RICHMOND, VA.: Media General said today said its eight NBC-affiliated stations generated $7.6 million in ad revenue from the 2010 Winter Olympics, exceeding company expectations by $600,000.
Media General said its five NBC stations in Nielsen-metered-markets were No. 1 in their respective markets during the Games. They included WFLA-TV in Tampa, Fla.; WNCN-TV in Raleigh, N.C.; WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio; WVTM-TV in Birmingham, Ala.; and WJAR-TV in Providence, R.I.
Media General (NYSE: MEG) said the Olympics was the top-rated program on WFLA for the duration of the events. WJAR won 14 of 17 nights; and WCMH and WVTM each won 13 of 17. WCMH was said to rank 7th nationwide among Nielsen-metered U.S. markets for overall average audience rating and was No. 2 for daytime.
Media General’s eight CBS stations were also boosted in February by $912,000 in Super Bowl-related revenues. It’s Super Bowl revenues exceeded $3.2 million last year when the game was played in Tampa and carried on NBC.
“In addition, political spending is ramping up, and we expect the first quarter of 2010 to include $1.1 million of political revenues,” MEG president and CEO Marshall Morton said. “Media General’s revenue performance since mid-2009 reflects the benefit of an overall transformation of our sales culture to one that provides our customers with multimedia solutions. All of our sellers are now selling all of our products to all of our customers.”
For the first two months of 2010, broadcast revenues increased 11.4 percent and digital media revenues increased 10 percent compared to last year. newspapers revenue declines moderated to 10.7 percent in the first two months of 2010. Total Media General revenues declined 1.1 percent in the first two months of 2010.
CATEGORIES
