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DATE
Monday, Aug. 10, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. ET
CALL PARTICIPANTS
- Senior Vice President of Investor Relations – Andrey Hart
- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer – Robert W. Pittman
- President and Chief Operating Officer – Richard J. Bressler
- Chief Financial Officer – Michael McGuinness
TAKEAWAYS
- Revenue — $977.2 million, rising 4.7% year over year driven by digital and podcast advertising demand.
- Digital Audio Group Revenue — $364.1 million, growing 12.4% year over year reflecting 20.7% growth in podcast revenue.
- Podcast Revenue — $162.1 million, rising 20.7% year over year compared to $134.3 million in the second quarter of 2025.
- Multiplatform Group Revenue — $535.7 million, decreasing 1.6% year over year due to advertiser uncertainty impacting broadcast and network sales.
- Audio & Media Services Revenue — $80.5 million, up 18.8% year over year driven by digital and political advertising gains.
- Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA — $151.5 million, declining 2.9% year over year and slightly above the midpoint of guidance.
- Digital Audio Group Adjusted EBITDA — $123.2 million, rising 14.5% year over year with margins of 33.8%.
- Multiplatform Group Adjusted EBITDA — $58.6 million, down 39.2% year over year reflecting higher non-cash trade and barter marketing expenses.
- Free Cash Flow — $46.0 million, an improvement from negative $13.2 million in the prior year quarter.
- Total Debt — $5.0 billion, with net debt ending the quarter at approximately $4.7 billion.
- Full Year Adjusted EBITDA Guidance — $800 million, reaffirmed by management based on projected cost savings and political advertising strength.
- Full Year Free Cash Flow Guidance — $200 million, predicated on macroeconomic stability and approximately $90 million in capital expenditures.
- Cash Tax Savings — $150 million to $200 million, representing expected avoidance of cash taxes over the next three years.
- Programmatic Revenue — $200 million target for 2026, representing an increase of 50% over $135 million generated in 2025.
- Q3 Adjusted EBITDA Guidance — $180 million to $220 million, supported by the start of the political advertising cycle.
- Q3 Revenue Guidance — expected to increase mid-single digits year over year, with July revenue up low-single digits.
- Cost Savings — $125 million, representing targeted in-year savings from modernization and efficiency programs.
- Digital ex-Podcast Revenue — $202.0 million, increasing 6.6% year over year driven by digital advertising demand.
- Total Available Liquidity — $457.2 million, including a cash balance of $174.4 million as of June 30, 2026.
- Political Revenue — $17.7 million, rising from $6.2 million in the prior year period as a result of the midterm election cycle.
- Net Leverage Ratio — targeted at the mid-5s by year-end 2026, which management expects to be an improvement of more than one turn year over year.
- Interest Expense — $96.1 million for the quarter, with full year expectations of approximately $440 million.
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RISKS
- Pittman stated, “we are not immune to macroeconomic uncertainty, in particular, gas and diesel prices, which have an impact on the entire economy,” noting that this uncertainty impacted revenue performance in the second quarter.
- Pittman noted that revenue softness in the quarter appeared to correlate with “the conflict in The Middle East, and the associated economic impacts.”
SUMMARY
Management reported that the Digital Audio Group’s adjusted EBITDA exceeded that of the Multiplatform Group for the sixth consecutive quarter, reflecting a shift in the profit composition for iHeartMedia, Inc. (IHRT +0.34%). The company is expanding its presence in video podcasting through distribution partnerships with Netflix and Disney’s Hulu while integrating its broadcast radio inventory into major digital demand-side platforms. Pittman stated that these initiatives aim to address broadcast radio monetization by making inventory easier for partners to transact within digital buying constructs. Management also highlighted that 2026 is expected to be a significant political advertising year, with the majority of revenue and cash flow anticipated to be generated in the second half of the year.
- Pittman noted that for the sixth consecutive quarter, Digital Audio Group Adjusted EBITDA exceeded that of the Multiplatform Group.
- Management announced an expansion of video podcast distribution on Hulu, including six titles such as Pod Meets World.
- Bressler reported that the company extended its $450 million asset-based revolving credit facility maturity to Jan. 30, 2029.
- Pittman stated that iHeart has become the “most successful video podcaster on Netflix” and is expanding the partnership to include new titles.
- Management is integrating broadcast radio inventory into digital demand-side platforms including Amazon, Google, and Yahoo to improve monetization.
- Pittman highlighted that broadcast radio audience reach is currently “2x the audience of the largest TV network” and four times that of the largest digital-only ad-supported audio service.
- Approximately 50% of podcast revenue was generated by the local markets sales force, providing an additional vector for revenue growth.
INDUSTRY GLOSSARY
- Adjusted EBITDA: A non-GAAP financial metric that excludes interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, restructuring, and stock-based compensation.
- ABL Facility: An asset-based revolving credit facility used for liquidity, secured by company assets.
- DSP (Demand-Side Platform): A software platform used by advertisers to automate the purchase of display, video, and mobile ad inventory.
- Audio Graph: The company’s proprietary database used for targeting and measuring advertising effectiveness across broadcast and digital platforms.
- Programmatic Revenue: Advertising revenue generated through automated buying platforms.
- CPM: Cost Per Mille, referring to the price of 1,000 advertisement impressions on a media platform.
Full Conference Call Transcript
Operator: Afternoon and welcome to iHeartMedia’s Second Quarter 26 Earnings Call. All participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers’ remarks, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Andrey Hart, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. You, please go ahead.
Andrey Hart: Good afternoon, everyone. And thank you for taking the time to join us for our second quarter 26 earnings call. Joining me for today’s discussion are Bob Pittman, our Chairman and CEO; Richard J. Bressler, our president and COO and Michael McGuinness, our CFO. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, management will take your questions. Addition to our press release, we have an earnings presentation available on our website that you can use to follow 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-Ks 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 will turn the call over to Bob.
Robert W. Pittman: Thanks, Andrey, and good afternoon, everyone. In the second quarter, our consolidated revenue was $977 million up 4.7% compared to the prior year quarter and above our guidance of up low-single digits. Excluding the impact of political, our consolidated revenue was up 3.5%. Generated adjusted EBITDA of $152 million in the second quarter, slightly above the midpoint of our previously provided guidance range of $140 million to $160 million. We generated $46 million of free cash flow in the quarter compared to a negative $13 million free cash flow in the prior year quarter. Significantly, our work in building our digital assets, including podcasting continues to pay off.
This will be the sixth quarter in a row in which the Digital Audio Group adjusted EBITDA is larger than the multiplatform group adjusted EBITDA. And even when we get the multiplatform group back to growth, we expect this trend to continue. Additionally, we continue our drive for efficiencies in all areas of the company using AI and other technology tools. Turning to our individual operating segments, The Digital Audio Group generated second quarter revenue of $364 million up 12.4% versus prior year and ahead of our previously provided guidance of up approximately 10%. The Digital Audio Group generated second quarter adjusted EBITDA of $123 million up 14.5% versus prior year. The adjusted EBITDA margins were 33.8%.
And as a reminder,, we expect to see the Digital Audio Group’s full year adjusted EBITDA margins to be in the mid-30s. Within the Digital Audio Group, our podcast revenue momentum continues. It was $162 million for the quarter, up 20.7% compared to prior year of $134 million and in line with our guidance of up in the low-20s. Ending Q2, approximately 50% of our podcast revenue was again generated by our local markets sales force, which provides an additional vector of growth for podcast revenue and sets us apart from our podcast competitors.
Our podcasting adjusted EBITDA margins remain accretive to our total company adjusted EBITDA margins, and we believe we are the most profitable podcasting business in the United States, driven by both having the number 1 audience podcasting as measured by both Podtrac and Triton and by applying rigorous financial discipline. We built and continue to build our podcast audience by using our unparalleled audience reach in broadcast radio. In addition to driving the audio only podcast marketplace, those radio assets have also allowed us to develop and drive the new video podcast marketplace, a new and meaningful growth opportunity.
As the number 1 podcast publisher, we are now producing video versions of many of our own podcasts and distributing them on our iHeartRadio service as well as on a number of other select podcast platforms. We are also expanding the distribution of our video podcasts and the streaming video services including Netflix and others. In fact, iHeart has become the most successful video podcaster on Netflix, and we are expanding that relationship to now include podcasts from Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson, Lily Singh, and Martha Stewart. As well as The Breakfast Club with Charlamagne becoming the only live daily show on Netflix.
And we announced this morning that we are bringing 6 iHeart titles to Disney’s Hulu streaming video service, including video episodes of Hey, Jonas, and Pod Meets World. In the second quarter, digital ex-podcast revenue grew 6.6% compared to prior year, above our previously provided guidance of up low-single digits. Turning now to the multiplatform group, which includes our broadcast radio networks, and events business. Second quarter revenue was $536 million down 1.6% versus prior year and slightly below our guidance range of approximately flat. Excluding the impact of political advertising, multiplatform group revenue was down 2.8%. The multiplatform group’s adjusted EBITDA was $59 million compared to 96 million in the prior year.
Like many other companies, we are not immune to macroeconomic uncertainty, in particular, gas and diesel prices, which have an impact on the entire economy. We believe the revenue of the multiplatform group and indeed the whole company was impacted in Q2 by this uncertainty. On the expense side, the noncash marketing expenses that we discussed in the last few earnings calls drove the majority of our lower multiplatform group adjusted EBITDA in this quarter. On the consumer side of the multiplatform group business, the company continues to do well. Unlike other traditional media, we have more use of broadcast radio today than we did 20 years ago.
Indeed, our broadcast radio now has 2x the audience, of the largest TV network and 4x the audience reach of the largest digital only ad supported audio service. I have said before, we do not have a broadcast radio audience challenge; we have a broadcast radio monetization challenge. Which seems counterintuitive given radio strength with the consumer. We recognize that the reason for this is that advertisers are giving preference to services that are within their digital buying platforms.
In response, we are now adding our broadcast radio inventory to DSPs, including Amazon, Google, and Yahoo, as well as developing offerings for other digital planning and buying platforms through our audio graph and programmatic offerings, and we feel confident that our broadcast radio participation in these digital platforms will significantly improve our radio revenue performance and will help the entire radio industry as well. Turning to the audio and media services group, revenue was $80 million. Up 18.8% year over year, driven primarily by the growth of the digital audio and video revenues. Excluding the impact of political revenue, the audio and media services group’s revenue was up 10.6%.
Adjusted EBITDA was $37 million, up 54.6% compared to the prior year. This segment includes our Cats TV, Cats Radio, and RCS businesses and has continued to grow adjusted EBITDA over time with a focus on an increasingly meaningful digital business, operating efficiencies. I also wanted to briefly touch on political advertising, which will be a major driver of adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow for this company in the back half of the year. As a reminder, historically, the vast majority of our political revenue comes in the back half of the year, and the majority of that is in Q4. Continue to believe that this will be a robust midterm election year in terms of generating political revenue.
And with that, I will turn it over to Rich.
Richard J. Bressler: Thanks, Bob, and good afternoon. Our Q2 2026 consolidated revenue was up 4.7% compared to the prior year quarter and above our guidance of up low-single digits.
Robert W. Pittman: Although we saw some softness that appeared to correlate with the conflict in The Middle East, and the associated economic impacts, we were able to slightly beat our Q2 revenue guidance and the midpoint of our adjusted EBITDA guidance.
Richard J. Bressler: Let me provide you with some additional detail on our advertising revenue performance in the second quarter. As a reminder, 1 of our strengths is our diversified advertising revenues. There is no advertising category greater than about 5% of our total advertising revenue and no individual advertiser that is more than 2% of our total advertising revenue. The second quarter, the largest category gainers in terms of absolute dollars were political, gambling, computers, electronics, appliances, and professional services And the 4 categories that declined the most in terms of absolute dollars were telecom, financial services, auto, and food and beverage.
In the second quarter, our 5 largest advertising categories in terms of absolute dollars were home building and improvement, financial services, health care, auto, and professional services. Our consolidated direct operating expenses increased 2.4% for the quarter. This increase was primarily driven by higher variable content costs including higher third party digital costs related to the increase in digital revenues. Our consolidated SG&A expenses increased 11.8% for the quarter. This increase was primarily driven by expenses related to our noncash co marketing partnerships. We generated second quarter GAAP operating income of $35.5 million compared to GAAP operating income of $35.4 million in the prior year quarter.
We generated adjusted EBITDA of $152 million in the second quarter, slightly above the midpoint of our previously provided guidance range of $140 million to $160 million As we have previously discussed, some of the investment in our proprietary audience database which is the foundation of our broadcast programmatic and audiograph offerings, takes the form of noncash co marketing partnerships to drive engagement with the iHeartRadio digital service. Continue to view these marketing activities as critical to the success of our audiograph and broadcast programmatic initiatives And as a reminder, this is all in support of our efforts to make our broadcast inventory as easy for our advertising partners to transact as our digital inventory.
This is 1 of the important steps to returning the multiplatform group back to adjusted EBITDA growth. As discussed on the Q1 call, have continued these partnerships in Q2, and they will start to decrease in the second half of the year. As we have discussed before, all the revenue and expense associated with each partnership has zero impact on adjusted EBITDA over time. And as a reminder, the majority of this revenue and expense impacts the multiplatform group segment. Turning now to the performance of our operating segments. The second quarter, the Digital Audio Group’s revenue was $364 million up 12.4% year over year and ahead of our previously provided guidance of up approximately 10%.
The Digital Audio Group’s adjusted EBITDA was $123 million, up 14.5% from the prior year, And as Bob mentioned, this is the sixth quarter in a row in which our Digital Audio Group adjusted EBITDA is larger than our multiplatform group adjusted EBITDA. Our Q2 adjusted EBITDA margins were 33.8%, compared to 33.2% in the prior year. Within the digital audio group, our podcasting revenue was $162 million, which grew 20.7% year over year, and in line with our guidance we provided about low twenties. Our second quarter Digital Audio Group ex podcasting revenue grew 6.6% year over year to $202 million. Turning now to the multiplatform group.
Revenue was $536 million, down 1.6% compared to prior year, slightly below our guidance range of approximately flat. Adjusted EBITDA was $59 million down from $96 million in the prior year quarter. Turning to the audio and media services group. Which includes Katz TV, which, as you know, has a much bigger revenue swing with political years. Revenue was $80 million, Up 18.8% year over year driven primarily by the growth of the digital audio and video revenues. Excluding the impact of political revenue, the audio and media services group’s revenue was up 10.6%. Adjusted EBITDA was $37 million, up 54.6% compared to the prior year.
The second quarter, our company’s free cash flow was $46 million compared to a negative $13 million in the prior year quarter. In fact, the strong free cash flow in this quarter gives us additional confidence about our free cash flow for the full year. And a political year like this also helps drive our free cash flow because political advertisers pay upfront. At quarter end, our net debt was approximately $4.7 billion. Our total liquidity was $457 million, our cash balance was $174 million. Which include $125 million borrowed under the ABL facility. We expect to pay down that balance by the end of 2026 with our free cash flow generation.
As noted on our prior call on May 1, we repaid the $51.2 million remaining balances of our 6 and 3/8 notes as well as the term loan and incremental term loan fully retiring those stub facilities. Additionally, are pleased to report that this month, we amended and extended our current ABL facility. We maintain both the current $450 million size of the facility and the pricing of the facility at current interest rates. And we extended the maturity date from May 17, 2027 to January 30, 2029. Let me now turn to our guidance for the third quarter and full year. For the third quarter, we expect to generate adjusted EBITDA between $180 million and $220 million.
We expect our consolidated revenue to be up mid single digits compared to the prior year. We are still closing July, but we expect revenue to be up low single digits year over year. Turning to the individual segments. We expect the Digital Audio Group’s revenue to be up in the low teens year over year, with podcast revenue expected to be up approximately 20% and digital ex-podcast to be up mid single digits. Expect the multiplatform group’s revenue to be approximately flat compared to the prior year. Expect the audio and media services group’s revenue to be up approximately 20% year over year.
Turning to the full year, we are reaffirming our full year adjusted EBITDA guidance of $800 million and our free cash flow guide of $200 million. Predicated on some improvement in the macroeconomic and advertising environments especially in Q4, and the expected strong performance of political. Embedded in our adjusted EBITDA guidance are the following. Expect to generate approximately $200 million of overall programmatic revenue in 2026 up approximately 50% from $135 million in 2025. And as a reminder, we expect our broadcast programmatic revenue trajectory to be similar to that of the growth we experienced in the podcasting revenue. We expect podcasting revenue to continue its strong momentum.
We expect this to be a robust midterm election year in terms of generating political revenue And the vast majority of our political revenue occurs in Q3 and Q4. And our adjusted EBITDA guidance also includes the benefit of our cost savings programs. Let me provide some additional inputs embedded in our free cash flow guidance. Interest expense will be approximately $440 million. Minimal cash taxes this year and for the next few years as long as the current tax laws are in effect. This is a great outcome. Will help us avoid approximately $150 million to $200 million of cash taxes over the next 3 years. Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $90 million.
Cash restructuring expenses to be approximately $50 million. We expect our net leverage ratio at the end of 2026 to be in the mid-5s, which would be more than a full turn improvement year over year. Now we will turn it over to the operator to take your questions.
Operator: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star followed by the number 1 on your telephone. Our first question comes from Stephen Laszczyk from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Steven Lasek: Great. Thanks for taking the questions. Bob or Rich, I was curious with just a few months time from now, the midterm elections coming up. I was curious if you could speak a little bit more about your go-to-market strategy. As well as how activity is building on the political front. Going into the November cycle. I think 2 cycles ago, in and around the midterms, we did about $130 million of political revenues. Just curious how you are looking at the outlook for this year?
Richard J. Bressler: I think, you know, we think it is shaping up to be a big political year. Some people are saying it may be as big as the presidential year as opposed to midterm yet they has to be seen, although the early indications are it is probably performing at that level. Our go-to-market is, you know, be in touch with everybody from candidates to packs to everyone else associated with the campaigns that can make a decision. And stay on top of it both at a local level and the national level.
You know, And the 1 other data point I might just add, if you look at the last couple of days or last week, you saw a lot of TV broadcasters. Come out, and they talked about a very strong political numbers. And that historically and this year should be no different, bodes very well. If the inventory starts to shrink there and they sell off a lot of their inventory, broadcast radio tends to be a big beneficiary of that. Great. Thank you for that.
Steven Lasek: And then maybe separately, spoke a good bit about the opportunities in video podcasting. in the prepared remarks. So I was just wondering if you could speak a little bit more about the Disney Hulu podcast partnership from today. Then would be curious how that approach with Disney is maybe either different or similar to the approach that you are taking with Netflix. And then, ultimately, looking out here over the next couple of years, how you see both of these relationships evolving?
Robert W. Pittman: Well, look, I think it is, you know, both Netflix and Hulu. We are trying to meet their needs, so we are crafting deals that work for them and their overall program strategy, as you know, Netflix has taken The Breakfast Club, Charlemagne in the morning has turned it into a live daily show. That was kind of unexpected when we went into this, but it is how the relationship evolves as we find opportunities. I suspect with Hulu, we will see the same thing that as we get in with them and they see how it is performing, we will figure out how we craft the right relationship with them.
And then, obviously, there are other people that are carrying video podcast as well, and we continue to, you know, have discussions there as well.
Steven Lasek: Great. Thank you very much.
Operator: Our next question comes from Aaron Watts from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Aaron Watts: Hi. Thanks for having me on. 2 questions for me. On advertising, if we strip away some of the movement, due to trade and barter, can you talk a bit more about the health of the underlying ad environment as we roll from 2Q into the back half of the year? And is there anything you are seeing that gives you confidence that there will be some improvement as we close out the year.
Robert W. Pittman: Well, there cannot be any more uncertainty. that is for sure. So we are you know, baking that in. But I actually I have been kind of surprised with all the uncertainty in the market how resilient the ad market has been. You know, there is a body of thought which says, hey. This is the new normal, and everybody’s gotta sell their products, and they gotta build their brands. And they cannot let that get in the way of it. And I think we are seeing ample evidence of that. Certainly, there are businesses that are being hit by the high cost of you know, diesel and fuel and other important products for them.
But there are also businesses that are immune from it. And they see this as an opportunity. So I think on the whole, we are kind of cautiously optimistic about the second half of the year and talking to advertisers, you know, we kind of sense that. I think if you, you know, see some of the discussions from the agency front that you are kind of seeing the same which is what we are hearing from them directly as well. So I think we, you know, again, we have to give people a reason why if they spend a dollar on advertising, they get more than a dollar back on their bottom line.
And it is all about return on investment. So I think if we just kind of stick to that and not be distracted by it, it is probably our best strategy And the 1 we are going with. And I think the other piece of it is really adding the audio graph and the programmatic components for our broadcast radio. Because, again, as I mentioned in our script, it is counterintuitive. That broadcast radio is so incredibly strong with the consumer And by the way, in all measurements, delivers extraordinarily strong results for advertisers. And that is the slowest revenue stream we have.
Again, we think that is because the advertisers are wanting everything to fit kind of within that digital buying construct, so I think the audio graph and programmatic will give us that. And we are rolling it out to DSPs, but there, as you know,, there are other buying platforms emerging as well. And we fully intend to service those as well.
Richard J. Bressler: You know, And the 1 piece I may just add excuse me, Aaron, to what Bob just said, is, you know, the 1 thing you do see in these environments you know, is advertisers, which we have been the beneficiary of beneficiary of, excuse me, looking to, you know, maybe reduce the number of their go to partners and overall partners that they have out there. And because of our ability on a multi-platform, between, you know, our broadcast and podcasting, and streaming and events, they can meet a lot of their needs coming to us. And also, the aspects of measurability become critically important to be able to deliver measurable results.
As Bob, you know, talked about getting the right ROI And now that we can do that with broadcast and our digital assets, You know, we are just very well suited to navigate this environment the best we have ever been.
Aaron Watts: Okay. that is that is really helpful context. Thank you for that. If I could ask just 1 more question, and maybe this is pointed at you, Richard. But based on your third quarter guidance, it implies a very robust fourth quarter in order to achieve the $800 million full-year target. If I think all the way back to the fourth quarter of 22, the last midterm election, I think you guys did $315 million of EBITDA. This year, you are suggesting it will be better.
Can you just talk a little bit more about some of the components that go into that, be it core advertising, the political you had just discussed, barter impact easing, cost savings, just the various elements that you see going into helping us bridge that $800 million target for the year.
Richard J. Bressler: Well, there is a lot in that question. I will start, and then Bob could jump in. And also, by the way, 1 of the reasons we go through in what I mentioned during my remarks is, you know, kind of what is embedded in there. You know, first of all, we have talked about political. You know, remember, this is you know, we are about where we were in 2024 on political terms of revenue. And as we all know, this is a non presidential political year.
And, again, you heard the, I mentioned this just briefly a second ago, looking at what all the TV companies said and the strength that they are seeing from political and we expect to be a beneficiary of that in that historically proven out to be true. So strong political. The second thing is that, you know, if you look at our cost estimates, estimates at all of our cost programs, that have rolled in, they are all in place now. You get the full benefit of all those cost programs there.
And then it is you know, we just talked a little bit about in terms of the advertising environment, Yes. there is a lot of macro, macroeconomic, you know, areas that we are all dealing with. Out there. that is why 1 of the things we said embedded in our guidance is that we get some more stability down there. But just remember, we, 1 of the things we have is less than no advertising categories greater than 5%. Of our advertising, no advertising, individual advertiser, is greater than 2% So that diversity really plays into our hands And then you talk about we spent a fair amount of time talking about audio graph.
And the ability now that we are bringing to the marketplace the ability to put our broad differ buyers and to buy our broadcast inventory the way they buy our digital inventory. Bob mentioned being in DSPs and working directly with the agencies, As a reminder, we are gonna be in the Amazon DSP. At the beginning of this year in the fourth quarter. Amazon is also 1 of our biggest advertisers. As a company. We just talked about you know, you asked Bob was asked, and we have some questions talking about the opportunity on video podcasting. Out there. Yes. We have Netflix. We have the Disney Hulu. Announcement. And those were all incremental. Opportunities.
Because if you look at those, opportunities that are there, we just reported 20.7% of revenue growth for podcasting. So that shows on the just the audio side. So that shows no sign of abating. So I think when you look at all those pieces in there, yes, you kind of do the math and you look at that side, okay. You will come to this number for Q4. Compared to other Q4s that we have. But what I will do is just take a step back and we are not the same company. In terms of the assets we have, the ad technology we have, and how we are going to market and execute.
Robert W. Pittman: Look, if I could just add a couple of things. You can tell this is an area we have had a lot of internal discussion about, and we spend a lot of time analyzing. But Rich talked about the TV in a big political year pushes out or get sold out. They gotta go to radio. But it also pushes out other advertisers. And there is no room for them. As a matter of fact, toward the end of that cycle is almost all the advertising on TV is political advertising. it is gotta go somewhere, and people still have to sell their products.
Radio has historically benefited from that, and actually in 2022, which is a very strong political year, we did see indeed that happening, and we were the beneficiary. So that is embedded here. I think the other thing you see is in a year like this with uncertainty, certainly, we are seeing advertisers saving some money, holding some money back. If at the end of the year, the economy is looking like the uncertainty is leaving, it is getting a little more stable, You will generally see that express itself in December.
So our hope is that, you know, some of the money that we have missed the first part of year because of the uncertainty shows up at the back end And then the final thing is, I think once you get past the midterm, I think it is gonna be a very positive impact for kind of the economy, if you will, in terms of the uncertainty leaving it. that is extremely helpful.
Aaron Watts: that is extremely helpful. Thank you both.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Patrick Sholl from Barrington Research. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Patrick Sholl: Hi. Thanks for taking the question. On podcast, as you have delivered more of these podcasts to or partnered with more video distributors, to distribute your podcast just kind of curious on any kind of impact that is had on, like, the advertiser interest on the audio side or what you are seeing in just terms of the overall listenership?
Robert W. Pittman: Yeah, I think it is additive. We find that probably less than 5% of the people are video podcast consumers only. And the biggest category, obviously, is audio only. They go, what is the picture on podcasting? But I think when people are in a video environment, and can look at something, they often will. Sometimes they will do both. They are basically listing When somebody says, look at this thing, they will look up at the screen or look at their screen to see what it is. So we think the 2 work very well together. What we think video is doing for us is it is putting podcasting into a video environment. Which at first, we said, hey.
The story of podcasting is we are filling up those spots where you cannot look at video. And now podcasting strong enough that actually can compete with video and that we can put it in that environment too, that not only helps audience, but it also helps revenue. And as you know, video comes with a really nice CPM premium pricing. So nothing bad about it. And the good news about video today as we do video podcasts is the costs are not very much. Compared to doing kind of full on TV production. So, again, all those things work in our favor.
And, again, we think this is opening up a new marketplace it is not a transformation marketplace at all.
Patrick Sholl: Okay. Thank you. And then just on the ad category trends, is there any kind of, like, breakout between advertiser categories that were I guess, more likely to adopt some of the programmatic buying efforts that you guys have been working on?
Richard J. Bressler: I do not think I do not think it is really about Advertising categories per se. Again, remember, you know, just to take a step back, why did we build out a programmatic and audio graph efforts in terms of putting our broadcast inventory into those systems. Know, as Bob mentioned in his remarks, you know, overwhelmingly you look at, you know, the resiliency of our medium. And, you know, we said we have got the highest listening in 20 years. You look at the engagement that we have, we do not have a challenge in terms of our listeners.
At the same time, we had to meet the advertising world the way they wanna transact, and that they could you know, plan out monitor, and measure campaigns. And we need to come and say, okay. You could do that with our broadcast Of inventory also. So I do not think it is about category specific. it is about the way the advertising industry wants to engage on business.
Robert W. Pittman: And I think you find some advertisers are more apt to go to programmatic, right? there is some advertisers that are going direct to programmatic, not going through agencies. So there is kind of a real diversification of how people are using it. We are prepared to deal with all of those.
Patrick Sholl: Okay. Thank you.
Richard J. Bressler: Great. Well, if there is no other questions, you know, Bob, myself, Mike, and the rest of the iHeart team want to thank everybody for listening to the iHeart story today. And as always, we are available for anything to follow up, any questions to follow up. Thank you all.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
