WildBrain Ltd.

Hello and welcome to Wildbrain's fiscal 2023 Q2 earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during that time, please press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw from the queue, please press star two. I'd now like to turn the call over to Kathleen Persaud, Vice President, Investor Relations at WildBrain.

Thanks, Justin, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today for WildBrain's second quarter 2023 earnings call. Joining me today are Eric Ellenbogen, our CEO, and Aaron Ames, our CFO. Also with us and available during the question and answer session are Josh Sherpa, our President, and Danielle Neese, our EVP of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer. Before we begin, please note the matters discussed on this call include forward-looking statements under applicable security laws with respect to WildBrain, including, but not limited to, statements regarding investments by the company, commercial arrangements of the company, the business strategies and operational activities of the company, the markets and industries in which the company operates, and the future objectives and financial and operating performance of the company, and the value of its assets. Such statements are based on factors and assumptions that management believes are reasonable at the time they were made and information currently available. Forelooking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results or events in the future could differ materially and adversely from those described in the forelooking statements as a result of various important factors, including the risk factors set out in the company's most recent MD&A and annual information form. which are available on the investor relations section of our website at wildbrain.com. Please note that all currency numbers are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. After our remarks, we will open the call for questions. I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Eric Ellenbogen.

Thanks, Kathleen, and good morning. Thank you for joining us. As we begin, I'd like to address our softer-than-expected second quarter results. I'm sure it's top of mind for our investors. This is primarily an issue of timing, which doesn't change the outlook for our full year guidance. Our second quarter results were impacted by certain productions that were expected to start in Q2 and have moved to Q3. We remain confident that we'll see an acceleration in the second half of fiscal 23 to achieve our stated targets for the year. And Aaron will provide greater detail in his commentary And of course, we'll take questions at the conclusion of our remarks. Now, turning to some of our recent initiatives. Over the past several years, you've heard me speak of the investments and upgrades that we've made in our creative endeavors. The product of those investments have now been visible in our new Peanuts content for Apple TV+, and also in shows like Chip and Potato, Go Dog Go, and Strawberry Shortcake, which are all on Netflix. But now we've achieved a new level with our latest Netflix series, Sonic Prime. In December, Sonic Prime, our most creatively ambitious animation project to date, premiered on Netflix with an overwhelmingly positive reception from fans worldwide. The series debuted in the number one position for kids content, and it spent three weeks in the global top 10 on the platform across all demographics. and it reached the top 10 in 66 countries. And for those who don't know, the turnover in Netflix top 10 can be quite rapid. Just a few days is considered quite an accomplishment. So three weeks in that ranking is quite exceptional. And it's safe to say that Sonic Prime is a bona fide hit with audiences around the world. And Netflix has already announced the drop of the next eight episodes this summer. Simultaneous with the success of Sonic Prime, Our global licensing agency, WildBrain CPLG, working alongside our partner, Sega, has lined up a robust pipeline of Sonic Prime consumer product launches for this year, which will begin layering into our financial results over the coming quarters. As a reminder, we share equal participation with Sega on the Sonic Prime IP. The success of the Sonic Prime series on Netflix, along with Sonic's worldwide brand recognition, is leading to new deals, partnerships, and licensees. And just to put that into context, the number of deals we've signed in the last three months is at the same pace as some of today's most successful properties in kids' entertainment. We're just in the beginning stages of our Sonic Prime partnership, and we expect to see an acceleration in growth in fiscal 2024. Sonic Prime is a superb example of the inherent potential in reimagining and reigniting classic brands for today's audiences. And like Peanuts, the Sonic brand has a decades-long legacy with generations of loyal fans. I'm sure that everyone listening today has a favorite show, a game, or a comic that they loved when they were young. And today, the opportunity to monetize such brands by tapping into that fandom And reigniting them for adults and kids to enjoy is sizable. And it's really a big part of what we do at Wild Brain. We bring IP to life by delivering engaging content to kids and families everywhere. And we follow that with great consumer products. And at the very core of our DNA is IP and content. And we utilize all the creativity, technology, and insights available to identify what resonates with kids and families so that we can deliver them fresh, exciting experiences to build new memories and connections. And we don't just do that with classic IP. We also build audiences for emerging IP. And in that vein, we partnered in the second quarter with Ukrainian producer Glowberry to bring the popular Brave Bunnies preschool brand into our 360-degree franchise portfolio. Brave Bunnies was launched in 2020. and quickly gained a successful foothold with broadcasters. Season one is already enjoyed by kids on platforms in more than 80 countries. And in consumer products, Spin Master launched a complimentary toy line in Germany and Italy. And the brand's publishing program has seen its first books debut in Italy and Australia. We have been in discussions with Glowberry and tracking the brand for some time, but after the invasion of Ukraine, we accelerated that process. And while we recognized a need to help Lowberry in these terrible circumstances, it was also important for us that this was the right thing to do for our business at Wildbrain. So we know what a good brand looks like, and we saw all the hallmarks of early strength with Brave Bunnies. It ticked every box with its ability to engage global audiences through content that could ultimately drive consumer products upside down. Now it's the majority owner of Brave Bunny's IP. Wild Brain will lead global distribution of Brave Bunny's content. It will co-produce season two with Glowberry and Spanish animation studio Anima. We're going to manage the brand under our franchise group and Wild Brain CPLG will handle the licensing and merchandising worldwide, just excluding Ukraine. Turning now to our licensing and consumer product business. After quarter end, Peanuts Worldwide signed a U.S. partnership for Snoopy with MetLife Pet Insurance, which is the leading pet health insurance provider in the workplace. And we have thus rekindled a more than 30-year relationship between Peanuts and MetLife. Our Peanuts brand continues to attract high-quality partners like MetLife around the world. And additionally, after the quarter, WildBrain CPLG was appointed as master licensee worldwide for Playmobil, which is one of the most popular toy brands in Europe, and it has a brand recognition in the 80% to 90% range across Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands. CPLG will expand the Playmobil brand into new territories and consumer product categories, including merchandise, publishing, location-based entertainment, and promotions. And this is just another example of how Wildbrain CPLG continues to build its portfolio with high-quality partner brands offering their expertise and a global turnkey solution. Similarly, just last week, the CPLG team announced the renewal of representation for Hasbro's portfolio of kids' brands and EMEA, plus the addition of Italy and India with properties that include Peppa Pig, My Little Pony, and Transformers. We've established a very successful relationship with Hasbro across many of their most popular and iconic family brands in key markets, and we look forward to continuing to grow their brands in these new regions. By the field, as of January 1, just a little while ago, our CPLG team in APAC is fully up and running with our newly expanded operations in China, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea. with many exciting deals in development that we look forward to announcing in the coming weeks and months. Turning to Wild Brain Spark, results continue to be impacted by the global slowdown in the advertising market, but strong direct ad sales by our team in the quarter led to a sequential improvement. And I'll remind you, it's important to recognize that the true value of Spark lies in its audience engagement and the insights that we capture from that engagement. Engagement is necessary to effectively reach kids and build brand affinity. According to a recent survey from the Precise Advertisers Report, 84% of kids say that YouTube is the main way that they consume content. And kids continue to be highly engaged on our Wildbrain YouTube network, which attracted over 46 billion views across 7 billion minutes of video in the second quarter of 2013. And today, Spark has captured over 1 trillion minutes of watch time since its launch in 2016. This converts to the discovery of new content, the sustained popularity of our proprietary and partner IP, and ultimately drives the much larger opportunities in consumer products. And with that, let me turn it over to Aaron, who will review the quarterly results in detail and provide some more context for our outlook for the balance of the year. Aaron?