Clear Channel Says Radio Revenue Off 6.5%, Details Impact of ‘Less Is More’

Clear Channel Communications ended its second quarter with revenues down 1% from the same period last year, to $2.46 billion. But its radio-only revenue fell 6.5% to $931.9 million, and both local and national ad sales were off.
Mark Mays said the numbers “reflect the short-term impact of our decision to reduce the commercial loads on our radio stations, combined with a less-than-ideal advertising environment.” But he said the company is seeing “positive trends” after two quarters of Less Is More and “real progress” in the development of a 30-second marketplace.
The company also has authorized an increase to its existing share repurchase program, to an aggregate of $1 billion.
Looking more closely at what the big group had to say to investors about the impact of “Less Is More”:
“While commercial minutes were down, this was partially offset by an increase in average unit rates,” Clear Channel stated.
“As the year progressed, the company made improvements on its ‘Less is More’ initiative as evidenced by increased average unit rates on its 15-, 30- and 60-second commercials over the first quarter of the year. The company also saw improvement in the second quarter in selling 30-second and 15-second commercials as a percentage of total minutes sold. Finally, yield, or revenue divided by total minutes of available inventory, has seen consistent improvement throughout the year.”