iHeartMedia Beats Q1 Expectations, Sees ‘Generally Stable’ Advertising Spending

In a year filled with economic uncertainty and instability, iHeartMedia is seeing “generally stable ad spend,” CEO Bob Pittman said during the company’s first quarter earnings call on Monday (May 12).

The radio and podcasting giant had first-quarter revenue of $807 million, up 1.0% from the prior-year period. Excluding political advertising, which was boosted by the 2024 elections, revenue increased 1.8%.

The multi-platform segment, which includes broadcast stations, had revenue of $473 million, down 4%. But Pittman expressed cautious optimism that radio advertisers are remaining with the format. Premiere Radio Networks, which represents national advertising, was up 2% in the quarter. “I think that’s sort of an indication that the bigger advertisers are hanging in there,” he said. 

The 1% revenue uptick was a positive for a company that stood to bear the brunt of an advertising slowdown due to U.S. tariff policy. Analysts had expected revenue to decline 1.6% to $786 million.

iHeartMedia is increasingly a podcast company, and the digital audio group continued to be a growth source. In digital, revenue rose 16% to $277 million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved 28% to $87 million. The company had a unique podcast audience of 32.7 million and 177 million streams and downloads in March — both No. 1 in the U.S., according to Podtrack.

“We’re beginning to feel the flywheel effect of being the strong number one in podcast publishing. Our podcasting financial discipline and our focus on the high-margin podcast publishing sector continue to fuel what we believe is the most profitable podcasting business in the United States and to accelerate our growth,” said Pittman. 

The audio and media division’s revenue fell 14% to $59.3 million due primarily to non-recurring contract termination fees earned by Katz Media last year. The segment’s adjusted EBITDA dropped 33% to $15.8 million.

The company expects its second quarter consolidated revenue to be down in the low single digits compared to the same period last year. April “pacing” was down 2% year over year, according to CFO Rich Bressler. For iHeartMedia to hit its full-year guidance and avoid a possible down advertising market, Bressler added, the company will need “some positive movement in the macro [environment] and improvement to the uncertainty in the back half of the year.” 

Shares of iHeartMedia jumped 19.3% to $1.54 in early trading Tuesday (May 13) but had fallen to $1.22, down 5.4%, by midday.