Industry News

Saga Communications Q4 2023 Dips 3.3%

Saga Communications reports its operating results for the fourth quarter of 2023 and for the full year of 2023. The company reports Q4 2023 net revenue of $29.1 million, a decline of 3.3% from the same period in 2022. The company adds that political impacted the quarter’s performance as for the quarter Saga had $407 thousand in gross political revenue this year compared to $1.9 million for the same period last year. Without political revenue the company’s gross revenue for the quarter would haveim increased approximately 1% compared to last year. Saga says net income for Q4 of 2023 was $2.5 million, compared to net income of $4.3 million for the fourth quarter last year. For the full year of 2023, net revenue was $112.8 million, a decline of 1.8% from the full year of 2022. Net income rose year-over-year to $9.5 million in 2023 from $9.2 million in 2022. Saga says its balance sheet reflects $40.2 million in cash and short-term investments as of December 31, 2023, and $30.4 million as of March 4, 2024. It expects to spend approximately $5 million to $5.5 million for capital expenditures during 2024. As previously announced, Saga has entered into an agreement to purchase stations serving the Lafayette, Indiana radio market for $5.3 million. This acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of 2024. Also announced today is Saga’s paying a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share on March 8, 2024. The aggregate amount of the quarterly dividend will be approximately $1.6 million.

Industry News

Cumulus Media Q4 2023 Revenue Declines 11.9%

Reporting its operating results for the fourth quarter of 2023 and for the full year of 2023, Cumulus Media Group reveals Q4 net revenue of $221 million, a decrease of 11.9% from the same period in 2022. The company posted a net loss of $54,000 in Q4 of 2022 compared to the net loss of $98 million it reports for Q4 of 2023. For the full year of 2023, net revenue was $844.5 million – a decrease of 11.4%im from the full year of 2022. Cumulus reported net income of $16.2 million for 2022, while posting a net loss of $117.9 million for the full year of 2023. Cumulus president and CEO Mary G. Berner says, “While 2023 was a tough year across the media landscape, we were able to offset some of the effects of the weak national advertising climate through strong execution in our key focus areas. Specifically, we grew our digital businesses, meaningfully reduced fixed costs, and improved our balance sheet. Looking ahead, though national advertisers are expressing interest in increasing their radio buys, as of yet, ad demand remains choppy, reducing our visibility into the rest of 2024. That said, our industry-leading performance during similarly weak macro environments gives us significant confidence in our ability to navigate through this one and rebound strongly when the advertising market improves.” Looking at Cumulus’ business segments, the digital segment to which Berner refers was up 5% in Q4 of 2023 to $39.6 million, but total broadcast revenue during the quarter was down 18.2%. Spot revenue declined 18.3% and network revenue was off 17.9% in Q4 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

Industry News

Beasley Broadcast Group Q4 2023 Revenue Down 8.75%

Today Beasley Broadcast Group releases its operating results for the fourth quarter of 2023 and the full year of 2023. For Q4 of 2023, the company reports net revenue of $65.7 million, a decline of 8.75% from the same period in 2022. For the full year of 2023, net revenue was $247.1 million, a decline of 3.6% from the full year of 2022. While Beasley reports net income of $6.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 (compared to the $24.5 million net loss it posted in Q4 of 2022), the company reveals a net loss of $75.1 million for the full year of 2023, compared to the net loss of $42.1 million it reported for the full year ofim 2022. Beasley CEO Caroline Beasley says, “Beasley’s fourth quarter and full year financial results reflect the impacts of cyclical political revenue and ongoing advertising market softness, partially offset by the continued success of our revenue diversification strategy and cost management initiatives. Net revenues for the 2023 fourth quarter and full year decreased by $6.3 million and $9.3 million, respectively. Excluding the impacts from a decrease in political advertising and the company’s dispositions of WWWE-AM, WJBR-FM and the Houston Outlaws in 2023 and WWNN-AM imand KDWN-AM in 2022, partially offset by the company’s acquisitions of KXTE-FM and Guarantee Digital in 2022, revenues would have decreased by $0.2 million and $1.3 million in the 2023 fourth quarter and full year, respectively… For the better part of the year, we continued to execute on our successful growth agenda for our digital business that capitalizes on the value of our strong local brands, unique local business relationships and proven marketing capabilities. While macroeconomic pressures held fourth quarter digital revenue flat compared to the prior year, Beasley delivered meaningful full-year digital revenue growth, up 11.4% year-over-year. Our digital business represented 18.4% of full year 2023 revenue. We remain laser focused on prioritizing the growth of our digital platform as a means to diversify our revenue in a cash flow positive manner, and we expect digital revenue to account for between 20% and 25% of total revenue in 2024. Our dedicated sales teams also continue to leverage the tremendous audience reach and engagement of our local multi-platform content to attract new advertisers, resulting in fourth quarter and full year new local business revenue growth of 52% and 20%, respectively. Additionally, the actions we have taken to reduce costs drove a year-over-year decline in operating expenses of 3.3% in the fourth quarter and 2.3% for the full year.”

Industry News

Urban One Files Q1 and Q2 2023 Reports

Urban One has been late with its last few quarterly reports due to issues with its former independent accounting firm’s assessment of the company’s sale of its interest in the MGM Harbor Casino. Now, months after obtaining a new independent accounting firm, the company files 10-Q reports with theim Securities and Exchange Commission for the periods ended March 31, 2023 and June 30, 2023. Briefly, the company’s net revenue for Q1 2023 was $110 million, down 2% from the same period in 2022. The company posted a net loss of $2.7 million for the first quarter. For Q2 of 2023, net revenue was $129.7 million, an increase of 9.2% over the same period in 2022. The company posted a net income of $71 million for that period.

Industry News

Audacy’s 2023 Q3 Net Revenue Down 5.6%

Reporting its operating results for Q3 of 2023, Audacy says net revenue for the period was $299.2 million, down 5.6% from the same period in 2022. The company reports a net loss of $234 million, up from the net loss of $141 million it reported in Q3 of 2022. The company reveals that local spot revenue was down 3%, national spot revenue declined 15% and network advertising revenue was down 5%. Digital revenue was $64.8 million, up 3% compared to the third quarter of 2022. Audacy also reports broadcast radio revenue by format and notes that news/talk format revenue was $43.35 million, a decline of 10.8% year-over-year. Sports talk revenue was basically flat at $72 million. Music format revenue wasim $145.7 million, down 7.1% year-over-year. Audacy president and CEO David J. Field states, “Audacy’s third quarter net revenues declined 5.6%, in-line with our quarterly guidance as ad market conditions have remained challenging, particularly on national business. Cash operating expenses were down 2%. We gained revenue share in the quarter, most significantly in radio in which we have achieved accelerating share growth since the start of the year. We also delivered solid gains in radio ratings share and digital audience metrics while making important progress on our tech roadmap and meaningful expense savings to improve our current and future business model. Fourth quarter is currently pacing down 9% on an as reported basis and down 4% on a same-station, ex-political basis. We expect Q4 total revenues to decline by high single digits and costs to decline by high single digits. As noted in our recent public filings, we remain in constructive conversations with our lenders to recapitalize the company’s balance sheet to establish a strong financial footing and position the company to capitalize effectively on our growth opportunities. Notwithstanding current challenges, Audacy has established a strong position as a scaled, leading multi-platform audio content and entertainment company distinguished by our exclusive premium content and top positions across the country’s largest markets. We salute our team for their strong work delivering solid growth against our key performance metrics and serving our listeners and customers with excellence.”

Industry News

Townsquare Media Third Quarter Revenue Declines 5%

Townsquare Media reports its financial data for the third quarter of 2023 and says net revenue for the period was $115 million, a decrease of 5% compared to the third quarter of 2022. The company reports a net loss of $36.5 million, compared to the net income of $2.8 million it reported in the third quarter of 2022. Townsquare reports operating results by segment. It’s Broadcast Advertising segment reportsim revenue of $54 million, a decline of 8.6% year-over-year. It’s Subscription Digital Marketing Solutions segment revenue was $20 million, down 12.6% from Q3 of 2022, and its Digital Advertising segment revenue was $39 million, up 5.5% year-over-year. Townsquare Media CEO Bill Wilson states, “The strong cash generation characteristics of our assets allowed us to produce $39 million of cash flow from operations in the first nine months of 2023, an increase of $7 million as compared to the prior year. We could not be more pleased to share that given our strong cash position, we were able to repurchase and retire approximately $14 million of our Unsecured Senior Notes at a discount during the third quarter, bringing our year-to-date total bond repurchases to $27 million. In addition, we repurchased approximately 94,000 Class A shares in the third quarter (in total, we’ve repurchased 1.7 million shares in 2023), and continue to pay a high-yielding dividend while also investing in our business. We also ended the quarter with a strong cash balance of $38 million and net leverage of 4.49x, retaining financial flexibility moving forward.”

Industry News

Saga Communications Reports Q3 Revenue Down 2.8%

Saga Communications issues its Q3 2023 operating results and says net revenue for the period was $29.2 million, a decrease 2.8%. Station operating expense increased 2.1% for the quarter to $22.8 million compared to the same period last year. For the quarter, operating income was $3.5 millionim compared to $1.1 million for the same quarter last year and station operating income (a non-GAAP financial measure) decreased 14.7% to $7.6 million. Saga reports a net income of $2.7 million for Q3 2023 compared to the net loss of $104,000 it reported a year ago. The company’s balance sheet reflects $41.7 million in cash and short-term investments as of September 30, 2023. Saga also announces that it is paying a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share on November 3, 2023 to shareholders of record as of October 11, 2023. The aggregate amount of the quarterly dividend will be approximately $1.5 million.

Industry News

Beasley Media Group Q3 Net Revenue Falls 5.8%

Reporting its operating results for the third quarter of 2023, Beasley Media Group says net revenue was $60.1 million, a decrease of 5.8% over the same period in 2022. The company also reports a net loss of $67.5 million compare to the net income of $500,000 it reported in the third quarter of 2022, due largely to non-cash impairment losses.  Beasley CEO Caroline Beasley comments, “Beasley’s third quarter financial results reflect the well-publicized economic challenges and continued advertising market softness which we outlined in the prior quarters. Similar to recent quarters, Beasley delivered strongim digital revenue growth of 9.1% year-over-year, with digital revenue representing 18.6% of total third quarter revenue. Our continued strong digital revenue growth has moved us to within a few basis points of reaching the bottom end of our goal of digital revenue accounting for 20% to 30% of total revenue, and we remain laser focused on this initiative as a means to diversify our revenue in a cash flow positive manner. Our dedicated sales teams continue to leverage the tremendous audience reach and engagement of our local multi-platform content to attract new advertisers, resulting in a 22% increase in new local business revenue growth for the third quarter. Additionally, the actions we have taken to reduce our cost structure resulted in third quarter operating and corporate expenses decreases of 2.7% and 12.5%, respectively. In summary, we believe our third quarter financial performance demonstrates that our digital transformation and revenue diversification strategies continue to gain momentum and our initiatives focused on lowering operating expenses and reducing debt are positioning Beasley to generate increased and more diversified cash flows in future periods. Looking ahead, as has always been the case for non-election years, we expect fourth quarter revenues to be somewhat impacted by the absence of cyclical political advertising. While we plan to offset some of this expected softness through continued growth in digital and new business, we are hopeful that the overall advertising environment will improve in the fourth quarter and continue to closely monitor the economy.”

Industry News

Cumulus Media 2023 Q3 Revenue Falls 11%

Cumulus Media Inc is the first audio group to report third quarter 2023 operating results in a year that’s been challenging for all media reliant on advertising. Today’s Q3 report reveals net revenue of $207 million, a decline of 11% over the same period in 2022. Cumulus reports net income during the quarter of $2.7 million, down 68% from a year ago. However, for the first nine months of 2023, the company reportsim a net loss of $19.8 million. Cumulus reports in segments, and for the Q3 period total broadcast radio revenue was $146 million, down 17.4% from a year ago. Spot revenue was down 15.2% while network revenue declined 22.8% from Q3 of 2022. Cumulus’ digital segment reports revenue of $37.2 million, an increase of 6.6%, year-over-year. Cumulus CEO Mary G. Berner states, “Third quarter revenue and Adjusted EBITDA finished in line with expectations with results reflecting the continued dichotomy between local imand national business lines. Despite the challenging environment, we maximized performance by continuing to focus on areas we can control, including growing each of our digital businesses, reducing costs, and improving our balance sheet through non-core asset sales and debt reduction. These actions have further improved the company’s revenue growth profile, operating leverage, financial flexibility, and strategic optionality and, collectively, position us to rebound when the advertising environment improves. While we are continuing to see weakness in national markets, as companies are starting to set their 2024 marketing budgets, we are seeing some initial indications from key national advertisers in several categories that sentiment is improving for next year. That tone, combined with the anticipation of a robust political spending cycle, gives us cautious optimism that we may be seeing the early signs of a market recovery.”

Industry News

Townsquare Media Q2 Net Revenue Off 0.6%

Townsquare Media, Inc reports its financial results for the second quarter of 2023 and says net revenue for the period was $121.2 million, a decline of 0.6% from the same period in 2022. Breaking the company’s revenue down by segment, Broadcast Advertising net revenue decreased $3.3 million, or 5.8%, and Subscription Digital Marketing Solutions net revenue decreased $1.7 million, or 7.5%, compared to the same period in 2022. These revenue declines were largely offset by Digital Advertising net revenue which increased $4 million, or 10.6% from Q2 of 2022. Townsquare reports a net loss of $2.7 million in Q2 of 2023 compared to the net income of $4.9im million reported in Q2 of 2022, primarily due to a $16.8 million increase in non-cash impairment charges to the company’s FCC licenses and investments, partially offset by an increase in other income, net due to a $5.2 million gain on the sale of one of the company’s investments and an increase in the effective tax rate for the current period. Townsquare CEO Bill Wilson says, “I am pleased to share that Townsquare’s digital growth engine continued to drive results in the second quarter, demonstrating its strength and resiliency, as we delivered second quarter net revenue and Adjusted EBITDA that met our previously issued guidance… With its differentiated and sophisticated products and solutions, our Digital Advertising segment was once again our largest driver of growth, increasing second quarter net revenue by 11% year-over-year… The strong cash generation characteristics of our assets allowed us to produce $31 million of cash flow from operations in the first six months of 2023, an increase of $8 million as compared to the prior year. We could not be more pleased to share that given our strong cash position, we were able to repurchase nearly 9% of our total shares outstanding, repurchase and retire approximately $13 million of our Unsecured Senior Notes at a discount, and pay a high-yielding dividend to our shareholders during the first six months of the year. We also ended the quarter with a strong cash balance of $50 million and net leverage of 4.36x, retaining financial flexibility moving forward.”

Industry News

iHeartMedia Second Quarter Revenue Down 3.6%

Reporting its operating results for the second quarter of 2023, iHeartMedia reveals net revenue of $920 million, a decline of 3.6% over the same period in 2022. The company reports an operating loss of $897 million compared to the operating income of $82.9 million it reported in Q2 of 2022. After posting a net income of $15.1 million in the second quarter of 2022, the company reports a net loss of $882.9 million in Q2 of 2023. Looking atim iHeartMedia’s financial by segment, broadcast radio revenue was $429 million, a decline of 7.2% over Q2 of 2022. Network radio was $122 million (down 4.2%), digital revenue (excluding podcast) was $164 million (down 1.6%), and podcasting revenue was $96.7 million (up 12.9%). iHeartMedia chairman and CEO Bob Pittman says, “We are pleased to report that our second quarter 2023 results reflected Adjusted EBITDA slightly above the midpoint of the guidance range, and more than double the Adjusted EBITDA we generated in the first quarter, and our consolidated revenue were above the guidance range. The continued positive performance of our Digital Audio Group, led by our Podcasting business, and the significantly improved relative performance of our Multiplatform Group during this soft advertising period, are encouraging metrics for us, and we’re seeing indications of improving macroeconomic trends which we expect to have a positive impact for us in the second half of the year, with most of that impact in Q4.”

Industry News

Saga Communications Revenue Dips 2.2% in Second Quarter

Net revenue for the second quarter of 2023 for Saga Communications, Inc was $29.2 million, a decrease of 2.2% over the same period in 2022. Operating income for the quarter was $4.3 million compared to $5.4 million for the same quarter last year – a decline of 20.1%. Saga posted a net income of $3.4 million for the quarterim compared to net income of $3.8 million for the second quarter last year – a decline of 12.3% – although it should be noted that Saga is the only radio company thus far to report net income – as opposed to a net loss – during the second quarter. Saga Communications stock pays dividends and during Q2 of 2023 it paid a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share on June 16, 2023. The aggregate amount of the quarterly dividend was approximately $1.5 million. To date Saga has paid over $109 million in dividends to shareholders since the first special dividend was paid in 2012. Saga’s balance sheet reflects $34.4 million in cash and short-term investments as of June 30, 2023. The company carries no long-term debt.

Industry News

Audacy Q2 2023 Net Revenue Falls 6.6%

On Friday (8/4), Audacy reported its operating results for the second quarter of 2023. Net revenue for the period was $298.5 million, down 6.6% from the same period in 2022. The company posted an operating loss of $135.3 million, compared to operating income of $23.3 million reported in Q2 of 2022. Audacy reports a net loss of $125.8 million, compared to the net loss of $773,000 it reported for the second quarter of 2022. Breaking down the company’s revenue streams, Spot revenue (local and national) was $187.1 million (down 3.7%), whileim Network revenue was $20.8 million (down 4.4%). Digital revenue was $66.7 million (down 4%). Audacy also reports revenue based on radio format and says revenue from sports stations was $65.6 million (up 1.2%), while revenue from all-news and news/talk was $44 million (down 14.8%). Revenue from music-formatted stations was $ 145.3 million (down 8.3%). Audacy chairman, president and CEO David J. Field comments, “Second quarter net revenues were down 6.6% in line with our quarterly guidance, imreflecting challenging ad market conditions. During the quarter, we saw accelerated growth across certain of our key performance metrics including radio revenue share, station audience ratings, and digital platform usage. We also made meaningful progress on our ad tech and ad product roadmap as we work to develop important new pools of digital demand and growth… We have initiated discussions with our lenders to enhance our balance sheet and establish a strong financial footing to enable the company to capitalize on its growth opportunities. Notwithstanding current challenges, Audacy has established a prominent position as a scaled, leading multi-platform audio company distinguished by our exclusive premium content, top positions across the country’s largest markets, and unrivaled leadership in news and sports radio. We continue to invest in our people, platform, content, technology and capabilities and serve our listeners and customers with excellence. Ad market conditions remain challenging but have stabilized entering the third quarter. We are pacing down 4% with local spot considerably stronger than national spot. We expect Audacy’s Q3 revenues to decline by mid-single digits.”

Industry News

Beasley Media Group Reports Q2 Revenue Decline of 2.1%

Reporting its financial operations for the second quarter of 2023, Beasley Media Group says net revenue for the period was $63.5 million, a decline of 2.1% over the same period in 2022. The company reported an operating loss of $4.5 million – the same as in Q2 of 2022 – and a net loss of $10.4 million, which was a smaller net loss than the $14.5 million loss it reported in Q2 of 2022. Beasley CEO Caroline Beasley comments, “Despiteim ongoing challenges related to the economy and softness in the national spot market, Beasley’s successful digital transformation, continued local audio leadership and revenue diversification initiatives, combined with our proactive initiatives to reduce expenses, resulted in net loss declining by more than $4 million in both the quarter and year-to-date periods, compared to the same periods in 2022, as well as quarterly adjusted imEBITDA growth of 16.8% and 2023 year-to-date Adjusted EBITDA growth of 28.1%. During the quarter, we made additional progress with reducing leverage and strengthening our balance sheet as we repurchased another $3 million of our debt at a discount and lowered quarterly interest expense which support our goal to drive cash flow growth. We are generating cash from operations, and we expect to continue to generate positive cash flow for the full year. Our digital strategy delivered second quarter digital revenue growth of 14.8% year-over-year and accounted for 19.4% of total second quarter revenue. Our digital revenue is primarily derived from our owned and operated assets, with our proprietary content creation driving the largest increase with the best margins and third-party products that come with a higher cost. Our talented sales teams have been able to combine our over-the-air and digital platform offerings to create marketing campaigns and brand solutions that provide great results for our clients. Our continued strong digital revenue growth has moved us to within a few basis points of reaching the bottom end of our goal of digital revenue accounting for 20% to 30% of total revenue and we remain laser focused on this initiative as a means to diversify and complement revenue in a cash flow positive manner.” Beasley reports its total debt as of June 30, 2023 was $287 million.

Industry News

Cumulus Media Second Quarter Net Revenue Falls 11%

Cumulus Media Inc is the first radio company to report its financial results for the second quarter of 2023 and post Q2 net revenue of $210.1 million, a decrease of 11.2% over the same period in 2022. The company also posts a net loss of $1.1 million for the quarter, compared to the $8.6 million in net earnings it reported for Q2 of 2022. Breaking down the company’s revenue by segment, digital is the only segment that didn’t report a double-digit decline ($37.5 million, down 0.7%). Spot revenue was $107.1 million (down 15.7%) and network revenue was $39.7 million (down 18.5%). Cumulus notes that its total debt as of June 30, 2023 was $680.9 million.im Cumulus president and CEO Mary Berner comments, “Despite continued challenges in the overall market, our second quarter revenue performed in-line with expectations while Adjusted EBITDA exceeded them. As in prior quarters, we generated strong revenue growth in our digital marketing services business, implemented meaningful cost reductions, and further improved our balance sheet by generating cash from operations and reducing our total and net debt to the lowest levels in more than a decade. Additionally, we executed a highly accretive and opportunistic tender offer, which resulted in the retirement of approximately 10% of our shares outstanding. Our proven track record of strong operational and financial execution in adverse conditions gives us unwavering confidence in our ability to optimize results in the current weak ad market and rebound strongly when the environment improves. In the meantime, we will continue to invest in our digital businesses, further enhance our operating leverage through additional cost reductions, and execute on our strategy to opportunistically deploy capital to maximize long-term shareholder value.”

Industry News

Urban One Files 2022 Q4 and Full Year Operating Results

If you’ve been following this story, you are aware that Urban One is late with this Securities and Exchange Commission filing because of accounting issues related to the valuation of its investment interest in MGM National Harbor, which the company sold for cash proceeds of approximately $136.8 million on April 21, 2023. Re-evaluation of the accounting required adjustment to the company’s filings for the four quarters of 2021 andim Q3 of 2022. For the fourth quarter of 2022, net revenue was approximately $132.6 million, an increase of 1.6% from the same period in 2021. The company reports operating income of approximately $14.3 million for the period, compared to approximately $20.3 million for Q4 of 2021. Broadcast and digital operating income was approximately $47.6 million, an increase of 7.9% from the same period in 2021. Net income was $856,000 compared to approximately $5.3 million in net income for the same period in 2021. The company has yet to file its operating results for Q1 of this year, but its preliminary results from the quarter show same station radio segment revenue up 2.0% on a same station basis.

Industry News

Audacy First Quarter Revenue Falls 5.7%

The company reports net revenue for the first quarter of 2023 was $259.6 million, a decrease of 5.7% over Q1 of 2022. Audacy reports that total operating expenses increased 1.9% and it is reporting an operating loss of $12.2 million compared to the operating income of $8.5 million it reported in the first quarter of 2022. Theim company posts a Q1 2023 net loss of $35.9 million, an increase of 225% compared to Q1 of 2022. Audacy chairman, president and CEO David J. Field states, “First quarter revenues were down 5.7% with local sales significantly outperforming national as challenging ad market conditions persisted. Cash operating expenses were up 3% during the quarter but are expected to be below prior-year levels for the remainder of 2023. Notwithstanding the difficult economic headwinds, we remain steadfastly focused on delivering significantly higher future levels of Adjusted EBITDA, capitalizing on our multiple growth drivers and our differentiated premium competitive position in the dynamic audio market. We are making progress on each of our drivers, including our podcasting and digital marketing solutions businesses, our reinvented streaming audio platform, our emerging ad tech and ad products, and our enhanced national enterprise business development efforts. In addition, we are encouraged to see some positive signs in our auto business as we continue our vigorous work to weather the storm and await future improvements in market conditions.”

Industry Views

Saga Communications Q1 Net Revenue Rises 1.3%

First quarter 2023 operating results for Saga Communications reveal net revenue of $25.3 million, an increase of 1.3% over the same period in 2022. Net income fell from $1.2 million in Q1 of 2022 to $920,000 in the first quarter of this year. The company says, “Station operating expense increased $1.1 million for theim quarter to $21.7 million compared to the same period last year. A significant part of the increase in station operating expense for the quarter was due to a $272 thousand increase in our self-insured health care costs and a $446 thousand increase in employee compensation, including payroll taxes at the station level. After a number of years of holding the company’s compensation expenses flat, we decided that adjustments in our employee compensation were warranted in consideration of the economic times and inflationary environment.”

Industry News

Cumulus Media Q1 Net Revenue Down 11%

Cumulus Media’s net revenue for the first quarter of 2023 was $205.6 million, a decline of 11% over the same period in 2022. The company’s net loss ballooned to $21.4 million from the net loss of $905,000 it reported in Q1 of 2022. Breaking down Cumulus’ revenue by segment, total broadcast revenue was $148 million – down 12.5% year-over-year – led by network revenue (-22.9%), and followed by spot revenue (down 6%). Digital revenue was $32 million, up just 0.6% over the first quarter of 2022. Cumulus Media president and CEO Mary G. Berner comments, “Extending our track record of strong operational and financial execution duringim challenging times, in the first quarter, we grew our digital marketing services revenue by more than 23%, completed the sale of WFAS-FM, continued to repurchase shares and retire debt at a discount, and have now executed $10 million of additional annualized cost reductions. That said, the impact of the considerable macro-driven weakness in the national advertising market, as well as the unfavorable prior year political and WynnBET comparisons, ultimately resulted in total revenue and Adjusted EBITDA declines. Though the difficult national market trends persist, we have confidence in our ability to successfully navigate adverse environments such as this one. Specifically, since 2019 through the COVID-impacted years, we have had best-in-class performance in terms of fixed cost reduction, Adjusted EBITDA margin recovery, Adjusted EBITDA to free cash flow conversion and net debt reduction. With our current liquidity profile and solid balance sheet, we believe that we are not only well-positioned to weather the current storm but will rebound strongly when the market eventually recovers.”

Industry News

Beasley’s 2023 First Quarter Net Revenue Rises 3.7%

Reporting its operating results for the first quarter of 2023, Beasley Broadcast Group (parent of Beasley Media Group) announces net revenue of $57.8 million, an increase of 3.7% over the same period in 2022 that the company says reflects “a year-over-year increase in digital revenue, local spot revenue and network revenue, partially offset by a decrease in national spot revenue, related to continued softness in the national agency business.” Beasley reports operating income of $400,000 in Q1 of 2023, compared to the operating loss of $2.7 million reported in Q1 of 2022. The company also reports a reduced net loss of $3.5 millionim compared to the net loss of $3.7 million in Q1 of 2022. Beasley CEO Caroline Beasley states, “Beasley’s strong first quarter financial operating results highlight our continued local audio leadership and the ongoing success of our digital transformation and revenue diversification initiatives which are driving top-line and SOI (station operating income) growth. Despite ongoing challenges related to the economy and softness in the national spot market, Beasley generated healthy growth across its digital, local audio, and network revenue sources, as reflected by the 3.7% increase in first quarter net revenues to $57.8 million. Top-imline growth was the primary factor contributing to an impressive 21% year-over-year increase in SOI to $7.1 million. Our digital strategy delivered first quarter digital revenue growth of 27.8% year-over-year and accounted for 17.3% of total first quarter revenue. Similar to recent quarters, strong digital revenue performance was driven by Beasley’s organic content creation initiatives and the roll-out of our tailored web services. Beasley continues to see accelerating demand from consumers for our innovative digital content, with our unique digital users more than doubling over the prior year quarter, resulting in a more than 90% year-over-year increase in sellable digital impressions. We believe we remain on path for this revenue source to reach 20% of total revenue by 2023 year-end.” Total outstanding debt as of March 31, 2023 was $290 million, and first quarter interest expense slightly declined to $6.6 million. Beasley had $35.9 million of cash and cash equivalents on hand at quarter end. We intend to keep our cash on the balance sheet in order to maintain our strong liquidity position, while we monitor the economic environment.”