Mark Kelley

Mark Kelley of Stifel Financial asked about the potential ceiling for user penetration in mature U.S. markets and questioned whether the rollout of the advertising business has led to any noticeable increase in user churn.

Answer

CEO Lauren Antonoff asserted that the potential for penetration is vast and 'nowhere in sight,' given the universal nature of family connections. She also confirmed that the company has been very cautious with its ad rollout and has observed no significant negative impact on user retention or churn.

Mark Kelley inquired about Clear's broader advertising strategy to increase awareness of its expanded offerings beyond historical perceptions, given the added value to membership.

Answer

Caryn Seidman-Becker, CEO of Clear Secure, acknowledged the opportunity to communicate Clear's comprehensive home-to-gate offerings. She stated that the best advertising comes from happy customers and word-of-mouth, driven by improving customer experience, NPS, employee satisfaction, and hospitality scores. Clear is exploring new digital ways, including Instagram and leveraging AI, to tell its story, focusing on both member experience and its identity security role.

Mark Kelley asked if Clear Secure's scaling membership and rising prices could lead to better economics in future airport agreement renewals, and whether these agreements are tied to absolute dollar amounts or revenue share percentages. He also asked about Clear Secure's broader advertising strategy to increase awareness of its expanded 'home-to-gate' offerings beyond historical perceptions.

Answer

Caryn Seidman-Becker, Co-Founder, Chair and CEO, Clear Secure, emphasized strengthening airport partnerships through innovation like eGates, describing them as powerful, success-based economic partnerships. She noted that margins are driven by automation, innovation, and scale, with eGates driving efficiency and Concierge offering high-margin revenue. For advertising, Ms. Seidman-Becker stated that happy customers and word-of-mouth are the best advertising, driven by improved customer experience and NPS. She also mentioned leaning into new digital ways (e.g., Instagram, AI) to tell Clear's story as both a member experience and secure identity company.

Mark Kelley sought more details on the international rollout, asking about adoption expectations, whether pricing would be different from the U.S., and why country-by-country regulatory approvals were not necessary.

Answer

CEO Caryn Seidman Becker confirmed that pricing for international members will be the same as domestic and that partner channels will be important for driving adoption, though it's too early for specific forecasts. She and President Michael Barkin clarified that country-by-country sign-offs are not required because the service is for outbound travel through U.S. airports, not for inbound customs and border protection.

Mark Kelley asked about the international rollout of the ePassport product and other potential opportunities for international business growth. He also requested details on the dynamics of closing the wholesale-to-retail price gap, particularly concerning the renewed American Express partnership and its free cash flow impact.

Answer

Executive Caryn Seidman-Becker detailed the ePassport opportunity, starting with a TAM of ~2 million travelers from the U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with a focus on serving international travelers within the U.S. network. President Michael Barkin addressed partnerships, stating the American Express relationship is a valuable acquisition channel for members with strong lifetime value. He emphasized that as CLEAR's value proposition improves, the company will ensure partnerships reflect that shared value to increase member LTV and free cash flow.

Mark Kelley from Stifel asked about the potential P&L impact of a more favorable administration, the possibility of a role in Global Entry enrollment, and the recent stabilization in CLEAR Plus member usage.

Answer

CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker confirmed a long-standing interest in becoming an enrollment partner for Global Entry, leveraging their proven success with PreCheck. Executive Kenneth Cornick identified the direct salaries line as the primary area for operating leverage, as prior policies had created inefficiencies. He also explained that member usage has stabilized after being impacted by a mix shift to less frequent travelers and post-COVID travel normalization, with CLEAR's share of TSA traffic now up year-over-year.

Mark Kelley from Stifel Financial Corp. inquired how changes to the pricing structure affect commercial agreements with partners like American Express and asked for more detail on the operating expense shifts resulting from the new ambassador compensation model.

Answer

Executive Kenneth Cornick clarified that the core contract pricing with partners like American Express is not affected by general price increases, but CLEAR does benefit from price hikes on associated family member plans. He explained the ambassador pay change will shift a 'few million dollars' from sales and marketing (commissions) to direct salaries over the next few quarters, expecting it to be dollar-neutral but outcome-accretive by improving employee retention.

Mark Kelley sought more detail on the SMB and mid-market opportunity with Performance+, asking about conversion rate consistency and the revenue percentage from this segment.

Answer

CEO Bill Ready elaborated on Performance+ (P+) campaigns, noting a 24% higher conversion lift for retail advertisers and a 12% higher monthly revenue growth rate for SMB/mid-market adopters. He clarified that this segment represents approximately 15% of current revenue and discussed ROAS bidding's impact on larger retailers.

Mark Kelley sought more detail on the SMB and mid-market opportunity with Performance Plus, asking if the 24% higher conversion rate is standard across advertiser sizes and for clarification on the 10-15% revenue stat.

Answer

CEO Bill Ready highlighted the strong performance of Performance Plus (P+), noting a 24% higher conversion lift for retail advertisers and a 12% higher monthly revenue growth rate for SMB/mid-market adopters. He clarified that this segment currently represents approximately 15% of revenue, with significant opportunity for deeper share of wallet. Bill also explained how ROAS bidding, a P+ subset, is helping Pinterest penetrate deeper into large retailers' catalogs, doubling the number of SKUs with paid impressions.

Mark Kelley from Stifel requested a review of the contribution from third-party partnerships in 2024 and an outlook on their expected impact in the coming year.

Answer

CEO Bill Ready explained that these partnerships were designed to complement first-party sales by filling gaps in the ad auction. He noted that as the core first-party business strengthens, the need for third-party demand naturally decreases, which he views as a healthy dynamic. CFO Julia Donnelly reiterated that the company will not break out revenue from these partners but confirmed they ramped sequentially in 2024 and are one of many growth levers for 2025.

Mark Kelley asked if premium open web publishers might command higher CPMs in the future and how DV's pricing strategy would capture that. He also sought clarification on whether DV's definition of CTV includes platforms like YouTube.

Answer

CEO Mark Zagorski opined that performance, not just premium content, will drive future CPMs. He explained that DV's flexible pricing is more about adapting to different market norms than capturing CPM upside. He clarified that DV defines CTV as professional content on a large screen and that YouTube is currently categorized under its 'social' business line.

Mark Kelley asked for an update on Meta post-bid measurement adoption following the launch of the pre-bid solution and inquired if CTV fraud trends are analogous to those seen in other ad formats during their early growth stages.

Answer

CEO Mark Zagorski confirmed a 'halo effect' for Meta measurement, as the pre-bid solution requires post-bid, driving adoption for both. On CTV fraud, he noted that while it's 'history repeating itself,' the high CPMs in CTV make it a particularly lucrative target for fraudsters. He emphasized that platforms are partnering with DV to ensure a clean ecosystem and maintain advertiser trust.

Mark Kelley followed up on the Oracle topic, asking if sophisticated clients were piecemealing solutions and now present a consolidation opportunity for DV. He also asked about the adoption ramp for the Meta pre-bid product once it becomes generally available.

Answer

CEO Mark Zagorski confirmed the analyst's hypothesis, stating that former Oracle clients often used Moat for basic verification and that DV now has a significant opportunity to consolidate their spend onto its single, cohesive platform. Regarding the Meta ramp, he clarified that adoption may not be faster initially, as the activation tool requires a base level of measurement data and a learning period. The acceleration, or 'flywheel effect,' is expected to occur within customers once both measurement and activation are working in tandem.

Mark Kelley inquired about Criteo's Agentic AI strategy, focusing on potential monetization models and how the rise of AI agents might impact the traditional retail media business.

Answer

CEO Michael Komasinski and CPO Todd Parsons explained that while monetization models are still being defined by LLM vendors, Criteo is positioning itself to be a key data provider through its Model Context Protocol (MCP). They noted that AI is currently used more for discovery than conversion, and Criteo's structured commerce data provides a unique advantage. They are building a flexible backend to accommodate various potential pricing models, such as API calls, CPM, or CPC.

Mark Kelley sought clarification on the Retail Media business, asking what percentage of demand Criteo generated for its largest client prior to the change and requesting details on the competitive process that led to the change in the Uber relationship.

Answer

CFO Sarah Glickman declined to provide specific client metrics but noted Criteo excels at servicing the mid- to long-tail brands for its retail partners. CEO Michael Komasinski addressed the Uber question, clarifying that it was not a head-to-head competitive loss but a strategic decision by the client. He emphasized that Criteo's global partnership with Uber Advertising continues.

Mark Kelley inquired about the competitive threat from Amazon's retail service and asked for an update on the headwinds from BidSwitch, including actions taken to mitigate the impact.

Answer

CEO Megan Clarken and CPO Todd Parsons positioned Amazon's offering as targeting a different, long-tail market, emphasizing Criteo's advantages in neutrality, interoperability, and a more comprehensive product suite. CFO Sarah Glickman stated that while the Ad Tech Services segment was impacted by a major client moving trading in-house, the company has taken mitigation actions and expects to lap the impact in 2025.

Mark Kelley asked for more detail on the 16% decline in AdTech services, which was attributed to a single client, and questioned the sustainability of the recent growth in the retargeting business given tougher comparisons.

Answer

CEO Megan Clarken explained the AdTech services decline was due to a non-strategic product from the IPONWEB acquisition, which is susceptible to a single large client. CFO Sarah Glickman confirmed the issue was isolated and trends stabilized exiting the quarter. Chief Product Officer Todd Parsons added that retargeting remains resilient, supported by Criteo's addressability strategy and the success of the Commerce Go beta.

Mark Kelley requested more details on the company's mid-market strategy and asked for IAS's perspective on the Google ad tech trial and its potential impact on the Publica business.

Answer

CEO Lisa Utzschneider explained that the mid-market strategy focuses on performance-based marketers and is seeing strong growth from new product adoption and former Oracle clients. Regarding the Google trial, she stated it is too early to determine the impact but noted it could be a potential tailwind for Publica if publishers reassess their ad tech partners.

Mark Kelley inquired about the impact of political advertising on the quarter, contrasting with competitor commentary, and asked how the shift to real-time bidding in CTV affects IAS's business model.

Answer

CEO Lisa Utzschneider stated that the impact from political spending was limited, creating some headwinds for the advertiser business but benefiting the publisher side. She characterized the shift to real-time bidding in CTV as a significant tailwind, highlighting the 30% year-over-year growth in the publisher segment in Q4 as evidence of this strength.

Mark Kelley asked if the DOJ suit could lead Google to increase investment in its DV360 DSP. He also requested clarification on the political ad spend contribution in Q1.

Answer

CEO Jeff Green responded that he views DV360 as primarily a buying tool for YouTube, driven by Google's incentive to monetize its own high-margin assets rather than the open internet. He believes antitrust pressure will push Google to focus even more on its own properties. CFO Laura Schenkein clarified that the strong sequential performance from Q4 to Q1 was not driven by political ad spend, as 2025 is an off-cycle year, but rather by the strength from Kokai adoption and other business upgrades.

Mark Kelley asked why 2025 is expected to be different from 2024, given similar messaging about future improvement last year. He also requested more detail on the calculation of the $1 billion incremental GMS opportunity from app improvements.

Answer

CEO Josh Silverman differentiated 2025 by explaining that in 2024, the company intentionally pivoted product resources to long-term foundational work, creating an opportunity cost. In 2025, there is a rebalanced portfolio with some teams shifting back to near-term, conversion-driving work that has historically been beneficial. Regarding the app, he reiterated the strategy of encouraging mobile web users to download the app, which is the highest converting channel, and that increasing its penetration represents a significant long-term GMS opportunity.

Mark Kelley inquired whether the new matching algorithms being developed at Hinge could be replicated across other brands within the Match Group portfolio.

Answer

Incoming CFO Steven Bailey confirmed that leveraging technology across brands is a core part of the 'Power of the Portfolio' initiative. CEO Spencer Rascoff added that this cross-brand leverage playbook was highly successful at Zillow Group and will be a key focus for Match Group, scaling innovations from one brand across the entire portfolio.

Mark Kelley of Stifel asked how Perion accesses its audio inventory, specifically in relation to The Trade Desk, and requested an update on the company's M&A strategy as it looks to rebuild after the decline of the search business.

Answer

CEO Tal Jacobson clarified that Perion connects directly to platforms like Spotify and iHeart for audio inventory but supports clients who wish to buy through any DSP, including The Trade Desk. Regarding M&A, Jacobson reaffirmed that the strategy remains unchanged: Perion is seeking to acquire EBITDA-positive, technologically synergistic growth engines, leveraging its strong cash position to rebuild and grow the company.