The latest revenue reports for iHeartMedia are similar to those of other large radio operators, with the company seeing a decline. However, CEO Bob Pittman sees a bright future ahead in 2024.
In the third quarter, the company saw $953 million in revenue, which represents a decline of 3.6% compared to the same window in 2022. Operating losses dropped to $69 million compared to the $211 million it saw last year.
iHeartMedia breaks its revenue down into three categories: multi-platform group (broadcast radio, networks, and branded events), digital audio group (including both podcasting and other efforts), and audio & media services group. The multi-platform group led revenue for the company with $455 million. That’s down 6.3% compared to last year. Digital audio rose to $165 million, up 1.1%. Podcast revenue represented $103 million of that figure. That signifies a rise of 12.5%.
“Our Digital Audio Group’s performance reflects the strong flow-through characteristics of the business and Podcasting continues to be a strong growth engine for the Company,” Pittman said. “Additionally, while the Multiplatform Group does continue to be impacted by advertising industry uncertainty, we’ve seen sequential gradual quarter to quarter improvement throughout the year and we remain confident that the Multiplatform Group will be an additional growth engine for the company as the advertising marketplace recovers.”
Pittman added that despite the economic headwinds many in the broadcasting industry have seen and are forecasting, he “remains confident that both the advertising marketplace and our company will be back in growth mode in 2024.”
