On a day filled with major radio earnings calls, Audacy silently added its Q3 2023 financials to the pile with no advance notice. The result? A 5.6% decline in net revenues from the previous year, with decreases across local, national, and network revenues as digital grows.
Given the company’s recent troubles, including its delisting from the NYSE despite a reverse stock split and appeal, Audacy executives opted to forego an earnings call for the second quarter in a row. Audacy CEO David Field did mention the company’s apparent path toward debt restructuring in the Q3 report, saying, “As noted in our recent public filings, we remain in constructive conversations with our lenders to recapitalize the company’s balance sheet to establish a strong financial footing and position the company to capitalize effectively on our growth opportunities.”
Audacy’s net revenue totaled $299.2 million. As for other financials, total operating expenses for the quarter amounted to $580.8 million, heavily impacted by a non-cash impairment loss of $272.7 million. Operating losses escalated to $281.7 million. Local spot revenues were down 3%, national spot fell by 15%, and network advertising shrunk by 5%. However, digital revenues saw a 3% increase to $64.8 million.
On the digital side, Audacy did take the opportunity to praise its podcasting division, which has focused on more big-name, buzz-worthy series including Amy Poehler’s Say More with Dr? Sheila and Glennon Doyle’s We Can Do Hard Things. Additionally, Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios, in partnership with HBO, clinched Adweek’s 2023 Podcast of the Year Award from Adweek for the official Succession podcast.
Looking ahead, Field said, “Fourth quarter is currently pacing down 9% on an as-reported basis and down 4% on a same-station, ex-political basis. We expect Q4 total revenues to decline by high single digits and costs to decline by high single digits.” He concluded by saying, “We salute our team for their strong work delivering solid growth against our key performance metrics and serving our listeners and customers with excellence.”
