Scripps Q3 Station Revenue Drops 6.7%

E.W. Scripps Co. announced third quarter results this morning, including Local Media (its TV stations and local brands on all platforms) revenue of $353 million, down 6.7% from the prior-year quarter.

• Core advertising decreased 3.1% to $142 million.
• Political advertising revenue was $9.1 million, compared to $63.2 million in the prior-year quarter, an election year.
• Distribution revenue increased 20% to $198 million.
• Segment expenses decreased slightly from the prior-year quarter at $278 million, reflecting lower audience ratngs and rating services costs.
• Segment profit was $74.9 million, compared to $99.6 million in the year-ago quarter.

The Scripps Networks division, which includes its nine national networks, reported revenue of $215 million, down 8.5% from the prior-year quarter.

• Segment expenses were $166 million, up 1.4% from the prior-year quarter because of higher programming costs and distribution fees.
• Segment profit was $49.7 million, compared to $72 million in the year-ago quarter.

For the company as a whole, total Q3 revenue was $567 million, a decrease of 7.4%, or $45.6 million, from the prior-year quarter, which included a midterm election.

Costs and expenses for segments, shared services and corporate were $469 million, almost flat from the year-ago quarter.

Loss attributable to the shareholders of Scripps was $16.2 million or 19 cents per share.

Commenting on the quarter’s results, Scripps President-CEO Adam Symson said: “This was a big year for Scripps in testing the strength of the local broadcast distribution revenue ecosystem, and we are exceedingly pleased with the results. In renewing the majority of our legacy cable and satellite households, we not only smoothly and successfully created new agreements but realized new value, including by expanding the number of stations on which we are paid. Credit for this goes in part to our Scripps Sports local strategy, and as we sign additional rights agreements, we expect to partner with distributors and receive payment for delivering live sports to their customers. Clearly, the linear distribution ecosystem continues to support growth in distribution revenue as well as expanded margins.

“We are creating new value with our existing Scripps Networks brands through distribution on connected television services including YouTubeTV, Roku, Fubo, Pluto, Samsung TV Plus and Vizio WatchFree. Scripps has quickly grown to be one of the leading programmers in the ad-supported streaming marketplace. Excluding our low-margin programmatic product we are sunsetting, CTV revenue was up 75% year over year, and we expect to reach nearly $100 million this year.

“As we look ahead to 2024, we anticipate a number of drivers to catalyze free cash flow growth, including further significant growth in our networks’ CTV revenue, the annualization of this year’s local distribution deals, the continued expansion of our Scripps Sports strategy and the return of a strong advertising marketplace, including a robust political cycle.”

Read the company’s report here.