Gray Television Q2 Revenue Rises 2%

Gray Television this morning announced that total revenue for the first quarter of 2024 came in at $826 million, an increase of 2% from the second quarter of 2023.

That revenue total comprised:

• Core advertising revenue (excluding political) was $373 million, a decrease of $6 million or 2% from the second quarter of 2023.
• Political advertising revenue was $47 million, an increase of 292%.
• Retransmission consent revenue was $371 million, down 6% from $394 million.
• Production companies revenue was $18 million, up 50% from $12 million.
• “Other” revenue was $17 million, up 6% from $16 million a year ago.

Total broadcasting expenses were $565 million, up 2% from $552 million.

The company said: “While we are overall pleased with our results in the second quarter, macro-economic and other factors largely beyond our control appear likely to result in somewhat lower revenues for the year than we previously anticipated.

“Our core advertising revenue in the second quarter was $373 million, which was slightly below the low end of our guidance range. For the quarter ending September 30, 2024, we expect core advertising revenue will be flat to up low single digit percentages compared to the third quarter of 2023, driven primarily by the Olympic Games. In light of results to date and political advertising revenues arriving later in the year than originally anticipated, we currently anticipate core Advertising Revenues of approximately $1.525 billion for full-year 2024, down from our earlier guidance of $1.6 billion.

“Political advertising revenue in the second quarter was $47 million, which significantly surpassed the $29 million of political advertising revenue during the second quarter of 2020 recorded by our current television station portfolio. We continue to anticipate strong political advertising revenues for the remainder of the year, including such revenues in a range of $180 million to $200 million in the third quarter, which would be essentially comparable to such revenues from our current television station portfolio in the third quarter of 2020.

“Our retransmission consent revenue in the second quarter was $371 million, which was within our guidance range. With half of the year now complete, we have determined that our current pay-television subscriber numbers have largely extended the trends from last year rather than improving somewhat as we anticipated at the start of this year. As a result, we currently expect retransmission consent revenues in the range of $365 million to $370 million for the third quarter and a total of approximately $1.475 billion for full-year 2024.

“Earlier this year, we reduced our broadcast operating expense guide for full-year 2024 by $50 million from the previous guide of $2.4 billion. Today, we lower our guidance for broadcast operating expense and corporate and administrative expenses for the full-year by a further $15 million and $5 million, respectively. Further, we are reducing our capital expense range by approximately $20 million and our estimated range for cash income taxes by approximately $23 million. In addition, for the second quarter, our station expenses were $8 million below the low end of our expense guidance range as well as $17 million less than station expenses in the first quarter of 2024. While we have made good progress managing costs and expenses this year, our management team is redoubling its efforts to improve the efficiency of our stations and other businesses by both increasing revenues and by further managing operating costs, capital expenses and investment opportunities for the remainder of the year and beyond.”

Also on Thursday, the company’s board of directors authorized a quarterly cash dividend of $0.08 per share of its common stock and Class A common stock. The dividend is payable on Sept. 30 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 13.

Read the company’s report here.