Gray Media released its third quarter 2025 earnings results before sunrise on Friday, and the big takeaway is that the television station ownership group that’s ready to grow is — like some of its peers — experiencing softness in its core advertising. And, that’s based not on year-over-year comps but on a look back to 2023.
For the three-month period ending September 30, total revenue came in at $749 million, down from $950 million in Q3 2024 as political advertising fueled last year’s results. Compared to Q3 2023, however, there was still a dip, as total revenue two years ago totaled $803 million.
Here’s the good news for Atlanta-headquartered Gray: the Q3 2025 revenue beat the consensus estimate of $745.05 million based on the expectations of five analysts polled by Yahoo! Finance. That said, the spread was very wide, with a range of $741 million-$753.2 million.
How did Gray do on earnings per share, with one analyst predicting a 33 cent per-share loss? It beat that guess, as the company shifted to a better-than-anticipated net loss of $23 million (-$0.24 per diluted share). This compares to net income of $83 million ($0.97 per share) in Q3 2024.
Breaking out the dollars, Gray’s core advertising was down to $355 million — a $10 million year-over-year dip due to the 2024 Olympic Games and political crowd-out and off from $363 million in Q3 2023.
The Olympics accounted for $16 million of core advertising revenue one year ago.
How significant was the political shift? Those dollars this quarter came in at $8 million, compared to an incredible $173 million in Q3 2024. Two years ago, political revenue totaled $26 million, reflecting big off-year races in key markets where Gray owns TV stations.
Meanwhile, retransmission consent revenue was down, moving to $346 million from $369 million in Q3 2024.
On the expense front, spending was curtailed, with total broadcasting expense coming in at $542 million, slipping from $571 million.
Total it all up, and adjusted EBITDA came in at $162 million, shifting from $338 million in Q3 2024 and moving from $210 million two years ago.
In a statement made by Gray ahead of an earnings call hosted by CEO Hilton Howell Jr. and President/Co-CEO Pat LaPlatney, the company said that during Q3 it “capitalized on strong market conditions by executing two separate debt market transactions that strengthened our balance sheet and extended our debt maturities thereby increasing our financial flexibility.”
There’s also a big station swap awaiting FCC approval, and a trio of acquisitions, too.
“We look forward to continuing to grow the company with improving operational and strategic initiatives bolstered by our successful execution of these and other achievements during the third quarter,” Gray said.
DIVIDEND DECLARED
With the release of Gray’s Q3 2025 earnings, the company’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share. It is payable on December 31 to shareholders of record as of December 15.
