Beasley Broadcast Q4 Revenue Up 1.8% to $72 Million
| RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, February 16, 2023 | 11:11am CT |
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 Beasley Broadcast Group |
Beasley Broadcast Group reported fourth quarter net revenue increased 1.8% to $72 million from $70 million in 2021. Operating loss grew to $33.5 million from an operating income of $6.5 million, primarily due to $44.2 million of non-cash impairment losses and higher operating expenses related to digital. Station operating income (SOI) was flat at $13.9 million. The company posted a net loss of $25.8 million (-87 cents per diluted share as compared to a net income of $10.6 (36 cent) in the year-ago period.
CEO Caroline Beasley said, "Beasley's 2022 fourth quarter and full year financial results reflect the ongoing success of our digital transformation and revenue diversification strategies, which drove year-over-year increases in revenue and SOI for both the three- and twelve-month periods. Throughout the year, Beasley largely offset ongoing challenges related to the economy and softness in the national spot market, as we generated healthy growth across all of our digital, local audio, political and other revenue sources, as reflected by the 6.2% increase in full year net revenues to $256 million. This top-line growth was the primary factor contributing to a 2.8% year-over-year increase in full year SOI to $43.1 million.
"While economic uncertainty remains, Beasley initiated several actions throughout the year that we believe will strengthen the long-term position of our business. First, our digital strategy continues to deliver strong results with fourth quarter digital revenue growth of 13.2% year-over-year, representing nearly 17% of total fourth quarter revenue. Digital revenue has consistently outpaced national spot advertising revenue over the past several quarters due to a combination of organic growth and contributions from the second quarter acquisition of our white label digital agency business, Guarantee Digital.
"Second, we remain focused on monetizing our premium audio and digital content through new local business development, revenue diversification and maximizing political revenue opportunities. As a result, in the fourth quarter, we delivered $5.1 million in net political revenue, with stronger than expected gains in Las Vegas, Philadelphia, and Detroit, as well as year-over-year total revenue increases across nearly all of our markets and in our esports business.
"Our radio brands remain dominant in Nielsen Audio ratings, where Beasley currently has the highest average cluster share when compared to the major radio broadcasters in PPM. Finally, we implemented a cost reduction program in the second half of 2022, with the majority of cost cuts occurring in October.
"Looking ahead to 2023, our strategic priorities remain focused on growing our overall audience and delivering exceptional content and services to our listeners, advertisers, online users and esports fans, while diversifying our revenue, growing our cash flow and maintaining a solid and flexible balance sheet with liquidity at current or higher levels, which we believe will best position Beasley for near- and long-term success and the enhancement of stockholder value."
