Perhaps it didn’t want a repeat of the incredibly tense Q&A session at the end of last quarter’s earnings call, but Audacy quietly announced its 2023 Q2 results via press release as it opted to forgo the usual call. It was a chaotic quarter as Audacy was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and ended the period by effecting a one-for-thirty reverse stock split.
The company is currently in talks with its lenders about refinancing its debt and optimizing its balance sheet to spur long-term growth, according to a representative from Audacy.
This quarter’s financial performance reveals a challenging market for Audacy, who reported a 6.6% decrease in net revenues from the same period last year, falling from $319.4 million to $298.5 million. The company witnessed a 3.7% decrease in local spot revenues and a 16.6% decrease in national spot revenues. Despite a 4% decrease in digital revenues compared to Q2 2022, local digital showed a positive trend with a 7.1% year-over-year increase.
Operating expenses also increased this quarter to $433.8 million, including a non-cash impairment loss of $125.4 million and a gain on sale of $9.9 million. The same period last year recorded operating expenses of $296.2 million, a substantial surge in expenses. The quarter’s operating loss stood at $135.3 million, in contrast to an operating income of $23.3 million in Q2 2022.
Of the future, Audacy CEO David Field said, “We continue to invest in our people, platform, content, technology and capabilities and serve our listeners and customers with excellence. Ad market conditions remain challenging, but have stabilized entering the third quarter. We are pacing down 4% with local spot considerably stronger than national spot. We expect Audacy’s Q3 revenues to decline by mid-single digits.”
The way they’ve run and continue to run this company is an insult to anyone with a math degree and a brain. They overpaid and have trying to recoup their $ since they took over the old CBS radio group (which did well because they have the TV side to prop them up) toward the end before they sold. Advertising in its’ old form is history. Radio selling digital is a joke, they don’t get it and few trust it!
Their CMO came from a real estate company. What does that tell ya?
Jimw is right. The big, possibly fatal to Audacy, mistake that David Field made was to surround himself with radio jacks… Regional Managers in SoCal amd elsewhere that have been doing the same thing, over and over for 20 years or longer.
A company trying to reinvent itself needs fresh new young thinking, new ideas, taking risks etc.
Playing a few songs in a row, then a commercial cluster break of 15 commercials in a row, then back to the music… a monkey could “program” a station that way. There is no innovation at all. Sad.
Hey David Fields, remember when you were doing one of your many cost cutting measures back in 2011. in Market 58, Greenville, SC? You pushed out one of the best production directors in the area one quarter, then the next, you decided to lay off your #1 Afternoon Rock personality (Number one for most of the previous 11 years) based on his salary. The day after you let him go he was named #1 in the market…again! Just one example of what was to come for you’re company! Have a nice day
9 cents away from falling under a buck…
There are operators running this company. When they go bankrupt the lenders need to insist on a clean sweep of the c suite. WHAT. A. JOKE.
Sorry. There are NO operators running this flop.
These consolidators only know one thing. How to fleece bankers and investors. They have no concept of how to run a radio station to the benefit of listeners, advertisers and employees.
And any increase in digital revenue came from local spot. These carpetbagger should go to jail and the FCC should pull their licenses.