Gray’s Fourth Quarter Revenue Climbs 40%

Gray Television this morning reported record quarterly revenue of $328.2 million, increasing $94.6 million, or 40%, from the fourth quarter of 2017. The company said the increase came primarily from increased political advertising revenue due to 2018 being the “on-year” of the two-year election cycle, plus increased retransmission consent revenue, due primarily to increased retransmission consent rates.

The revenue results include:

• Local revenue (including internet, digital and mobile) of $117.4 million, a decrease of 3% from 4Q 2017.
• National revenue of $30.6 million, down 4%.
• Political revenue of $83.2 million, up 1,015%
• Retransmission consent revenue of $93 million, up 34%. (Gray said after subtracting reverse comp payments, its net retrans revenue came to $50.3 million.)
• Other revenue of $4 million, up 3%.

Net income totaled $88.2 million, a 146% increase.

Broadcast operating expenses (before depreciation, amortization and gain or loss on disposal of assets) increased $9.0 million, or 6%, to $159.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to the fourth quarter of 2017.

For the full year, revenue increased $201.4 million or 23% to $1.1 billion, while net income totaled $210.8 million, down 19.6% from $262 million in 2017.

Read the company’s report here.