Industry News

WWO’s Audio Active Group Analyzes Edison’s Q3 Share of Ear

Today’s blog post from Westwood One’s Audio Active Group looks at the results of Edison Research’s Q3 2023 Share of Ear study of the reach and time spent with all forms of audio. Some of the takeawaysim from the study include: 1) the proportion of AM/FM radio in-car listening rose 9% year-over-year and is on par with pre-pandemic levels of listening; 2) spoken-word content listening is at an eight-year high with 39% of ad-supported listening (including AM/FM, streaming and podcasts) devoted to news/talk, talk, and sports; and 3) looking at Persons 25-54, the share of ad-supported audio time spent with personalities/talk shows has increased the most – from 11% of ad-supported listening in Q4 2016 to 19.4% in Q3 of 2023. See the blog post here.

Industry News

Saga Communications Reports Q3 Revenue Down 2.8%

Saga Communications issues its Q3 2023 operating results and says net revenue for the period was $29.2 million, a decrease 2.8%. Station operating expense increased 2.1% for the quarter to $22.8 million compared to the same period last year. For the quarter, operating income was $3.5 millionim compared to $1.1 million for the same quarter last year and station operating income (a non-GAAP financial measure) decreased 14.7% to $7.6 million. Saga reports a net income of $2.7 million for Q3 2023 compared to the net loss of $104,000 it reported a year ago. The company’s balance sheet reflects $41.7 million in cash and short-term investments as of September 30, 2023. Saga also announces that it is paying a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share on November 3, 2023 to shareholders of record as of October 11, 2023. The aggregate amount of the quarterly dividend will be approximately $1.5 million.