There is nothing at all wrong with a television group having a great footprint in political battleground markets, but it does put a dent in off-year results when the political category dries up to the tune of 94%, as happened to Gray Television in Q2 2013. Most non-political income streams picked up nicely for the group.
The bottom line revenue figure for the company was $84.3M for Q2, 2012, down $10.4M from Q2 2012. It’s easy to see where the loss came from – political went from $12.4M to $800K, a drop of $11.6M.
Another missing piece of revenue was the $600K Gray had been earning quarterly via a consulting agreement with Young Broadcasting, which is soon to merge with Media General. However, Gray says it has already picked up a final payment of $7.1M based on that relationship which will be reported in its Q3 results.
Gray offered the following highlights pertaining to its Q2 2013 performance:
* Local advertising revenue increased $2.5 million, or 5%, to $50.9 million.
* National advertising revenue increased $0.7 million, or 5%, to $15.1 million.
* Internet advertising revenue decreased $0.1 million, or 2%, to $6.3 million.
* Political advertising revenue decreased $12.4 million, or 94%, to $0.8 million.
* Retransmission consent revenue increased $1.1 million, or 13%, to $9.4 million.
* Other revenue decreased $1.7 million, or 46%, to $2.0 million.
Automotive, communications, furniture andappliances were positive categories during Q2.
