in at 39%, delivering a gross profit increase of 24 to SEK305 million. The slight year over year softening in margin continues to reflect country and product mix, as North America, which carries a somewhat lower margin while it scales, becomes a larger share of the group.

13:38 Looking at our segments, we saw double digit growth across all three regions in the quarter again. Europe grew 25% with 26% organic growth and contribution margin improved slightly to 25%. North America continues to show strong growth, up 34% reported and 37% organically, and we saw meaningful margin expansion there too, with contribution margin reaching 13%, up from 10% a year ago. In absolute terms, Europe and North America contributed almost identically to group growth this quarter million and SEK81 million respectively.

14:26 Other markets grew 17% with 13% organic growth, and with contribution margin broadly stable at 11%. And overall, this shows strong momentum across all regions alongside continued margin discipline as we scale the cost base. At group level, adjusted EBIT came in at SEK32 million, a 4% margin. And this compares to minus SEK7 million and a minus 1% margin in Q2 twenty twenty five, an improvement of five percentage points or SEK39 million in absolute terms.

15:06 And this builds directly on the milestone we shared last quarter, our first ever profitable Q1, and confirms that our operating model continues to scale. On a last twelve month basis, our adjusted EBIT margin now stands at 3%, up from minus 1% a year ago, continuing the steady upward trajectory we've been building throughout the year.

15:34 Operating cash flow for Q2 was SEK50 million, an improvement of SEK103 million year over year. This reflects our return to profitability, so EBIT of SEK32 million this quarter compared to minus SEK66 million a year ago when results included SEK59 million of large non recurring costs. On a last twelve month basis, operating cash flow improved to SEK176 million, reflecting steadily strengthening cash generation over the past several quarters. And we closed the quarter with a robust cash position of SEK630 million, giving us the financial flexibility to continue investing in our growth strategy.

16:23 And with that, I'll hand back to you Greg for closing remarks. Thank you. Thank you, Anders. Q2 was exactly what we set out to do. First, record growth across the board, $776,000,000 second net sales, our highest quarterly revenue ever with double digit growth in every region. Second, we're delivering on monetization with ARPLV, including HLS video, up 26%. And new partnerships with top tier publishers and talent as well as awards continuing to expand our high value content reach, including The Washington Post, The Lonely Island with Seth Meyers podcast, and the comment section. Third, that growth is translating into real scale. H one EBITDA increased to 87,000,000 SEK and EBIT to 36,000,000 SEK, driven by strong revenue growth alongside disciplined cost scaling.

17:18 And fourth, as the world's largest pure play podcast company, we remain uniquely positioned to lead the market shift toward omnichannel.

17:25 Three sixty degree monetization for creators, organic growth continues to run ahead of our long term target, while margin expansion keeps us firmly on track towards our 2028 EBIT goal. Driven large in large part by continued market share gains in The US, our largest and fastest growing region.

18:05 Thank you, Greg and Anders. We will now start the live Q and A. Please use the message box below and we will put the questions to Greg and Anders. So first few questions from Andreas at Carnegie DnB. Could you explain the sequential trends in the other revenue growth drivers you have, price, ad load, and sell through rates. You have spoken before that all, including listens, will contribute to growth ahead, and this is the way we should, see it also for h two.

18:34 Yes. Thank you, Andres. As you know, we don't disclose CPM or ad load or sell through rates on a quarterly basis, but the primary levers, behind what we're calling average revenue per listen and view, including the HLS views, is sell through expansion, omnichannel, growth, which includes video in the mix, with higher CPMs. And then mostly, I can attribute it to more upstream engagement with bigger brand advertisers. So

19:05 pulling more demand into, podcasting itself. So these are really broad high value advertisers that are, as I've said, not necessarily specifically buying the high sell through shows, but buying more vertical inventory into the long tail. Another question from Andres. You talk of conviction to increase market share further in North America. Any specific and concrete orders or projects you have taken that builds this confidence?

19:33 Yes. You know, we're really excited. North America grew, you know, 37% organic in q two, which we which we believe obviously is is taking market share from some of our publicly disclosed competitors. So, the way we're doing that is, you know, again, we've been very consistent with, upstream relationships with large advertisers really being, you know, in service to their objections. They all know that people are spending a ton of time with podcasting. So there's real, a real desire, to participate in those conversations with our creators. So, you know, when you have a willing participant on the customer side, we're really excited about solving those problems, making easier to buy podcasting for big blue chip brands that are a little bit more demanding, you know, and have a slightly higher rigor for who they partner with.

20:22 The growth in North America, can you explain a bit more where it comes from? Is it from certain advertiser segments such as retail, finance, telecom, etcetera? And is it broad based across The US, or are you stronger in certain states?

20:35 Yes. You know, for at this point, we're not, we're not disclosing regions and states and and things like that with sort of where the growth is. I can tell you the big national brands are accelerating. But also on the smaller side, we've been using technology for smaller agencies, maybe smaller cities that wanna participate in podcasting. Our self serve platform, you know, as we continue to evolve, the capabilities in self serve, we've been able to accelerate the small advertisers and the SMBs along with the large blue chip brands. So kind of attacking the market from both sides has been really exciting. So both are leading to both are leading to growth for ACAST.

21:12 And how should we see the cost level going forward? It has increased by 8%, but partly this is related to share based compensation. So just curious if you expect this run rate to go on or if it will be less growth ahead, assuming the share price is flat, which is a bit of a boring assumption. Yes. Thanks for that question, Andreas, and good afternoon. I mean, part of that OpEx growth reflects the increased social security contributions tied to the incentive program, driven by the share price rising sharply during the quarter, which is more of a mechanical link and not the change in the underlying cost strategy. And we will continue investing in sales and product capacity, but at a pace materially slower than revenue growth. And that framing is unchanged going forward.

21:59 And we don't guide to specific OpEx growth rates for future quarters, as you know. But if you look back, I mean, our quarter one OpEx growth was 2%. And now Q2, it was 8%. So year to date, that's 6%. So you could and the biggest swing between the two quarters is the social cost on the LTI program. So

22:18 year to date is probably a better indication than Q1 or Q2. You have increased FTEs during the quarter. Fair to assume this is mainly within sales and marketing? Yeah, can take that. We don't disclose. I think it's 15 or so, full time heads that we've added net. And we don't disclose where they are, but I can tell you, you know, as I've said, our we're in service to our constituents, the the creators, the advertisers. So, you know, it's technology, sales, and service to the growth. And final one from Andreas, which is a bit technical, but how should we see taxes going forward? You start to make profits, but you should have some fairly large loss carry forwards. Especially keen to understand how we should look at booked versus paid taxes.

23:07 Yeah, thanks Andreas. So as you say, once we start turning a full year profit before tax, there will be a higher tax expense in the income statement than before, but it will not have any cash flow effect as long as we have these losses carry forwards to utilize. And then again, in the period when we do capitalize these loss carry forwards that are not yet capitalized, it will have a positive effect in the income statement, but then not the cash flow impact. So hope that answers your question, Andreas. Now some questions from Martin at SB1 Markets. 180 plus shows now video enabled on Apple. How do CPMs and sell through rates compare with audio today? I can take that one. Yeah. Video, you know, we don't disclose our CPMs as I've said, but video CPMs, as everyone knows, are higher.

23:54 But what's interesting about what we're attempting to do, this is really a new mode. You know? We believe that podcast creators, don't have to pick. We're trying to give optionality to both the creator and the audience. So the fact that a show can be video or audio depending on what that consumer, that specific consumer is doing, we think that's really exciting. You know, that's sort of a new thing for advertisers. So those blended CPMs will be higher than audio only. So we're excited about that. Video alone is right now still a small percentage of the podcast industry and, you know, from a revenue standpoint and a small percentage of our revenue. So we think we're leading the industry. We're leading the way in this sort of multifunctionality, but, it's it's a little too early to report on on on pricing pressure. But, of course, video is going to be higher.

24:41 And CPM prices, the overall ad market, how have they developed throughout the quarter? Yep. You know, video and omnichannel campaigns have a a much higher CPM. You know, these that's really what's driving our average CPMs up is that we are including, more high CPM packages around these large omnichannel campaigns. So instead of just selling impressions, you know, we've we've spent a lot of time in the market this quarter. ACAST had a presence in, Cannes and a lot of different industry events. And I can tell you that, nobody's talking about CPMs. Really, brands are really truly thinking about attention and outcomes and much more tangible, results, which podcasting has proven over the years that we can do. So I'm pretty excited about where the puck is going in the marketplace and the fact that podcasting is already there, works really well, delivers outcomes, and can deliver high measurable attention.

25:35 And Europe seems to accelerate in terms of growth. Any commentary on drivers and outlook? If I start on that one, I mean, the positive thing is that all markets in Europe are contributing. And what Greg mentioned before, our success in working at high levels with the agency holding companies and clients has a general benefit for all markets. And we are covering global decision makers who can impact budgets across ACAST regions. So I think those are a couple of explanations. Then I think also in some markets, had a bit of a softer Q2 last year, which also helps explain some of the strong performance due to Europe in this year. And a question from Sam. Can you elaborate on what particularly you see have been driving the increase in ARPAL during the quarter and if we should assume similar levels going forward?

26:30 Yes. You know, I think, we've been pretty consistent the last few quarters saying that, you know, of course, sell through rate's important, but getting more efficient, being able to sell deeper into our long slate of shows, I think, is what's gonna, continue to help grow that. So getting better at selling what we already have, I think, is really important. And I think if we can push demand further and further into our network, the better off we'll be. So we have a long way to go, to get more and more efficient. So I think we have more wood to chop on that. So I'm excited about the potential upside. You know, we're not in in any way, shape, or form. Podcasting is really unique. The inventory is dynamic. The shows can be created, you know, very quickly. So, we're excited about just getting more efficient with how we sell our inventory. And a few questions from Thierry Danielson.

27:16 Listens grew only 2% while, ARPU and fee rose 26%. Is the strategy to keep monetizing the existing pool, or is m and a back on the table to drive volume growth next? Yeah. Well, that's basically the same same question with the little m and a tag on there. But, yeah, we're we're opportunistic. I think, you know, whether it's if it's easier to build it, we'll build it, borrow it, partner, or or buy it. So, again, that's our that's our strategy is figuring out what the industry needs to help us remove friction, and, we'll go do it in the most efficient means possible. And are the new partnerships, so Washington Post, Lonely Island, Drew Fualo, are they content licensing deals, or do they involve some form of exclusivity or ownership stake? And should we expect more outright acquisitions during h '2?

28:07 Yes. I would say, you know, these are exclusive deals where, you know, they're they're all specific to those shows. And Washington Post, these are new shows that we're launching together, so they're a little bit different. But these are exclusive deals. They are coming to the ACAST network for us to distribute and monetize those shows exclusively, and and that's what we do. So they aren't, IP or licensing deals. They're coming to us to host. One of the things our positioning to the creator economy is that ACAST is the best place for independent creators. We don't have an editorial point of view. We don't have an algorithm that, you know, changes your content or rewards certain things. It's your relationship as a creator with your audience, and we facilitate that and monetize it for you. So I think having that clear story makes it a very attractive place where creators people like Seth Meyers that have a point of view, that don't necessarily need an an editor and some editorial help. Same thing with the Washington Post. We're the perfect place for people that wanna have a direct relationship with their audience.

29:04 And a question from Peter Dragarski. We saw limited CBIIT margin improvement in North America versus q one twenty twenty six even if growth continued strongly. What factors limited the leverage? And on the other side, what helped Europe to its strong margins? Yes, thanks Peter, and good afternoon. Yeah, you're right. But of course, if we compare Q2 this year versus Q2 last year, there is still significant improvement. But as you point out, there's a gap to Europe, and I think that reflects North America being a younger, less penetrated market, plus the continued local sales investment needed to win the larger managed service deals in The U. S. Growth in North America is also coming from a different product mix versus Europe, which is also affecting the gross margins.

29:54 And then if we look at Europe specifically, there the increase is primarily driven by product mix versus last quarter. Great, thank you. I think that concludes the Q and A. So thank you to everyone who has listened in or watched. The next upcoming quarterly report is our Q3 report, which will be released on October 28. You're of course welcome to join us for that presentation. And in the meantime, you can follow us on investors.acast.com to sign up for press releases, news and financial reports, our ACAST newsroom, or, of course, listen or watch our results as a podcast. Thank you very much, and goodbye.