The multimedia company superserving African American consumers lowered its net loss during the third quarter. While there was no profit, investors in Urban One may be pleased nevertheless, as the decline in the net loss was seen even as net revenue slumped.
Alternatively, those who believe in Urban One’s mission may be disappointed that it could not further capitalize on a strong season for political dollars, even as it capitalized on election-oriented advertising activity.
In Q3, net revenue dipped to $110.39 million, from $117.83 million. However, expenses were tightened, dipping to $136.59 million from $173.94 million.
A non-cash impairment charge of $46.82 million, down from $85.45 million.
Put it all together, and the Q3 net loss came in at $31.8 million, or 68 cents per diluted share. That’s an improvement from the $54.41 million net loss seen in the third quarter of 2023 (-$1.14 per share).
Broadcast and digital operating income was approximately $35.4 million, a decrease of 19.2% from the same period in 2023.
Adjusted EBITDA was approximately $25.4 million, compared to approximately $34.7 million in Q3 2023.
In prepared comments released ahead of the company’s Q3 earnings call on Tuesday, President/CEO Alfred Liggins III remarked that the company saw “a strong uptick in political revenue” beginning in September, with Q4 core radio revenue currently pacing down 3.0%, but up 23.9% overall.
Alas, that wasn’t enough to swing Urban One to a profit.
For the Reach Media national radio unit, Liggins took note of increased margins and Adjusted EBITDA, despite an 8.2% reduction in revenue for the quarter, due to reduced selling, general and administrative expenses.
The Cable TV business? Liggins said it “continues to suffer from subscriber churn and audience delivery shortfall, impacting both advertising and affiliate revenues, which were both down double digit percentages in Q3.”
Meanwhile, Digital advertising revenues were down 4.1% “as the business experienced moderately weaker advertising demand” than in Q3 2023.
Urban One’s main publicly traded stock was trading at $1.66 ahead of Tuesday’s trading session.
At present there are no analysts covering Urban One that are reporting to Yahoo! Finance.
