WEBVTT - Arena Group CEO Sara Silverstein Talks Company Earnings

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<v Speaker 1>The company behind media brands like TheStreet dot com, Men's

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<v Speaker 1>Journal is Surfer magazine as well, is changing its narrative.

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<v Speaker 1>The Arena Group announcing its first ever profitable quarter in

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<v Speaker 1>Q three. The turnaround charged by cutting quarterly operating expenses

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<v Speaker 1>fifty one percent year over year and growing the audience

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<v Speaker 1>a phenomenal amount. Joining us now as Sarah Sarah Silverstein,

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<v Speaker 1>she's the CEO of the Arena Group. So coming to

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<v Speaker 1>a profit for the first time, You've done that by

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<v Speaker 1>reducing costs, But I know you haven't also shrunk the

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<v Speaker 1>editorial team very much. So you're reducing costs, keeping your staff,

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<v Speaker 1>and somehow growing the audience.

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<v Speaker 2>How do you do it.

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<v Speaker 3>We're keeping our editorial costs. We're also keeping our tech costs.

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<v Speaker 3>We've made some cuts in lower margin businesses, but we

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<v Speaker 3>feel like we really need good content and to continue

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<v Speaker 3>to grow our real audience to go into the next

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<v Speaker 3>chapter and show that not only can we be profitable,

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<v Speaker 3>but we can also grow.

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<v Speaker 4>And I want to get into the content story, but

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<v Speaker 4>I do want to talk a little bit more about

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<v Speaker 4>the cost cutting, because fifty one percent is quite a

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<v Speaker 4>number when you look over the next year. For example,

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<v Speaker 4>do you think that you're pretty much at the end

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<v Speaker 4>of your cost cutting cycle or do you think that

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<v Speaker 4>there's still more to come.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, we really try to do all of that upfront,

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<v Speaker 3>mostly because we really believe in transparency and our business

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<v Speaker 3>leaders being a part of the decision making. So if

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<v Speaker 3>that was always looming overhead, we were worried that they

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<v Speaker 3>wouldn't get on board and help us make the right decisions.

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<v Speaker 3>So we're really trying to open up our books a

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<v Speaker 3>little bit to the team so that they can make

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<v Speaker 3>the best decisions for long term profitability as opposed to

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<v Speaker 3>short term results.

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<v Speaker 2>I am curious about the role of different franchises that

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<v Speaker 2>you have within the Arena group. You have different arenas

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<v Speaker 2>as you've called them sports. What role does that play

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<v Speaker 2>right now? How competitive is this space and how much

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<v Speaker 2>room for growth is there given that you have people

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<v Speaker 2>wanting to read more about sports and sports betting continues

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<v Speaker 2>to take.

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<v Speaker 3>Off absolutely so. Our Athlon Sports publication has grown really

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<v Speaker 3>huge now they're in the top ten. I think they

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<v Speaker 3>grew three hundred percent over the last few months, so

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<v Speaker 3>it's been really exciting for us. And we have more

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<v Speaker 3>than one sports publication. We also have this fun and Yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>as people are more interested. You know, we follow the audience,

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<v Speaker 3>We follow what their interests are.

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<v Speaker 1>I typically would go to a newsstand and pick up

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<v Speaker 1>like Men's Journal or old school Men's Fitness. Right, that's

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<v Speaker 1>not how the kids are consuming media nowadays. I know

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of companies aren't even putting out a paper

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<v Speaker 1>magazine anymore. It's the same I imagine with Arena Group.

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<v Speaker 1>How much bigger is you know, the online presence than

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<v Speaker 1>the publishing presence.

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<v Speaker 3>The online presence is the whole thing. So our digital

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<v Speaker 3>media is really where we make our money and where

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<v Speaker 3>are sustainable businesses. But we do still have magazines. Athalon

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<v Speaker 3>does a lot of previews for each season instead of

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<v Speaker 3>a regular weekly or monthly magazine, and same with Powder

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<v Speaker 3>and Surfer. They have at least one issue that goes

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<v Speaker 3>out a year, which is really nice for the brand.

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<v Speaker 3>But that's not how we make our money.

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<v Speaker 4>That's really interesting. I mean, there is something to be

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<v Speaker 4>said for buying physical, heavy magazine with the glossy pages

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<v Speaker 4>and the bright pictures.

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<v Speaker 1>But you get on the airplane, you put it on

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<v Speaker 1>your coffee.

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<v Speaker 4>Table exactly exactly. But yeah, everything's online now. I want

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<v Speaker 4>to talk a little bit about the portfolio of companies

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<v Speaker 4>that you work with, because obviously you have a big

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<v Speaker 4>presence in sports, in lifestyle sort of categories as well.

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<v Speaker 4>What does the due diligence look like on your end

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<v Speaker 4>when you're evaluating what brands that you want to work with.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, right now, we're growing our audience so much because

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<v Speaker 3>we don't have a pay well for any of our journalism.

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<v Speaker 3>The only thing that is behind a paywell is our

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<v Speaker 3>street investment product. All of our content is brand safe.

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<v Speaker 3>We're really trying to build out a real retail ecosystem

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<v Speaker 3>and expand our commerce team and our first party data

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<v Speaker 3>and how all that connects. So for us, if it's

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<v Speaker 3>part of the bigger plan, if it helps us grow

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<v Speaker 3>our audience that we're reaching our real organic audience, then

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<v Speaker 3>it's for us.

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<v Speaker 2>How often are you thinking about inorganic opportunities you've turned

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<v Speaker 2>a profit, can you put that money to work to

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<v Speaker 2>acquire something to build any of your Yes.

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<v Speaker 3>Right now we're I mean we would be looking at

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<v Speaker 3>partners like things publications that we could bring on, and

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<v Speaker 3>also tools and services that we could bring on. But

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<v Speaker 3>we're certainly not looking to buy traffic right now because

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<v Speaker 3>our value is in how do we leverage the real

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<v Speaker 3>audience that we have.

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<v Speaker 1>I like how you use the term arenas there. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess at the arena group, you say, this is

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<v Speaker 1>our sports arena, this is our lifestyle arena, this is

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<v Speaker 1>our finance arena, which is what you ran before you

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<v Speaker 1>took over the parent company, and it's what I think

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<v Speaker 1>we're most interested in, right, So, how did you drive

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<v Speaker 1>so much growth at the Street. We notice it as

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<v Speaker 1>a competitor and as a source a lot of times.

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<v Speaker 1>And what do you think about interest right now in

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<v Speaker 1>the finance arena as we hit all time highs on

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<v Speaker 1>the S and P, you know, super tight spreads on credit.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, it's been great for the Street. The Street's

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<v Speaker 3>original focus when it was under Jim Kramer was the

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<v Speaker 3>subscription product, so I had a lot of room to

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<v Speaker 3>grow and that the Street is such a smart team

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<v Speaker 3>that it was really about how do we get this

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<v Speaker 3>in front of the audience, And that was just a

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<v Speaker 3>little bit about It was mostly about changing what we

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<v Speaker 3>were covering instead of trying to be the statement of

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<v Speaker 3>record where we can't compete with a Bloomberg that has

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<v Speaker 3>twenty five hundred journalists. I'm probably going to say the

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<v Speaker 3>number wrong. But we have a small team that's trying

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<v Speaker 3>to story selection allows them to say this is what's

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<v Speaker 3>important for you today, and that made a huge difference

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<v Speaker 3>for us.

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<v Speaker 2>Sarah, I think a lot of publishers are thinking about

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<v Speaker 2>this right now. How are you thinking about the role

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<v Speaker 2>of artificial intelligence as you grow your platforms?

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<v Speaker 3>So we are not looking at artificial intelligence to create content.

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<v Speaker 3>I think that we can't win in that area. Google's

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<v Speaker 3>going to beat us, other people are going to beat us.

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<v Speaker 3>But we are looking for artificial intelligence to help us

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<v Speaker 3>in our technology and serving people better and like what's

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<v Speaker 3>the next thing that they should read or to serve

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<v Speaker 3>our retail partners better.

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<v Speaker 4>All right, Sarah, it's really great to have this conversation

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<v Speaker 4>with you. Hope to see you again soon. And that,

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<v Speaker 4>of course is Sarah at Silver's Sign of the Arena

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<v Speaker 4>Group