Those are the words of iHeartMedia CFO Richard Bressler. And behind those words are iHeart’s 850-plus radio stations in 170 markets, some of the biggest syndicated names in the business, gigantic festivals and concerts, iHeartRadio, a billboard company, Katz, and Premiere. Bressler says only Google and Facebook are bigger, and that’s due to iHeartMedia’s powerful national footprint and the scale and strength of their platform.
Bressler says iHeartMedia is unique to the entire media industry. “iHeart is the only media company using a master-brand strategy. iHeartMedia is like Pixar and Z100 is like Finding Nemo.” Bressler said consumers use iHeartMedia for approximately 31 minutes every day compared to 14 minutes a day for NBC Television. He even took a friendly jab at Entercom. “Even with the Entercom/CBS merger we still have 3 times the number of radio stations and twice the reach.” Bressler called them radio’s new number two player.
Bressler said iHeart continues to build a true 21st century multi-platform media and entertainment company that can compete effectively in an increasingly digital world fueled by data. “We are the number one provider of audio programming by far and we continue to invest to widen the gap between us and others, both in traditional and digital media including leading the way for our industry in the development of programmatic solutions that reflect the way advertisers do business today.” He said iHeart’s assets benefit the entire industry, “as we continue to bring new advertisers and revenue to our sector.”
And as he always does, Bressler says broadcast radio is the number one mass market medium in the U.S. and is undermonetized when you consider radio’s reach and R.O.I.
It truly is. I love this publication but to print stuff like this ? Wow.
Once again, the debt was not caused by mismanagement, but a decision to take the company private, and buy back all the stock. So the radio part of the company really doesn’t have stockholders. There is a small public part of the company, but the rest is private.
They have built the streaming part of the company from scratch. They have built the festival business from scratch. Neither of them existed when the Mays family was running the place.
Quite a few other companies are $20 billion in debt, including Netflix.
The Titanic was the biggest, best….
Both iHeart & Cumulus are in hock up to their eye balls. The debt is killing them. One slight hiccup in the economy and can you spell bankruptcy!
Sad! Oh wait they use TRADE as revenue because they can’t sell their ad space and then they never show it as a liability when the trade is used. G.A.VAGTS! The real expert in hiding real numbers!!!
are we too big to fail? The next 24-36 months will tell
So good they release a statement to stockholders this year with the “were not sure we can continue to operate”
and people wonder why the media is so despised..because despised companies like this are #1!!!!
what a Joke!!!
Because nothing says “success” quite like rampant mismanagement and $20B+ in crushing debt. What a joke. If iHeart is #1, the industry is truly in a death spiral.