Revenue from Urban One’s radio division, on a same-station basis, was down 29.7%. Excluding political, it was down 34.5%. By comparison, Q2 was down 57.1%. Radio did improve by over 50% from Q2 to Q3 this year which is another indication that, as the year goes on, revenue is coming back.
CEO Alfred Liggins said, “I couldn’t be happier about our performance in the midst of this awful environment and a raging pandemic. Our team has done an extraordinary job of pulling together, managing an environment of layoffs and furloughs and cost cuts but also at the same time figuring out ways to grow our revenue and our EBITDA piece of the pie in the midst of a significant downturn.”
Except for Urban One’s Philadelphia cluster which was bolstered by heavy political advertising in Q3, all Urban One radio clusters experienced net revenue declines year-over-year.
National ad sales for Q3 were off 21.5% year-over-year, while local ad sales were down 36%. All categories, except for government, were down year-over-year for Q3. The biggest declines came from these categories: entertainment, retail, auto, healthcare and food and beverage.
About $10 million of gross political advertising revenue has been booked in the fourth quarter, bringing the annual total to over $15.3 million for the radio division. This is about $6.25 million more or 70% more than the company’s previous record high water mark for political, which was in 2012. And the company, Urban One has exceeded $20 million of gross political revenue.
Net revenue for Reach Media was down by 29% in the quarter. Net revenues for the Urban One digital department increased by 3.4% in the third quarter.
Fourth quarter radio pacings are currently mid single digits on a same station basis. Excluding political pacing is down in the high 20% range.
