In iHeartMedia’s recently released earnings for Q4 2023, we see upward moving results for the Digital Audio Group balancing downward financials for the Multiplatform group.
That said, the Digital Audio Group is the smaller of the two divisions, asMultiplatforms gross earnings ($684M) more than double those of the digital group ($318M). But while the Mutiplatform Group decreased 6.7% year-over-year, the Digital Platform Group increased 5.5%.
Digging into the digital earnings, podcast revenue is the star, increasing 16.6% year-over-year. iHeart earned $131.7M in the fourth quarter from its podcast ad business. Podcasting, in fact, was the only profitable part of the digital group, which declined 1.1% after removing podcasting financials. iHeart credits increased demand for podcasting from advertisers.
The two charts below show basic financials of the Multiplatform group and the Digital Audio Group:
The Digital Audio Group, iHeartMedia. POdcasting isin this group.
The Multiplatform Group.
The chart below shows Q3 and full-year income figures. Topline income reached billion-plus territory, with net income of about $14-million.
We also learn that iHeart’s broadcast radio business fell 6.9% in revenue for Q4 2023, in a year-over-year comparison. A nearly identical percent loss (7.0%) was calculated for full-year 2023 compared to full-year 2022:
Much more detail is presented by iHeart HERE.