Industry News

iHeartMedia says it is positioned to return to revenue levels last seen in 2019 by the end of this year as the company continues to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In its second quarter 2021 earnings call on Thursday the country’s largest radio broadcast company reported a 77% year-over-year revenue increase to $862 million for the quarter ending June 30.

The company’s Multiplatform Group, which includes nearly 860 radio stations, continued to rebound from the pandemic amid the return of the commercial advertising market. The company says revenues in the segment were up nearly 70% compared to the same period in 2020 to $605.8 million. For comparison, iHeartMedia disclosed revenue from the second quarter 2021 was down 21% compared to Q2 in 2019.

[Read: iHeartMedia Continues in Recovery Mode]

Specifically, radio broadcast revenue was up nearly 85% in Q2 YoY on a reported basis while iHeartMedia’s network business, which includes Premiere Networks and the Total Traffic and Weather Network, grew 28.3% compared to Q2 in 2020.

Podcasting remains a strong focus of the company. iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman spent a large amount of time on Thursday’s earning’s call examining the Digital Audio Group, which includes all digital assets like podcasting. The group showed a 112% year-over-year increase in Q2 revenue to $197.9 million. Podcasting revenues were up even more at 152% compared to the same period in 2020.

iHeartMedia’s build out of its tech capabilities continues, Pittman said, but it’s not only podcasting catching the eye of advertisers. The company continues investment in the expansion of broadcast radio in digital devices, he said. “We have invested in broadcast radio to make it look like digital for the advertiser. When you look at the unique reach we have with broadcast radio and having the ability to make that digital, and put that into a digital buy, at a very efficient price,” Pittman said

The broadcaster’s Audio and Media Services segment, which includes Katz Media Group and software provider RCS, saw revenue grow by 55.9% in Q2 compared to the comparative period in prior year, as a result of the continued recovery from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the company’s financial report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pittman said on Thursday’s earnings call iHeartMedia is still facing some uncertainties, but “based on what we are seeing we remain confident we will be back to 2019 adjusted EBITA levels by the end of 2021.”

The broadcaster, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2019, continues to centralize resources into its Center of Excellence; and its SEC filing on Thursday indicates the savings from the endeavor could be substantial.

iHeartMedia President/COO/CFO Rich Bressler said during Thursday’s earnings call capital expenditures will be elevated in 2021 primarily due to the proactive streamlining of the audio company’s real estate footprint. The company projects cap ex of $165 million to $185 million in 2021 and then a return to normal levels in 2022.

“The [real estate] program has made certain real estate assets redundant enabling the company to sell such assets to partially offset the initiative expenditures,” Bressler said. “The real estate program is a company wide effort to leverage new technology and adopt new best practices to make our office spaces more efficient.”

By the conclusion of the real estate project, the company experts to reduce occupied square footage and rent and related expenses by approximately 50%, Bressler said.

iHeartMedia continues to eye debt reduction, Bressler said on Thursday. The broadcaster announced in July it made a voluntary prepayment of $250 million of debt. The majority of the prepayment was used to prepay a portion of iHeartMedia’s $2.07 billion term loan, according to the iHeartMedia SEC filing. As of June 30, 2021, the company was carrying nearly $6 billion in total debt.

The post iHeartMedia Discloses Q2 Financial Results appeared first on Radio World.

From air talent consolidation across its Country and Top 40 stations to high-profile departures at its KROQ in Los Angeles, Audacy management has had its share of PR challenges in the last several months.

Now, the C-Suite has a potentially greater challenge on its hands. As its peers have reported highly positive Q2 results, the company formerly known as Entercom has released a second quarter fiscal health report reflecting a significant Earnings Per Share miss.

Investors immediately reacted in early trading on Friday (8/6).

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The National Association of Broadcasters has endorsed legislation on Capitol Hill that would reestablish a Minority Tax Certificate Program.

Democratic lawmakers in both houses have introduced bills to provide a tax incentive to those who sell a majority interest in a radio or TV station to underrepresented broadcasters. NAB has long been on record as favoring such a move.

The original FCC program started in 1978 and was in place for about 17 years. “The program was highly effective in leveling the playing field for underrepresented broadcasters, increasing diverse ownership in broadcast stations by more than 550%,” NAB wrote in a policy statement. Congress repealed it in 1995.

“Reinstating the Tax Certificate Program at the FCC would encourage investment in broadcast station ownership for women and people of color and dramatically help underrepresented voices realize their dreams of radio and television station ownership,” NAB said.

It noted that supporters include the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB).

The backers of the bills are Sens. Gary Peters of Michigan and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Reps. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Steven Horsford of Nevada. The Senate bill is called the Broadcast VOICES Act; in the House it’s the Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act of 2021.

President and CEO Gordon Smith released a statement: “NAB and its members are strongly committed to market-based initiatives that expand radio and television station ownership opportunities for women and people of color. A tax incentive program is a proven solution that significantly diversified the ranks of broadcast owners over its nearly two decades of existence.”

He urged swift passage of the legislation.

The post NAB Gives Thumbs Up to Minority Tax Bills appeared first on Radio World.

Until recently, Entravision Communications was largely viewed by the industry and by investors as a Hispanic-focused company with revenue equally derived from its digital, television and radio divisions.

That’s no longer the case. The company’s Q2 earnings results demonstrate that digital is, by a very wide margin, the revenue driver today.

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The nation’s largest audio media company by number of AM and FM radio stations and online streaming exposure, thanks to its freshly minted distribution partnership with TuneIn, is the latest company to beat its own Q2 earnings forecasts.

Just after the Closing Bell on Wall Street, with IHRT shares sitting at $26.49, iHeartMedia released its second quarter fiscal report card. The quick takeaway: iHeart beat its own revenue guidance with terrific results.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FCC on Thursday, as anticipated, moved forward with the creation of two new innovation zones.

This, the Commission says, will allow for advanced wireless communications and network innovation research.

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“Throughout the second quarter, the resumption of advertising in key categories combined with the success of our content monetization strategies resulted in year-over-year revenue growth across all fifteen of our markets,” Beasley Media Group CEO Caroline Beasley noted ahead of her company’s Q2 2021 earnings call — scheduled opposite Saga Communications’ call on Thursday.

What drove Beasley’s financial success in the quarter? “Healthy double-digit revenue increases” were seen in its biggest markets.

Those markets include Boston, where Beasley owns such stations as Sports Talker WBZ-FM 98.5 — an important asset that also comes with big expenses. Beasley also enjoyed double-digit revenue gains in Detroit and in both Philadelphia and nearby Wilmington, Del., where WJBR is in a fresh battle with independently owned WSTW.

Net revenue surged to $59.6 million, from $30.4 million, as Beasley eeked out $200,000 in net income ($0.01), swinging from a net loss of $17.7 million (-$0.63) in the COVID-19 ravaged Q2 2020.

Station Operating Income of $11.1 million was seen, shifting from a Q2 2020 negative SOI finish of -$11 million.

According to Ms. Beasley, there’s more growth percolating today: Q3 is pacing up 30%, with July up 40%, August up 29% and September pacing at 23%.

And, assuming events continue to come back the company is hopeful to return to 2019 levels in the near-term. However, 2022 is more realistic, she believes.

Ms. Beasley also took care in highlighting the sports betting category during its earnings call. She said sports betting was the seventh largest category for the company in Q2. “Our second quarter sports betting revenue increased 340% year over year and represented over 5% of our total revenue,” she said. “This was driven by our Philadelphia, Detroit and New Jersey market clusters.”

Massachusetts and Florida are in the process of legalizing sport betting, she said.

— With reports from Radio Ink

“Overall we had an extremely strong second quarter,” Urban One President/CEO Alfred Liggins III said Thursday ahead of his company’s earnings call.

Not only was Adjusted EBITDA up 82.4% year-over-year, but the media company superserving Black consumers also surpassed its Q2 2019 pre-pandemic Adjusted EBITDA.

Net revenue increased to $107.59 million from $76 million. And, even with increased expenses as the economy reopened from the pandemic, consolidated net income surged to $17.87 million ($0.33 per diluted share) from $1.42 million ($0.03).

Adjusted EBITDA? That came in at $44.77 million, increasing from $24.54 million.

The biggest takeaway for Urban One? One year ago, COVID-19 ravaged its Radio One division, lowering revenue to just above what the company sees from its cable TV affiliate fees.

In Q2 2021, Radio roared back.

Within the Radio Advertising segment is Reach Media, Urban One’s national media arm. In Q2, segment revenue climbed to $9.4 million from $6.3 million.

Meanwhile, Urban One enjoyed net revenue improvements in all of its radio markets.

With minutes remaining in Thursday’s trading on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market, UONE was up 5.4% to $7.08. UONEK, the company’s preferred shares, was up 14.7% to $5.70 on lighter than average trading volume.

It was an exceptionally busy day, again, for media companies on Wall Street. No less than eight fresh quarterly earnings reports were released, including the fiscal Q4 2021 report from Fox Corporation and a Q2 ’21 report from Roku.

MoffettNathanson Senior Analyst Michael Nathanson reviewed each of those companies’ fiscal report cards, and RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson offers an audio summary of what he said in this InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM.

The podcast also offers a synopsis of the Q2 reports released August 5 by Beasley Media Group and Urban One, and comments about the use of “audio” vs. “radio” from Saga Communications CEO Ed Christian made during his company’s Q2 earnings call for investors and analysts.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: A Special Q2 Review” on Spreaker.

Seeking to update its political programming and recordkeeping rules, the Federal Communications Commission has opened a new notice of proposed rulemaking.

We shared the draft notice with you earlier and reported that the commission was planning to take this step; it now has done so.

This means the FCC will start taking public comments. Deadlines for those will be announced soon. The Media Bureau docket number for filing comments is 21-293.

Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has said the goal of the NPRM is to comply with statutory requirements and take into account modern campaign practices.

The NPRM would revise the definition of “legally qualified candidate for public office.” If ultimately passed, this would update the list of activities that can be considered in determining whether an individual running as a write-in has made a “substantial showing” of their candidacy. It would add the use of social media and the creation of a campaign website to the list.

The NPRM also would also revise the FCC’s political recordkeeping rules to conform with the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 to include any request for the purchase of advertising time that “communicates a message relating to any political matter of national importance” (i.e., issue ads) and specify the records that must be maintained. The commission said the current rule language does not reflect the federal law on this question.

In addition to radio and TV stations, the changes would apply to cable system operators, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) service providers and Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service licensees.

The commission noted that it had not has done a formal review to update the political programming and recordkeeping rules in 30 years.

The post FCC Proposes Change in “Substantial Showing” appeared first on Radio World.