Townsquare Media Q4 2022 Net Revenue Up 8.8%; Full Year Up 10.8%
Townsquare Media reports operating results from the fourth quarter of 2022 and for the full year. Net revenue for Q4 of 2022 was $120.3 million, an increase of 8.8% over the same period in 2021. For the full year of 2022, net revenue was $463 million, an increase of 10.8% over the full year of 2021. While net income was up over 100% in Q4 of 2022 over Q4 of 2021, net income for the full year 2022 was $14.4 million, down 23.4% over the full year 2021. While Broadcast Advertising net revenue for the full year 2022 was up 3.8% over the full year
2021, Townsquare is upbeat about its Digital segment. CEO Bill Wilson says, “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… 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… 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.”
2022. Salem reports in segments and for the fourth quarter of 2022, net Broadcast revenue increased 4.5% to $53.3 million from $51 million in the same period in 2021. However, Digital media revenue decreased 10.3% to $10.4 million from $11.6 million in Q4 of 2021. The Publishing segment decreased 21.3% to $5.2 million from $6.5 million in the same period a year ago. For the full year of 2022, net Broadcast revenue increased 7.2% to $205.3 million from $191.4 million in 2021. Digital media revenue decreased 1.2% to $41.7 million from $42.2 million, and Publishing revenue decreased 18.9% to $20 million from $24.6 million in 2021. Looking ahead, Salem offers guidance for the first quarter of 2023, saying, “The company is projecting total revenue to be between flat and a decline of 2% from the first quarter 2022 total revenue of $62.6 million.”
$108.3 million for the full year of 2021. Although net income rose almost 16% to $4.27 million in Q4 of 2022, Saga’s net income dipped 17.5% to $9.2 million for the full year of 2022. The company adds, “Despite strong underlying performance the results were impacted by one-time payments during the 3rd quarter related to the passing in August of our founder Ed Christian. As a result of Ed Christian’s passing, the company was required to make several payments to his estate as outlined in his employment agreement. Without these expenses operating income would have increased 12.3% to $16.9 million, free cash flow would have been approximately flat with last year at $13.6 million and net income would have increased 16.8% to $13 million.”
three segments. The Multiplatform Group (including broadcast stations, networks and sponsorships & events) reports Q4 revenue of $732 million – a 0.9% increase over Q4 2021. Broadcast revenue grew $3 million, while Networks declined $5.5 million (4.1%). Revenue from Sponsorship and Events increased by $8.1 million (12.1%). The Digital Audio Group reports revenue of $301 million in Q4 of 2022 – up 10.2% 
over Q4 of ’21. Podcast revenue increased by $16.4 million (16.9%). The Audio & Media Services Group reports Q4 2022 revenue of $94.5 million – an increase of 44.3% over the same period in 2021. iHeartMedia chairman and CEO Bob Pittman says, “We are pleased to report another quarter of solid operating results for iHeart in consumer usage, revenue, and earnings growth. The fourth quarter was our best quarter for Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA – and on a full-year basis, in 2022 we generated the highest revenue and the second highest Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow year in iHeart’s history. Even in this continuing challenging and uncertain economic environment, we continue to make strong progress in our transformation of iHeart into a true multiplatform audio company – driven by innovation, supported by data and technology, and powered by the largest sales force in audio – and we are positioning iHeart to take advantage of the coming economic recovery.” 
full year of 2021. For the full year of 2022, Cumulus’ broadcast radio revenue was basically flat (-0.1%) at $709.6 million and its digital revenue was $142.3 million, an increase of 12.2%. Breaking down the broadcast radio segment, spot revenue was $479.8 million – up 4.9% over 2021 – but network revenue was off 9% for the year at $229.7 million. Cumulus president and CEO Mary G. Berner says, “Despite considerable economic turbulence, we delivered fourth quarter financial performance in the upper half of our guidance range, continuing a multi-year period of significant accomplishments. Operating through a series of difficult macroeconomic environments, including the pandemic, we successfully executed a strategic plan under which we developed and drove new areas of growth, right sized the balance sheet, improved the company’s operating leverage and returned capital to shareholders. As a result, we have delivered consistent revenue growth, built several digital businesses to a $150+ million revenue run-rate, reduced our net leverage to its lowest level in more than a decade, and boosted our liquidity to give ourselves optionality regarding capital allocation.” Looking ahead to 2023, we continue to face substantial economic headwinds. However, our battle-tested skill in performing during challenging times, as well as our very strong financial position, gives us substantial confidence in our ability to not only weather this depressed ad environment but take full advantage of opportunities that may arise over the coming quarters.”
