NEW YORK — On May 11, the traditional marketer and advertiser-driven dog and pony show that is Upfront Week begins in midtown Manhattan, with entities including NBCUniversal scheduled to offer another promotion-laden live presentation at a key Gotham venue.
That hasn’t stopped the nation’s largest audio content creation and distribution company from releasing its first quarter 2026 results following the closing bell for U.S. financial markets on that key Monday for network TV.
Indeed, May 11 will see iHeartMedia issue its financial results for the first quarter. Company executives including Chief Financial Officer Mike McGuinness (pictured, top left) will participate in a conference call for analysts and investors at 4:30pm Eastern to discuss iHeart’s financial results and business outlook.
With iHeart shares trading in the low-$4 range, the company’s stock is up a whopping 289.6% year-over-year, rising from a 52-week low of $0.99. However, the five-year trend for the company, which remains billions of dollars in debt, shows “IHRT” down 79% since April 2021 on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market.
Furthermore, iHeartMedia’s earnings per share have missed consensus estimates of analysts polled by Yahoo! Finance for the last four quarters. No EPS estimates for Q1 2026 are presently offered by Yahoo! Finance. However, four analysts chimed in on revenue prognostications, and that puts the consensus revenue total for Q1 at $871.5 million.
If that holds, that represents a healthy 8% increase in revenue from the first three months of 2025.
How does it compare to iHeartMedia’s own estimates? During the company’s fourth quarter 2025 earnings call in March, the company offered a peek, with the following expectations:
- Q1 adjusted EBITDA of approximately $100 with high-single-digit growth for consolidated revenue
- Digital revenue is pacing up in the mid-teens
- Podcast revenue is growing in low 20% range
- Multiplatform segment revenue is trending up in the mid-single-digit range
- Audio & Media Services Group dollars are trending with high single-digit growth
