comScore, Inc.

good day and thank you for standing by welcome to the comscore fourth quarter 2023 financial results 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 please press star 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced 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 speaker today John Tinker, Vice President, Investor Relations.

Thank you, Operator. Before we begin our prepared remarks, I'd like to remind all of you that the following discussion contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include comments about our plans, expectations, and prospects and are based on our view as of today, March 6, 2024. Our actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected to There's a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include those outlined in our 10-K, 10-Q, and other filings with the SEC, which you can find on our website or at www.sec.gov. We disclaim any duty or obligation to update our forward-looking statements to reflect new information after today's call. We will be discussing non-GAAP measures during this call for which we have provided reconciliations in today's press release and on our website. Please note that we will be referring to slides on this call, which are also available on our website, www.comscore.com, under investor relations events and presentations. Finally, Comscore intends to file a proxy statement and related materials with the SEC in connection with the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders. Our directors and certain officers will be participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the annual meeting. Stockholders are encouraged to read the proxy statement and related materials when they become available as they will contain important information including the identity of the participants and their direct or indirect interests by security holdings or otherwise. As you may know, 180 Degree Capital submitted notice of its intent to nominate a candidate for election to the board and submit a proposal consideration at the annual meeting. At this time, we'll make no further comment or take any questions on 180 Degree Capital's nomination and proposal or any related matters. I'll now turn the call over to ComSchool's Chief Executive Officer, John Carpenter. John.

Thanks, John, and thank you, everyone, for joining us this evening. 2023 had both highs and lows for the business. On the positive side, we accomplished a number of things which our team should be very proud of, and I believe set us up well for a return to sustainable growth. I'm more confident than ever that we're headed in the right direction. We delivered on our adjusted EBITDA margin goals, made key cross-platform product innovations, and revamped our go-to-market operations. We received conditional certification from USGIC, and we're the only measurement player who received this certification and is also working toward MRC accreditation of a TV measurement product. We also drove significant growth in both Comscore campaign ratings, our product that measures cross-platform advertising campaigns, and Proximic, our cross-platform audience activation business that provides both ID-based and ID-free solutions. We believe we're just starting to see the kind of growth that we can expect across these key areas of our business. At the same time, we did fall short of a revenue target for the year. Macro challenges did have a material impact on our custom business last year, especially in the back half. where the custom business was down double digits. Additionally, there are end markets that we serve that have been and are likely to remain challenged. Specifically, we saw low single-digit declines in the part of the business that supports large traditional network clients where linear ad spend is expected to remain under pressure as dollars continue to shift to digital platforms. And our business last year was certainly not immune to some of the pressures. That being said, our new go-to-market structure under the leadership of Chief Commercial Officer Steve Bagdasarian, along with key innovations across our campaign ratings and proximate products, are already delivering results for us, aligning our growth with the fastest growing areas of need within the market. And the bookings we printed in the second half of the year are two of the most promising renewal periods we've had in the last two years. In fact, the progress we made in 23 sets us up nicely to deliver on our 24 expectations. Our cost control and technology transformation work has continued to help us deliver stronger operating margins in 2023. Our combination of local TV speed and precision helped us deliver yet another year of double-digit growth in our local business. Finally, we've made substantial progress and our key cross-platform products, Proximic and CCR. The market has responded incredibly well to the value we're delivering with those two product areas to the tune of well over 30% year-over-year growth. Given that these businesses represent approximately 10% of our total business last year, we're confident we're just scratching the surface on what our opportunity for 2024 looks like. But before we go any further on 24, I'll let Mary Margaret take you through our 23 numbers in a bit more detail.