The Arena Group Holdings, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Arena Group third quarter 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 1 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, Rob Fink. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Liz. Hosting the call today are Ross Levinson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Doug Smith, Chief Financial Officer, and Andrew Kraft, Chief Operating Officer. Before we begin, I'd like to note that some of the comments made during this presentation may include forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking. Forward-looking statements relate to future events, future performance, and include, without limitation, statements concerning the company's business strategy, the company's proposed transaction with Simplify Inventions, future revenues, market growth, capital requirements, product introductions, and expansion plans, and the adequacy of the company's funding. The company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements presented in this presentation or that the company may make orally or in writing from time to time are based on the beliefs of assumptions made by and information currently available to the company. Such statements are based on assumptions and the actual outcome will be affected by known and unknown risks, trends, uncertainties, and factors that are beyond the company's control or ability to predict. Although the company believes that its assumptions are reasonable, these assumptions are not guarantees of future performance and some will inevitably prove to be incorrect. As a result, the company's actual future results can be expected to differ from its expectations, and those differences may be material. Accordingly, investors should use caution in relying on forward-looking statements, which are based only on known results and trends at the time they are made, to anticipate future results or trends. Certain risks are discussed in the company's filings with the SEC. The company disclaims any intention or obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any financial projections or forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise. In addition, reference will be made to non-GAAP financial measure adjusted EBITDA. Information regarding reconciliation of this non-GAAP measure to the closest GAAP measure can be found on the press release that was issued this afternoon on the company's investor relations website at investors.thearenagroup.net. With all that said, I'd now like to turn the call over to Ross. Ross, the call is yours.

Thank you, Rob, and good afternoon to everyone joining us here today. This has been an incredibly busy time here at the ARENA Group. During our last earnings call in August, I announced our intention to combine with Bridge Media Networks, a dynamic and innovative media group that offers a range of platforms for delivering the latest news, sports, automotive, and travel content. After several months of due diligence, today I'm pleased to share that last week we signed a definitive agreement in which the Arena Group will combine operations with Bridge Media Networks. In addition to our existing operations, the Arena Group will include the video programming, distribution, and production assets of Bridge Media Networks, including two 24-hour networks, Newsnet and Sports News Highlights, as well as the automotive and travel properties Driven and Travelhost. This transaction will expand the reach and capabilities of the Arena Group, and provide it with growth capital while also enabling us to reduce our overall debt and extend the terms of our existing debt facility, further strengthening and fortifying the Arena Group's balance sheet. The proposed transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2024, subject to the approval of the Arena Group stockholders, the receipt of any required regulatory approvals, and certain other closing conditions. While we have been focused on this transaction, we have also delivered strong Q3 results from our existing businesses, all against an industry dealing with severe headwinds in both the advertising market and shifting audience migrations. A few of our key highlights. Total revenue was 63.4 million, up 11% from the third quarter of last year, driven largely by our digital advertising business, which grew by almost 30% as compared to last year. Total digital revenue represented 72% of our total revenue, and that's up from 66% of total revenue in Q3 of 2022. Total RPMs grew 46% as compared to the third quarter of last year, in a time when many of our competitors are struggling with monetizations. In fact, this quarter, our display programmatic CPMs were 40% higher than industry benchmarks according to Stack, a market norm benchmarking service provided by Operative. This growth more than offset an 8% year-over-year decline in total page views for the quarter. Gross profit increased by nearly 15% to $28.2 million, representing a gross margin of 44%. Our total... operating expenses decreased by 4% from the third quarter last year, primarily as a result of decreased advertising costs and lower stock-based compensation. Our adjusted EBITDA was $6.4 million, representing an improvement of $2.9 million or 86% better as compared to the third quarter of last year, reflecting our focus on cost control and efficiencies while continuing to diversify and grow our revenue. These results underscore the strength of our business and our ability to operate efficiently during less than optimal circumstances. The ad market across our industry remained challenging during Q3, with headwinds particularly pronounced in direct sales. Largely, we have fared better than our competition, but we saw some softness due to advertiser pullback. Our sales team has remained nimble in this environment, working with our advertising partners to drive innovative solutions, and I'm bullish on our ability to succeed despite these headwinds, particularly under the new leadership of our Chief Revenue Officer, Katie Kulik, who joined us just a few weeks ago. Katie brings a wealth of experience and relationships that span over 25 years in traditional and digital media and advertising technologies. including more than a decade at CBS where she was executive vice president and head of global digital sales. Web audiences are continuing to migrate from web pages to social media and social platforms, and thanks to our audience development team, we are continuing to capture audience engagements across all platforms. We doubled our total followers on Instagram from over a year ago, and our social video views across all platforms have more than quadrupled since this time last year according to Listen First. Our brands have maintained their relevance in search with Sports Illustrated in the street in particular seeing their best performing quarters to date in total SEO clicks according to Google Search Console. At the start of the year we highlighted two growth initiatives for the company which we believed were crucial to the diversification and growth of the Arena Group, e-commerce and the creator influencer space. Both have begun to contribute to our success and as the industry shifts, we believe we have positioned the company for growth. With the Creator Network, we have introduced new formats that are resonating with our advertising partners. Since our official launch in August, we have engaged in several new advertiser-creator partnerships already generating seven figures of revenue and one of which resulted in Sports Illustrated's highest viewed original content series ever with 40 million views across Instagram and TikTok. Seeing such a successful campaign come to fruition in such a short period of time really underscores the power of combining strong brands with content creators and we are just getting started. We are also continuing to diversify our revenue streams through initiatives such as e-commerce which saw a 637% increase in revenue year-over-year after a strong performance on Amazon Prime Day. We intend to make e-commerce and performance marketing a larger part of our everyday experiences. As a media organization with more than 100 million users each month in targeted areas, verticals, and with robust data across all user sets, we believe the company is a vibrant and powerful partner to brands. We deliver to consumers content experiences that both create that unique emotional connection for users, but also provide targeted solutions for marketers looking to connect to consumers when and where they engage. With the addition of linear and over-the-top video solutions, we have dramatically improved our offerings for both. Sports Illustrated Media Group for the first time reached the number two spot in Comscore sports rankings this quarter, an enormous milestone for the brand that just a few years ago was struggling outside the top 10. In July of 2020, we occupied the number 11 spot in the Comscore rankings. We've seen incredible growth this quarter, particularly in our Fan Nation and Athlon sports businesses, which increased quarterly page views by 48% and 116% year-over-year, respectively, according to Google Analytics. Our growth is not limited to site traffic, but our social media presence continues to expand with over 600,000 new followers across SI's social platforms during the quarter. SI's F1 TikTok is now the fastest growing F1 account in North America amongst sports news publishers, according to Listen First. Our finance vertical, anchored by the street, had its best quarter in history for page views with a 40% year-over-year growth as compared to the third quarter last year, according to Google Analytics. We are continuing to create video content from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, which appears on thestreet.com and additional syndication partners online and on air across America. Our lifestyle vertical anchored by Parade and our men's lifestyle vertical anchored by Men's Journal have also had a strong third quarter. Both verticals continue to add new publishing partners with Parade now partnering with National Day Calendar on daily themed content and Men's Journal with new partner publishers ranging in topics from mountaineering to cycling to adventure travel. We are looking forward to the fourth quarter of this year, particularly as holiday season e-commerce content ramps up. And our Adventure Network properties acquired late last year, including Powder, Surfer, and Bike Magazine, have all experienced growth online and across social platforms. I'd like to talk about our outlook for the remainder of the year, but first, I'd like to let Doug Smith, our Chief Financial Officer, take you through some of the numbers. Doug?