Townsquare Media earnings: Net down, digital gains share

Townsquare Media’s COVID quarter tells a varied story in the company’s Q2 earnings release. Net income for the quarter was down year-over-year (a nearly universal Q2 earnings story), while digital revenue gained in share of total revenue.

According to CEO Bill Wilson in a company statement: “In Q2 2020 our digital revenue exceeded 48% of our total net revenue, powered by our digital solutions, which have proven more resilient than our broadcast solutions during the pandemic, and in particular Townsquare Interactive, which is our digital marketing solutions subscription business.”

To put dollar numbers against this:

  • Net revenue of $74M compared to $113M in Q2 2019.
  • The six-month view (H1) also shows a net revenue drop: $167M vs $207M in 2019.
  • Net operating expenses were lower Year-over-year: $64M vs. $76M.

Putting some uplift into a COVID-dominated report, Wilson noted that sequentially in Q1 the numbers improved during the three months. “we experienced sequential improvement in our Advertising net revenue throughout the quarter, which together with our Live Events net revenue has experienced the brunt of the negative business impact.”

Cutbacks during the quarter removed approximately $1.7M of monthly fixed-cost savings during the quarter. Wilson said he has also scaled back planned capital expenditures.

The central growth story during the difficult Q2 was in townsquare’s digital products> “Townsquare Interactive’s growth continued in the second quarter, with net revenue increasing 10.5%, at an  Adjusted Operating Income margin in excess of 30%, and approximately 900 net subscriber additions, marking the 9th consecutive quarter of 850 (or more) net subscriber additions.  During this pandemic, the Townsquare Interactive team became a tremendous resource for their local clients by strengthening their online presence and capabilities and powering their online communication strategy.”

Townsquare Media press release with extensive remarks from Bill Wilson: HERE. SEC filing with complete financials HERE.

 

Brad Hill