As the second quarter earnings results for broadcast television companies roll out this week, one key takeaway has become very, very clear. The “on-year” of the two-year political advertising cycle, as Gray Television describes it, has been on alright.
Political dollars are going gangbusters at broadcast TV, and Gray’s forecasts are enormous. The company now anticipates that its political advertising revenue for 2022 will match the $652 million of political advertising revenue that its current portfolio of stations recorded in 2020, a presidential election year.
That said, Gray is a much bigger company, asset-wise, than it was in 2020, resulting in combined historical financial information requiring a closer look. Once the magnifying glass is applied, there’s no getting around it — Gray’s Q2 was great.
