Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Ralph Schackart: Okay. Thanks, Kevin.

Kevin Yeaman: I think Robert said at the outset, we did see — specifically, we saw — for the first quarter, we saw broadcast and gaming coming a little higher. Q4 shipments were a little higher than we’d estimated. I would say, PC, we already saw unit shipment weakness coming into the year, might be just slightly lower, then that continue to soften a bit. Box office for Q4 was light. Again, most of — a lot of Avatar will benefit Q1. I think mobile unit shipments are down and we’ve seen a lot of news around that in this earnings cycle so far. And we saw units coming down to the year. And also, we — as we’ve said before, minimum volume commitment arrangements are more prevalent in our mobile space, which maybe makes us a little less sensitive than it might otherwise be on a quarter-to-quarter basis. And of course, we have a pipeline that we’re working for things like our user-generated content, value proposition and other use cases on the mobile phone.

Ralph Schackart: Okay. Thanks for that extra color.

Operator: Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Jim Goss with Barrington Research. Please proceed.

Jim Goss: Okay, thanks. One question related to the Atmos for music. You mentioned the live event that involved Imagine Dragons. And I was wondering to the extent that Atmos is striving to recreate a live experience, what exactly did it add to the live event?

Kevin Yeaman: Well, what it adds, Jim, is working with the — and let me back up a minute. So, Dolby Live is that — running all year round. It tends to have top artists who are doing residencies. They can be shorter or longer residencies, but they tend to be doing more than one performance, which is great for us, because they’re investing that much time, it also creates the opportunity to invest more time in thinking about Dolby Atmos and what can be done with Dolby Atmos. And at that large scale, it’s about creating that spatialization of — and that Dolby Atmos experience where you are immersed in the performance. And that’s what we do at Dolby Live. And depending on the performance, that could be a combination of the pre-recorded backtracks, but it is also the live.

And that means working with the mixers so that they know what the artist wants and making that happen real time. The other thing that is spectacular about it is that you really do get that experience wherever you are in that arena. And that is something that people really notice compared to other environments. And so — and for us, again, it’s just — it’s this opportunity to engage with each of these top name artists who are coming through Dolby Live throughout the year. It’s an opportunity to have 5,000 or so fans each night get exposed to Dolby Atmos Music. And yes, so it’s a great showcase for Dolby Atmos.

Jim Goss: Okay. And if — how are you thinking in terms of the primary monetization avenues for Atmos — for music? Is it — (ph) the PCs or phones or what type of devices do you think you’re going to get the greatest revenue generation from with this particular application?

Kevin Yeaman: Well, let’s start by saying yes and yes. We’re looking to improve the experience on all the devices that people enjoy music on. But our — I would say the focus that stands out today is the car. Because as I said earlier, the entire industry is passionate about that experience and automobile manufacturers are always looking to push the boundaries on that experience. We’ve got great engagement across the industry as you’ve seen from our wins over the last year, year and a half. So, automotive is a big focus of ours. But around the show floor and of course, at our booth, you could also experience Dolby Atmos on sound bars, phones. So, all the ways you listen to music, we would like to bring Dolby Atmos to that experience.

Jim Goss: Okay. And one other thing. To the extent that there are some TV price wars as they attempt to monetize their smart TV features, is there any impact you can talk about with Dolby including — kind of include that features generation from those types of devices?

Kevin Yeaman: Well, what I will say I guess is that we are — as I said, we are looking — a big focus of ours is bringing Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos deeper and deeper into lineups. And so, the fact that you can now get a Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos experience for, I want to say, I think (ph) probably at the low end that, you can — I don’t know if I’m exactly precise on that, so you can check the Dolby page on Amazon on that, but that’s good for us. The more we get — obviously, the more we get into those lower price points, the broader the audience for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos and the more momentum that we can build because awareness of how great the experience is and word-of-mouth and more availability, all of that is what helps to build momentum in each of these ecosystems.

Jim Goss: Okay. That’s — so the penetration in the television area has — is running its course pretty well?