The nation’s No. 1 audio content creation and distribution company concluded a long parade of companies presenting their fourth quarter 2024 earnings reports on Thursday. And while the day began with a sobering fiscal health review from Cumulus Media, industry peer iHeartMedia shared Q4 results that saw net income rise and adjusted EBITDA increase, too.
For the final three months of 2024, adjusted EBITDA increased to $246.21 million, from $208.21 million, as operating income increased to $104.55 million, from $79.78 million.
Overall, net income grew to $31.93 million, surging from $13.98 million, as consolidated revenue improved by 4.8% to $1.118 billion — slightly below the consensus estimate. Five analysts had chimed in on revenue estimates for Q4 2024, putting the average guess at $1.17 billion.
While the revenue gain is nothing to sneeze at, political dollars had everything to do with it. Some $82.67 million in political dollars were enjoyed by iHeartMedia in Q4. However, consolidated revenue ex-political was down to $1.036 billion, from $1.054 billion.
For iHeartMedia, the multiplatform group is its biggest revenue segment of three it operates. In Q4, revenue was statistically flat, coming in at $684 million; some $41.19 million in political dollars contributed to this total. Ex-political, multiplatform group revenue slumped by 5% to $642.81 million.
Digital Audio Group revenue increased to $338.9 million, a 6.7% rise from $317.7 million. This includes $6.08 million in political ad dollars. Audio & Media Group Services revenue soared to $97.76 million, from $67.57 million. Some $35.41 million in political ad dollars helped this surge; ex-political, A&MGS revenue was down by 1.6% to $62.34 million.
With net debt at the end of 2024 at $4.52 million — $2 billion less than the total debt held by Nexstar Media Group, iHeartMedia has several reasons to cheer about its results. One of them involves podcasting, as the company that claims to be the world’s largest on-demand audio distributor saw podcast revenue growth of 6%, to $139.59 million.
This helped offset industrywide softness in National ad dollars, which declined to $113.26 million from $119.95 million.
The good news: Broadcast radio revenue grew to $493.3 million, from $484.67 million. That’s 1.8% growth, and likely puts its peers in a more delicate position, as similar tales may be hard to conjure.
