Cumulus Media Inc (CMLS) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Cumulus Media Quarterly Earnings Conference Call. I'll now turn the call over to Collin Jones, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Development and President of Westwood One. Sir, you may proceed.

歡迎參加 Cumulus Media 季度財報電話會議。現在我將把電話轉給策略與發展執行副總裁兼 Westwood One 總裁 Collin Jones。先生，您可以繼續了。

Thank you, operator. Welcome, everyone, to our second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. I'm joined today by our President and CEO, Mary Berner; and our CFO, Frank Lopez-Balboa.

謝謝你，接線生。歡迎大家參加我們的 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。今天我們的總裁兼執行長瑪麗·伯納 (Mary Berner) 也加入了我的行列。以及我們的財務長弗蘭克·洛佩茲-巴爾博亞。

Before we start, please note that certain statements in today's press release and discussed on this call may constitute forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. Actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied in forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current assessments and assumptions, and they are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties as discussed in our filings with the SEC.

在我們開始之前，請注意，今天的新聞稿中以及本次電話會議中討論的某些陳述可能構成聯邦證券法規定的前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果有重大差異。這些陳述是基於管理層目前的評估和假設，並且受到我們向 SEC 提交的文件中討論的許多風險和不確定性的影響。

In addition, we will also use certain non-GAAP financial measures. We believe the supplementary information is useful to investors, although it should not be considered superior to the measures presented in accordance with GAAP. A full description of these risks as well as financial reconciliations to non-GAAP terms are in our press release and SEC filings. The press release can be found in the Investor Relations portion of our website, and our Form 10-Q was also filed with the SEC shortly before this call. A recording of today's call will be available for about a month via a link in the Investors portion of our website.

此外，我們也將使用某些非公認會計準則財務指標。我們認為，補充資訊對投資者有用，但不應被視為優於根據公認會計原則提出的措施。我們的新聞稿和 SEC 文件中包含這些風險的完整描述以及與非 GAAP 條款的財務調整。新聞稿可以在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到，我們的 10-Q 表格也在本次電話會議前不久向 SEC 提交。今天的電話會議錄音將透過我們網站投資者部分的連結提供大約一個月的時間。

Now with that, I'll turn it over to our President and CEO, Mary Berner. Mary?

現在，我將把它交給我們的總裁兼執行長瑪麗·伯納。瑪麗？

Thanks, Collin, and good morning, everyone. As anticipated during our last earnings call, the second quarter advertising environment continued to be challenging. Consistent with the pacing guidance we provided, Q2 revenue finished 2.5% below last year.

謝謝，科林，大家早安。正如我們在上次財報電話會議中所預期的那樣，第二季的廣告環境仍然充滿挑戰。與我們提供的節奏指引一致，第二季營收比去年下降了 2.5%。

However, our unrelenting focus on areas of the business that are in our control, helped us mitigate the impact of soft demand to deliver $25.2 million of EBITDA and excluding costs related to the exchange offer, generated $8.3 million of cash from operations.

然而，我們對自己控制的業務領域的不懈關注，幫助我們減輕了需求疲軟的影響，實現了 2520 萬美元的 EBITDA，排除與交換要約相關的成本，從營運中產生了 830 萬美元的現金。

We also made meaningful progress in key priority areas during the quarter, specifically, toward our goal of driving outsized growth from digital revenue streams. We grew revenue in our strategically critical digital marketing services, or DMS business by 24%. In the area of expense management, we reduced fixed costs by $4 million, further improving our operating leverage.

本季我們在關鍵優先領域也取得了有意義的進展，特別是在實現推動數位收入流大幅成長的目標方面。我們的策略關鍵數位行銷服務（即 DMS 業務）收入成長了 24%。在費用管理方面，我們減少了 400 萬美元的固定成本，進一步提高了我們的營運槓桿。

And with respect to fortifying our balance sheet, we completed the previously announced exchange offer and ABL upsizing actions that importantly extended our maturities to 2029 at attractive terms, and we bought back a small portion of our sub debt, which expires in 2026.

在強化我們的資產負債表方面，我們完成了先前宣布的交換要約和ABL 擴容行動，重要的是以有吸引力的條款將我們的到期日延長至2029 年，並且我們回購了一小部分將於2026 年到期的次級債務。

Starting with revenue, in aggregate, our digital businesses, which now accounts for 19% of our total revenue continued to grow, increasing 5% year-over-year. Digital marketing services again led the way with strong growth driven in part by the investments that we've been making to expand our digital sales force and accelerate the rollout of Cumulus Boost, our portfolio of digital presence products.

從整體收入開始，我們的數位業務目前占我們總收入的 19%，持續成長，年增 5%。數位行銷服務再次引領強勁成長，部分原因是我們一直在擴大數位銷售團隊並加速推出我們的數位呈現產品組合 Cumulus Boost。

That growth on the heel of similar increase this last quarter also reflects our focus on creating integrated audio and digital marketing solutions that provide impressive results for our clients. On average, our campaigns outperform industry benchmarks by more than 25% across 15 key business categories.

繼上季類似成長後的成長也反映出我們專注於創建整合式音訊和數位行銷解決方案，為我們的客戶提供令人印象深刻的成果。平均而言，我們的行銷活動在 15 個關鍵業務類別中的表現比行業基準高出 25% 以上。

Our differentiated go-to-market strategy centered on sales reps fully embedded in their communities is another key contributor to our success. Having feet on the street allows us to understand and capitalize on the unique set of circumstances that individual customers face.

我們以銷售代表完全融入其社區為中心的差異化進入市場策略是我們成功的另一個關鍵因素。立足街頭使我們能夠了解並利用個別客戶所面臨的獨特情況。

For example, in Kansas City, our local DMS team recognized that a local specialty grocery chain was under siege each from new stores opened by a couple of large national brands. The team created and launched an integrated audio and digital campaign that targeted the competitor's shoppers within a five-mile radius that the stores using special pricing and brand messaging.

例如，在堪薩斯城，我們當地的 DMS 團隊意識到，當地的一家特色雜貨連鎖店正受到幾個全國性大品牌開設的新店的圍攻。該團隊創建並推出了一項整合的音訊和數位行銷活動，針對商店五英里半徑內的競爭對手的購物者，使用特殊的定價和品牌訊息。

Only two weeks in, the campaign has massively exceeded the clients targeted metrics and better yet has generated sales increases of as much as 7% in the stores owned by a very happy new Cumulus clients. Our ability to integrate this type of local insight into DMS campaigns across all markets, all of our markets is a significant advantage for us against competitors who are trying to sell from an out-of-market location. We are also benefiting from our ability to expand our relationship with existing radio-only clients to add DMS to their buys. Versus Q2 last year, we have increased the number of legacy radio clients who now purchased DMS from us by 25%.

僅兩週後，該活動就大大超出了客戶的目標指標，更出色的是，Cumulus 的新客戶非常高興，他們所擁有的商店的銷售額增長了 7%。我們能夠將這種類型的本地洞察整合到所有市場的 DMS 行銷活動中，這對於我們對抗那些試圖從市場外地點進行銷售的競爭對手來說是一個顯著的優勢。我們還能夠擴大與現有純廣播客戶的關係，將 DMS 添加到他們的購買中，從而使我們受益匪淺。與去年第二季相比，現在從我們這裡購買 DMS 的傳統無線電客戶數量增加了 25%。

Overall, the results of our approach are evident. Our customer count is growing, up 20% year-over-year. We're seeing highs in customer retention, a 9% improvement year-over-year, an average digital campaign order size for customers growing as well, up 3%.

總的來說，我們的方法的結果是顯而易見的。我們的客戶數量不斷增長，年增 20%。我們看到客戶保留率達到了很高水平，年比提高了 9%，客戶的平均數位活動訂單規模也在增長，增長了 3%。

Most importantly, given our strong set of products, feet on the street sales capabilities, industry-leading campaign performance and proven success at both developing new customers and converting radio-only customers to DMS plus radio, our upside continues to be tremendous.

最重要的是，鑑於我們強大的產品組合、街頭銷售能力、行業領先的活動績效以及在開發新客戶和將純廣播客戶轉換為 DMS 加廣播方面取得的成功，我們的優勢仍然是巨大的。

Turning to our other digital revenue streams, podcasting revenue increased in the quarter representing the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth while streaming revenue declined, reflecting the previously mentioned expiration of a fixed rate sales contract. Despite that, because we are able to better manage and optimize the monetization of our streaming impressions, which we've grown 25%, we remain confident that taking back sales responsibility for our station streaming inventory as a smart long-term move.

轉向我們的其他數位收入來源，播客收入在本季度增長，代表連續第四個季度同比增長，而串流媒體收入下降，反映出前面提到的固定費率銷售合約到期。儘管如此，由於我們能夠更好地管理和優化串流展示次數的貨幣化（我們的串流展示次數增加了25%），因此我們仍然有信心收回電台串流媒體庫存的銷售責任，這是明智的長期舉措。

On the broadcast radio front, our national broadcast advertising businesses, which consists of national spot and network revenue streams together make up approximately 50% of our total annual broadcast revenue. While the national ad environment remains challenging overall, we did experience areas of improvement with positive national trends across a number of categories, including insurance, retail and telecom. Additionally, advertiser demand for live sports continues to be very strong. For example, revenue for the NCAA men's and women's basketball championships both grew during the quarter with the latter reaching all-time revenue highs.

在廣播電台方面，我們的全國廣播廣告業務（包括全國性插播和網路收入流）合計約占我們年度廣播總收入的 50%。雖然全國廣告環境總體上仍然充滿挑戰，但我們確實在保險、零售和電信等多個類別中經歷了積極的全國趨勢，並取得了一些改進。此外，廣告商對體育直播的需求仍然非常強勁。例如，NCAA 男子籃球錦標賽和女子籃球錦標賽的收入在本季均有所增長，其中後者創下了歷史收入新高。

Further, we saw significant interest in our syndicated update covering the summer games in Paris with strong pre-bookings. In fact, we are on pace to deliver triple the revenue we did from the games two years ago. However, other categories such as financial services, recruiting and home improvement remain depressed with advertisers citing the difficult macro and interest rate environment and significant obstacles to their spending. We remain hopeful that we will see their budgets improve once rates begin to decrease. But for now, the national advertising outlook remain uncertain.

此外，我們發現人們對我們涵蓋巴黎夏季奧運會的聯合更新表現出了濃厚的興趣，預訂量也很大。事實上，我們正​​在努力實現兩年前遊戲收入的三倍。然而，金融服務、招聘和家居裝修等其他類別仍然低迷，廣告商稱宏觀和利率環境困難以及支出面臨重大障礙。我們仍然希望，一旦費率開始下降，我們將看到他們的預算有所改善。但目前，全國廣告前景仍不確定。

With respect to local spot, year-over-year revenue performance was similar to Q1, down 4%. High interest rates continue to be a factor with both auto dealers, our second largest mobile ad category and the financial category, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers suffering from low consumer demand, causing them to pull back further on their ad spend from the declines we’ve already seen in the first quarter.

就本地現貨而言，年收入表現與第一季相似，下降 4%。高利率仍然是汽車經銷商、我們第二大行動廣告類別和金融類別的因素，其中包括銀行、信用合作社和抵押貸款經紀人，它們受到消費者需求低迷的影響，導致他們進一步削減廣告支出。我們在第一季就已經看到了下降。

Notably, we’ve been able to offset some of the declines in these categories by generating significant local spot revenue growth from clients who have customers in multiple markets. We started focusing its customer category several years ago and have now developed considerable expertise in creating and executing multiple multi-platform, multimarket campaigns to serve clients across all their locations. This product, which we call the on home market, has delivered excellent results with Q2 multimarket local broadcast revenue up 65% year-over-year.

值得注意的是，我們已經能夠透過在多個市場擁有客戶的客戶實現顯著的本地現貨收入成長來抵消這些類別的部分下降。幾年前，我們開始關注其客戶類別，現在在創建和執行多個多平台、多市場活動方面積累了豐富的專業知識，為所有地點的客戶提供服務。該產品（我們稱之為本地市場）取得了優異的業績，第二季多市場本地廣播收入較去年同期成長 65%。

Looking ahead, Q3 revenue is currently pacing down slightly, but our conversations with advertisers continue to be focused on when, not if, they're going to return to more typical spending levels. Of note, the current pacing includes only the political that's on the books at this point in time. With the change in the Democratic presidential candidates and to the extent that certain states become more highly contested than previously expected, we may see some upside given our footprint in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona.

展望未來，第三季的收入目前略有下降，但我們與廣告商的對話繼續關注他們何時而不是是否會恢復到更典型的支出水平。值得注意的是，目前的節奏僅包括目前記錄在案的政治內容。隨著民主黨總統候選人的變化，以及某些州的競爭比之前預期的更加激烈，考慮到我們在賓夕法尼亞州、威斯康星州、喬治亞州和亞利桑那州等戰場州的足跡，我們可能會看到一些上行空間。

Moving to expenses, as always, we are highly focused on cost reductions. I noted earlier, our Q2 fixed cost reduction of $4 million, which brings our year-to-date total to $8 million on top of the $120 million of fixed costs that we've taken out from 2019 through the end of 2023, these reductions significantly improved the company's operating leverage. This will drive EBITDA growth when ad demand picks up. They also helped to offset investments in our digital businesses, where we have been expanding our sales force to target the expansive DMS growth opportunity.

談到費用，我們一如既往地高度關注降低成本。我先前指出，我們第二季的固定成本減少了 400 萬美元，這使得我們從 2019 年到 2023 年底扣除的 1.2 億美元固定成本加上今年迄今的總成本達到 800 萬美元。提高。當廣告需求回升時，這將推動 EBITDA 成長。它們還幫助抵消了我們對數位業務的投資，我們一直在擴大我們的銷售隊伍，以瞄準 DMS 廣闊的成長機會。

Notably, in Q2, we increased our digital sales force for the sixth consecutive quarter, and we expect to continue growing this part of the organization. We are similarly disciplined on capital allocation. As a reminder, since our 2018 emergence from bankruptcy, we have prioritized organic growth, including in our digital businesses, leveraging the assets that we already have in place and third-party partnerships to fuel expansion.

值得注意的是，在第二季度，我們連續第六個季度增加了數位銷售隊伍，我們預計將繼續擴大組織的這一部分。我們在資本配置方面也遵循類似的紀律。提醒一下，自 2018 年擺脫破產以來，我們優先考慮有機成長，包括數位業務，利用我們已有的資產和第三方合作夥伴關係來推動擴張。

What we didn't do is make highly, dilutive acquisitions, uneconomic podcast deals and technology investments with no clear path to return on that investment. Instead, we walked away from many transactions that would boost profit less revenue in favor of a focus on earnings and cash generation metrics.

我們沒有做的是進行高額、稀釋性的收購、不經濟的播客交易和沒有明確投資回報途徑的技術投資。相反，我們放棄了許多可以提高利潤減去收入的交易，轉而專注於收益和現金產生指標。

To that point, our post-pandemic EBITDA recovery, free cash flow generation and gross debt paydown, have all been best among peers. We maintained these performance trends in the second quarter as we generated positive operating cash flow adjusting for the transaction costs related to the exchange, while also paying down a small portion of our remaining sub debt that's due in 2026.

到目前為止，我們的疫情後 EBITDA 復甦、自由現金流產生和總債務償還都在同業中名列前茅。我們在第二季度保持了這些業績趨勢，因為我們根據與交易所相關的交易成本進行了調整，產生了正的營運現金流，同時還償還了 2026 年到期的一小部分剩餘次級債務。

As a reminder to investors, given the current leverage levels, our capital allocation priority will be to continue debt reduction.

提醒投資者，鑑於目前的槓桿水平，我們的資本配置重點將是繼續減債。

Before turning it over to Frank, I want to reemphasize the importance of the financial flexibility and extended runway that we created. Since we emerged from bankruptcy, we reduced gross debt by approximately 50% which put us in the position to successfully negotiate a refinancing of our capital structure, extend our debt maturities to 2029 on favorable terms and most crucially, increased the time we have to push through the economic choppiness and realize the value that we believe is inherent in the company.

在將其交給弗蘭克之前，我想再次強調我們創建的財務靈活性和擴展跑道的重要性。自從我們擺脫破產保護以來，我們的總債務減少了約50%，這使我們能夠成功談判資本結構的再融資，以優惠的條件將債務期限延長至2029 年，最重要的是，增加了我們推動債務償還期限的時間。

Cumulus has a strong set of assets, including a vast national platform that can reach audiences whenever and wherever they choose to listen, extensive feet on the ground – feet on the street local sales capabilities, which allow us to walk products through the door in over 80 markets, premium programming across all genres, with particularly exclusive assets in sports and news shock space. Profitable and growing digital businesses, and audio library filled with many millions of hours of relevance engaging and entertaining clients – entertaining content and a team with a strong track record of expense management and disciplined stewardship of capital.

Cumulus 擁有強大的資產，包括龐大的全國性平台，可以隨時隨地接觸受眾，廣泛的腳踏實地 – 腳踏實地的本地銷售能力，使我們能夠將產品帶入市場在80 多個市場，涵蓋所有類型的優質節目，尤其是體育和新聞震撼領域的獨家資產。獲利且不斷成長的數位業務，以及充滿數百萬小時相關內容、吸引和娛樂客戶的音訊庫——娛樂內容以及在費用管理和嚴格的資本管理方面擁有良好記錄的團隊。

As we continue to execute against a tight set of priorities, we see many paths for maximizing the value of these assets on behalf of our shareholders. Courtesy of the time afforded by our recent refinancing, we have the breathing room to explore all these paths despite an economic backdrop, which remains a challenge for now.

當我們繼續執行一系列嚴格的優先事項時，我們看到了代表股東實現這些資產價值最大化的多種途徑。由於我們最近的再融資提供了時間，儘管經濟背景目前仍然是一個挑戰，但我們有喘息的空間來探索所有這些路徑。

With that, I will turn the call over to Frank. Frank?

這樣，我就把電話轉給弗蘭克。坦率？

Thank you, Mary.

謝謝你，瑪麗。

Q2 revenue was $205 million, down 2.5% year-over-year, consistent with the pace in guidance from our last call, while EBITDA was $25.2 million.

第二季營收為 2.05 億美元，年減 2.5%，與我們上次電話會議指導的速度一致，而 EBITDA 為 2,520 萬美元。

As Mary mentioned, our DMS business continued to be our highest growth area with an increase of 24%, driven by more new customers, improved customer retention and higher average campaign order size. From a category perspective, insurance, retail and telecom were our top-performing key national categories, while our weakest were financial services, recruiting and home improvement.

正如 Mary 所提到的，我們的 DMS 業務仍然是我們成長最快的領域，成長了 24%，這得益於更多新客戶、客戶保留率的提高和平均活動訂單規模的提高。從品類來看，保險、零售和電信是表現最好的全國重點品類，而表現最弱的是金融服務、招募和家居裝修。

In local spot, home products, travel, and auto supplies were our best-performing categories while financial, auto, entertainment lagged. We generated $1.9 million of political revenue in the second quarter, versus $1.2 million in the same period of 2020. Total expenses in the quarter were essentially flat year-over-year, which included higher variable expense associated with growth of our DMS business. It should be noted in Q2 2023 expenses benefited from a $2 million one-time reduction from an acquisition related to earn-out.

本地現貨方面，家居、旅遊、汽車用品是表現最好的類別，金融、汽車、娛樂表現較差。第二季我們產生了 190 萬美元的政治收入，而 2020 年同期為 120 萬美元。本季的總費用與去年同期基本持平，其中包括與 DMS 業務成長相關的較高變動費用。值得注意的是，2023 年第二季的費用受益於與獲利相關的收購一次性減少 200 萬美元。

Excluding that impact, year-over-year expenses decreased by approximately $2 million, reflecting the benefits of our ongoing fixed cost reduction initiatives. As Mary mentioned, we achieved $4 million of fixed cost reductions during the quarter and $8 million year-to-date. And we continue to focus on disciplined cost actions to improve operating leverage, which will benefit EBITDA when the advertising environment recovers.

排除此影響，費用年減約 200 萬美元，反映了我們正在進行的固定成本削減措施的好處。正如 Mary 所提到的，我們在本季實現了 400 萬美元的固定成本削減，今年迄今實現了 800 萬美元的削減。我們繼續專注於嚴格的成本行動，以提高營運槓桿，這將在廣告環境復甦時有利於 EBITDA。

Turning to the balance sheet. We finished the quarter with $53.5 million of cash. Excluding $16 million of costs related to the exchange offer, we generated $8 million of cash from operations. We repurchased $0.5 million of sub debt that matures in 2026, leaving a principal balance of approximately $24 million.

轉向資產負債表。本季結束時，我們的現金為 5,350 萬美元。除去與交換要約相關的 1,600 萬美元成本，我們從營運中獲得了 800 萬美元的現金。我們回購了 2026 年到期的 50 萬美元次級債務，本金餘額約為 2,400 萬美元。

As a reminder, with the completion of our exchange offer, we extended maturities to 2029, reduced the principal amount of debt outstanding at maturity by approximately $33 million, secured attractive interest rates, maintain covenant like terms and increased our ABL facility availability by 25%.

提醒一下，隨著交換要約的完成，我們將到期日延長至2029 年，將到期未償債務本金減少約3300 萬美元，獲得有吸引力的利率，維持類似契約的條款，並將ABL 融資可用性提高了25% 。

Since the transaction was not deemed an extinguishment of debt for accounting purposes, the principal reduction of $33 million was not immediately reflected on the balance sheet that will be amortized through the term of the debt.

由於出於會計目的，該交易並未被視為債務清償，因此 3300 萬美元的本金減少並未立即反映在資產負債表上，該資產負債表將透過債務期限進行攤銷。

As such, this amortized – unamortized discount, which can be found in the footnotes of our 10-Q will need to be excluded to arrive at the amount of debt owed. Taking up this discount, our debt owed at maturity is $642 million.

因此，需要排除這個攤銷 - 未攤銷折扣（可以在我們的 10-Q 的腳註中找到）才能得出所欠債務金額。考慮到這項折扣，我們的到期債務為 6.42 億美元。

Looking ahead, as Mary said, our capital allocation priority is to pay down debt. In addition, we are reducing our CapEx guidance for the year to $25 million from $30 million. And lastly, we do not expect to pay a material amount of taxes this year.

展望未來，正如瑪麗所說，我們的資本配置優先事項是償還債務。此外，我們還將今年的資本支出指引從 3,000 萬美元下調至 2,500 萬美元。最後，我們預計今年不會繳納大量稅金。

Turning to the third quarter. While some parts of the advertising environment are improving, there’s still considerable uncertainty in the macro environment, which is causing many advertisers to hold back spending. As a result, total company revenue is currently pacing down slightly. As a reminder, in the last presidential election, we generated $5.8 million of political revenue in the third quarter, which benefited from two contentious Senate races in Georgia.

轉向第三季。雖然部分廣告環境​​正在改善，但宏觀環境仍存在相當大的不確定性，這導致許多廣告商抑制支出。因此，公司總收入目前略有下降。提醒一下，在上次總統選舉中，我們在第三季創造了 580 萬美元的政治收入，這得益於喬治亞州兩場有爭議的參議院競選。

With that, we can now open the line for questions. Operator?

這樣，我們現在就可以打開提問專線了。操作員？

Thank you. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。（操作員說明）

Michael Kupinski with Noble Capital Markets

邁克爾·庫平斯基 (Michael Kupinski) 與 Noble Capital Markets

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. A couple of questions here. Regarding political, let’s start there in the second quarter, it seems like it was a little lower than kind of past cycles, and I was wondering if what your thoughts are about political to the balance of the year? Especially now that we see Harris on the race, does that improve the political outlook? And if you can give us your color on political?

謝謝。大家早安。這裡有幾個問題。關於政治，讓我們從第二季開始，似乎比過去的周期要低一些，我想知道您對今年剩餘時間的政治有何看法？特別是現在我們看到哈里斯參選，這是否會改善政治前景？您能告訴我們您對政治的看法嗎？

Yes. Good morning, Michael, I’ll take that. Our second quarter political compared to 2020 was actually higher. And I mentioned that in the script, it was about $700,000 higher, so $1.9 million versus $1.2 million. And the biggest driver there were stacks – I’m sorry, packs that came in on the Republican Party side. But having said that, it was still a pretty low quarter.

是的。早安，邁克爾，我會接受的。與 2020 年相比，我們第二季度的政治實際上更高。我在劇本中提到，它比 120 萬美元高出約 70 萬美元，因此是 190 萬美元。最大的推動力是籌碼——對不起，是共和黨方面的籌碼。但話雖如此，這仍然是一個相當低的季度。

With regards to the balance of the year, spend – political spending did take a little bit of a positive in the quarter, given the uncertainty and all the noise around the Democratic candidate all signs were here, particularly as races appear to be more competitive, that the dollars will be fairly significant.

就今年的剩餘時間而言，考慮到民主黨候選人的不確定性和所有跡象，特別是在競選似乎更加激烈的情況下，政治支出在本季度確實取得了一些積極的成果。將相當可觀。

Having said that, and I mentioned this in our prepared remarks, we did benefit from two Georgia Senate races, which are not occurring this year. And also as a reminder, most of the money that we get in political is really not in the presidential side, but down ballot.

話雖如此，我在準備好的發言中也提到了這一點，我們確實從喬治亞州的兩場參議院競選中受益，而今年沒有發生這些競選。另外提醒一下，我們在政治上獲得的大部分資金實際上不是在總統方面，而是在選票上。

Great. Thanks, Frank. On the network business, I was just wondering, typically, like as we get to the prospect of lower interest rate side, it seems like the network business typically in the past has always kind of start to show some significant improvement. It was just you seem like you – the trends appear, I guess that the – you might see some improvement but you’re still cautious. I was just wondering if you can kind of set the stage for what your expectations might be on the network business in the face of the cost that we’re seeing on lower interest rates?

偉大的。謝謝，弗蘭克。關於網路業務，我只是想知道，通常，就像我們談到較低利率的前景一樣，過去的網路業務似乎總是開始表現出一些重大改善。只是你看起來像你——趨勢出現了，我猜——你可能會看到一些進步，但你仍然很謹慎。我只是想知道，面對我們看到的較低利率帶來的成本，您是否可以為您對網路業務的期望做好準備？

That’s a good question. So on the network, let me talk about the network first in the second quarter. The network in the second quarter was lower than the first quarter, and we talked about some of that was due to the timing of March Madness.

這是個好問題。那麼網路方面，我先講第二季的網路。第二季度的網路狀況低於第一季度，我們談到其中部分原因是瘋狂三月的時間安排。

And as Mary mentioned in her prepared remarks with regard to demand for sports, the network will be much better performance in the third quarter, driven by sports. Now having said that, to your question, there’s no question that the higher interest rate is holding back spending. There’s a big question at this point, and we’ve seen this in other companies releasing earnings recently, whether or not rates coming lower is going to be accompanied with weaker consumer demand, which is something that we have to deal with in terms of the macro environment. Having said that, we do expect when rates come down in the past recreates itself in the future that, that should bode well for all advertising demand, including the network.

正如瑪麗在她準備的關於體育需求的演講中提到的，在體育的推動下，第三季度網絡的表現將好得多。話雖如此，對於你的問題，毫無疑問，較高的利率正在抑制支出。目前存在一個大問題，我們在其他公司最近發布的財報中也看到了這一點，即利率下降是否會伴隨著消費者需求的疲軟，這是我們必須應對的問題從宏觀環境來看。話雖如此，我們確實預計，當過去的費率下降在未來重新出現時，這對包括網路在內的所有廣告需求來說都是好兆頭。

And Frank, does that include the podcast business as well, because I know that’s kind of tied to the national advertising outlook. Can you kind of just give us some thoughts there?

弗蘭克，這也包括播客業務嗎，因為我知道這與全國廣告前景有關。您能給我們一些想法嗎？

Yes, I can answer that. Yes, I think that's just – that you could assume the same thing for the podcast business. We've had – we said in the last quarter, we had seen a nice clip of listenership growth. And so what follows, of course, is advertising growth. We also – so we've seen is a much stronger execution on our part to capitalize on the growth and we've seen huge surges from key shows that we have. They tend to be more tied to the direct spot category, but – which has been soft for all the same reasons. But we're – because of the significant listenership growth where we anticipate we’ll continue to grow that business.

是的，我可以回答。是的，我認為這只是——你可以對播客業務做出同樣的假設。我們已經——我們在上個季度說過，我們看到了聽眾人數增長的一個很好的片段。當然，隨之而來的是廣告成長。我們也看到，我們的執行力要強得多，以利用成長，我們已經看到我們的主要展會的巨大成長。它們往往與直接現貨類別更相關，但由於相同的原因，直接現貨類別一直處於疲軟狀態。但我們——由於聽眾數量的顯著增長，我們預計我們將繼續發展該業務。

Thank you. My final question. I know that you always look cost reductions and so forth. And I was just wondering, you already had some fixed cost reductions in the last quarter. I was wondering if you have identified any additional fixed cost reductions that we might see in the third quarter or for the second half of this year?

謝謝。我的最後一個問題。我知道您總是希望降低成本等等。我只是想知道，上個季度你們已經削減了一些固定成本。我想知道您是否已經確定我們可能在今年第三季或下半年看到任何額外的固定成本削減？

Mike, consistent with what we've said in the past, we wake up every morning trying to figure out how to generate revenues and be more efficient from the business. And each quarter gets tougher to reduce fixed costs, but we find a way to do it. And so at this point, I'm not going to – we can't give you guidance on what that's going to be in the third quarter, but that's part of our DNA. And we'll continue to do that not only in the third quarter, but as we look for the rest of the year and going into next year.

麥克，正如我們過去所說的那樣，我們每天早上醒來都想弄清楚如何創造收入並提高業務效率。每個季度降低固定成本都變得更加困難，但我們找到了一種方法來做到這一點。因此，在這一點上，我不會——我們無法為您提供第三季度的指導，但這是我們 DNA 的一部分。我們不僅會在第三季繼續這樣做，而且還會在今年剩餘時間和明年繼續這樣做。

Yes. And I would add that we continue to look at – yes, yes, and I would just add that we continue to look at on a regular basis, real estate cost and contract costs, we see improved functions through technology, better process, et cetera. So as Frank said, we wake up and we think about cost reduction.

是的。我想補充一點，我們會繼續關注——是的，是的，我只想補充一點，我們會繼續定期關注房地產成本和合約成本，我們看到透過技術、更好的流程改進了功能，等等。正如弗蘭克所說，我們醒來並考慮降低成本。

Thanks, Mary, and thanks for the color. That's all I have. Good luck, guys.

謝謝瑪麗，謝謝你的顏色。這就是我所擁有的一切。祝你好運，夥計們。

Patrick Sholl with Barrington Research

派崔克‧肖爾（Patrick Sholl）與巴林頓研究公司

Good morning. I just had a question about the – on the digital segment. You talked about streaming revenue being down. I was just wondering if you could maybe talk about some of the challenges that you had in monetizing? I think you said that there was a pressure in growth. I was kind of wondering how – what sort of investments do you guys need to make in order to improve that monetization side?

早安.我剛剛有一個關於數字部分的 – 的問題。您談到串流媒體收入下降。我只是想知道您是否可以談談您在貨幣化方面遇到的一些挑戰？我想你說的是成長有壓力。我有點想知道──你們需要進行什麼樣的投資才能改善貨幣化方面？

Yes. I can answer that. As we said in the prepared remarks, in 2023, we benefited from a favorable third-party fixed rate ad sales contract for a portion of our radio streaming – station streaming inventory. So essentially, what that means is we were outsourcing the monetization because of that inventory because we didn't historically have the capabilities to do it ourselves. We now have those capabilities. So the contract expire. And so what that will do is it will affect our streaming growth rate in the short term. We do not expect that to continue.

是的。我可以回答這個問題。正如我們在準備好的評論中所說，2023 年，我們的部分廣播電台串流庫存受益於有利的第三方固定費率廣告銷售合約。從本質上講，這意味著我們由於庫存而將貨幣化外包，因為我們歷史上沒有能力自己完成這件事。我們現在擁有這些能力。所以合約到期了。因此，這將在短期內影響我們的串流成長率。我們預計這種情況不會持續下去。

Taking back our spatial streaming inventory was the smart move strategically and it will be financially, because we wanted to be able to control our inventory and how it is sold and consumed. And then also controlling it directly in the national marketplace is significant strategic advantages because we're able to bring our broadcast streaming inventory to market together. So it's a much more seamless experience for advertisers and for agencies. So I think as we grow impressions, we're going to lap that contract and you'll see some growth.

收回我們的空間流庫存是戰略上和財務上的明智之舉，因為我們希望能夠控制我們的庫存及其銷售和消費方式。然後，直接在全國市場上控制它也是重大的戰略優勢，因為我們能夠將我們的廣播串流媒體庫存一起推向市場。因此，對於廣告商和代理商來說，這是一種更無縫的體驗。所以我認為，隨著我們印象的增長，我們將履行合同，你會看到一些增長。

Okay. And then on your digital marketing services business. I was just wondering if there were any specific verticals that you view as really key to your sales efforts and like any investments that you would be as necessary to have like a more tailored offering to those verticals?

好的。然後是您的數位行銷服務業務。我只是想知道您是否認為某些特定的垂直行業對您的銷售工作真正關鍵，並且您是否有必要進行任何投資，例如為這些垂直行業提供更量身定制的產品？

Yes. I mean we've developed in the 15 verticals that we mentioned where we outperformed the industry benchmarks amounting to 25%. In each one of those, we have a specific strategy and approach. The top categories include automotive, for sure, HVAC and plumbing, hospitals, probably the top three and home improvement. Actually, home improvement is number one. So each one of those is a specific go-to-market strategy and opportunity.

是的。我的意思是，我們已經在我們提到的 15 個垂直領域進行了開發，其中我們的表現超出了行業基準 25%。在每一個方面，我們都有具體的策略和方法。最重要的類別包括汽車（當然）、暖通空調和管道、醫院（可能是前三名）和家居裝修。事實上，家居裝修是第一位的。因此，每一項都是特定的進入市場策略和機會。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

There are no more questions. I'll now turn it back over to the company for closing remarks.

沒有更多問題了。我現在將把它轉回公司做總結發言。

Thanks, everybody. Appreciate your time. Enjoy the rest of the summer, and we'll see you next quarter. Thanks.

謝謝大家。珍惜您的時間。享受夏天剩下的時間，我們下個季度再見。謝謝。