Podcast revenue at iHeartMedia rose 8 percent in the company’s second quarter, compared to same quarter last year, to reach $104.5 million.
Overall revenue in the digital audio group, which includes podcasting, rose 10 percent to reach $286 million. That group propelled revenue growth at iHeartMedia, which otherwise saw its consolidated second quarter revenue up 1 percent, to reach $929 million, slightly above its guidance of being approximately flat. Excluding political revenue, revenue for the second quarter was flat.
Multiplatform revenue, which includes iHeartMedia’s broadcast radio networks and events business, fell $20.0 million, or 3.4 percent, due to a decrease in broadcast advertising “in connection with continued uncertain market conditions,” which the company says was partially offset by an increase in non-cash trade revenues and political revenues.
iHeartMedia reported an operating loss of $910 million compared to $897 million in Q2 2023. This includes a non-cash impairment charges of $920 million in Q2 2024 and $961 million in Q2 2023.
“Our second quarter results mark the first quarter that our consolidated revenues increased year-over-year since Q4 2022. We continue to see strong momentum in our podcast business, our Digital ex. Podcast business, and have seen sequential improvement of our Multiplatform Group’s year-over-year revenue performance,” said Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, Inc. “This performance is built on iHeartMedia’s strong and unparalleled audience and demonstrates the progress we are making in maximizing the monetization of it.”
“Our full year 2024 political revenues are currently pacing approximately 20% higher than the last presidential election cycle, which gives us confidence that this will be a record political year for us, and we expect to see a significant year-over-year improvement in our full year Adjusted EBITDA performance,” said Rich Bressler, president, COO and CFO of iHeartMedia, Inc.
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