CEO Mary Berner says the company is on its way to becoming an audio entertainment company. With 69% growth in Q2, digital now makes up 7% of Cumulus’ overall revenue. That’s up from 5% a year earlier. And, according to Berner, the digital category is throwing off sold profit margins. Here are the rest of the Cumulus Q2 numbers.
The Cumulus CEO called Q2 “a solid financial performance.” Same station net revenue increased just under 1%. Excluding the impact of political revenue from Q2 in 2018, same-station revenue was up 1.8%. Revenue from Cumulus’ radio stations came in at $193.2 million and revenue from Westwood One was $85.8 million.
Like many other public companies, local has been the drag while national and digital have been the bright spots. Berner said for Cumulus local has been “very, very weak.”
Cumulus Q3 pacings are “slightly negative.” Q3 and Q4 are when radio companies really have to battle the tough political comps of 2018. On the bright side, the 2020 election is right around the corner.
Cumulus has paid down $250 million in debt over the past year and $165 in June and July alone. As of June 30 Cumulus’ leverage was 4.8X.
