Townsquare Media Revenues, Income Rise In Fourth Quarter 2022

Up For Q4

TOWNSQUARE MEDIA fourth quarter net revenue jumped 10.8% year-over-year to $463.1 million, with broadcast advertising revenue up 3.8% to $59.354 million, fueled by political revenue, digital advertising revenue up 20.2% to $23.6 million,  and the Subscription Digital Marketing Solutions division up 4.4% to $22.4 million. Live event revenue drove the "Other" category to a 276.8% rise to $1.56 million. Net income increased 104.3% to $3.932 million; Adjusted EBITDA increased 11%, to $28.4 million (up 3.7% excluding political).

CEO BILL WILSON said, “I am proud to report that TOWNSQUARE’s transformation into a Digital First Local Media Company allowed us to deliver record results in 2022 despite a progressively challenging economic landscape. In 2022, we drove net revenue and Adjusted EBITDA to new highs with strong net revenue growth of +11% year-over-year and Adjusted EBITDA growth of +8% year- over-year. In addition, we generated significant cash flow from operations of $50 million, ending the year with over $43 million of cash, and net leverage declined to an all-time low of 4.29x.

“2022 was a significant inflection point for our Company. It marked the first year where radio no longer comprised the majority of our revenue and profit, further separating TOWNSQUARE from our local media peers, and placing a spotlight on our world-class team and our unique and differentiated strategy, assets, platforms and solutions. Our growth engine has been and will continue to be our digital solutions, which were the primary driver of our 2022 growth. Total digital revenue increased +16% year-over-year (and +12% in the fourth quarter) to $231 million, and total digital Adjusted Operating Income increased +12% year-over-year to $69 million, representing a 30% profit margin. We believe TOWNSQUARE’s ability to drive profitable, sustainable digital growth is a key differentiator for our Company, and we reaffirm our expectation that our digital revenue will grow to at least $275 million by 2024.

“We are uniquely positioned as a Digital First Local Media Company focused principally on markets outside of the Top 50 in the United States, with a resilient digital growth engine supported by both a recurring subscription digital marketing solutions business, with a large addressable market and limited competition, and a highly differentiated digital advertising technology platform. We believe that our business model and strategy position us to weather the current economic environment better than most. We will continue to grow and support our local teams during these periods of macroeconomic challenges so that we can continue to be a resource to our local clients and audiences, and be well positioned to capture accelerated growth when economic tailwinds return. Our success has been and will continue to be the result of the TOWNSQUARE Team focusing on what we do best: creating high quality, local original content for our audiences and delivering creative and cost-effective marketing solutions for our local clients with strong return on investment.”

The company's board has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1875 per share, payable MAY 1st to shareholders of record as of MARCH 27th. The company's first quarter guidance is for net revenue between $100 million and $102.0 million (-0.2% to +1.8% year-over-year), and Adjusted EBITDA between $17.5 million and $18.5 million.

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