CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Co. said it produced record revenue of $646 million in Q3 2024, driven by record spending on political advertising.
In addition, the company said it now expects full-year political advertising revenue to reach at least $340 million, which, combined with its efforts to control and reduce its expenses, has allowed it to reduce debt.
In its third-quarter results, Scripps also said \it had $33 million, or 37 cents per share, in income.
“Scripps’ Local Media political advertising revenue came in nearly 30% higher than our last presidential-election year political revenue, which also was a record year,” Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson said. “This 2024 level is a testament to the durability of local broadcast programming as the perfect vehicle for massive reach to deliver candidate and political action committee messaging. Our local news has always been a go-to for political advertising. This time around, our sports programming created significant additional opportunities for campaigns to efficiently and effectively reach voters, further boosting our political advertising revenue.”
The new estimate of total 2024 presidential-year political advertising revenue in the Local Media division of a record $340 million, far exceeds the guidance of $270 million to $290 million Scripps issued in August.
The results were driven by strong advertising buys with Scripps stations in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Nevada and Wisconsin. The political advertising demand caused significant displacement of core advertising in those 15 markets, which prompted declines in core advertising.
In the Scripps Networks division, tight expense management resulted in a nearly 4% decline in expenses. For the fourth quarter, Scripps expects an even greater decline in Networks expense, down in the high single-digits percent range, because of reductions at Scripps News and ongoing cost controls.
Scripps also touted the success of Ion’s Friday-night WNBA franchise, with telecasts surpassing more than 1 million viewers this past season. Ion’s average WNBA ratings more than doubled from last season, proving the platform’s value in attracting key demos with live sports. The top-performing night was the Aug. 30 Indiana Fever-Chicago Sky game, which drew an average audience of 1.6 million viewers and peaked at 2 million. Scripps’ full-season 2024 WNBA revenue was double that of the 2023 season.
The company paid down $115 million of debt in the third quarter, ending the period with a leverage ratio of 5.1 times, a significant improvement from 6 times at the end of Q2. The company will pay down about $300 million in debt this year.
Total third-quarter company revenue was $646 million, an increase of 14% or $79.8 million from the prior-year quarter. Costs and expenses for segments, shared services and corporate were $472 million, up from $469 million in the year-ago quarter.
Income attributable to the shareholders of Scripps was $33 million or 37 cents per share. Pretax costs for the quarter included a $12.7 million restructuring charge, decreasing the income attributable to shareholders by 11 cents per share. In the prior-year quarter, the loss attributable to shareholders was $16.2 million or 19 cents per share. The pre-tax costs for the prior-year quarter included $4.7 million in restructuring costs.
For its Local Media division, including its TV stations, revenue was $446 million, up 26% from the prior-year quarter. Core advertising revenue decreased 9.2% to $129 million, due in part to displacement from political advertising. Political revenue was $125 million, compared to $9.1 million in the prior-year quarter, a nonelection year. Distribution revenue was $186 million, compared to $198 million in the prior-year quarter. Segment expenses increased 2.4% to $285 million. Segment profit was $161 million, compared to $75 million in the year-ago quarter.
