Member Info for Radium1

So, if you have just listened to the Needham Growth Conference webcast with Ofer Druker, you will know already that Ofer is planning a re-branding of Tremor International. I'd guess it will happen when the Amobee integration is (mostly) complete i.e. around the mid point of this year and I'd also speculate that we take on the Amobee brand at this point.

A rather irked Daniel Cane from Toscafund Asset Management, raised this query (below) at the 3Qtr CC….

Hi. You've asserted on many occasions and including today the strength of your business model. But if we look at the evidence of Q2 and Q3 in terms of net revenue, we see negative trends that Tremor and much better performance coming from your U.S peers.

And we, or some at least, assume that these guys are on the inside already??

I think Daniel‘s question it’s the very last one in the (below) transcript. You can pick up Ofer Drukers’ answer to it is here...
https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2022/11/14/tremor-international-ltd-trmr-q3-2022-earnings-cal/

Apparently, a particular vertical, the B2C vertical, experienced a major revenue hit for about four months straddling both 2Q and 3Q. The model, therefore, clearly, is not as robust as we have been led to believe. I don’t think we were entirely alone though, Pubmatic (dsp) also noted a similar hit in their 3Q call. It’s concerning though that management, having told investors that due to the macro climate, they are being conservative with their forward forecasting, then produce two failed back-to-back revenue misses…having already been conservative? That leaves zero room for a third miss and Tremor’s sp is reflecting this nervousness along with the pending gloom of an advertising recession which could stretch beyond the first two quarter of this year. Hence our own lowered forecast for 2023. Well done Perion Networks for outperforming the sector but just about everyone else is/has taken a big hit. When I looked at the sp of our peers and a few others about ten days ago I noted, TTD was down 55%, Pubmatic down 78%, Magnite down 83%, Tremor down 68%, Google down 42%, Apple down 28%, Amazon down 55%.

I think the consensus is, that until the macro shows signs of turning favourably, this sector will likely remain in the doldrums. Personally, it’s my hope that we will be through it come the second half of this year. Meanwhile, we need a good or better than expected set of results for 4Q, or it could be painful.

Perhaps we will get a hint from the Needham conference on Tuesday. For Tremor, register here… https://wsw.com/webcast/needham128/register.aspx?conf=needham128&page=trmr&url=https://wsw.com/webcast/needham128/trmr/2292897

For Perion register here… https://wsw.com/webcast/needham128/register.aspx?conf=needham128&page=peri&url=https://wsw.com/webcast/needham128/peri/2256336

CES 2023...Roku is ditching TCL and Hisense to make TVs of its own.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/roku-is-ditching-tcl-and-hisense-to-make-tvs-of-its-own/ar-AA15XPNL

Report shows that TCL produced 10 million Android os devices (now Google TV) and c. 15 million Roku. Vidaa sport, as I understand it, is now available as a streaming app on all Android and (now) Google TV devices, worldwide (existing software permitting the upgrades).

In North America, Hisense sells more TV’s with the Android operating system installed than the Vidaa os. Statista…Aug 17, 2022…. The number of VIDAA connected devices increased on a global level between August 2021 and June 2022. North America was the region with the highest number of VIDAA devices and went from roughly 7.76 million devices in July 2021 to 8.18 million in June 2022. Still relatively small but growing. In comparison, at CES 2023 this week Google updated on how many devices are now using Google TV and Android TV, stating that there are currently150 million devices in the hands of users globally. Google TV (an Android os), hitherto only available as a Chromecast, later became a downloadable user interface (UI) for Android TV’s This user interface is now built into all new Android TV’s. The brand, Android TV, has been dropped and will now only be marketed as Google TV. All existing Android TV software/firmware will be/are being updated to Google TV (existing software level permitting). With the 2nd Dec 22 announcement that… ‘VIDAA Brings Global Football Content to GoogleTV and Android TV os devices… and that the FIFA World Cup will likely draw around 5 billion viewers around the world, the combined reach for VIDAA sport on Hisense, Google Tv and Android TV devices, as a direct result of the above, greatly extends the global reach and footprint of the original Hisense, Toshiba, Lowe + arrangement by a factor of multiple millions of devices. You would think that this announcement would be significant for Tremor. As I read it, the VIDAA sports streaming service is now available as an app on all new Google TV’s and existing TV’s using the Android os, considerably broadening that service and enhancing Tremor's valuable data gathering, globally.

https://9to5google.com/2023/01/05/google-tv-users-2023/

https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/vidaa-brings-global-football-content-to-google-tv-and-other-android-tv-os-devices-globally-301692371.html

Last post from me before taking a break. May look in again next year. All the best.

Re, Planet V… "Our exclusive license to use Amobee’s technology and develop it to best serve the needs of advertisers enables us to create our own platform, and as that rolls out we’ll look to invite other broadcasters to join".

https://www.planet-v.co.uk/broadcasters

https://www.amobee.com/blog/itv-launches-planet-v-developed-by-amobee/#:~:text=ITV%20Launches%20Planet%20V%2C%20Developed%20by%20Amobee%20by,officially%20went%20live%20for%20advertisers%20on%20October%205.

https://www.planet-v.co.uk/

Some more reading here.... and Tremor now has it all.

hxxps://www.amobee.com/blog/

dog, re your…As far as the Gartner rankings go, to rank Amobee anywhere near TTD seems highly suspicious to me. I can't help but wonder how many of the 74 users who ranked Amobee have tried TTD. The market tells us they're not even close when it comes to performance, by an absolutely massive margin.

The individual lists are compiled from reviews which have been gathered from individual users of each of the platforms. Each list is free standing and therefor it’s entirely possible that none/some of TTD’s platform users have ever used the Amobee platform, and the visa versa may also be true. It’s not that sort of comparison. Gartner (as mentioned by jonhas) compiles these things using many companies in the same sector and then invites you to compare them alongside each other if you so choose. In fact, if you click on the + tab (top right) within the link I posted, you will see a myriad of other choices to run side by side with the TTD and Amobee. Everything from google, viant, MediaMath, criteo etc. Truth is, other than providing some degree of measurement of user satisfaction, there is little in the way of value or useful ‘comparison’ from any of this.
Probably a ‘link’ too far for me in my previous post. Trying too hard. Time to step back for a while.

Johanas, just a follow through from me re your …”whenever you see relevant articles from any of the leading industry sources, Amobee will be detailed as a leader in the DSP and DMP spaces.”

Extracts from a legacy review dated July 2021..... Amobee is a digital marketing platform owned by Singtel and serves some of the world’s biggest brands and agencies, Amobee was once positioned as the world’s leading independent advertising platform—but now it is expected to lose millions of dollars in revenue in the next few years. The million dollar question is: Can Amobee bounce back? Although Amobee has had a rough year, it is not the only casualty of the pandemic in the advertising industry. While it incurred huge losses in 2020 (US$31 million), with careful planning, Amobee can bounce back and reclaim its spot as one of the largest digital marketing platforms in the world.

A Gartner Peer Insight comparison of Amobee with TTD… https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/ad-tech/compare/amobee-vs-the-trade-desk

Just released: Amobee’s Data Science and Engineering teams upgraded the algorithm that predicts Action Rate at bid time to make it more accurate by utilizing machine learning. Platform-wide CPAs improved by 33% while two major DTC retailers saw 36% and 39% improvements respectively....
I notice they have published and maintained Tremor's revenue targets for this year and next in this revamped Amobee release.
https://www.amobee.com/
https://www.amobee.com/demo/

Amobee web site updated. Use the internal links and browse... https://www.amobee.com/

Tremor can put Amobee to good use here....

Retail Media/DTC… CTV will be the saviour for DTC brands in 2023.

The 'Third Wave of Digital Advertising'

https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2022/11/17/ctv-will-be-the-savior-dtc-brands-2023

Amobee will be Tremor International’s primary DSP....

https://www.adexchanger.com/tv-and-video/how-tremor-international-is-using-amobee-to-boost-its-programmatic-supply/

I like Tremor’s ‘multiple year’ ACR partnership with VIDAA. It Provides Tremor with an exclusive and expanding source of valuable first party data that's related to viewer consumption, along with major streaming services.
Extract…Tremor International will bring VIDAA’s ACR data into its TV Intelligence solution starting May 1, 2022,
The investment expands global data and media agreements for multiple years and provides advertisers leveraging the Tremor International platform with access to exclusive, premium content.....Thia partnership between a leading tech platform, OEM and OS is rare in the CTV landscape.

https://www.tremorvideo.com/company/press-releases/tremor-international-enhances-partnership-with-vidaa-through-strategic-investment/

Tremor’s multi-year $25illion investment in VIDAA…
The Investment accompanies an expansion of the valuable partnership between a leading ad tech platform and a leading operating system and streaming platform to collectively offer a better advertising experience across CTV. Over time, VIDAA will grant exclusivity in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia to the Unruly SSP and Spearad ad server, already designated as its preferred monetization platform globally, and the companies have extended, for multiple years, the exclusive agreement to share VIDAA’s automatic content recognition (“ACR”).
https://www.vidaa.com/

Positioning for the future…..may need a crystal ball.

https://thestreamable.com/news/report-prime-video-losing-viewers-for-thursday-night-football-will-other-streamers-hesitate-to-embrace-live-sports

Extract… The transition of sports to streaming is simply a matter of time. The NBA may be the next big domino to fall, with companies like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery expressing public interest in streaming more games. Apple TV+ has secured the rights to stream every Major League Soccer game for the next 10 years, and is deep in negotiations with the NFL to become the streaming home of its out-of-market games package NFL Sunday Ticket. But Prime Video’s ratings challenges show that there are still issues to overcome before sports move entirely to streaming…..Even with those mitigating factors in mind, other companies that are exploring ways to integrate live sports into their streaming portfolios will surely be watching the “TNF” ratings throughout the rest of the season. The numbers might spook some services considering entering the world of live sports like Netflix.

https://thestreamable.com/uk/news/report-avod-revenue-will-nearly-triple-by-2028-thanks-to-disney-plus-netflix

The above are effectively DTC platforms!!! AVOD will provide valuable performance data from these streams.

Related links...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/strategus-launches-ctv-revenue-support-150000133.html

https://digiday.com/sponsored/for-retailers-customer-data-is-driving-ctv-campaigns/

SNN Re…They seem 'big' on DTC (direct to consumer) and want to expand in this area and for this to become semi performance based. The Amobee DSP is mainly display (which is poor margin, declining and will suffer the most in recession), which raises questions on why they bought it - though they are now saying it's about cross selling CTV to Amobee's customers.

Cross selling to CTV is now the buzz. Because Display is mostly search driven media retailers and direct to customer, DTC, businesses have woken up to the fact that they are sitting on a mass of valuable first party data which can use to target ads further up the funnel and to CTV and display video. As a result, you are starting to see all these other ad budgets getting unlocked. This is where I think Tremor sees value in Amobee’s DSP.

Extract...The new programmatic capability lets advertisers use retail sales data to reach relevant CTV and video households and gives advertisers access to premium CTV and video inventory in a centralized private marketplace, Kroger Precision Marketing said. It also enable campaign management based on attributable retail sales and household penetration.

https://www.nexttv.com/news/kroger-making-data-available-for-programmatic-ctv-ads#:~:text=The%20new%20programmatic%20capability%20lets%20advertisers%20use%20retail,based%20on%20attributable%20retail%20sales%20and%20household%20penetration.

https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/why-physical-stores-next-major-media-channel

cont...

From what was said during the CC, it appears that Tremor used the time between purchasing Amobee and the closing of the deal, to map out what they intended to do with it after the deal closed, even to the extent of deploying some of the Amobee management, to help with that. You would hope that after the hatchet job, management have left themselves with exactly the framework and the talent that they always intended to extract from this acquisition. Faced with the uncertainty of a successful/unsuccessful integration and the time-line to complete that (mid to second half of 2023), the probability of a rather dire macro conditions during this period, the backdrop of two disappointing quarterly results beforehand and all the other issues you have highlighted, it’s not at all surprising that you were not prepared to take the risk of holding on. I came so close to hitting the sell button last Monday, for sure but feel that there is value yet to be released from Amobee and vidda and so I decided (nervously) to hang in here.

SNN, once again, my thanks.

Next….
Re your… I listened to the RBC conference - confirms how bad Amobee is re the staff numbers - 1,000 for $150m of revenue, compared to Tremor's 600 staff for $300m revenue. For $50m savings, 700 plus staff must have gone….

Well, what did Tremor acquire...

March 2012, Singtel buys Amobee for $321 million.

In June 2014, Amobee, a mobile ad company acquired by Singtel for $321 million is buying up two other companies to build out its position in the wider digital ads space: It’s gobbling up Adconion (AGM) and Kontera, for $235 million and $150 million, respectively.
Adcoinion…(AMG) is a technology company who has built one of the largest global multi-screen, multi-channel audience platforms. Our Digital Distribution Platform (DDP) enables content owners, app developers and device manufacturers to monetize their global audiences across multiple devices and screens.

Feb 2017 Amobee acquires Turn, a leading multi-channel DSP and DMP with advanced data analytics capabilities serving brands and agencies, at an enterprise value of US $310 million.

Aug 2018, Amobee, acquires Videology—a leading software provider for advanced TV and video advertising—advancing Amobee’s connected TV and digital video solutions with sophisticated data-driven linear TV planning tools, premium inventory partnerships and activation opportunities for clients worldwide. Cost $101 million

That a total of $1.117 billion. Eyewatering!

July 2022, Tremor International Buys Adtech Firm Amobee for $239 Million.

Looking back at Amobee’s history it’s clear that Sintel spent a pile of money between 2012 and 2018, in giving Amobee life as we now know it and I can’t help but conclude that there appears to be a lot of value in Amobee. I think Amobee had about 900/1000 employees when Tremor acquired it and as soon as the deal closed, a machete was taken to the staffing levels, hence the $50 million savings within weeks. I did wonder though, to what extent this hatchet job has impacted Amobee’s existing business.
Cont...

Next….continued.
Re your…The Amobee DSP is mainly display (which is poor margin, declining and will suffer the most in recession), which raises questions on why they bought it (hardly video / CTV) –

I couldn’t quite get my head around this one as Amobee seemed to me to be perfectly tooled-up for CTV and also offered additional leverage from ad delivery to Linier TV. Here is a cut and paste from a heading in my previous post…”
Amobee’s connected TV and digital video solutions with sophisticated data-driven linear TV planning tools, premium inventory partnerships and activation opportunities for clients worldwide”. Some links…
https://www.amobee.com/blog/a-digital-love-affair-how-tv-digital-convergence-is-creating-the-future-of-advertising/#:~:text=A%20Digital%20Love%20Affair%3A%20How%20TV-Digital%20Convergence%20is,kept%20them%20confined%20to%20siloed%20budgets%20and%20strategies.
https://www.amobee.com/newsroom/amobee-launches-industry-first-self-service-platform-for-revolutionary-tv-amplifier-solution-joining-linear-and-connected-tv-planning/
https://www.amobee.com/success-story/itv-turbo-charges-advertising-with-planet-v/#:~:text=The%20U.K.%E2%80%99s%20biggest%20commercial%20broadcaster%2C%20ITV%2C%20partnered%20with,optimizationcapabilities%20not%20previously%20available%20in%20the%20EMEA%20region.
https://www.amobee.com/blog/start-connecting-the-dots-between-tv-and-digital/

Next.
Re your…Vidda… for this year, it'll be $2-4m in revenue order for TRMR and won't move the dial on Q4 numbers.

That’s a shock. But given the last two quarterly misses, I did wonder where the predicted ex-TAC contribution of $103 million for 4Q would be coming from. Margin deterioration aside, that’s almost 60% up on last qtr. I do hope that you have gotten this one wrong and that being this far into, what is traditionally our best quarter, Ofer Druker has sufficient insight to call this one correctly.
Anyone interested in the answer given to the question raised by Daniel Cane – Analyst, Toscafund Asset Management, during the Q and you can find it here in this transcript. It’s the very last question….
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/tremor-international-ltd-trmr-q3-2022-earnings-call-transcript

Link for above ...
https://www.bing.com/search?q=Ad+Tech+Stocks+Rebound+%E2%80%93+But+Can+It+Last%3F+%7C+AdExchanger&cvid=66cac4aeb9824984b1027ef3eed40e65&aqs=edge..69i57.2152j0j1&pglt=43&FORM=ANNTA1&PC=EDGEDSE