A big part of Ignite, but in particular, micro connected TV and now creating commercial spots, television spots for our clients, we’ve really beefed up our creative service offering because obviously, historically, we didn’t need to create television spots. And now we do. We’re starting to use artificial intelligence in that creation as well and advertising that we do. But for us, the connected TV and producing these TV spots is somewhat new. I think as you noted, for us, Ignite is still differentiated. We’ve got this full funnel from reach with radio all the way now down to activation. And the fact that we can marry this programmatic side of our — Ignite, our digital advertising with a huge large-scale owned and operated websites and mobile apps that give us incredibly valuable first-party data, which gives us audio insights and allows us to audience target, I think, more effectively than anybody in our size markets really is the reason I think that our digital advertising not only in Q3 year to date, but for the last several years has outperformed the industry.
And that’s why when you look at digital overall being 52% of our revenue, which is two times the average in the industry and 57% of our profits, we’re tremendously excited. And I think connected TV will continue to grow and grow. You see more and more ad supported. You’ve seen Netflix. You see — I don’t — you may have heard that Amazon Prime is talking about introducing advertising into their video platform. So particularly in our size markets, as more and more people cord cut and more and more streaming inventory opens up, I cannot emphasize what a tremendous tailwind and opportunity for us at Townsquare with connected TV. But that said, we’re having tremendous success with social and other targeting vehicles, including just standard display.
So we’re excited by connected TV. It is the fastest-growing part of programmatic currently. It is for us as well, but tremendously excited about our digital advertising business overall, Michael. So I’ll turn it back to you.
Michael Kupinski: Yeah. Just one last question. On the broadcast side, I know that national is a small component, but you mentioned that national has been down and it’s been affecting you. And I was just wondering, some broadcasters have indicated that national advertising seems to be improving, especially as they look into 2024. Just wondering if you can kind of give us a tone of what you’re seeing in terms of national in the fourth quarter. And then are you seeing pacing for national improve as you go into the first quarter?
Bill Wilson: Great question, Michael. Again, I appreciate you being with us this morning. So just as a recap for everyone on the call, as Michael is asking about national — Q1 national broadcast advertising was down 28%. Q2 moderated to 21%. Moderated in general, that’s obviously down quite a bit. Q3 was still down negative 19%. It actually got a little bit worse in the quarter. Part of that is on the ad tracking that we shared where the US ad tracking was plus 6% in July, plus 1% in August, and flat in September. So we saw the quarter. We saw that activity throughout the quarter. To your question, Michael, about Q4, we definitely see national getting better. We see national getting better. We see local getting better. Probably, most importantly, we mentioned our customer appreciation sale, which the team did a tremendous job on.10% more orders that I mentioned in the prepared remarks.
As it relates to Q1 pacing — we don’t spend a lot of time usually talking about our pacing because we’d rather talk about the results versus what we expect to come because it can change quite a bit. So I’m a little hesitant to share this, but since you asked. I will tell you that at this point last year for Q1, as it relates specifically to broadcast, we’ve got about 2% more business booked for Q1 specifically for broadcast than this time last year. And when you look at the broadcast decline we’ve experienced in Q3, that’s a material change. So hopefully, that holds. But in our view, that is a very, very, very positive sign for Q1. We’re seeing also an uptick in Q1 on the digital advertising side too. And you probably heard from others that you alluded to that it could be pacing better for, I think, initially a large broadcast as well as digital advertising.
And we’re seeing the same thin. For Q4, as I shared earlier, we gave the guide, which I think is net revenue pretty much in line with where we ended Q3 ex-political. So maybe a point or two below that, but in general, in line. But obviously, excited for 2024 for all the reasons we just talked about, improved pacing, and broadcast, digital advertising comes back here in the back half of the year for TSI, and what I just mentioned was broadcast having more on books for Q1 at this point than last year, which is if that holds, that’s a very positive development. So, Michael, hopefully that gives you some color for 2024 as we enter the holidays here.
Michael Kupinski: Yes. Thanks, Bill. That was perfect. That’s all I have. Thank you.
Operator: And at this time, there are no further questions. I’d like to turn the call back over to Bill for closing remarks.
Bill Wilson: Thank you, operator. I appreciate your help this morning. I just want to give a shout out to the Townsquare team. The results we talk about, the differentiation, the transformation, the culture is all the result of their hard work, their passion, and commitment, not only for Townsquare, but quite honestly, their communities and their clients and their audiences. So I can’t thank them enough. And I appreciate everybody dialing this morning. We obviously look forward to updating you on our yearend results in 2024, but we’re also excited to share how Q1 is shaping up when we report in the beginning of March. So wishing everybody a great Thanksgiving and thank you again for dialing in this morning. Take care.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for attending.
