“For the 17th quarter in a row, we once again delivered a beat and raise quarter.” (CEO)
“AI is the new UI and Athena proves it.” (CEO)
“This is how AI becomes a habit, not a headline.” (CEO)
“The theme of our Investor Day in October was durable, predictable and profitable growth, and our third quarter results are a perfect illustration of this.” (CFO)
“We're guiding 2026 to be $1.54 billion or 21% growth on 2025 guidance of $1.275 billion.” (CFO)
Mgmt stance: Bullish — seamless integration into existing platform, no learning curve for ZMP users.
Q9 — Richard Baldry
Topic: Athena architecture, M&A appetite, and buyback strategy
Key points:
Athena architecture fully internally built; voice interface partnership with OpenAI.
Can be layered on any platform with an open API; native to ZMP application layer, extendable via API integration.
M&A: 17 companies acquired in 17 years; Athena expands TAM into business intelligence; "highly probable" there will be an 18th.
Buyback: >50% of free cash flow used for share repurchases; year-to-date ~85% of FCF (Chris Greiner); Q3 buyback limited due to Marigold quiet period.
Mgmt stance: Bullish — Athena enables TAM expansion; buyback commitment remains strong with "a lot of dry powder" in next $200M program.
Q10 — Zach Cummins
Topic: Telecom vertical momentum and free cash flow conversion
Key points:
Telecom vertical: displacing major marketing clouds; platform enables accelerated growth at lower cost.
Telecom became >20% of trailing 12-month industry verticals for first time; 7 out of 10 verticals growing >20%.
Consumer discretionary verticals (retail, travel/hospitality, automotive) continue strong growth; clients moving to Zeta due to better ROI.
Q3 FCF conversion: adjusted for agency payment cycle timing, would have been 80%+; Zeta 2030 target of at least 70% FCF conversion already bakes in continued agency headwind.
Mgmt stance: Bullish — telecom momentum accelerating; FCF conversion on track even with agency headwinds.
Q&A Batch (11-11 of 11)
Q11 — Jackson Ader
Topic: 2026 revenue visibility and political/advocacy revenue outlook
Key points:
Large clients are providing larger contracts than ever before, giving far more visibility into forward numbers.
For off-cycle election years (midterms), political candidate revenue was ~$7.5 million in 2022; 2025 is planned at effectively double that.
Advocacy revenue follows a similar pattern from midterm to midterm, but deals can enter the pipeline rapidly and later in the process, so the number will continue to evolve.
Mgmt stance: Bullish — management cites larger contracts and greater visibility from large clients, and expects political revenue to double versus the prior midterm cycle.
Q12 — Koji Ikeda
Topic: Marigold acquisition impact on 2026 guidance and brand evolution
Key points:
Organic 2026 revenue guidance is $1.54 billion; Marigold’s standalone 2026 contribution was previously guided at ~$190 million, but combined guidance will be updated after deal closes.
Zeta has beaten and raised guidance for 17 consecutive quarters; goal is to extend that streak to 22 quarters.
Marigold’s 100 global enterprise clients moving from single use case to multiple use cases can generate 3–3.5x more revenue per client.
Brand evolution: three years ago, 50 minutes of first sales hour were spent explaining who Zeta is; now firmly in “why Zeta” stage (customers know the company and ask why to choose Zeta over competitors).
Mgmt stance: Bullish — management highlights strong M&A track record, expects Marigold to create a “really nice tailwind,” and sees brand recognition advancing toward “must-have” status.