iHeartMedia has announced its second-quarter financial result and it featured a slight revenue growth, marking the first time since the fourth quarter of 2022 that the company can report an uptick.
In total, iHeartMedia revenue was up 1% during April, May, and June, growing to $929 million.
Digital audio revenue represented 31% of the company’s total for the quarter. Podcast revenue grew 8.1% to $104.5 million, while its digital audio group revenue grew 10% to $286 million. Broadcast radio fell just under 1% to $425.5 million, down from the $429.2 million it saw during the same quarter in 2023.
“We continue to see strong momentum in our podcast business, our Digital (excluding the podcast business), and have seen sequential improvement of our Multiplatform Group’s year-over-year revenue performance,” CEO Bob Pittman said of the results. “This performance is built on iHeartMedia’s strong and unparalleled audience and demonstrates the progress we are making in maximizing the monetization of it.”
Despite the revenue growth, expenditures also grew for the company, leading to an operating loss of $910 million during the quarter, which was up from the $897 million loss it had during the same window year-over-year.
The company does expect the third quarter to be a fruitful one due to political advertising. iHeartMedia President, CFO, and COO Rich Bressler said revenue from that category is pacing roughly 20% higher than forecasted, leading to projections that the consolidated revenue will continue to rise in the single digits during July, August, and September.
