“We are pleased today to report a third consecutive quarter of meeting or exceeding Wall Street expectations on nearly every reporting line.” That’s the official word from Adam Symson, as the President/CEO of The E.W. Scripps Co. delivered its Q3 2025 earnings report following Thursday’s Closing Bell for U.S. financial markets.
That story very much involves “expense discipline,” as Symson shared how in Q3 the company reduced expenses by more than 4% in Local Media and 7.5% in Scripps Networks.
With a “significant refinancing” and lowered net leverage for Scripps along with two key station sales at favorable valuations (WRTV in Indianapolis to Circle City Broadcasting and WFTX in Fort Myers-Naples to Sun Broadcasting), improving the balance sheet is already transpiring, Symson says.
One bright spot can also be seen in its core advertising prowess. Local Media division core advertising revenue was up 2% in the third quarter, driven by the services category and overall growth in national advertising due to “strong sales execution” and Scripps’ sports strategy. Scripps Sports is home to the 2025 Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers NHL club, in addition to previous cupholders the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Utah Mammoth. There’s also a new agreement with the Tampa Bay Lightning to add to the mix.
Scripps Networks is also a highlight for Scripps, with connected TV revenue up 41% in the quarter and helping to offset softness due to economic uncertainty.
“All of these financial milestones should serve as clear evidence that our short-term performance improvement and near-term growth strategies we have been executing, many of them unique among local broadcast groups, are working: launching sports partnerships and programming for business growth; optimizing the performance of our portfolio at premium seller multiples; improving our networks margins; and embracing artificial intelligence and other technologies to create efficiencies across the enterprise,” Symson says. “These strategies will help Scripps thrive, driving business growth by creating connection through our local news and network programming in our geographic and audience communities from coast to coast.”
Analysts forecast EPS to come in at -$0.32, based on the consensus estimate of five Wall Street watchdogs reporting to Yahoo! Finance, as Scripps fell short of those expectations.
The consensus revenue estimate came in at $523.58 million, which Scripps surpassed.
Local Media dollars dipped by 27% due to the tough comps tied to political advertising, moving to $325.46 million from $445.55 million, as segment profit tumbled to $52.8 million from $160.69 million.
Scripps Networks revenue finished at $200.96 million, statistically flat, as profit grew to $53.3 million, from $42.06 million.
Looking ahead, Scripps believes its Q4 Local Media revenue will be down in the 30% range on flat to low single-digit declines in expenses, due to tough comps tied to 2024 political advertising.
