Behind double digit growth in digital and network revenue Entercom turned in a strong third quarter up 2% in revenue, 3% excluding political. Professional Services, Financial Services and Insurance were strong categories with July and August the stronger months in the quarter for Entercom. For the year Entercom’s revenue is up 3%.
Like iHeart earlier in the week Entercom is very high on podcasting. Both companies see podcating as a high margin business in the years ahead as they produce and promote more original content.
Field said the purchase of Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Media establishes Entercom as one of the three largest podcasting companies in the United States with approximately 150 million downloads per month of programming that Entercom creates or represents for ad sales.
Entercom expects its podcasting division to break even and generate close to $50 million this year. In 2020 the company expects podcasting revenue to grow rapidly and be accretive to earnings. Field says he already sees momentum in Entercom’s podcasting business with downloads up 72% in Q3. And, he expects podcasting margins to grow nicely in the years ahead.
Field Says Entercom is now well positioned for sustained success in the podcasting space due to the scale of its radio platform and powerful symbiotic opportunities driven by its leadership in sports, news and local personalities.
The company says reports of what Entercom paid for Cadence13 and Pineapple Media were incorrect. When the news first broke back in August, The Wall Street Journal and others reported that Entercom paid $18 million for Pineapple Media and $50 million for Cadence13. Field told investors and analysts Entercom paid a total of $34 million in cash for Cadence13 and $14 million in cash for Pineapple Media for a total of $48 million for both companies, well below the $68 million predicted by others two months ago. Field said they purchased both companies at 1X their projected 2019 revenues. In other words, Entercom got a great deal, especially with the power of their radio station portfolio and Radio.com to promote their podcasts.
