Audacy Faces Q3 Challenges
• Shares of Audacy, Inc. closed yesterday at less than 30 cents as the company reported financial results for the 3rd quarter ending September 30, 2022. By way of comparison, the stock was trading at $3.78 a year ago. Net revenues for the quarter were $317 million, down 4% compared to $329.4 million in Q3 of 2021. Operating loss for the quarter was $151.9 million, compared to operating income of $29.3 million in the third quarter of 2021.
In a statement, David J. Field, Audacy Chairman, President & CEO, said, “Our third quarter revenues declined 3.8% as advertising headwinds impacted company performance. Solid double-digit growth in streaming audio and digital marketing solutions were offset by declining radio revenues. Our radio revenues were negatively impacted by our concentration in the country’s largest markets as small to medium market radio outperformed large market radio by 8% during the quarter.”
Field (left) continued, “We remain deeply focused on executing our action plan to navigate the storm and emerge healthy and strong. We completed the sale of $56 million in real estate to enhance our financial position with additional sales in the pipeline. We launched the next generation of our Audacy streaming platform with innovative features including segment chaptering of live spoken word radio shows. Since launch, digital listeners are up 25% while registrations have increased 15% and we have high expectations for the impact of the new platform on our future growth. We also continue to make progress on core strategic growth drivers such as national enterprise business development and our ad tech product roadmap to open important pools of demand and accelerate future performance.”
In closing, Field said, “Looking beyond the challenging current macro environment, Audacy has been transformed into a leading, scaled multi-platform audio content and entertainment company, better able to serve listeners and customers than ever before. We are excited by the opportunities ahead and are deeply focused on continuing to best position the company to compete for significant growth in the dynamic audio market.” For a more in-depth look at Audacy’s Q3 results, visit audacyinc.com/press.
