Townsquare Media has released its financial results for the second quarter of 2020, reflecting the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Net revenue dropped 34.5 percent from $113.1 million a year ago to $74.1 million. Advertising net revenue decreased $34.3 million, or 37.5 percent, to $57.1 million. Townsquare Interactive net revenue was up 10.5 percent to $16.9 million in Q2, but its Live Events division’s net revenue decreased by 99.5 percent to just $0.03 million.
Bill Wilson, CEO of Townsquare Media, commented, “As expected, our second quarter financial results were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with net revenue and Adjusted EBITDA declining 34.5 percent and 93.1 percent, respectively, as compared to the prior year. However, 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. By the end of the second quarter, Advertising net revenue had materially improved, from -42.1 percent in April to -29.6 percent in June, and continued to show improvement through July and early August. In addition, in Q2 2020 our digital revenue exceeded 48 percent 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.”
Wilson added, “One of the things we take great pride in is that even with all of the challenges and unknowns during this pandemic, we have not had to alter our core strategy. Instead, the pandemic placed a spotlight on the need to double down on executing our existing long term strategy. We believe that our Local First strategy, together with our talented team and diversified and differentiated product offering, ensures that Townsquare will emerge from this crisis well positioned for the future, and will return to our market leading performance as soon as this crisis abates. Although a very tough Q2, we believe our revenue, profit and cash flow results will be among the best in the radio as well as in the local media industry, which is directly tied to the team’s efforts and perseverance during this pandemic, as well as our large percentage of digital revenue and a strong and growing digital marketing subscription business.”
