TV Station Giant Sinclair Misses Political Advertising Guidance After Late Ad Cancellations

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As a seasoned observer of the ever-evolving media landscape, I find the performance of Sinclair Inc. in Q3 particularly intriguing. The company’s political revenue, while falling slightly short of expectations, still managed to break records for the quarter and full year. It’s like watching a political thriller where the underdog manages to pull off a surprising comeback.

For the third quarter, Sinclair Broadcast Group, a TV broadcasting and media company, reported political earnings amounting to approximately $138 million. This figure is slightly lower than their revised expectations.

In September, the company revised its estimated earnings for the quarter upward from a range of $113 million to $128 million to around $140 million to $145 million. This adjustment was made due to the cancellation of political advertisements towards the end of the month, resulting in an estimated loss of revenue of about $5 million during the quarter because of these late ad cancellations.

Chris King, the company’s vice president of investor relations, explained that we experienced some political ad cancellations in Nevada during the final week of the third quarter. This was due to campaigns shifting their funds to other states and cities where elections became closer.

Still, the company noted that it had seen record Q3 and Q4 revenue, up through Election Day, as well as for full-year political advertising. 

For the year 2024, political revenue projections stand at approximately $406 million, representing a 16% increase over the pre-Georgia runoff total from 2020. It’s important to note that this figure includes $26 million in cancellations, which were essentially dollars redirected towards other states and local markets beyond our operational area.

In the third quarter, my gaming earnings skyrocketed by an impressive 20% to a whopping $917 million compared to the same timeframe last year when it was only $767 million. What really got my pulse racing was the ad revenue – it soared by a massive 42%, reaching an astounding $433 million, while it was just $304 million in the previous year!

From the gaming world perspective, I’d say: “This time around, we raked in a cool $94 million compared to last year’s tough stretch where we took a hit of $46 million.

Chris Ripley, President and CEO of Sinclair, stated that they achieved robust third-quarter earnings. The main source of this growth was a 1% increase in core ad revenue compared to the previous year, an impressive feat even amidst substantial political revenue. This is quite unusual for Sinclair, especially during a political year. Overall, ad revenue soared by 42% year-on-year, while distribution revenues expanded by 5%.

Ripley stated, “We’ve managed to reach an understanding to extend our retransmission consent deals for 78% of our major MVPD linear subscribers this year. We’re optimistic that we can increase our net revenue from retransmission in line with our previous forecast of mid-single-digit annual growth rate from 2023 to 2025. Our robust core advertising revenue, coupled with most of our retransmission and network affiliation agreement renewals now being completed, makes us confident that we’ll end 2024 on a high note.

More to come.

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2024-11-07 00:55