Revenues increased 2% to $44 million in Q1 for Entravision Communications. That was all on the TV side – and primarily due to retransmission consent fees – while radio revenues were flat.
The results for the Spanish language TV and radio group owner was further evidence that Spanish media advertising in the US has not rebounded as quickly as for general market broadcasters.
“During the first quarter, we achieved revenue growth primarily driven by retransmission consent revenue despite continuing challenges in the advertising environment. Our audience shares remain strong, and we believe we are well positioned to benefit as the US Hispanic market continues to expand and advertisers increasingly recognize the importance of reaching our target audience. The release of the 2010 U.S. census data reconfirms the growth and importance of the U.S. Hispanic population and our position in some of the fastest-growing and most densely-populated Hispanic markets. We remain focused on improving our operating performance while continuing to carefully manage our costs,” said CEO Walter Ulloa.
TV revenues gained 3% in Q1 to $30.7 million, with local down 3% and national up 4%. Radio revenues were essentially flat, dropping $52K to $13.4 million. Local was up 5%, but national down 14%. Operating expenses increased for radio, due in part to expenses related to Lotus/Entravision Reps LLC, now solely owned by Entravision.
Consolidated adjusted EBITDA rose 9% to $10.4 million.
In his conference call with Wall Street analysts, Ulloa said that excluding retrans, political and US Census advertising, Q1 core revenues were up 3% from a year earlier for TV and radio combined. Core TV revenues grew 4%. Core radio revenues were up 3% in Q1.
Entravision doesn’t provide forward guidance, but faces tough comps in Q2, not only due to political, but also the World Cup on both its radio and TV stations last year.
