Okay. All right, so, good morning. Well, thank you so much for joining us, and thank you for attending Citi Conference. So I guess this is the first time we host you, so welcome.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you. Nice to be here.
Maybe for the benefit of the audience, so maybe we can start with a little bit overview.
Yep.
for Opera business.
Yep.
And then if you maybe, you know, go down the history a little bit, the background-
Yeah
A nd then the products.
Yeah.
Um, yeah.
Perfect. Perfect. Thanks for having me. Yeah, so, so very quickly on Opera. Essentially, we are a Norwegian browser maker.
You can ask yourself, and why would an independent company build a browser? For us, that's very simple-
Because we see that browser is such an inherent part of your internet online life, and we just think people deserve choice.
Yeah.
That's very important for us that, you know, people shouldn't always have to be clubbed into a default browser. There should be a choice. And that has been our vision.
from the start.
From the inception. It's actually 30 years ago when we kicked off this vision, and we're very proud that more than 300 million users globally actively prefer that choice. That is what's driving us. Of course, to be that browser that don't get shipped on the operating system by default, we need to constantly innovate and build relevant experiences for end users so that there is a reason for them to choose us, and that we've been focusing on from the dawn of the web, you know, we can go back a bit in history when people started to browse around on the web. They had to type in a URL if they wanted to go to another page.
They need to add a new URL, and they lose all the page context and everything. So we invented tab browsing that everyone today take for granted. That's a normal feature in any flagship browser but is actually an Opera innovation.
That helped the user to navigate between different pages, to compare things when they do research, keep the state of the page. Another example is that we invented Intelligent Address Bar, where we combined, you know, a usual address entry with a search.
So when the user didn't know where to go, they could easily just seamlessly end up on a search engine.
We made an intelligent, so to say, search integrated address bar and search bar. We were also the first company inventing that.
We have many of these examples. When mobile came, there was a big issue with the slow network, slow performant mobile devices. So then we just put the browser in the cloud and started to stream the internet to devices. And that unlocked, of course, mobile internet. People could access the full internet even from feature phones. And that is still a very, very important, you know, feature in many parts of the world.
Where, you don't have access to unlimited data. You don't have a powerful device.
Yeah.
Our emerging market footprint is still benefiting from
from these innovations. If we take a more recent example, we built also a gaming browser for gamers.
So we just said, "Okay, let's devote the entire user experience for a gaming audience-
and build features and functions that talk to their interests.
So that has been the thing. Now, of course, moving into this decade, everything is about AI, right?
Mm-hmm. Yes.
We're super excited about what we can do now to bring AI experiences in this as part of our innovation.
Yeah, that's in short. It has always been our vision. It has not changed. We want to build that alternative browser. That should be a feature-packed browser for the user that is not satisfied with whatever comes with operating system.
We also want to have it accessible for everyone. That has been a very key thing for us, so all of our product is free to use, free to download. All the features are free to use.
Even the AI features-
Features
A re completely free to end users. So we're very, you know, proud of being able to stick to that promise and not firing up paywalls-
Yeah
A nd these type of things. And then, of course, everyone asks, like, "How do you then make money?" right?
Yes, that's right.
We mainly monetize our product through search and advertising.
Yeah.
We integrate our search partners and advertising partners into the product.
And we work very close with, with the leaders in the industry. And, yeah, we are on a very good, revenue growth trajectory- ..
. and have a very healthy EBITDA profile.
Okay.
So, yeah.
That's good. So I guess we kind of take for granted a little bit. I didn't know that Tab Islands.
Yeah
Is a, you know, innovations of Opera.
Yeah. Yeah.
So that's very cool.
Yeah, no, we're very proud of it. It's also very cool to see that, competition, which-
like, of course, in our world, competition is, you know, one of the most resourceful companies in the world, right?
Yeah.
We are up against Big Tech. They have, you know, every resource they could ask for, and then we see that we innovate, and they actually pick up those things and add it
That's right
T o their products. So, so it's a, it's a good thing. But, yeah, we always need to be on the forefront.
We always need to push the boundaries, and that is, of course, something we also can do as an independent provider.
And the search bar things is also way back in, like, maybe 20-plus year, 30 years ago-
Yeah
W hen you guys first have the browser, you actually started to think about-
Yeah
T he search box bar.
Yeah, the integrated search box. So we wanted that someone fire up the browser, you get to the start page, and then you have everything at your fingertips.
Yeah.
And, while, you know, the web was exploding with, you know, number of services and sites. it's impossible for user to keep track.
Yep.
And then, of course, the search engine became a very, like, important entry point, where you could get a good index to say, "Hey, I want to reach a site that has this type of content. The search engine help you to list those sites. So we just then integrated this as part of the start page experience.
Sure. I guess that probably makes, you know, besides that, I mean, what other stuff that makes your products more differentiated from other comparable products out there?
Oh, we have tons of features-
Yeah
T hat we will, you know, do a little bit of a deep dive on the gaming. So I can spend probably an hour just explaining the differences on the gaming browser. Looking at our, If we take our browser portfolio, we essentially, as you mentioned, we have the emerging market footprint.
Yeah.
The clear differentiator there is data saving. It can run on any type of hardware. Doesn't have to be a smartphone.
Mm.
We even run on feature phone. We're actually the only browser that can provide a full internet on feature phones-
Feature
W hich is still very relevant for a lot of people in Africa-
Africa
E merging Asia, so like Southeast Asia, India, so we do a very important piece there to just bridge the digital divide-
help people come online. We also work with the operators in selected markets where we actually give free data.
So it's not only that we, you know, make the internet accessible, we also compress the data-
so that it's at lower cost, and in some market it's even at no cost.
User can always come online, even if they don't have, you know, any credits on their prepaid balance. They can still access critical services through the Opera Browser for free.
Wow!
Yeah.
Wow.
That's a very unique differentiator. If you look more at the flagship browser, we have it feature packed with a lot of utility features, built-in ad blocks, built-in free VPN, a lot of utility tools.
We have also integrated all the popular messengers, and then, of course, also our browser AI, Aria.
Yeah. So I'm as sure there's a lot of these, like, innovations or the extra features-
that is actually not, you know, appears on the-
Yeah
T raditional browser that serve the-
Yeah
Y ou know, mass audience.
Exactly. So if you take a traditional browser, what you essentially have to do to customize it and get all these tools and utilities to support your activities online, you have to go to an extension store-
and download those extensions, but then you need to figure out, okay, which extension is good, bad, which one is actually could be malicious, and so forth.
So our users really appreciate that they have everything built in, and then, of course, you know, certified by Opera.
So you can just simply flip a switch-
to say, "Turn on VPN." That's essentially just a flip of a switch.
And then say, "Connect me to the U.S., connect me to Asia." And then you have an encrypted tunnel, so when you connect over, for example, an open Wi-Fi-
Yeah
A nd you are, you don't want to expose your browsing session to an open public Wi-Fi, you can then essentially just set up the VPN
and then everything is encrypted-
Wow, okay
A nd connected free of charge into one of our endpoints.
I see.
Okay. All right. Interesting. Interesting, and I guess, you know, wanted to touch base a little bit on Opera One.
Yes.
Okay. So I think it was launched last year.
Yeah.
Okay, and, I think this is a new design-
right, of that your, you know, flagship browser, and believe that you actually will have one upgraded versions-
Yeah
coming out, okay, soon, and then, so maybe you can elaborate a little bit-
Yeah
on what differentiate it-
Yeah
with this Opera One?
Yeah, yeah. No, so, so if you take one step back, as you said, last year we launched Opera One, which was a full redesign of the flagship browser.
We decided to build a completely modular design
the reason for that is that we just saw that now there will be an explosion of innovation-
connected to GenAI, how people connect with the web, all the, so to say, assistant, co-pilot type of experiences that will emerge. So we made the design modular to have a good foundation to very quickly integrate these type of services, and also, of course, make it even more easy for the user to customize it.
Of course.
So one good example is that, as an evolution of our tab invention, then we created Tab Islands-
so that it even further help users to group tabs and then make them, so to say, color-coded. What we will-
Okay
introduce with our tool is an evolution of that, that you remember. Tab was possible to have the page context on different pages.
Yeah.
But now, if you want to have a side by side
you just take a tab and drag it down, and then you get two pages side by side. So you can start to look, and then you can cut and paste from one there, or you can fire up an Aria session on one and ask a question while you are still on the other page.
Oh, okay.
So a lot of those, so to say, things to make the web more digestible, more consumable-
is so key for us-
because it is a crowded space out there.
Yeah.
There is an explosion of content, also driven by GenAI.
Users need to be able to sort this, navigate, and to orchestrate all that information, and get the most out of their browsing session.
So we will further expand on that. We see that the browser is usually the app you go to when you don't know where to go, right?
Yes, that's right.
So this is where you discover things
This is where you do your research, if you want to do comparisons.
You know, if you do shopping, for example, we see that there is a massive amount of time you spend more, as soon as the big-ticket item goes over $200, for example.
The amount of research that you spend-
is elevated.
Okay.
That is also where the browser come in very handy. You can compare different outlets-
Process. Okay
shipping, or if there is some special editions, different price. Are there any coupons, any cash backs? You know, and this is just of course, the shopping use case, then you have-
you know, the content, the research, and everything.
So that that's one thing. Then you will also see a huge ramp of our browser AI integration, right?
Yeah.
So Aria will be with you throughout the browser experience now
We're having this vision like, we should not take the user to the AI. We should take the AI to the user.
So, why the user has already an entry point. They are already having a usage pattern. Why start to say, "Hey, no, user, don't go there. Go into this chatbot and start there"?
It's much better to bring the AI, the power of AI.
when the user is browsing.
That is the beauty that we have being a browser, because we have the page context.
Yeah.
So this is where we can really help-
and provide utility for users.
With the power of AI.
So maybe we can drill down a little bit with that, you know, Aria.
Yes.
The AI browser.
Yes.
So, you know, like, how as an, you know, individual user, and then how you bring that AI-
Yes
to the user, while maybe we are comparing prices on the two shopping sites, like-
Yes
give an example for that. Yeah.
Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, so Aria is a key initiative for us. It's a cross-platform offering. We have built a unified AI back end-
Yeah
t hat then connects into all our products.
Mm-hmm.
Where we're, of course, then running client-specific experiences.
Yeah.
But we have our own built in-house AI engine.
Okay.
The AI engine is then designed so that it can connect to popular cloud models.
Yeah
from our partners from OpenAI, from Google.
Yeah.
We can have open source models from Meta and others, and then depending on the prompt, the query, the use case-
Uh-huh
we can then decide which-
Which
LLM that-
Yeah
we could connect to-
Okay
to make the query.
Okay.
We are also the first browser that offers also local LLMs.
Yeah.
In our developer release, we are now experimenting with user downloading a local LLM.
Yeah.
That means that you can then run local activities that is then not shared, so to say, you know, with a cloud service. So it could be for more sensitive things. It's of course, for people that look for the ultimate privacy-
and so forth. Or you can actually run an LLM query without even having an internet connection.
Okay.
So there is a lot of development. But to be able to do that, we had to build our own-
so to say, AI engines-
Okay
that connects into these different type of language models and-
Yeah
a nd partner infrastructures. And then we also took a decision to invest in our own SuperPOD in Iceland.
Yeah
t o do, you know, specific training that serves our use cases, because we also need to control that. So we do, for example, open-source LLM accelerations-
Yeah
Via our owned and operated cloud infrastructure.
Okay.
We can secure, of course, privacy promises to the full extent, because we control it end to end, but we are also not dependent on partner roadmap to be able to build our own unique functionality.
t’s like always the thing that there are something that is proprietary and unique for-
the experience that we want to build.
And there are something, like, more generic, where you need a scale of a partner-
like an OpenAI, like a Google, like a Meta.
And that's where we try to build the perfect balance. But we want to hide this from the end user perspective-
Okay
B ecause it's very complex for the end user to say-
I know
. "Hey, now I should use Llama, now I should use Gemini. [audio distortion]
Yes.
Yeah. So we try to shield as much complexity, technical complexity for the end user.
But for the advanced users, and we have always done that, you can always go then into settings-
and then be really dipping down into all the knobs, because that gives the level of control for the user that actually look for that.
That's always important for us. Always, when we have these built-in tools, we have an out-of-the-box experience that almost every user would understand
For the one who want to make a deep dive, you go to the settings, and then you can drill down on a very personal, so to say, specific level to set the configuration.
That has been very important for us from an AI development perspective.
Yeah, I see.
Yeah, and I think you recently announced a partnership-
with Google on Gemini-
Yes
model. So maybe you can also, you know, explain that a little bit-
Yeah
And how that will be benefiting-
Yeah
the products-
Yes
A nd then how the end user will actually experience that as well.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's like, Google is one of the leaders in, in AI development. And we've been following the progress since the start through our very strong partnership with Google across search, across advertising, and now with AI. So of course, very natural for us to integrate the Gemini LLM. What it unlocks for the end user is that we have now full multimedia functionality.
We have text to image, text to voice, and or voice to text, and all this, like s o multimedia capabilities, we provide it free of charge to the end user. It provides also very, so to say, response to users.
We also appreciate, of course, the built-in guardrails that is there, because there is a lot of hallucinations. We have seen a lot of examples. Those models are really getting better on that side. A benefit with the Google LLM is that, of course, they do search grounding.
So you get your Aria responses grounded in search which is a very established and very curated environment already, that's been around for more than 20 years.
Yeah.
So we see that extra grounding component is very important. And if you go to anyone in the market, who do you like to ground them, i f not Google, right? With all the, all the search data points that they have.
Sure.
Yeah.
Sure. And I think, you earlier, you touched base a little bit on the browser GX, right?
Yes.
Which is obviously, it's a very exciting and it's also one of the, like, drivers on the ad revenue. So maybe if you can, you know, drill down a little bit you know, what's special about that, and why gamers are attracted- to use your GX Browser.
Then, you know, what can you do further from there?
Yeah.
And then, yeah.
Yeah.
The differentiated products features that you provide to gamers. Yeah.
Absolutely. Absolutely. No, no, it's. So, so as I mentioned, initially, I think GX is a really good example about this vision about that users should not always be satisfied with the default, right?
There are different experiences that is available and we identified gamers as a very good segment to focus on because they spend five to 10 hours in their browser, right? So then, of course, it's important that that browser is a good browser, right, because you spend so much time in it. So we started to look at, like, what would a gaming browser look like?
Because it's still a web browser. It's a, the purpose of the browser is still to browse the web, but it should be on the terms of a gamer. So usually what happens is that, of course, a gamer is setting up their gaming room with a lot of gaming peripherals, fancy hardware.
They match the color schemes with the chair and, you know, the keyboard and everything.
Then they, in the middle of that screen, fire up a boring browser, right?
Okay.
It's like, it doesn't fit.
Okay.
Right? So, like a gray, boring browser sitting there, and they cannot do anything. So we said, "Okay, let's redesign that completely and build that so it harmonize with the entire environment.
It actually can sync with that environment. Then you can change how it sounds. Like, you can make the keyboard with a metallic sound. You can have the same colors on your browser as on your keyboard, as on your mouse, as on your PC.
So just that, like, look and feel and the level of customization, we even took it so far that we let the user to mod the the whole UX.
Yeah.
Modding is very popular with gamers. We say, "Okay, but why don't mod the browser?" We built a huge, you know, platform now and a store where people can create their own mods. We have also sponsored mods with leading labels. We did a program with Cyberpunk when they were launching.
So we had a Cyberpunk mod, and then everything changes there. But you can still customize it. "Ah, I want it to look more yellow because it matches with everything else," or I make it more red than green. But it's still having, of course, some IP components from Cyberpunk with the sound effects and everything. So that was, I think, the look and feel part, right?
We just doubled down on customizations and so forth. But then it's also about utility. So as I mentioned, we have a lot of utility functions and built-in things. So usually when you're a gamer, you sit very often and actually play the game-
in a native app, right? So that is like, that's where you interact, you playing a first-person shooter games or something in a native app. In parallel, you have a browser where you chat with your friends- if you're watching YouTube streaming, or you have to go and search for a, you know, a guide. So, like, "How can I pass to the next level?" So then we, of course, realized that if you have a gamer, or if you have a browser, you need full control of how that browser consume the CPU, the memory, and other things on your device, because that is important for the game. So if you start to stream, then you wouldn't want to occupy too much because you want to stream, but you don't want to lose the game.
We introduced a lot of those controls, like RAM control. We made sure that we flagged if a tab was hot, consuming a lot of background activity that the user was maybe not aware of, but then we just flag, and I could go to run that down and kill it. So then we developed a lot of those, let's say, utility features a nd then we also have some fun features, right?
A lot of these, so let's say gamers, they are, at least for our user base, it's younger generations, Gen Zs. They maybe don't want to show the parents all the time that they're sitting in game.
So when they enter the room, we have, like, they can hit the button, and we call it the Panic Button. And then suddenly, your homework comes up, like everything is good.
There's like one tab- everything else that, [audio distortion]. No, small funny features, but gamers love it, and we, you know, shipping those all the time, well, and then we also now start to integrate a lot of, let's say, flagship gaming IP into this. So, there will be some announcements coming.
Okay
. That we are super excited about. So yeah, that is a good example where we have a bit. You know, being an independent, a smaller player- compared, of course, to our browser peers, you know, from big tech, we have that luxury that we can do this innovation and we can just focus on, "Okay, gaming, for us, that's a big enough segment.
We are just, you know, we have already 30 million users on that platform. It's already, as you mentioned, the highest revenue- generating platform. And we are just scratching the surface of that entire, let's say, global gaming community.
But we estimate where the crossover between gaming and Gen Z is maybe around 400+ million.
We have 30 million, so it's just like less than 10%.
Wow, yeah.
We have a lot of growth just within that vertical.
That is what was making us excitement.
Then also, of course, the appreciation is coming back that all this development is also paying off.
So it's our highest RPU product.
And then people ask like: "Okay, why is that higher RPU than a flagship?
Because usually you think a flagship browser should generate more money.
But actually, it's because of that high time spent, right?
That's right, yeah.
So they spend around three to four times more-
That's right
I n the browser, and we monetize activity engagement
This is how we monetize through search and advertising, and then we also see that the profile of these users is, their shopping behavior is different.
They buy all of these, you know, yeah, hardware, hardware. There's a lot of, like, in-app purchases and so forth.
They have a much higher transaction volume than also a flagship.
They are more, like, online savvy. They buy stuff online and they buy, you know, gaming hardware, gaming peripherals, in-app purchases, and games, of course, digital items.
Okay.
It's a very lucrative segment.
I see. So I actually wanted to drill down a little bit on that, the monetization. But before that- maybe go back a little bit in terms of like, you know, the visions that how it's, you know, within your team, maybe give us a little bit background. So how does it come to mind, like years ago, that you actually wanted to create this, you know, Opera GX- you know, for the gamers? And then, is this for the teams that is based in, Europe or is it actually in Beijing that set up this gaming browser?
So the gaming browser is predominantly built in Europe.
In Europe?
Yeah.
Okay.
We have the gaming browser both for PC and for mobile. So all our products is running both on PC and mobile- and, yeah, we're covering all the popular major operating systems. So yeah, I think it's-
Is it because developer themselves, they are gaming more?
Yes, yes. Yes, exactly. Exactly.
They're missing something, right?
Exactly, e xactly.
Okay.
It was actually an R&D project. It was a couple of passionate engineers. And we were like scratching our heads in the beginning, like, "Okay, why? Why, why, yeah, will this work?" And so forth. But they were insisting, we are super appreciative of that. So they say, "Okay, but let us have a shot at it," right?
Yeah.
They actually went to E3.
Yeah
. That was running at that time. and then asked a lot of gamers.
Ah, I see.
T hese questions, right?
Okay.
So they came from a browser, so to say, mindset. which is maybe not top of mind for a gamer.
Yeah
B ecause they are just used like, okay, but browser is the browser that comes with the device, so they had not thought about it. But if they said, "Okay, but if you could decide- how a browser, what features would you look like?
Ah, okay.
So they got a lot of good ideas- on, like, "Oh, I would like this and this." And of course, what came out, like, really prominent, like customization. I want it to be like my browser. I want to be able to mod it. I want to be able to, to have a better look and feel." And then this hoggingness that was a big concern for many. That, yes, but when I'm streaming, then, you know, I start to see my game is getting laggy, and, look, it's not having the performance I need, but I don't know where—what should I close down," and so forth. So these, like, these controls- were, like, really a flagship feature to take it off. And then it was also about. Then, of course, it's easier when you have a captive audience.
You start to get, of course, very instant feedback loop. Because also the good thing with this audience, that they are very vocal. And we appreciate it. . because it's not every time we design something that they like. And then they tell us, and then we iterate and change.
I see.
So we have a very instant feedback loop from them, because they are also highly engaged, and it's very important for them, and they're very passionate about us taking the effort to build something for them. So they like it. So that's a very good thing when we further, so to say, develop the product. And then, of course, you have a captive audience. So then it's very easy to start to think like, "Okay, if I only have to think about gamers, I don't need to think about all possible use cases that- . or user profiles that may be in a standard flagship browser. I can only focus on this. So then when I build the content section, I can then completely create that for gamers.
So it's reviews, release calendars, you know, highlights, you know, links to different type of game stores, and so forth. Yeah, you can be very focused, and that has helped the team to, yeah, just take the roadmap forward and drive it.
Sure
W ith passion.
Can you remind us again, this is like, three years ago or four years ago when that GX browser- first start?
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
That's, yeah, that's, I think, you know, kind of to reiterate to the audience a little bit. I guess this is how we actually see the monetizations actually started to ramp up quite significantly. Go back to the monetization.
You mentioned that, you know, kind of the potential TAM, right? For these, like, you know, hardcore gamers, maybe like 400 million-ish. . globally, potentially. Now you only have 30 million.
Yes.
Right? And this is the highest monetized, browser- like the output-
among all your products. So I actually can imagine here is that there's a lot of opportunity. I mean, have you any, like, marketing plans or underway, or is it word of mouth that you actually rely on your existing user to tell all their friends that, "Hey, you know, gamers- . oh, let's download this, or let's use Opera browsers or something? So I guess there's a lot more opportunity here- a lot of the growth potential.
Yes.
Okay. And then so on the monetizations, right? I know there's, like, a lot of the advertising.
Yeah.
And then you mentioned that gamers is also been trying to, like, buy a lot of the stuff, like the shopping behavior. So is there any model other than just, you know, pure ads that you can also, excuse me, monetize through, let's say, the transaction, you know of like, based on the actual transaction basis, that you actually get, you know- higher, you know, click-through or maybe higher- . pool for that, those ads?
Yeah, yeah, definitely. We, as I mentioned today, that is not the part of the so to say revenue profile. It's mainly through search and advertising. But definitely specifically for the gaming audience, that is something that has a huge future potential. And that's why we focus now on growth -because the RPU profile is already very healthy. It's already the best. . RPU profile across all our products. So for us, it's just the main focus now is to grow and go to that 400 million user, so to say, TAM, that we have identified as the potential for this segment, where we think users would resonate with the value proposition.
And the more we grow, the more it becomes a big enough audience where you can start with micro-transactions.
Yes.
Because you need a rather big audience for that. for it to scale, for it to be relevant. And of course, for us, you know, having then a marketplace and a store is very important.
I see.
You know, with the success of mods and our mod store, and the massive volume of downloads of these mods that we see- we have some really good early signs- that there could definitely be an in-app purchase type of revenue stream built up over time. But this is something that we currently not have like, modeled in. We see it as a potential upside- because of the nature of the seg As you said, they are already doing online transactions.
They are buying Robux, they are buying V-Bucks. They are, you know, purchasing games. So they're very used to those, so to say, virtual currencies- you know, paying for digital items, and so forth. So, so the profile is there. And we are now building the foundation and the different type of marketplaces that then can move into incremental monetization models.
Okay. Just for the benefit of our audience, so it's currently 30 million MAU. And then the ARPU per MAU this latest quarter is $3.55. So this is actually higher than your general blended.
Yeah.
So that's why 30 million to potentially the TAM, 400 million, and it's only, like, a three years type of, you know, history. That means it's a very, very early stage of the growth.
Yeah.
And then maybe we can drill a little bit for also the audience benefit if you can give us a little bit the demographic and then the geographic locations- right, with this, high potential?
Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
Yeah.
Definitely. So on the demographics, you can take our 50 or 300 million user base and divide it into three main categories, right? So as I mentioned in the beginning, we have the emerging market footprint, where we have the cloud browser.
We compress the data in the cloud, we stream it to them. So that's the typical, so to say, demographic of the proxy browser.
Key regions there is Africa and emerging Asia.
Then we have the flagship browser- which is more a general purpose browser.
Feature-packed. And then, of course, the demographics there is still a bit younger than usually what you see in our peer browsers, you know, the default browsers from the operating systems, because they are a little bit more internet savvy. They look for choice, right? Otherwise, they would not bother go and download the browser.
So they appreciate all the built-in features that we have, the free VPN the ad blocking, all the messengers, and so forth. So we say that, like millennial- like that, that type of thing, but rather internet savvy.
And they know that okay, that there is a lot of so to say features that I would like to have, and I don't want to go to an extension store to download them, and Opera can provide an out-of-the-box experience. And of course, with AI, we also get early adopters into AI.
And then we have the third category, which is the gaming Yeah that we talked a lot about, which is very, like, very clear defined. That age bracket is a little bit- little further, like younger, so it's more Gen Z, that where we had most success.
Mm-hmm.
And-
It's Western markets mostly, too, right?
Yes, yes. So, so flagship is Western- both the Opera One flagship and the gaming browser. But then we also see a lot of movements in, so to say, semi-emerging markets- I would say where gaming is still very popular. I think one of our flagship growth market is Brazil. Once again, there is also an interesting thing with the RPU profile that we see, that usually the RPU profile from a Western market user and a normal flagship emerging market user or even, you know, the Opera Mini user, is a rather significant difference. Because how they transact online, what type of items they buy, and so forth, that's very like following the local pricing- which is, of course, much, you know, lower in Africa and even Brazil.
But then for a gamer, we see that even if we have a lot of users in Brazil, that gap is much smaller- because they buy gaming hardware- all these peripherals, you know, virtual items, and so forth, and that has much more global pricing in general.
Mm-hmm.
So that we see when we connect these users to a CPC program or to an affiliate program, that revenue profile is much higher because the items that they purchase.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, so maybe we drill a little bit into search, right?
Yes.
So since browser is fully integrated, so search, and I think you guys been partnering with, you know, Google, obviously and then with the emergence of this generative AI.
Yes.
So maybe you can, you know, share with us what have you been doing and then how would, you know, as an end user?
you using Opera Browser, then I can feel something different if I, you know, search through it with the Gen AI?
Yeah. Yeah, definitely, definitely. So yeah, search is a very, like, key feature of a browser. As we said in the beginning, like, the browser is the app that you go to when you don't know where to go. But many of in many cases, you start then the session on a general search engine, right?
There we're partnering with the Google and many other search providers that is doing an excellent job in building that global index, good experiences, and now, of course, you also see more and more GenAI powering those experiences and so forth. So we're very like pleased about that development.
and so forth. But then with the introduction of GenAI, we see also huge opportunity that we can do as a browser on top of this. So we don't have the intention to go and build a search engine. There is a lot of good companies that is doing that, but there is a great pre-search opportunity and a good post-search opportunity. And what I mean with pre-search is that the user start to search. And as I said, we were the company that invented the dynamic search bar, where you can go URL or a search engine seamlessly. Now, with pre-search, we can provide suggestions. We can provide tailored suggestions, so we can help the user create a query in a very, so to say, AI-driven way, based on all this intelligence that an AI has.
To say, you type in shoes, and then we say, "Oh, you're probably looking for running shoes, men," and then if the tail suggestions fit, it's very easy for the user to start to build a very good query-
Okay
T hat, that fits that. So that's the whole pre-search experience that we are investing a lot, with, you know, bringing AI into it.
So we have search suggestions, tailored suggestions, and making that very swift and dynamic and the user likes it.
So it's more like a guiding user to actually using more GenAI in a way.
Yes, and helping user to build a query that they were looking for in a better way, but they maybe also realize that, "Oh, this was actually a better query than I had in mind.
Mm. Yeah.
Because otherwise, usually you end up on a search engine, and then you say, "Okay, but that was not the answers I want. So you then do a follow-up, follow-on search, and then you start to build that.
Yeah.
So we help the user to build that query and that prompt already in, so to say at our start page.
Yeah.
So that's what we like define as pre-search. Just making that start of your internet journey much more efficient. Then we have a massive opportunity on post-search, and that is maybe more interesting and exciting.
Okay.
So when the user leaves search, then, of course, they are going down the internet rabbit hole and find things, and that is a great opportunity with embedded GenAI- to help the user get more out of that experience.
Okay.
Because you end up on a page, you maybe don't have time to read articles, so you say, "Hey, Aria, summarize this for me. Or you are on an e-com site, and you say, "Okay, I find these shoes. Hey, are there any better deals available? Or is this shoe available in other colors? And so forth. So you have a lot of those post-search things that you can do. You find a word that you maybe don't understand, you just highlight it and say to Aria, "Hey, can you explain this for me? Or this was a good sentence, can you move this to my Twitter feed. You know, these things, so yes, this is possible today with cut and paste. You go back, open up a new tab, and all these things, but since we are a browser, we have the full page context. We fire up the GenAI, and it's embedded and free to use.
Right.
There's no paywalls or anything. We find that's a very useful utility.
Wow! So-
So then we bring, so to say search-like experience throughout your entire web journey.
Mm-hmm. I see. I wish we had more time because we can, like, you know, drill down more details. And then this very, very interesting discussion. Unfortunately, we ran over time, but I know all this GenAI stuff is really, really early, and then you guys are just so advanced in bringing all this very early stage. So good luck for all the products.
Thank you.
And then hopefully we can host you again next year-
Yeah
A nd then we can see the updates from all the products.
Thank you.
Okay.
Pleasure to be here.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you. .
Thank you.