Sounds Like Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Even though he was sure to be cautious, with still so many unknowns, on the iHeart Q1 earnings call Thursday, CEO Bob Pittman did say that “May bookings are slightly up over April and we see June better than May.” He also said Q3 is looking better than Q2. We’ll take whatever good revenue news we can find these days.

Pittman added that there’s no reason to believe political spending will not be as robust as originally expected in 2020.

Of course, there was also some not-so-good news, but iHeart is no different than any other business trying to survive during a pandemic in which the government basically told most businesses to close and consumers to stay home.

iHeart’s Q1 revenue was $780.6 million, down 1.9% from Q1 2019. Excluding revenue decreased 4.8%. Revenue from radio stations declined by 5.2% on a reported basis and dropped 8.3% excluding political. Networks declined 2.6%. Revenue from Sponsorship and Events was off by $10.4 million as every event in the country was postponed or cancelled.

January and February started strong for iHeart but as the crisis wrapped its death grip around the nation in March, advertising fell off a cliff. That trend continued into April. Pittman said April was the worst monetization month he has ever seen.

States across the country are now beginning to open up and Pittman says that’s what his team are spending a lot of their time on. “Sales activity has gone up dramatically in those states. Whether that activity translates to sales remains to be seen. We just don’t know yet.”

Pittman, radio’s #1 cheerleader, said, “Radio does better than anyone else with an opening or a grand opening. We should benefit from that. Every business will have to re-introduce itself.” He went on to say iHeart is in the mode of looking ahead, adding that there’s going to be a recovery and iHeart is now working on how to maximize its impact when that recovery happens.