Emmis Kicks Off Earnings With Good News

1-8-15

The company reported earnings for September, October, and November. Net revenue increased 6 percent in markets, Emmis says were down 1.6 percent in the Miller Kaplan report. Emmis also says it's pacing up mid-single digits for its fourth fiscal quarter.

Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan said, ?It is a credit to our employees that Emmis? stations again dramatically outperformed our markets, marking the 12th consecutive month of share gains. Power 106 in LA was up 18 percent in a flat market, and our New York cluster was up for the quarter and is now significantly outperforming the NY market. With an improving labor market and lower energy prices helping to put more money into the consumer?s hands, we are excited about the economic backdrop as we head into 2015.?

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Austin Kudos on the Emmis Earnings Call

1-9-2015

When Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan ran down the numbers during the Emmis Conference Call Thursday, Jeff sounded like he had a little pride in his voice when he mentioned Austin having a "very strong plus 7 market." Austin seems to be performing quite well for Emmis. Radio Ink reached out to Austin Emmis Market Manager Scott Gillmore for some insight into the good numbers coming out of Austin.

Even with the rapid decline in the oil market, Texas in general just keeps galloping along. Scott Gillmore, Emmis Austin Market Manager is bullish on the Austin economy, "The Austin economy is very healthy, with some of the lowest unemployment in Texas (a state that compares well nationally). In addition, tech, automotive, retail and service industries did very well in 2014 and should do about as well in 2015."

So what are Gillmore's radio colleagues saying about how the 2015 Austin economy is looking? Scott says, "The forecast in Austin is looking strong. Oil prices, while good for consumers, can hurt oil producing states like Texas, and that?s a concern in 2015. However, Austin?s economy is not energy heavy like some other cities in the state. Calendar Q1 is already off to a good start."

Keeping it local, it's an Austin buzz-phrase, and Gillmore seems to follow it in his business strategies. Scott says, "I think our cluster is doing well because we are so locally responsive to local listeners and advertisers. We have many great long-standing relationships with both listeners and advertisers." He also credits his staff, emphasizing the strength of the clusters "local strong personalities, strong local salespeople, local events, local mobile and digital content to engage the community." Notice that "local" word keeps popping up in the conversation. Scott goes on to say, "Our competitors in this market are pretty good too, and that?s good for radio and the community!   

Emmis Austin properties: news/talk KLBJ 590 AM/99.7-FM, rocker 93.7 KLBJ, alternative 101X, 103.5 Bob FM, hispanic 107.1 La Zeta and Latino 102.7, and AAA KGSR.

Changing gears, Gillmore was willing to weigh in on the recent Radio Ink story highlighting Station Security in the Age of Terrorism. Gillmore stated, "I think everyone has a heightened awareness of security these days and radio operators with news/talk stations or talk & personality based shows need to be even more vigilant. Emmis Austin Radio has made numerous efforts to improve safety and security in recent years. From simple things like increased outdoor lighting and better secured entrances, to video cameras, increased employee awareness and 24/7/365 building security, we always hope that we are doing a lot of work in this area that we?ll never need!"

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Nothing On Piolin During Univision Earnings Call

7-25-13

Not a word about the departure of Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo from the Univision Radio Network on the company earnings call Thursday. And, not a single analyst cared enough to even ask about him. That's not too surprising being that Univision is a television company first. TV revenue for Univision in the second quarter was $565.8 up from $508 million. Radio revenue was $89.7 million for the quarter which was flat compared to Q2 of 2012.

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Radio Earnings Season is Upon Us

10-24-2012

There was a certain expectation that 2012 would be a turnaround year for radio, following an anemic 2011. Even though political advertising is a once-every-four-year shot in the revenue arm, it was coming at the right time. The economy was stabilizing, automotive sales have been strong and a completed election would mean stability in the eye of the consumer. Well, so far political advertising doesn't seem to be coming to radio as much as anticipated and overall revenue growth so far in 2012 hasn't been anything to write home about. Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker says, "trends have been somewhat disappointing."

Ryvicker says she expects to hear a "muted tone" from radio CEO's when they report 3rd quarter earnings, starting with David Field's Entercom Friday at 10AM. "We do think a lot of the weakness is macro-related -- recall that radio has the shortest term contracts of all traditional media; therefore, top line growth tends to ebb and flow muchmoreso than what we see in both broadcast TV and outdoor. As a result of the cautious commentary we heard during our checks, we reduced our revenue growth assumption for ETM, to +2.4% from +5.4%, which suggests a ?core? of -1.5% (although if we were to include KBLX, our ?core? moves to +0.6%) and political of roughly $2MM."

She also believes the upcoming earnings calls will focus on the following points:
? Core ad trends for Q4 and potentially for 2013 (although it is still early, especially for radio);
? M&A ? especially post CBS? recent acquisition of 101.9 FM in New York from Merlin Media for $75MM
(SNL puts this sale at an $4.51 per pop) to simulcast its WFAN 660AM sports station;
? The state of the ?sports network? landscape post CBS and CMLS? decision to create and syndicate ?CBS
Sports Radio?, which is expected to launch on January 2, 2013.
? The potential for shareholder returns;
? Competition ? from new media as well as other local advertising categories;
? The impact of lower radio royalties (ASCAP and BMI) specifically on operating expense;
? The potential for groups to join Clear Channel and ETM in signing with Nashville label Big Machine for
both terrestrial and streaming performance royalties; and
? An update on the state of the iHeartRadio platform, now that it boasts over 1,500 live stations from 150
cities.

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Touting Mobile Facebook Nails Earnings

10-24-2012

Facebook reported revenue of $1.26 billion in the third quarter, an increase of 32% over the same period last year. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "I believe that over the long run we're going to see more monetization for time spent on mobile than on desktop. On mobile, we believe ads will be more like TV." Mobile  only accounts for 14% of total Facebook ad revenue, which only rolled out mobile ad products in March. Facebook has 604 million mobile monthly active users, up from 543 million three months ago

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Wall Street Rewards Pandora for Q2 Earnings

8-30-2012

Pandora jumped 14% on Thursday after the company reported huge Q2 revenue gains, especially in the mobile space. Some of the stock gain came from shorts (investors betting the stock would decline) who got squeezed when earnings came in better than expected. Pandora lost over $5 Million in the second quarter but apparently that number was better than expected and investors felt reassured after hearing from CEO Joe Kennedy.

The company expects revenue to be about $115 million in the third quarter, hoping to break even in that quarter. Several analysts upgraded Pandora which may have also helped push the stock higher. On the Pandora conference call Wednesday one analyst even questioned if Pandora was spending enough to keep up with its growth. He indicated he might like to see more money spent on salespeople, which the company is deploying in major markets, to help speed up the growth.

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Emmis to Report Earnings Thursday.

7-10-2012
We'll get our first look at how second quarter revenue looks when Emmis reports earnings for the months of April, May and June this Thursday at 9AM Eastern. Emmis Chairman/Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smulyan and Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer Patrick Walsh will host the call. In the first quarter of the year, Emmis revenue was down 3%.

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