Cumulus Media, the third-largest U.S. radio group by revenue, has reported a decline of 2.1% in total net revenue for 2024.
It experienced a net loss of $283.3 million compared to a net loss of $117.9 million the year before.
Broadcast radio revenue fell 5.1% in the year.
Cumulus noted growth in its digital business, where revenue was up 5.3%. Digital sources now constitute 19% of Cumulus revenue.
The company still carries a large amount of debt, $671.6 million. But a year ago most of that was scheduled to come due in 2026; now the bulk of its debt has been pushed out to 2029.
Cumulus owns about 400 radio stations in 84 U.S. markets and is a major syndicator and podcast provider.
President/CEO Mary Berner noted that since the pandemic, U.S. commercial radio has experienced “economic and secular headwinds.”
“In the face of those, we outperformed our peers through the end of 2023 on key metrics including cost takeouts, EBITDA margin recovery, free cash flow generation, net leverage and liquidity,” she said in a statement.
She said the past year brought more challenges in the national economic situation and a general slowdown in local radio advertising.
“In response, we doubled down on investing in growth areas, particularly in our digital marketing services business, which is pacing up 30% in Q1. Additionally, we continued evolving our broadcast go-to-market strategies, including with new offerings that are successfully attracting large new broadcast clients, and we drove additional cost efficiencies with 2024 actions that will result in $43 million of annualized fixed cost savings, of which $15 million benefited 2024 with the balance in 2025.”
She said the industry environment “remains challenging for now,” but that its recent refinancing efforts have given the company more time to operate day to day and to “reimagine the ways in which we can get the most out of our key assets to create new revenue streams and build additional long-term value.”
[Related: “Cumulus Stations Adopt Quu Visual Display Offerings”]
