Sinclair disclosed health revenue gains during its third financial quarter (Q3) of the year, boosted by an uptick in political advertising and affiliate fees from distribution on pay television platforms.
The local broadcaster saw its overall revenue increase 20 percent on a year-over basis, with Sinclair collecting $917 million from its local TV, national networks and podcasting divisions.
Nearly half of the company’s revenue was attributed to advertising, which increased 42 percent to $433 million during Q3, compared with $304 million in the prior year. The health of Sinclair’s advertising unit was tied to the political cycle, as campaigns and causes raced to Sinclair’s local TV stations to buy inventory ahead of Election Day.
Political revenue clocked in at $138 million, a 31 percent increase compared to the prior year, impacted by around $5 million in last-minute ad cancellations as Election Day neared, Sinclair said. Overall, Sinclair earned $406 million in political advertising revenue for 2024, which accounts for $26 million in lost revenue based on geographic shifts across from Sinclair TV markets to non-Sinclair broadcasters.
Distribution revenue accounted for the second-biggest slice of Sinclair’s earnings, with the company pulling in $434 million from affiliate fees associated with carriage of its channels on cable, satellite and some streaming cable-like platforms. During Q3, Sinclair renewed its carriage deals with DiercTV for continued carriage of its local stations and the Tennis Channel. Affiliate fees from cable and satellite carriage jumped 5 percent as Sinclair began to realize its pursuit of higher fees for carriage of its channels on DirecTV and other platforms.
“Sinclair delivered solid third quarter results, as core advertising revenues grew by 1 percent year-over-year, in spite of record-breaking political revenues,” Chris Ripley, the President and CEO of Sinclair, said in a statement. “This is unprecedented for Sinclair in recent history and perhaps the industry to be able to grow core advertising revenues in the third quarter of a political year.”
Ripley also noted gains in political and distribution fee revenue, and said Sinclair is still on track to grow retransmission revenue in line with the company’s earlier mid-single-digit compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, guidance.
“Our industry-leading core advertising revenue trends, and with most of our retrans and network affiliation agreement renewals now behind us, we believe we are well-positioned to finish 2024 on a strong note,” Ripley affirmed.
