A “differentiated strategy and business model” is something that Townsquare Media CEO Bill Wilson has noted in quarterly earnings calls and in institutional investor presentations for years. On St. Patrick’s Day 2025, this proved no different as Wilson again emphasized how two of its three revenue generation engines are poised to see strong long-term growth.
The business segment Townsquare Media is most excited and confident about? The Digital Programmatic business, which Wilson said “has been and will continue to be the largest growth driver of our business for the foreseeable future.”
White-labeling the digital programmatic platform is key to that overall segment growth, with advertising clients and marketers able to benefit from “precision targeted solutions,” opening up consumer reach via digital and online platforms through display, video and embedded media.
“We essentially act as a full-service digital agency for our clients, from design and creative services, to buying inventory, optimizing a campaign, and providing real-time reporting, analytics and insights, therefore providing a level of service that is often not available in the markets we operate,” Wilson said.
Factor in Townsquare Media’s mix of 74 mid-sized markets ranging from Fort Collins-Greeley, Colo.; El Paso; and Buffalo to small markets including Norwich, N.Y., “we are simply able to offer a more effective campaign to our clients than most of our competitors.”
JUMPING THE HURDLES
“Over the past two years, the Townsquare team has done a significant amount of ‘blocking and tackling’ to solidify our strategy and optimize our operating model, ensuring that the company is set up for long-term, profitable growth and success,” Wilson said in a shareholder letter distributed early Monday, alongside its full-year and Q4 2024 earnings report.
A pick-up in political advertising plus sequential improvement in two digital platforms — units that set Townsquare Media from other radio station ownership groups — were highlights. On the Q4 2024 earnings call held at 5am Pacific on Monday, Wilson noted that core broadcast advertising’s downward trajectory will likely not see a meaningful long-term rebound. As such, the digital solutions are essential for the company, and for the radio broadcasting industry as a necessary pivot. It’s something that the executive leadership team has preached for years since Dhruv Prasad resigned as CEO, putting Wilson in the top spot at the publicly traded company.
While the digital trends are positive, that’s not to say 2024 wasn’t without its challenges. Wilson in the shareholder letter remarked that Townsquare Media experienced “first-time hurdles” in its Subscription Digital Marketing Solutions business, Townsquare Interactive. These hurdles “were largely self-inflicted” — and should come as no surprise to shareholders, given the year-long discussion about it in the company’s previous earnings calls. There were also those pesky macroeconomic headwinds that impacted core advertising across last year.
The good news? “We successfully navigated these challenges, attacked ourselves and improved upon our foundations by acknowledging what wasn’t working, fixing what wasn’t working, and therefore setting ourselves up for long-term success and profitable growth,” Wilson said. “I sit here today, I feel that Townsquare is better positioned than ever before, with ample runway to grow and thrive in the long-term.”
Investors appear to agree, with “TSQ” jumping to $8.11 in pre-market trading Monday on the NYSE, a 4.1% rise from Friday’s closing price. Alas, Townsquare Media’s share price is down by 25% over the last 52 weeks of trading and at its lowest level since January 2021.
At present, three institutional investors hold a combined 18% ownership interest in Townsquare Media. Beck, Mack & Oliver has 6.75% equity interest (as of December 31, 2024); Blackrock Inc. has 6.16% equity interest; and MSD Capital holds 5.12%.
IS TOWNSQUARE MEDIA A BUYER?
“Deregulation is going to happen … it needs to happen,” Wilson said in response to a question from financial analyst Michael Kupinski of Noble Financial Markets on the company’s Q4 call. Will Townsquare Media be a buyer? “We are the best-positioned buyer of assets in markets outside the Top 50,” he said, setting the stage for expanding in areas where it already has a presence.
In June 2022, Townsquare Media bought Cherry Creek Broadcasting for a little under $18.8 million. Three years later, the profit margins are strong, he said. Thus, further expansion in radio — even with programmatic excitement — will continue to make Townsquare perhaps the best-balanced audio content distributor in America.
