Industry News

Audacy Sports, News and Talk Stations to Air on SiriusXM

Audacy has entered into a deal with SiriusXM to bring 42 of its sports talk, all-news and news/talk stations from 29 markets to the satellite radio platform. The first group of stations to be available on SiriusXM are 23 sports talk outlets, including WFAN, New York; WSCR, Chicago; WIP, Philadelphia and more. All-news and news/talk stations – including WINS, New York; WBBM, Chicago;img and KCBS, San Francisco – will become available “later this year.” Audacy CEO and president Kelli Turner states, “Audacy’s sports brands are deeply connected to the cities, teams and fan communities they serve, and being able to extend our reach nationally through SiriusXM is a natural fit. We look forward to working together with imgSiriusXM to bring our outstanding talent and content to sports fans and news and talk listeners wherever they are, providing our audiences with more ways to stay connected to the conversations that matter most to them.” SiriusXM president and chief content officer Scott Greenstein adds, “We also recognize the unique role local personalities play in connecting fans with their teams every day. By adding Audacy’s extensive lineup of sports stations, we’re making those trusted hometown voices available to fans wherever they are across North America. Together, we’re delivering an even more complete audio experience – bringing live games, premier national sports talk, and hometown conversations together in one place.”

Industry News

Audacy Promotes Value of News/Talk Audience to Advertisers

In an insight piece titled, Attention is Heard to Earn: News/Talk Already Has It,” Audacy presents a strong argument for the value of the format to advertisers. Some of the key elements of the presentation include: 1) News/talk is now the No. 1 radio format across broadcast and streaming, accounting for 22% of all AM/FM imgstation streaming, nearly 3x the next closest format; 2) One in four Americans now identifies as a “News Fanatic,” checking the news five or more times a day and actively seeking deeper context – not just headlines; 3) News/talk listeners are more loyal than sports fans. Fifty-four percent are primary listeners who spend most of their listening time with news/talk, compared with 41% for sports; 4) Trust remains news/talk’s biggest advantage. Local news radio is trusted by 84% of listeners – higher than broadcast TV, national news radio, or social media; 5) The audience has significant buying power. Median household income is approximately $95,000, with listeners over-indexing for net worth above $2 million; and 6) The advertising works. Among ad-exposed consumers, news/talk campaigns drive 56% awareness, 47% consideration, and 49% purchase/conversion, while Audacy campaigns generate an average 24% lift in website traffic, with some categories seeing increases as high as 67%. See more here.

Industry News

Beasley Broadcast Group Reports Q1 Net Revenue Down 5.9%

The company says that net revenue for the first quarter of 2024 was $54.4 million, a decline of 5.9% from the same period in 2023, saying this was “primarily reflecting a year-over-year decline in audio advertising and other revenue due to Beasley’s Wilmington station and esports divestitures as well as ongoing softness in the commercial advertising business, partially offset by growth in digital and political advertising revenue.” Beasley reports net income of approximately $8,000 in Q1, compared to a net lossim of $3.5 million for the same period in 2023, “primarily due to the $6 million gain on the sale of an investment in BMI holdings and lower interest expense.” Company CEO Caroline Beasley states, “Beasley continues to advance our core initiatives, which are focused on driving revenue and cash flow, including our digital transformation, revenue diversification and expense management initiatives. We expect digital to account for between 20% and 25% of total revenue in 2024, driven by the ongoing growth and success of our premium content creation and digital services. On the new business front, our dedicated sales teams are leveraging the tremendous audience reach and engagement of our platform to attract new advertisers. In summary, Beasley’s underlying fundamentals – mainly, our local audio and digital platforms and audience engagement – remain strong. We are proud of our teams’ steadfast commitment to delivering exceptional content and services to our listeners, advertisers, online users and sports fans, and remain confident that the actions we are taking to transform our company and strengthen our balance sheet, are laying the foundation for future growth and success.”