Nexstar Media Group reported lower profits amid a non-election year drop in political advertising and losses at The CW.
Net income was $96 million, or $2.64 a share, down from $227 million, or $5.56 a share a year ago.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was $405 million, including an EBITDA loss of $78 million at The CW. A year ago, Nexstar had EBITDA of $489 million.
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In addition to the red ink at The CW, EBITDA was impacted by higher expenses at NewsNation and local news operations, and a lower distribution from Food Network related to lower ad revenue.
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Revenue was $1.24 billion, down slightly from $1.245 billion a year ago.
Core advertising revenue was down 2.2% to $404 million. Political advertising revenue was just $9 million, compared to $87 million a year ago. That left total television advertising revenue down 17.4% at $413 million.
Distribution revenue was up 7.7% to $696 million.
Digital revenue rose 11.4% to $98 million.
Excluding political advertising revenue, net revenue increased 6.3% year-over-year, the company said.
“Nexstar again outperformed consensus expectations in the second quarter across all key financial metrics including net revenue,” Nexstar chairman and CEO Perry Sook said.
“Looking forward, we expect the balance of 2023 will continue to reflect our ability to outperform the overall advertising market and benefit from renegotiated distribution contracts representing more than half of our subscribers at the end of 2022, partially offset by the ongoing impact of negotiations with certain distribution partners,” Sook said. “We are even more excited about 2024 as Nexstar will realize upside from presidential election year political advertising, additional distribution contract renewals this year, a slowing of losses related to The CW Network, as well as expectations for a declining interest rate environment and a recovering economy.”
