Another $50 million in cost-cutting is coming in the second half of 2026, as the nation’s largest audio content creation and distribution company continues to tackle its outstanding debt and move past a first quarter in which revenue improved by nearly 10% overall yet saw adjusted EBITDA decline by 11.4%.
What’s the key takeaway from iHeartMedia‘s Q1 2026 earnings results, resulted following the closing bell on Monday for U.S. financial markets?
First, the net loss was much lower than that seen in the first quarter of 2025. Second, the Multiplatform Group revenue gain was the company’s lowest, percentage-wise, while representing the second-largest dollar-generation engine for iHeartMedia.
In Q1, revenue improved to $884.2 million, from $807.1 million, as the company swung to net income of $1.49 million from a $25.43 million net loss in Q1 2025.
Adjusted EBITDA came in at $92.63 million, dropping from $104.59 million in the first three months of 2025. The Free Cash Flow loss widened to $114.45 million, from $80.67 million.
Add it all up, and the net loss attributable to the company was down to $95.22 million, from $281.22 million.
As of March 31, Net Debt stands at $4,672,156,000.
By segment, Broadcast Radio revenue was up to $361.44 million, from $340.74 million.
Podcast dollars rose to $147.19 million, from $116.04 million — a 26.9% jump from Q1 2025.
