Michael Mcguinness; Executive Vice President – Finance, Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Head of Investor Relations; iHeartMedia Inc
Richard Bressler; President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Director; iHeartMedia Inc
Jessica Reif Ehrlich; Analyst; BofA Securities, Inc.
Patrick Scholl; Analyst; Barrington Research Associates, Inc.
Stephen Laszczyk; Analyst; Goldman Sachs & Company, Inc.
Good afternoon, and welcome to the iHeart Media Q4 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the call over to Mike McGuinness, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you, please go ahead.
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join us on our fourth-quarter of 2024 earnings call. Joining me for today’s discussion are Bob Pittman, our Chairman and CEO, and Rich Bressler, our President, COO, and CFO. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, management will take your questions. In addition to our press release, we have an earnings presentation available on our website that you can use the file along with our remarks.
Please note that this call may include forward-looking statements regarding our financial performance and operating results. These statements are based on management’s current expectations, and actual results could differ from what is stated as a result of certain factors identified on today’s call and in the company’s SEC filings, including our recent 8-K filing.
Additionally, during this call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release, earnings presentation, and our SEC filings, which are available in the Investor Relations section of our website.
And now I’ll turn the call over to Bob.
Thanks, Mike, and good afternoon, everyone. Before I take you through the fourth-quarter financial results, I want to share two key highlights from last year. We successfully completed the comprehensive exchange transaction that we discussed in our third-quarter call.
This exchange accomplished three things: one, it extended the majority of our debt maturities by three years; two, it kept our current consolidated annual cash interest expense essentially flat; and three, it provided overall debt reduction. This improved capital structure provides the company with the flexibility it needs to remain focused on creating shareholder value.
And an important part of creating that value is the continued modernization of our company. In 2024, we took another significant step in that journey, flattening our organization, eliminating redundancies, and breaking down silos. It’ll be easier to do business with us and easier for us to get our business done, and will help to accelerate earnings growth as well.
As we discussed last quarter, the actions we took over the course of 2024 will generate over $200 million of annual cost reductions. There will be some ordinary courses add backs of approximately $50 million to our expense base, which results in net savings of approximately $150 million.
And with that, I’ll turn to our fourth-quarter financial results. In the fourth quarter, we generated adjusted even of $246 million, up 18.2% versus prior year. Our consolidated revenues for the quarter were up 4.8% compared to the prior year quarter. Excluding the impact of political, our consolidated revenues were down 1.8%.
Turning to our individual operating segments, the Digital Audio Group generated fourth-quarter revenues of $339 million, up 6.7% versus prior year, which represents approximately 30% of the company’s revenue. The Digital Audio Group generated fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $119 million, up 2.1% versus prior year, and the Digital Audio Group’s adjusted EBITDA margins were 35%. I’ll also note that this was the Digital Audio Group’s best full-year performance on record, generating over $1.1 billion of revenue and approximately $380 million of adjusted EBITDA .
Within the Digital Audio Group, our podcast revenues grew 5.7% compared to prior year, and our non-podcast digital revenues grew 7.1% compared to prior year. Our podcasting financial discipline continues to fuel what we believe is the most profitable podcasting business in the United States. Additionally, our podcasting EBITDA margins remain accretive to our total company EBITDA margins. And as Rich will discuss later, our podcasting revenues in Q1 are expected to grow in the high-teens.
In January, iHeart was once again ranked the number one podcast publisher in the US, according to Podtrac , and iHeart is the number one sales network in podcasting as well, with approximately 3 times the downloads and monthly audience of the next largest US sales network according to Podtrac, with a similar leadership position globally as well. To that end, this week, iHeart Podcast served as the official podcast partner for the 2025 Web Summit Qatar, where our marquee talent, including Malcolm Gladwell and Jay Shetty, led panel discussions.
And on Monday, we announced a groundbreaking multi-year partnership with the Government Communications Office of the state of Qatar to help create a thriving podcasting industry in the Middle East and North Africa. We see this as further validation of the continued growth potential of the podcast industry and of our ability to expand our leadership position as the largest US podcast publisher to the global market as well.
In addition to our industry leading podcast business, we also have the number one streaming digital radio service, which has 5 times the listening of our closest competitor. We have the largest social footprint of any audio service by a factor of 5, and we operate 3,000 national and local websites with more than 140 million unique users in the United States each month.
And in the fourth quarter, we launched the next generation of our iHeartRadio app, which combines the key features of the car radio that listeners know and love with innovative technological enhancements. We’ve had a strong positive response from our listeners. So if you’ve not done so already, I encourage everyone to check out the redesigned iHeartRadio app and see for yourselves.
Turning now to the Multi-platform Group, which includes our broadcast radio, networks, and events businesses. In the fourth quarter, revenues were $684 million flat versus prior year and excluding the impact of political advertising, revenues were down [5%]. The Multi-platform Group’s adjusted EBITDA was $150 million up 5.9% versus prior year.
As we look at the Multi-platform Group, let me take a moment to focus on broadcast radio and tell you why we continue to believe it’s a growth engine for our company, not a declining business. Broadcast radio has more listeners today than it did 20 years ago. In an environment in which broadcast and cable TV audiences have dwindled and print audiences have disappeared, broadcast radio audiences have remained strong, and our broadcast radio is the undisputed leader in monthly audience reach, even when compared to Google and Facebook.
And as we look at our advertising growth opportunities for broadcast radio, the most important variable for advertising on any medium is what’s happening to the audience. On that front, broadcast radio is not only healthy but robust.
Additionally, when audio is added to a social media campaign, the response rate jumps by 83%, powerful evidence that in addition to reaching more potential consumers for advertisers, we can also meaningfully improve the response rates for their other media as well. This combined with the ad tech innovations we’re rolling out to inject our broadcast radio inventory into data infused digital buying platforms, including programmatic, makes us more confident than ever in the growth of broadcast radio revenue.
Turning to the Audio and Media Services Group, revenues were $98 million, up 44.7% year over year, and adjusted even it was $49 million, up 136% from $21 million in the prior year. Excluding the impact of political, the Audio and Media Services Group’s revenues were down 1.6%.
As we look to the year ahead, we remain focused on supporting our high-growth businesses like podcasting, while, as I said before, finding new ways to unlock the power and value of our broadcast radio assets, including our ongoing work to integrate our broadcast radio inventory in the programmatic platforms. Forms as evidence of our progress, I’m excited to announce that in March of this year, our broadcast radio inventory will be available via the Yahoo DSP and Google’s DV360 for digital buyers to purchase alongside other programmatic assets like CTV. This is a critical early step in aligning our broadcast assets with digital buying behavior, which will allow iHeart’s broadcast radio assets to participate in the growing digital and programmatic TAMs.
And as we continue to innovate and grow, our operational efficiency is critical to our success, and we remain relentlessly focused on cost efficiencies and on our commitment to take advantage of new and evolving technologies like programmatic and AI to deliver both short- and long-term results.
Before I turn it over to Rich, I’d like to take a moment to briefly mention the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. Serving our local communities is at the heart of everything we do, and I want to acknowledge the incredible work of our teams on the ground during that time of crisis. It’s moments like this and the hurricanes last fall that the dramatic value of what we do becomes apparent.
And now I’ll turn it over to Rich.
Richard Bressler
Thank you, Bob, and good afternoon, everyone. Our Q4 2024 consolidated revenues were up 4.8% year over year, below the guidance we provided above high single digits due primarily to lower political advertising revenue than we had originally expected both before and after the election. Additionally, we saw a slowdown in non-political advertising revenue just before the Presidential election, which, as we said on our Q3 call, we had hoped would be re-expressed after the election. In the end, it was not.
Our consolidated direct operating expenses increased 9.9% for the quarter. This increase was primarily driven by higher variable content costs related to the increase in digital revenues, as well as cost incurred in connection with cost savings initiatives implemented in the fourth quarter.
Our consolidated SG&A expenses decreased 1.7% for the quarter. The decrease was driven primarily by lower compensation expense and the timing of non-cash marketing expense through the iHeartRadio Music Festival, partially offset by costs incurred in connection with cost savings initiatives implemented in the fourth quarter.
We generated fourth-quarter GAAP operating income of $104.5 million compared to income of $79.8 million in the prior-year quarter. We generated fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA of $246 million, up 18.2% for prior year, which was below the guidance of approximately $290 million due to the advertising impacts I just mentioned.
Turning now to the performance of our operating segments, and as a reminder, there are slides in the earnings presentation on our segment performances. In the fourth quarter, the Digital Audio Group’s revenues were $339 million up 6.7% year over year and in line with our guidance of up high single digits. The Digital Audio Group’s adjusted EBITDA was $119 million, up 2.1% year over year, and our Q4 margins were 35%.
Within the Digital Audio Group are our podcasting revenues of $140 million, which grew 6% year over year. And for the full year, our podcasting revenues were up 10% year over year. Our first quarter non-podcasting digital revenues grew 7% year over year to $199 million. As those of you that follow us know, our podcasting revenues typically have a higher margin than our non-podcasting digital revenues, and the flow through we saw in Q4 reflected this revenue mix. We expect to turn that flow-through performance around in the first quarter with our podcasting revenues up in the high teens, as Bob mentioned, and to comprise the majority of our digital revenue growth, which will help us to continue our year-over-year Digital Audio Group margin expansion.
The Multi-platform Group’s revenues were $684 million flat compared to prior years and below the guidance of mid-single digits. Excluding the impact of political revenues, our Multi-platform Group revenues were down 5%. Adjusted EBITDA was $150 million, up 5.9% from $142 million in the prior-year quarter. Multi-platform Group’s adjusted EBITDA margins with 21.9% compared to 20.7% in the prior-year quarter.
Turning to the Audio and Media Services Group, revenues were $98 million, up 44.7% year over year, and adjusted EBITDA was $49 million, up 136% from $21 million in the prior year. Excluding the impact of political, the Audio and Media Services Group revenues were down 1.6%.
At quarter end, we had the lowest net debt position in the history of the company, approximately $4.52 billion of net debt outstanding. Our total liquidity was $686 million at quarter end, which includes a cash balance of $260 million. Our quarter ending net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 6.4 times, and we expect to end the year at approximately 5.5 times and remain on track to obtain our goal of achieving 3.2 times by the end of 2028.
As Bob mentioned in his remarks, we have completed the comprehensive exchange transaction with a group of debt holders representing on an aggregate basis approximately 92% of the company’s outstanding debt. To reiterate some of the key highlights, as a result of the exchange transaction, our new notes and term loans have maturities ranging from 2029 to 2031 with reduced total debt levels.
And importantly, our annual cash interest expense remains essentially flat. And notably none of the exchange transactions had any impact on the equity capitalization of the company. This transaction strengthens the company’s financial flexibility while providing iHeart with ample runway to achieve our strategic growth initiatives.
In the fourth quarter, due to fees and the acceleration of certain interest payments related to the debt transaction, our free cash flow was negative $24 million. Our free cash flow would have been $111 million when adjusting for the debt transaction-related expenses.
In addition to that, further impacting our fourth-quarter free cash flow were costs associated with the modernization program. As a point of reference, we recorded $33.5 million of restructuring expenses in the fourth quarter, with a portion of those payments hitting Q4 and negatively impacting our Q4 free cash flow.
As we look at the Q1 2025, although the year began with optimism, many companies are now focusing on how potential tariffs, inflation, and higher interest rates may impact their businesses, introducing an element of uncertainty. An indication of that uncertainty, as I’m sure you’ve seen, is the conference board measure of consumer confidence, which reported that February saw the largest single monthly decline in consumer confidence since August 2021.
We’ve done our best to incorporate the impact of this uncertainty into our guidance. Our first-quarter results will also be impacted by the wildfires in LA. Not only is Los Angeles our largest revenue market, but our national major account sales team is based there as well, affecting revenue beyond just LA, all of which is compounded by the fact that Q1 is always our smallest revenue quarter for the year. With that in mind, we expect to generate consolidated first-quarter adjusted EBITDA in the range of $100 million to $110 million compared to $105 million in the prior-year quarter.
We expect our consolidated Q1 2025 revenues to be down low single digits compared to the prior year. As a reflection of the optimism the year began with and then the uncertainty that rolled in later, our January revenues were up 5.5% and our February pacing is down approximately 7%.
Turning to the individual segments for Q1, we expect the Digital Audio Group’s revenues to be up low double digits, with podcasting revenues expected to grow in the high-teens. We expect the Multi-platform Group’s revenues to be down mid-single digits, and we expect the Audio and Media Services Group’s revenue to be down approximately 15% due to the impact of political advertising spent in the prior-year period.
At this point we remain optimistic about the year ahead, even with the uncertainty in the economy, and we want to reiterate our full-year 2025 guidance. We expect our full-year 2025 revenues to be approximately flat compared to 2024. We expect to generate full-year adjusted EBITDA of approximately $770 million, and we expect to generate free cash flow of approximately $200 million. The following assumptions are including our free cash flow guidance.
We expect our cash taxes to be approximately 10% of our adjusted EBITDA. We expect our full-year capital expenditures to be approximately $90 million. We expect our cash restructuring expenses to be approximately $45 million. At year-end 2025, we expect our net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio to be approximately 5.5 times, and we remain on track to achieve our goal of 3.2 times by the end of 2028.
Now I will turn it over to the operator to take your questions. Thank you.
Operator
(Operator Instructions)
Jessica Reif Ehrlich, Bank of America.
Jessica Reif Ehrlich
Thank you. I have a couple of questions if that’s okay. So first, Bob and Rich, I know you’ve both consistently talked about the resilience of broadcast listening. Can you talk about how you’re thinking about monetizing that going forward?
And maybe in that context, I know, Bob, you mentioned both programmatic and AI. How much of a needle mover will programmatic be? What does the ramp look like? And then I have a follow-up. Thanks.
Robert Pittman
Sure. Look, I think the programmatic is an essential part of what we’re doing. It’s a growing part of the ad market. And I think you’re sort of implying the answer to the question, which is how do we take this incredible amount of listening we’ve got, this strong relationships we’ve got with our consumers, and by the way, when measured broadcast, radio has enormous performance in terms of performance marketers in terms of delivering the metrics they need.
So clearly, the issue for us in broadcast radio is we need to make this inventory fit the buying systems that are out there and the new way people are buying, which is very digital centric. Programmatic is part of it. It’s also automated buying. It might be actually live conversations, but they can execute it an automated platform and beginning to have it sit side by side with the other digital options.
Our hope also as people are putting these systems together that algorithms versus human beings making decisions about allocating the dollars to different media. We know there is certainly a bias against radio. It’s considered old media. I think we’ve gotten tarred with the brush of TV or print that have really seen a substantial degradation in their audience. And here we are with this incredible audience, incredible performance.
So I think when the algorithm looks at the facts and makes choices about allocations, that’s going to be very beneficial to broadcast radio as well. So programmatic for us, we’re, I think, making great progress on the automated platform we’re making great progress on putting all of our inventory into a platform so it can be accessed from any seller, anywhere, any time, and can be accessed with the key data that’s needed are all making progress.
I think this year is — as we talked last year, this is probably the year in which we’re rolling it out. We’re beginning to get in DSPs, rolling out our platforms. So we probably will learn a lot this year, and I think we should begin to see some revenue this year. But I think the impact probably is built next year and the following year.
Richard Bressler
Hey, Jess, the only thing I — just add quickly to what Bob said is we talked about the ramp and everything, but the first step before you kind of get to the ramp and learn is to get in the platforms. And that’s why Bob’s point about the DV360 and the Yahoo, two very significant platforms, is significant for us.
Jessica Reif Ehrlich
Right. Okay. And then maybe just two more quick ones, but could you address the video podcasting opportunity? Spotify’s been talking about that a bit, and you obviously have a really strong position in podcasting.
And then just finally on the overall market outlook, obviously there’s a lot of puts and takes as you guys have outlined. But LA is your biggest market. Can you give us some color on what the impact was in Q4 and how it looks moving forward.?
Robert Pittman
Sure. Why don’t I head first to video podcasting? It’s — look, there’s a lot of talk about video podcasting. Clearly, YouTube would love everything to be video podcasting. When you look at the research though, it looks like about 10% of podcast users would prefer video. Others are willing to look at video, but most people, actually the overwhelming majority, actually want it to be audio.
They are using podcasting, because it’s a great experience for them because they don’t want to use their eyes. They’re cooking. They’re driving; they’re running. They’re doing other activities where they can listen, but they can’t watch.
I think it’s also with many of these hosts — and I know Jessica, you listen to a lot of them — it is very conversational and very personal. It is not TV style production. As a matter of fact, unlike TV, which is very story and production driven, podcasting is very host driven. And often the more just loving hands at home it sounds and just the easy-going is — and casual is what people prefer.
Podcasting like radio is a lot about companionship. It’s who is that person I’ve chosen to hang out with, and I hang out with them regularly. So although there are opportunities for us — if we can make more money adding video to it, we will. Some of our podcasts do have video, and we’re open to it. It’s not terribly expensive.
It’s just what do you want to focus on. And again, we should always start with the consumer. And if the consumer really wants it, we’ll figure out how to deliver it. And you’re right, given that we’re the number one podcast publisher, we’ve got by far the biggest stable to play with, and there’s a lot we can do there.
Richard Bressler
Jess, just before Bob turns to your question on the advertising environment, just in terms of — just looking at the facts, we’re just coming off the year, where we had double-digit revenue growth in podcasting, and again, we’re going to continue to get the bigger numbers, double-digit revenue growth. And the guidance we just gave is high-teen growth in Q1.
So yes, as Bob talked about, we’re monitoring and looking at consumer usage, but just look at the facts and the runway we still have with the podcasting business we have today.
Robert Pittman
And look, also, it’s — there’s a big delta between video and broadcast radio in terms of CPMs. There’s not a big delta between broadcast — between podcasting and video. So we don’t really get a bump up in value if you if you add video to it.
On the LA front, clearly, LA is a big market for us. It was disrupted by the fires. I think it’s beginning to get back to normal. And not only was the market disrupted, but our direct-to-client sales group, which is a very important part of our company, national sales, is based there.
So we had disruption there. People lost houses; employees sort of put it — went through the struggle. Fortunately, we didn’t — and our company have any loss of life. So it’s just this property. And I think again — we think that was probably in terms of the LA market a little bit of a blip.
Probably, the bigger impact in the LA market is that there’s more people going back to office. Traffic is getting long again. And I hate to sound cynical here, but traffic jams are our friend. We’re a company that benefits from people with longer commutes and more time in the car. And so we actually think that probably has ironically a beneficial effect on the company.
Richard Bressler
And Jess one of the — I think, you also just touched upon uncertainty of the overall advertising market, and we laid out the puts and takes in our opening remarks. And I think just looking at all the other companies — ad supporting companies between yesterday and today, that release, I think, we’re kind of all seeing the same trends out there in terms of the start of the year and the uncertainty, whether it’s the tariffs — we also have the consumer confidence piece come out today, uncertainty in terms of inflation and interest rates.
But at the same time as we look forward, and I think it’s very important, we reiterated our confidence in the business for the rest of the year. Again, going back to a box, earlier about the strength of our assets, the economy will sort itself out, and we’ll all work through this, but we continue to remain optimistic as we go forward.
Robert Pittman
Yeah, I think, look, what we’re dealing with is, and it always happens this way, if there’s change, people take a beat and adjust to the change. There’s a big change between this administration and the last one, and I think people are digesting, and I don’t think the uncertainty is totally unexpected, and it’s certainly understandable. But we think going forward that that begins to steady up a lot, and we move back and continue to be optimistic about the year.
Operator
Patrick Scholl, Barrington Research.
Patrick Scholl
Hi. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about the automated buying and how much that sort of contributes to the improving trend of the year to make up that difference in total advertising as a result of the political comp?
Robert Pittman
Yes, a really good question. I think it comes in in pieces. It’s a gradual movement. First step is we did it with smart audio, which is we have a suite of data enhancements that go with our audiences and building out cohorts. I think it’s, pretty significant, the number of advertisers today that use our data in some form or another, sort of the second phase of that is let’s put hands on keyboards instead of phone calls and traditional ways to buy advertising.
And the third is that in addition to but not replacing it, there’s also the programmatic advertising, which is built on the automated systems. And probably, we’ll get into some of the real-time bidding stuff as well. We have some marketplaces already up. We have the iHeart audience network up, which allows us to have a pretty broad array of options for advertisers and digital, and we are adding the broadcast radio options to that, which is for us the great opportunity.
I think that again I go back to probably the biggest upside we’ve got in terms of underappreciated asset or underutilized asset is broadcast radio inventory. I mean it’s got audience that know what it has and it has impact for advertisers. Again, that’s pretty remarkable.
Richard Bressler
And just to be fair, one point, we’re not assuming anything to Bob’s point, as we’ve gotten into the systems and learning. We’re not assuming any significant contribution this year from that, but obviously we’re incredibly excited about the TAMs that will enable us to take advantage of.
Patrick Scholl
Okay. And then on — you talked about January advertising being up, and I realized that was short-lived. What were some of the drivers of that turnaround from kind of maybe a slower than expected close to the year to at least a positive start?
Robert Pittman
It’s interesting we talked about that pause in advertising we saw before the election. We had thought and hoped it would be re-expressed in December; it wasn’t. I think there’s an argument that it was re-expressed in January. There was a little longer sales cycle on that, and you saw that sort of rush of optimism turning by. I think as reality set in in January, February, and saying, wait a minute, what are tariffs, inflation’s not completely gone, and other issues, I think people take a little bit of a step back.
And look, keeping in mind that if there’s ever a quarter in which advertisers feel confident and comfortable stepping back a little bit, it’s first quarter. It’s probably — of all four quarters, it’s the one that there’s least pressure to advertise.
Most people don’t. It’s the lowest advertising quarter of the year. So not totally unexpected, but hopefully what we’re seeing is a return to some comfort and stability and absorption and digestion of all the change.
Operator
Stephen Laszczyk, Goldman Sachs.
Stephen Laszczyk
Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. Two if I could, maybe first on podcasting for Bob and Rich. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about your expected drivers of growth in the podcasting business this year, perhaps between adding new content to the platform, improving engagement, monetization, what do you see as the main drivers or the largest drivers of that expected growth in podcasting revenue?
And then second, maybe just on political, I think it came in a little bit below what we had expected in the 2024 cycle. I was just curious if you talk a little bit about why that might have been the case and what do you think that means, if anything, for the next few rounds of political spending as we come up on the midterms and the next Presidential cycle? Thank you.
Robert Pittman
Sure. The drivers of podcasting are all of them. We’re in that fortunate phase of podcasting which everything is growing. We’re expanding the product on our platform. We’re expanding the audience. We’re expanding the value and the pricing. There’s expanding demand.
People are beginning to say, I’ve got to have podcasting. It’s sort of a must buy. So all of those are drivers now. And for us, I think probably see that at least continuing through this year and hopefully beyond that as well.
On political, I think, again looking, and I’ll let Rich talk to the specifics, but I think in political, I think the lesson here this year is that the political campaigns want a lot of that, and it’s probably more data driven than it’s ever been. And so when you say what’s the — what do we learned from this that we take forward to the mid-term and the Presidential year is that we have to up our game just like we are in programmatic and automated with the political sector as well. And it won’t surprise you to know we’re actually working on it right now even though the mid-terms don’t begin for a while to be ready for that and to absorb the lessons we learned.
Richard Bressler
Yeah. And by the way, the one thing I might just add is too, we did talk about it in Q3, the pause that happened with the change in the candidates and everything on the Democratic side, and again we covered that and do that at that time, but we thought there might be some more money coming in post the election, which didn’t materialize. But at the same time, why we didn’t quite get to the number that we thought, if you look at the performance of MPG, in Q4, we did have, overall 8% EBITDA growth in Q4 on relatively flat revenue. So the absolute performance was terrific.
Stephen Laszczyk
Got it. That’s great. Thank you both.
Richard Bressler
Well, operator, if there’s no other questions, we again appreciate everybody taking the time to listen, to spend the time to focus on the iHeart story. And the team is available, starting with Bob, myself, and Mike for any follow-ups. And thank you again.
Operator
This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
