Cumulus Media Inc. (NASDAQ:CMLS) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Frank Lopez-Balboa: I’ll take that. Okay. Sorry, Mary. So the smaller markets in general are performing better than the larger markets. The smaller markets, the diary markets have less exposure to national than the PPM markets. So that’s the trend that we’re seeing now.

Mary Berner: Yes, I’d on the small market, it’s also the area we have most success with our digital marketing service products because smaller markets are fewer competitors. And so our relationships, longer relationships tend to go further. So that’s one advantage in smaller markets, we get to be with smaller numbers.

Michael Kupinski: Got you. And just a final question. In terms of the network business, can you talk a little bit about the tone of the business? There obviously was some sequential improvement in the quarter. And I was wondering if the tone of the business has improved in the third quarter, is it simply that the comps are just getting easier?

Frank Lopez-Balboa: I would say that the tone of the business really hasn’t improved. The comps are getting a little bit easier, but just the broad weakness in the national markets are challenging. Having said that, in the previous – in the last quarter, we talked about our podcasting business, and a lot of those advertising dollars are national in nature. So although the pacing in the third quarter is still down versus last year, there’s a sequential improvement in that compared to the second quarter. But overall, I wouldn’t say that there’s a trend, an all-clear trend yet on the national markets.

Michael Kupinski: Like would you describe it as stabilizing? Or would you say that it’s still not – it hasn’t stabilized yet?

Frank Lopez-Balboa: I would describe it as uncertain. The fourth quarter will be really interesting as we get to the end of the year because generally, a lot of advertisers will start clearing out their budgets for the rest of the year and start planning for next year. And I think the fourth quarter will be the time for us to really give that answer. A lot of our business is still coming in within the quarter, and so we’ll talk more about that, Michael, on our next earnings call.

Michael Kupinski: Thank you. That’s all I have. Thank you.

Mary Berner: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. The final question comes from the line of Jim Goss with Barrington Research. You may proceed.

Jim Goss: Thank you. Along the line of the questions we already had. You’ve done – had great success in retiring debt, reducing number of shares, meaningful cost reductions. It seems like you’ve done all of the things that you can manage that are in your control. Is a big part of what you need now is an improvement in the industry? Or are there things under your further control that can enable you to perhaps participate in a stronger way, either – I know you talked about live and local being very important. I might home in a little more on just how that’s working overall and by market size. Or the mix between radio ad demand and the podcasting, which are sort of complementary products, how are you looking at the environment? And is it something – are there things that you need to – that are just out of your control and you need to benefit from some improvement that is a little indeterminate? Or are there things that are more in your control than I’m seeing?

Mary Berner: Yes, that’s something we think about a lot. We are very, very disciplined about identifying and focusing on what we can control to mitigate what we can’t. And so specifically, we focus on, as you’ve heard, reducing our costs. A second bucket would be innovative – trying to be more innovative and creative in programming, for example. So for example, our ratings share, we’re going on our 11th month of rating share improvement, and that includes a lot of different things that we’ve done on a programming basis. Developing new revenue ideas and employing them across the company. So we really doubled down on those areas, especially the growth areas. You heard us talk about digital marketing services. So what we – during these kinds of markets, we are laser focused and extremely disciplined on what we can control.