Townsquare Media Revenue Up, Income Down In First Quarter 2023

Digital Leads The Way

TOWNSQUARE MEDIA first quarter 2023 net revenue rose 3% year-over-year to $103.1 million, while net income fell from a gain of $2.7 million to a loss of $1.9 million (-14 cents/basic and diluted share), attributed to non-cash impairment charges. The bright spot for revenue was the Digital Advertising segment, up 15.4% to $33.7 million, while the Broadcast Advertising segment dipped 4.8% to $45.9 million and the Subscription Digital Marketing Solutions division dropped 1.3% to $21.6 million.

CEO BILL WILSON said, “I am pleased to share that TOWNSQUARE’s first quarter results exceeded our previously issued guidance for both net revenue and Adjusted EBITDA, due primarily to the continued strength of our digital and local advertising platform and solutions. In the first quarter, net revenue increased +3% year-over-year to $103 million, and Adjusted EBITDA decreased -12% year- over-year to $19 million. Although we faced the same headwinds that have impacted the entire media sector, our first quarter results validate our Digital First Local Media strategy, with a focus exclusively on local markets outside of the Top 50."

He comtinued, "Digital Advertising was once again our largest driver of growth, increasing net revenue by +15% year-over-year in the first quarter. In total, first quarter Digital net revenue increased +8% year-over-year (representing 54% of our total Q1 net revenue) and total Digital Adjusted Operating Income increased +8% year-over year (representing 63% of our total Q1 Adjusted Operating Income). In the first quarter, we grew cash flow from operations to $9 million, due to the strong cash generation of many of our assets, and opportunistically repurchased more than $12 million of our Unsecured Senior Notes at a discount. We ended the quarter with a strong cash balance of $42 million, and maintained our all-time low net leverage multiple of 4.29x.”

WILSON added, “Our growth engine has been and will continue to be our digital solutions. We believe that our Digital First business model and strategy position us to navigate the current macro-economic environment better than most, and that our revenue, profit and cash flow results will be among the best in the local media industry, particularly when compared to 2019 pre-COVID financials given our growth in revenue and profit since 2019. Our confidence is directly tied to the Townsquare team’s efforts and talent, as well as our large, growing, and profitable digital platform which contributes more than half of TOWNSQUARE’s total net revenue and profit.”

TOWNSQUARE's board also approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1875 per share, payable AUGUST 1st to shareholders of record on JUNE 30th. The company also issued guidance for net revenue between $120 million and $122 million in second quarter, doen 1.6% to up 0.1%  year-over-year, and for full year revenue between $450 million and $470 million, down -2.8% to up 1.5%.

« see more Net News