Key Points:

• Nexstar reported $1.23 billion in Q2 revenue, down 3.2% on a year-over basis due to lower political ad spending in a non-election year.
• The CW became the eighth most-watched network, with over 40 percent of prime-time hours now dedicated to sports content.
• NewsNation was ranked the fastest-growing cable network, with viewership up nearly 50 percent and 67 percent growth among adults 25–54.

Nexstar Media Group saw its revenue dip 3 percent during the second financial quarter (Q2) of the year, the result of ongoing softness in the traditional television advertising market.

During the quarter, Nexstar earned $1.23 billion in overall revenue from its portfolio of 200 television stations, the CW Network, cable news channel NewsNation and various digital properties, including political outlet The Hill. The figure was lower on a year-over basis due to a $36 million drop in political advertising revenue; like other broadcasters, Nexstar saw a political ad windfall in the months leading up to last year’s 2024 presidential election that caused its ad revenue to be comparatively lower.

Core advertising revenue — which doesn’t include political ad spend — was 2.5 percent lower than Q2 2024, a better reflection of the ongoing softness in the traditional TV market as ad buyers shift their budgets away from the massive reach of broadcast channels and cable networks in favor of more-targeted ad spots within streaming apps.

Distribution revenue earned from cable, satellite and streaming cable-like services clocked in at $733 million, relatively unchanged from last year. While cord-cutting has chipped away at per-subscriber revenues from the pay TV business, Nexstar and its peers have steadily increased the rate charged to TV distributors for the privilege of carrying their local ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates, as well as the company’s CW Network and NewsNation.

Revenue attributed to Nexstar’s “other” businesses was $21 million, a 65 percent increase compared to last year. That revenue tends to come from investments and ancillary business units within Nexstar’s massive media empire.

Perry Sook, the CEO of Nexstar, looked for the bright spots where they were to be found.

“Second quarter 2025 marked another solid quarter of financial results for Nexstar,” Sook said in a prepared statement on Thursday. “As expected, our year-over-year results were primarily impacted by lower non-election year political advertising revenue, offset, in part, by strong expense management.”

Rather than focus on the pains of Nexstar’s traditional TV business unit, Sook pointed to growth at the CW Network and NewsNation instead, which lag behind their competition in the broadcast and cable ratings but are among the few linear networks that are growing their audience rather than seeing people tune out.

“According to Nielsen, in the first half of 2025, the CW ascended to the eighth-ranked network overall, reflecting five consecutive quarters of prime-time ratings growth and the success of our strategic pivot to sports programming which now accounts for over 40 percent of the CW’s programming hours,” Sook said. “At NewsNation, shortly after celebrating its one-year anniversary as a 24/7 cable news network, Nielsen ranked NewsNation as the fastest growing network overall year-over-year.”

Sook said the company was “optimistic about the prospect for regulatory reform” in Washington. The broadcaster is one of several pushing for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to drop its rules that prohibit broadcast operations from growing larger, going so far as to have its local TV station executives write letters to the agency in support of the proposal and launching TV and social media campaigns that urged viewers to do the same.

Sook also said Nexstar is working to complete more of its TV distribution renewal agreements and is focused on capitalizing on the 2026 midterm election. Political ad buys are expected to begin for the 2026 political season in the coming months.

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