Key Financial Data
- Q3 Total revenue: $972 million (+29.8% year-over)
- Broadcasting revenue: $938 million (+29.6%)
- Core advertising revenue: $358 million (+0.8%)
- Political advertising revenue: $198 million (+2,375.0%)
- Total core and political advertising revenue: $556 million (+53.2%)
- Retransmission consent revenue: $366 million (+5.8%)
- Network affiliation fees: $216 million (+0.9%)
- Net retransmission revenue: $150 million (+13.6%)
- Other broadcasting revenue: $16 million (+6.7%)
- Operating income: $266 million (+160.8%)
- Net income: $78 million (compared to $10 million loss)
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Gray Media reversed its third quarter (Q3) loss from last year thanks to higher interest in political advertising opportunities against its local television stations in key battleground areas, according to the company’s latest financial disclosure report released on Friday.
Revenue reached $972 million during the three-month period that ended ending September 30, compared with $749 million during the same period last year, exceeding the company’s revised forecast of $950 million to $965 million. Net income totaled $78 million during Q3, reversing a $10 million loss a year earlier.
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Political advertising was the primary driver of the company’s growth, generating $198 million during Q3, compared with $8 million a year earlier. The figure surpassed Gray Media’s previous Q3 political advertising records of $173 million in 2024 and $144 million in 2022, the broadcaster said.
Gray Media now expects to generate between $630 million and $640 million in political advertising revenue for all of 2026, surpassing its previous annual record of $515 million during the 2022 midterm election cycle. Core advertising revenue increased 1 percent to $358 million, compared with $355 million a year earlier.
“Our third quarter results exceeded expectations across the board, highlighted by exceptionally strong political revenue of $198 million, which topped all prior third quarters for election years,” Hilton Howell Jr., the Executive Chairman and CEO of Gray Media, said in a statement Friday.
Local TV station swaps and acquisitions helped offset declines in core advertising caused by campaign spending that displaced traditional TV advertising, Gray Media noted. During the year, Gray Media inked deals to acquire local TV stations owned by Block Communications, Allen Media Group, Sagamore Hill and Bahakel Communications.
Those acquisitions and swaps contributed $24 million in non-political ad income during Q3, and the newly-acquired stations allowed Gray Media to report $4 million more in political ad buys, the company affirmed.
The company also completed a station exchange with the E.W. Scripps Company and entered into agreements involving American Spirit Media and WHPM in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Certain license transfers are still awaiting approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates broadcast license transfers.
Gray said its expanded portfolio now serves 117 television markets, reaching nearly 37 percent of U.S. television households, well under the prior cap imposed by the FCC of 40 percent. (The FCC eliminated the broadcast ownership cap in August; critics say the agency exceeded its authority and a few groups have threatened to bring legal challenges.)
Acquisitions and swaps also boosted the amount Gray Media earned in distribution fees charged to cable and satellite platforms, with $366 million in income attributed to retransmission consent arrangements. After accounting for fees charged by broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, Gray Media said its net earnings from cable and satellite platforms increased 14 percent to $150 million, compared to $132 million last year.
Total broadcasting revenue climbed 30 percent to $938 million, while Gray’s production businesses generated $34 million, up from $25 million a year earlier. Broadcasting expenses increased 10 percent to $596 million, largely because of station acquisitions and swaps, while corporate and administrative expenses rose to $31 million from $28 million.
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