Lack of political advertising revenue stung iHeartMedia in 2025, but the media company still managed to grow its revenue last year, thanks to robust podcasting results.
iHeartMedia posted $1.13 billion in consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025, up 0.8% from Q4 2024. Excluding political revenue, the increase was 7.7%. Looking at the full year results, iHeartMedia recorded $3.86 billion in revenue, virtually flat versus 2024, but still up year-over-year 0.3% and 3.6% when excluding political.
The media company did lose money in the final quarter of 2025, reporting a Q4 net loss of just over $41 million. For full year 2025, iHeartMedia said it posted a net loss of $472 million.
For the fourth quarter, revenue from its Multiplatform Group, which includes approximately 860 radio stations and iHeart’s radio networks, was down $19.2 million, or 3% year-over-year, primarily due to lower political revenues, the company said. It posted $665 million in total revenue in the broadcast division in the quarter.
Specifically, broadcast radio revenue decreased $23.4 million, or 4.8% year-over-year, driven by lower spot revenue, according to the company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Networks increased $4.9 million, or 4.4% year-over-year.
For the year, the broadcast group was down 4%, but only 2% when excluding political. The company said it had $80 million in political advertising in the fourth quarter 2024.
(View the iHeartMedia Q4 2025 investor slidedeck.)
Shining star comes in to view
iHeartMedia’s shining star again was revenue from the Digital Audio Group. It increased $47.7 million, or 14.1% YoY, driven by podcast revenue, which increased $34.1 million, or 24.5% YoY in Q4, to $173.7 million.
Digital was up 14% and podcast revenue up a whopping 26% for the full year 2025, according to the company.
Broadcast still brings in the majority of iHeartMedia’s revenue, but the gap is closing. The Multiplatform Group generated $2.3 billion in revenue for the year, while the Digital Audio group had revenue of $1.3 billion. In 2024, broadcast generated approximately $1.2 billion more in revenue than digital.
iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman connected recent announcements, such as its partnership with Netflix and TikTok, as a testament to the power of broadcast radio.
[Related: “iHeartMedia Launches TikTok Podcast Network & Radio Format”]
“We are now premiering new music with TikTok and radio, including last week’s preview of Bruno Mars’ new album,” Pittman said.
Turning to the Audio and Media Services Group, which includes Katz Media Group and RCS, revenue was $79 million for the fourth quarter, down 19.3% year-over-year. Again, most of that was attributable to the loss of political dollars. That division was down 16.7% for the year.
Programmatic buying
The company continues to invest in broadcast programmatic efforts. On a Monday call with investors, Pittman highlighted new partnership agreements with Amazon DSP, Yahoo DSP, and others to include broadcast radio inventory in their programmatic platforms. The company also announced a partnership with StackAdapt in November.
“In the case of Amazon, we expect our broadcast radio inventory to be included in their programmatic platform in the second half of the year,” Pittman said.
Pittman admits “broadcast radio is obviously the harder one to get in programmatic because the programmatic systems have really been built for digital inventory.”
iHeartMedia says it expects total programmatic revenue to be approximately $200 million in 2026, up 50% from the total in 2025, according to its SEC filing.
In 2025, iHeartMedia “outperformed the radio industry revenue performance by 500 basis points, according to Miller Kaplan,” Pittman said.
Pittman reiterated the fact that the media company has the largest “local sales force in audio.”
The company’s Q4 and year-end presentation on Monday further highlighted the company’s continuing digital and podcast growth.
“Our podcast momentum continues, growing 24.5% compared to prior year, above our guidance of ‘up in the mid-teens,’ and we have the number one audience in podcasting as measured by both Podtrac and Triton,” Pittman said.
A new round of cost savings
The company announced it is currently implementing another $50 million in cost savings, which will commence starting in Q2 2026. That is the same amount of cost reductions the company announced for the current Q1 2026 period.
“As a reminder, we achieved a previously announced $150 million of net cost savings in 2025, and we continue to work on the efficiency of our operating structure, including using technologies like AI-powered tools and services,” said Rich Bressler, president and COO of iHeartMedia.
Neither Bressler nor Pittman offered specifics as far as what the cost savings might entail.
[Related: “Reports Mount of Cuts in Staff at iHeartMedia”]
In the fourth quarter, the company’s free cash flow was $138 million, Bressler said, or $158 million when including the proceeds from real estate asset sales.
At year’s end, the company’s net debt was approximately $4.5 billion, according to Bressler. There’s been no change in that figure since last year, as it reported the same amount.
Debt management brings expense, he said, such as interest expense of approximately $440 million this year.
Capital expenditures for the year were $81.7 million compared to $97.6 million in 2024. Cap ex spending in 2026 is expected to be approximately $90 million.
Guidance
Bressler said iHeartMedia expects consolidated revenue to be up high single digits in 2026 compared to last year.
“Our January revenue was up approximately 1% year-over-year. We expect the Digital Audio Group’s revenue to be up mid-teens year-over-year, with podcast revenue expected to grow in the low twenties. We expect the Multiplatform Group’s revenue to be up mid-single digits year-over-year,” Bressler said.
Much of that growth is supported by a return of political advertising in 2026, company officials said.
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