Tegna 1Q Media Segment Rev Climbs 12%

Tegna, the former broadcasting and digital arm of Gannett Co., today released first quarter results that included Media Segment revenues that were up 12% in the quarter to $444 million, driven by double-digit increases in retransmission revenues and online revenues and bolstered by $15.7 million of political advertising.

The Super Bowl moved from Tegna’s 17 NBC stations in 2015 to its 11 CBS stations in 2016 or 6 fewer stations in 2016. Excluding the impact of the Super Bowl, core advertising was up slightly.

Media Segment 1Q revenue broken down by category:

• Core (local and national) was down 1.6% to $249 million.
• Political grew 666.7% to $15.7 million.
• Retrans increased 33.2% to $147 million.
• Online rose 16.4% to $27.8 million.

Media Segment non-GAAP operating expenses totaled $264.1 million compared to $229.5 million in the first quarter a year ago. The increase was due to higher programming fees and investments in growth initiatives. Operating income on the same basis was up 7.7 percent and totaled $179.7 million while adjusted EBITDA was $199.1 million.

Digital Segment 1Q revenue grew 0.7% to $337.9 million in the quarter.

Gracia Martore, president-CEO, said: “We are pleased to have kicked off 2016 with strong results across our businesses. Product innovation in the Media Segment contributed to revenue growth in the quarter and we plan to expand on these efforts as well as content innovation throughout the year. Additionally, we achieved a record level of first quarter politically related ad revenue and are very well positioned for the rest of the election cycle.

“In our Digital Segment, higher dealer penetration and new products at Cars.com contributed meaningfully to company-wide revenue growth of 7%.

Martore added, “Continued innovation has made us a more highly-focused, growth-driven media and digital company as we’ve made it our goal to be at the forefront of the evolving content consumption landscape. We continue to be extraordinarily well positioned for the rest of 2016 and beyond.”

The company as a whole reported revenue of $782 million, up 6.8% from the year-ago first quarter. Operating income rose 10.6% to $202 million.

Read the company’s report here.