iHeartMedia Q4 Radio Revenues Climb 4.5%

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, February 23, 2017

iHeartMedia reported fourth quarter consolidated revenue increased 0.5%, while iHM (radio) revenues grew 4.5% to $939.1 million from $898.9 million in 2015. These revenues were up 2.2% when excluding political revenue. iHM operating income (OI) climbed 41.1% to $315.6 million from $309.3 million, while OIBDAN gained 2% to $377.1 million from $369.8 million. For the full year 2016, iHM revenues increased 3.6% to $1.72 billion as compared to 2015. Growth in broadcast radio and digital advertising was driven primarily by higher political revenues as a result of the Presidential election year.

"We continue to take major steps to transform our iHeartMedia and outdoor businesses into a leading multi-platform, 21st-century media and entertainment company," said Chairman/CEO Bob Pittman. "We are successfully building out new products and services for advertising partners to capitalize on our unique strength with the consumer -- such as extending iHeartRadio with new on demand services and to in-home connectivity devices, including Amazon's Alexa and Google Home."

President/COO and CFO Rich Bressler said, "We delivered growth in our consolidated revenues, operating income and OIBDAN in both the fourth quarter and full year 2016. At the iHeartMedia segment, fourth quarter revenue growth marked the fifteenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year increases in revenues, evidence of our company's successful transformation. Throughout the year, both our iHeartMedia and outdoor businesses benefited from the investments we are making to develop and deliver new products, while maintaining our tight operating and financial discipline."