iHeartMedia's business has been in steady decline since early 2023, but showed signs of improvement in the second quarter.
Total revenue rose 1% to $929 million, slightly higher than the company's guidance, but rose just 0.1%, excluding the impact of political advertising. Rising expenses — specifically operating and selling, general and administrative — contributed to a 21% drop in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).
“We are seeing sequential improvement in our revenue growth,” CEO Bob Pittman he said during the earnings call on Thursday (August 8). “While the market continues to be dynamic – with a changing outlook for interest rates, inflation trends, global uncertainty and the rapidly evolving domestic political landscape – we continue to see strong momentum in our podcast business, our digital business ex-podcast and sequentially improving the year-over-year revenue performance of our multi-platform teams.”
iHeartMedia's digital audio division contributed to the company's revenue growth. Podcast revenue improved 8.1% to $104.5 million, well below the prior quarter's growth rates, while digital revenue excluding podcasts rose 10.3% to $181 million. Overall, digital audio revenue rose 9.5% to $285.6 million.
The multi-platform segment fell 3.4% to $575.9 million. Broadcast radio, the company's biggest single source of revenue, fell 0.9 percent to $425.5 million. Networks fell 12.8% to $106.6 million. Sponsorships and events improved 2.4% to $39.1 million.
Looking ahead, iHeartMedia expects third-quarter revenue to increase in the mid-single digits, which would be $991 million to $1.01 billion, and adjusted EBITDA between $200 million and $220 million, compared to $204 million the previous period. For the full year, revenue is expected to increase in the mid-single digits, equivalent to approximately $3.9 billion to $3.98 billion, and adjusted EBITDA to be between $760 million and $800 million, up 9% to 15% from 2023.
“As we look to the final half of the year, our results will reflect the continued positive impact of the year's material recovery in the ad market, beyond political advertising, as well as the benefit of our continued focus on cost efficiency,” he said. Pittman.
While iHeartMedia posted a slight improvement in the second quarter, two other radio companies that reported earnings last week continued to fluctuate. Cumulus Media's revenue fell 2.5 percent to $205 million as its net loss widened to $27.7 million from $1.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Townsquare Media's revenue was down 2.5% and adjusted EBTDA was down 8.3%.
