Tariffs, The Daily Wire, and digital were repeated points in Cumulus Media’s Q1 2025 earnings report, which saw the broadcaster’s net loss rise to $32.4 million for the quarter – more than doubling the $14.2 million loss posted in Q1 2024.
“Despite a macro environment that became more challenging since our last earnings call, our revenue was in line with pacing guidance,” said Cumulus Media President and CEO Mary Berner during the company’s earnings call. She attributed the advertising slowdown to a cascade of economic pressures: “The imposition of sweeping tariffs in conjunction with ongoing government spending cuts has resulted in supply chain concerns, inflation pressures, and worsening consumer sentiment.”
Cumulus reported total net revenue of $187.3 million for the quarter, a 6.4% year-over-year decline. Total broadcast radio revenue fell 10.6% year-over-year, from $139.74 million in Q1 2024 to $124.90 million in Q1 2025. Spot revenue dropped from $90.57 million to $80.96 million, while Network Revenue fell from $49.16 million to $43.93 million.
Automotive, retail, and CPG advertising categories underperformed, while insurance and financial sectors showed some strength. “We experienced pullbacks across several key advertising categories… with the impacts felt both on the local and national sides,” said Berner.
Broadcast network revenues were also down, and CFO Frank Lopez-Balboa expects further weakness in Q2, especially with sports inventory declining after the NFL season. “The second quarter network will have a tough comp because the environment for general market demand is weak,” he said. “So while not giving guidance, and it’s early in the quarter, I would expect the network to perform worse in spot and worse than we saw in the first quarter.”
Berner highlighted continued investment in digital platforms, particularly its Digital Marketing Services division, which saw increases in customer volume, campaign size, and retention. “Revenue was up 30% in the first quarter, driven by growth in total customers, up 41%, average campaign order size up 16%, and improvement in customer retention,” she said. “This business is firing on all cylinders.”
Without the negative comp from the loss of conservative talk platform The Daily Wire, digital revenue would have risen 20%. Including it, digital posted a 6% increase overall. Podcasting revenue declined 13%, primarily due to the end of the Daily Wire partnership and the departure of Dan Bongino, who was recently named Deputy Director of the FBI. “Excluding the negative comp from Daily Wire, we were up close to 40%,” Berner added.
The company replaced Bongino with Vince Coglianese, whose new show launched on 250 affiliates and performed beyond expectations.
With the economic situation the way it is, Cumulus is maintaining a tight focus on cost controls. The company executed $7.5 million in new annualized net fixed cost reductions in Q1, adding to $163 million in reductions since 2019. Lopez-Balboa confirmed, “Total expenses in the quarter decreased by approximately $8 million year over year.”
The broadcaster is also investing in AI to drive sales efficiency and customer service improvements. “Our sales organization is creating more efficient advertising proposals by using AI voice cloning to create sample commercials in seconds,” said Berner. “And we have implemented AI chatbots across our various e-commerce websites to improve customer service.”
Mentioned during the call? Cumulus remains cautiously optimistic about deregulation prospects at the FCC, which could open the door for ownership rule changes. “We have to wait for the Republicans to have a majority [on the Commission]. We think that will be an earlier mid-summer,” said Berner. “And then the expectation is that there will be a notice of proposed rulemaking… by late summer and fall.”
Not mentioned during the call? Cumulus’ delisting from the Nasdaq Stock Market, with stocks moving to the OTCQB market as of tomorrow’s opening bell.
Looking ahead, Q2 pacing is down approximately 10%, or 5% excluding political and Daily Wire impacts. But Berner emphasized Cumulus’ multi-platform approach as the best strategy moving forward.
First it was inflation, now it’s tariffs. How about you don’t have a compelling product that gets listenership and in turn advertising? Probably time again to shut off some more AM’s.
Pathetic…try spin offs at .05 to the dollar on every tower!! RIP CUMULUS