Playmaker Capital Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the Playmaker Capital Inc. Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask a question. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note, This event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Playmaker Chief Operating Officer, Jake Cassaday. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. As mentioned, I am Jake Cassaday, and I am joined today by our Chief Executive Officer, Jordan Gannat, and our Chief Financial Officer, Mike Cook. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that today's call will include estimates and other forward-looking information from which our actual results could differ. Please review the cautionary language in yesterday's press release regarding various factors, assumptions, and risks that could cause our actual results to differ. Furthermore, during this call, we will refer to certain non-IFRS measures. These measures do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and our approach in calculating these measures may differ from that of other issuers, and so these measures may not be directly comparable. Please see yesterday's press release for more information about these measures. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded and a replay will be available on Playmaker's website. An updated investor overview presentation is also now available on the website, inclusive of Q2 details discussed here. At this time, I would like to introduce Jordan Gannat, Chief Executive Officer of Playmaker.

Thank you, Jake. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our second quarter 2023 earnings call. Q2 was a period of focused execution against our five strategic priorities for 2023, all aimed at better integrating our complementary businesses to drive organic revenue growth and realize efficiencies. During the quarter, our ecosystem of media and affiliate businesses refined internal processes, expanded syndication networks, enhanced video production and monetization capabilities, and extended strategic partnerships with Tier 1 advertisers and sports betting operators. Entering the sports-heavy Q3 and Q4 periods, Playmaker is better positioned than ever to drive value for fans, customers and shareholders as the number four ranked digital sports media group across the Americas and the number one regional digital sports media company in Latin America. Subsequent to the quarter end, we acquired leading Quebec sports media group La Poche Bleue to round out our Canadian wide reach. La Poche Bleue plants a flag in the Quebec market bolsters our video podcast portfolio and strengthens our direct-to-consumer segment in advance of the upcoming NHL season. Additionally, founders Maxime Lapierre and Guillaume Latendresse and managing director Louis-Philippe Doré are tremendous additions to our senior leadership team. Playmaker experienced strong engagement metrics across its owned and operated media brands in Q2 2023. During the quarter, PlayMaker's web properties generated more than 653 million sessions and its video podcast received over 5 million streams. Here are some additional highlights worth noting. The Nation Network continued to grow engagement with its lineup of video podcasts and achieved a quarterly record 5.1 million streams in Q2 2023, an increase of more than 300% over Q2 2022. In June 2023, TNN generated a monthly record 2.02 million streams, an increase of 451% over June 2022. Yardbarker attracted a monthly average of 8.9 million unique users in Q2 2023, an increase of 52% over Q2 2022. Additionally, Yardbarker generated a monthly average of 19 million web sessions during Q2 2023, an increase of 51% year over year. Football sites maintained a strong leadership position in the Brazilian market with core properties, Bola VIP Brazil, Fanaticos for Football, and Entonados Norfootball generating more than 300 million sessions in the quarter, and ranking 1st, 2nd, and 11th respectively in the June CommScore rankings. FootballSites executed numerous direct campaigns with leading iGaming and sports betting operators in Brazil during the quarter. Additionally, FootballSites activated campaigns with global advertisers across branded content articles, podcasts and video integrations, and widgets. Football Sites Q2 2023 direct sales revenue increased by 53% over Q2 2022, bolstered by an 88% year-over-year growth of the sports betting customer segment. We continue to focus on the shift in sales from programmatic to direct, and in Q2, we executed multiple long-term direct sales and partnership initiatives. Direct sales accounted for 54% of Playmaker's core media advertising sales for the period, an increase of 25% over Q2 2022. Direct sales and affiliate are growing segments of Playmaker's revenue generation, and the company continues to expand these revenue streams to maximize higher margin monetization opportunities. Our teams continue to execute at the highest level and are gearing up for the high seasons of the North American sports calendar. I'll turn the call over to Mike to discuss our financial results in more detail and then come back to wrap up the call.