Meredith Quarterly TV Revenue Up 9%

Meredith Corp. today reported fiscal 2012 fourth quarter revenues that included a 9% revenue increase to $85 million for its Local Media Group that comprises 12 television stations and a national video content creation unit. The group’s operating profit increased 42% to $27 million.

Non-political advertising revenues grew 6% to $69 million, the 11^th straight quarter of year-over-year improvement. Political advertising revenues were $3 million, compared to $1 million in the prior-year period.

Meredith Local Media Group President Paul Karpowicz said: “Our results represent successful execution of our strategy to (1) Maximize advertising revenues; (2) Develop nontraditional revenue streams, including digital, mobile and custom video production; and (3) Expand retransmission-related revenues. Our aggressive pursuit of this strategy has delivered strong results, including nearly three years of consecutive quarterly growth in non-political advertising revenues.”

Karpowicz noted several business highlights in fiscal 2012, including:

• Non-political advertising revenues grew 6% to $271 million. The important automotive and professional services categories were particularly strong. Nine of Meredith’s 12 stations posted higher non-political advertising revenues, led by Las Vegas, Phoenix and Hartford, Conn.

• Digital advertising revenues increased more than 55%, boosted by enhancements to the station’s websites and the launch of new mobile apps.
   
• Other revenues grew more than 25 percent to $39 million. This was driven primarily by Meredith’s management of Peachtree-TV (WPCH Atlanta), which began on March 28, 2011.

• Operating expenses declined 3%, driven primarily by savings in programming and video production costs.

Meredith said its connection with viewers also increased in fiscal 2012 as witnessed by (1) Expansion of local news hours; (2) Growth of The Better Show, its national daily women’s lifestyle program that was recently renewed for a sixth season; and (3) Launch of the Digs Channel on YouTube, where Meredith Video Studios is producing original short-form video content focused on home and garden-related topics.

“As we look ahead, we’ve focused on driving continued growth in non-political advertising revenues; maximizing political advertising revenues; and protecting and growing retransmission-related revenues,” Karpowicz said. “We will also continue to produce original programming and extend and monetize that content to digital and mobile platforms.”

You can read the company’s report here.