Entercom Communications reported a 54 percent decline in net revenue during the second quarter of 2020, with the drop attributed to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Net revenue was $175.9 million in Q2, compared to $380.7 million a year ago. Spot revenue declined 65 percent on a year-over-year basis while digital revenue rose 19 percent.
The company took an operating loss of $45.3 million in 2020’s second quarter, compared to operating income of $64.8 million in Q2 of 2019. Due to cutbacks, furloughs and layoffs, along with lower levels of ad spending, Entercom’s station expenses during the second quarter fell 32 percent to $188.9 million, compared to $277.9 million a year ago. Corporate expenses were down from $15.2 million in Q2 a year ago to $8.4 million.
Entercom President/CEO David J. Field stated, “While Entercom generated significant revenue and EBITDA growth prior to the pandemic, second quarter results reflect the impact of the national economic challenges that quickly emerged as many advertisers closed businesses and significantly reduced their ad spend. Given our national leadership position in sports, second quarter top-line results were also significantly impacted by the cancellation of virtually all scheduled sporting events during the quarter. Excluding the impact of cancelled sports play-by-play, second quarter revenues declined 47 percent. However, after bottoming out in April, we have achieved significant sequential improvement every month through the Summer with third quarter business on books already 30 percent greater than where the second quarter finished.”
“The pandemic challenges accelerated our on-going transformation initiatives with a heightened focus on enhancing our business model, accelerating our growth opportunities, more fully integrating our powerful product offerings, and improving our service to both listeners and customers. In this regard, we implemented a range of company-wide initiatives, which lowered second quarter total cash operating expense by approximately $97 million, which exceeded our budget. In addition, we secured our strong liquidity position through an amendment to our credit facility and ended the second quarter with $208 million of cash, up from $189 million at the end of March.”
“Looking ahead, as the country’s #1 creator of original, premium audio content with robust data, analytics and attribution capabilities, scaled audience reach and a leadership position in virtually every segment of the dynamic and growing audio market, including broadcasting, podcasting, digital, events, network, sports and news, Entercom is strategically well-positioned for future growth and performance. Improving revenue trends combined with enhancements to our business model and active management of our balance sheet will enable Entercom to emerge as an even stronger company and build meaningful shareholder value. I want to thank our team for their resilience, dedication, and exceptional work as they have gone above and beyond to serve our listeners, advertisers and communities under the most challenging of circumstances over the past several months.”
