Audacy has released its financial results for Q2 2024, revealing a mix of increased digital and sports revenue with lower spot advertising. The report was quietly dropped on Friday, marking a full year since the last formal earnings call for the company led by David Field.
Overall, Audacy reported a modest net income of $2.93 million, which looks significantly better as opposed to Q2 2023’s net loss of $125.80 million.
Net revenues finished at $301.61 million for the quarter, marking a slight improvement from $298.51 million in the same period in 2023. The increase in revenues was supported by a rise in political advertising – at $2.26 million – and digital initiatives. Audacy reported receiving another $13.6 million in cash from the sale of shares it held in Broadcast Music Inc., which was acquired by New Mountain Capital, LLC.
Local and national spot advertising slightly declined to $179.66 million from $187.11 million in 2023, while digital revenue saw an increase to $74.39 million from $66.65 million. Music radio revenue grew 1% to $146.81 million in 2024. Sports programming displayed more substantial growth, with revenue jumping 8.33% from $65.61 million in 2023 to $71.08 million in 2024. Conversely, News/Talk segment experienced a slight decrease in revenue, dipping about 2.33% to $43.06 million in 2024.
Total operating expenses for the quarter lowered to $304.57 million, from $433.08 million in 2023, with $3.87 million in restructuring charges.
That restructuring seems to be having the desired effect, though, with the broadcaster posting a net operating loss of $2.96 million – a considerable improvement over the $135.29 million operating loss reported in 2023. Impairment losses accounted for $5.47 million, a significant drop from the previous year’s $125.35 million, indicating a stabilization in asset valuations as Audacy awaits its exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, filed at the beginning of 2024.
CEO David Field said, “Our accelerating financial performance reflects our significant revenue share gains, low-teen growth in digital advertising, high single-digit growth in network radio, and prudent expense reductions, offsetting continued weakness in traditional ad markets.”
As for third-quarter expectations, Field commented, “We continue to expect final approval and emergence [from Chapter 11 bankruptcy] to occur during the current quarter…The third quarter is currently pacing up low-single digits, and we expect another quarter of significant Adjusted EBITDA growth.”
“Our team has done an outstanding job driving our progress and accelerating performance while simultaneously administering our reorganization plan, all without disruption to our partners, listeners, customers, vendors or our staff.”
