When it comes to local radio advertising revenue, Townsquare looked like a radio company – the results were on the plus side of flat. But add in its other local assets and we’re looking at a double-digit top line gain.
The stats: Net revenue was up 10.6%, and would have been 11.4% without political headwinds. Local advertising numbers were modest, 0.6% or 1.5% excluding political, for a total of $78.5M.
Live events, however, were up 50.4% to $29.7M, and other media and entertainment was up 9.5% to $9.3M.
Pro forma adjusted EBITDA was up 2.5% to $28.6M, which the company said was in line with guidance. EBITDA was suppressed due to investment in certain local events which are going through expected growing pains.
“We believe our second quarter net revenue growth of 10.6% highlights the strength of our diversified revenue strategy. We saw growth in each of our operating segments in the second quarter, particularly within our Live Events segment, which grew over 50% over the prior year,” commented Chairman/CEO Steven Price.
New York and New Jersey assets were soft enough to drag down overall results, said Price. Taking them out of the mix, as well as political, and the company enjoyed a 2.4% gain in local radio revenue.
Price personally saluted Jeff Smulyan and all others involved in the deal with AT&T that will accelerate the acceptance of FM on cell. Price believes it is a major boon for the industry.
Townsquare announced that it is selling 43 of its towers to Vertical Bridge for $22.5M. The deal will leave the company with 250, which Vertical Bridge will market, and it will leave Townsquare stations on the sold towers for up to 35 years virtually rent free.
