The Urban One CEO is very happy with the performance of his company in the 4th quarter of 2021. In fact he’s happy with how the entire year went for Urban One. “I’m very proud of the team across all of our platforms.”
Liggins says demand for the Urban One platform and audience was strong and he expects that to continue, especially as the minority population in America continues to grow.
The company pumped out $131 million in the 4th quarter of 2021, an increase of 15.3% over Q4 2020.
Radio declined 11.6% in Q4 due to political comps. A year earlier radio took in $10 million in political. Excluding political the radio division was up 15.5%.
Digital revenue was up 42.9%, and Urban One exceeded $50 million in annual digital revenue for the first time. Liggins told investors and analysts the company budgeted $30 million in digital revenue for 2020 and wound up generating nearly $60 million. He said in 2019, during COVID, the digital division made $900,000. After that demand increased and in 2020 the profit jumped to $6 million. With demand moving even higher in 2020, the digital division churned out a profit of $17 million. Liggins believe, perhaps, the digital demand may taper off moving forward but the demand has been high in Q1 of this year.
Automotive was off by 21.8% in the quarter for the company. Food and beverage was also weak. Government spending was strong with public education about COVID the big focus. Entertainment was also a strong category in Q4.
In Q1 of this year core radio pacings up low double digits, and up mid-teens including digital revenues.
