Cumulus Media’s net revenue for the first quarter of 2023 was $205.6 million, a decline of 11% over the same period in 2022. The company’s net loss ballooned to $21.4 million from the net loss of $905,000 it reported in Q1 of 2022. Breaking down Cumulus’ revenue by segment, total broadcast revenue was $148 million – down 12.5% year-over-year – led by network revenue (-22.9%), and followed by spot revenue (down 6%). Digital revenue was $32 million, up just 0.6% over the first quarter of 2022. Cumulus Media president and CEO Mary G. Berner comments, “Extending our track record of strong operational and financial execution during
challenging times, in the first quarter, we grew our digital marketing services revenue by more than 23%, completed the sale of WFAS-FM, continued to repurchase shares and retire debt at a discount, and have now executed $10 million of additional annualized cost reductions. That said, the impact of the considerable macro-driven weakness in the national advertising market, as well as the unfavorable prior year political and WynnBET comparisons, ultimately resulted in total revenue and Adjusted EBITDA declines. Though the difficult national market trends persist, we have confidence in our ability to successfully navigate adverse environments such as this one. Specifically, since 2019 through the COVID-impacted years, we have had best-in-class performance in terms of fixed cost reduction, Adjusted EBITDA margin recovery, Adjusted EBITDA to free cash flow conversion and net debt reduction. With our current liquidity profile and solid balance sheet, we believe that we are not only well-positioned to weather the current storm but will rebound strongly when the market eventually recovers.”
