Cumulus Reports. Let’s Start With The Good News

7

Revenue at Cumulus’ radio stations was up 1.6% in Q4 of 2016. Cumulus radio stations took in $209.8 million in revenue in Q4, compared to $206.5 million a year earlier. That increase was driven by political, digital, and national spot revenue.

Radio stations bring in 70% of Cumulus’ revenue with Westwood One bringing in the balance. CEO Mary Berner remains positive about the turnaround she was asked to undertake 18 months ago. She started off by saying it’s remarkable how far they’ve come.

Berner said progress is being made, especially in the ratings, “where we’ve outperformed the industry for 15 straight months.” She said the ratings rebound has been tremendous. “In fact, with two back-to-back quarters of revenue share increases on the station side, a trend which continued through January, we have early evidence that, despite a tough industry environment, our foundational work is beginning to translate into improved financial performance.” Berner said Cumulus’ diary markets are also growing and in 2017, for the first time in five years, Cumulus salespeople will be selling on improved ratings.

PPM GROWTH

7 COMMENTS

  1. You hid the massive losses that led the stock to plummet. You said “let’s start with the good news,” but an accurate headline would be “let’s only report the good news.” This is not journalism that serves your readers. Not even Cumulus itself kept its losses hidden, because that’s illegal. Why are you hiding the bad news? One reason could be to maintain a good relationship with your industry sources, at the expense of your readers and your credibility.

  2. Lot of SPIN there from Ms. Berner. No mention from her (at least in the article above) addressing the $543M loss Cumulus incurred in 4th Qtr of last year.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here