Jason Kreyer

CEO: new channels progressing as planned; not expected to materially move medium-term VMM, an output metric. Priority is maximizing VMD and keeping carriers and agents fed with growth volume.

CEO: home grew 35% to record levels and should outpace auto, driven by applying auto best practices and tech, with room to tailor the home experience. Big carriers now focusing on home as auto gets competitive.

CEO said growth-oriented market creates more receptivity to new products and features. Carriers and agents embracing AI-powered tools to hit aggressive growth targets. Strategy well-suited to soft market dynamics.

CEO confirmed critical mass reached. Agentic AI adoption accelerating in 2026 both internally (agentic-first SDLC, AI cockpit, operational tools) and for customers (Smart Campaigns to agents, next-gen RL traffic bidding, LLM search optimization). 2026 marks acceleration year.

CFO said guide reflects carriers pulling forward growth investment into Q4. Holiday season advertising competition may modestly impact VMM but less significant than new channel investments.

CEO dismissed rebating concerns, said carriers focused on growth not rebates. Overarching carrier problem is growth, reflected in how they are leaning into the marketplace.

CEO said no carrier indication of budget flush yet but conditions similar to prior years when it occurred. CFO noted phenomenon more common with public carriers than mutuals.

CEO acknowledged increased competitive pressure in advertising but still delivered 25% VMD growth and VMM step-up from 28% to 29%. Diversifying into social and video channels.

CFO could not specifically quantify one-to-one impact due to shared resources but noted VMM improved as quarter progressed. CEO highlighted ML bidding reduced team from 15-20 to ~5 people and enabled more precise bidding.

CFO acknowledged puts and takes in the traffic landscape but maintained high-20% VMM guidance for the year, driven by quality investments and one-to-one consent retention.

CEO noted convergence between direct and agent-based carriers on growth orientation. Agent business has multiple growth vectors beyond leads including ancillary products and services.

Stoppelman said AI is reshaping consumer expectations toward a chat interface, with cross-category Yelp Assistant launching by end of Q1 to guide discovery and action.

Stoppelman said Yelp's thousands of sales reps can cross-sell Hatch to shared and new contacts, with Hatch growing about 70% year over year.

Stoppelman said data-licensing conversations with AI search players are high quality, positioning Yelp's trusted SMB content as a critical LLM ingredient.

Stoppelman said RepairPal bookings are rolling out and aiding services revenue, and the DoorDash tie-up should add incremental revenue over time.

Stoppelman credited Yelp Assistant's growth to new entry points and category expansion, with significant untapped surfaces still to roll out.

Schwarzbach tied softer clicks to RR&O macro weakness and a prior-year paid-search comp, and rising CPCs to services mix shift and higher-quality leads.

Nachman confirmed multilocation services is underpenetrated with product and go-to-market work underway, though the sales cycle is long.

Doug detailed HomeBuddy synergies and said the Home Services vertical is firing on all cylinders.

Doug described QuinStreet as an early participant on OpenAI's ad platform and framed LLMs as a new consumer entry point.

Doug said QRP and 360 are nearing the tail end of heavy R&D spend and moving into scale and profitability.

Doug said proprietary auto insurance media is scaling past breakeven, lifting margins about 2 points since July.

Doug said many clients required early implementation and QuinStreet applied the testing learnings even after the rules were stayed.

Doug attributed it to a much broader footprint of clients spending at greater scale and improving digital sophistication.