Gray Television reported a total revenue of $114.6 million for the fourth quarter, a whopping 48% boost over the same quarter in the previous year.
The gains reflect "increases in political, local, and internet advertising revenue, retransmission consent revenue and consulting revenue while national advertising revenue and production and other revenue decreased," Gray said in a statement. "Local and internet advertising revenue increased due to increased spending by advertisers in an improving economic environment. National advertising revenue decreased due to large purchases of advertising time by political advertisers, which reduced advertising time available for other customers."
Gray's revenue for the whole of 2010 was $346.1 million.
Its fourth quarter performance outpaced most of Gray's peer group. For the quarter, local ad revenue climbed 5% while national ad revenue dropped 2%. Internet revenue was up 21%, political revenue climbed 569% to $33.1 million, and retransmission consent revenue was up 29% to $4.8 million.
Gray reported consulting revenue from an agreement with Young Broadcasting of $5.8 million.Besides a base consulting fee, Gray received a substantial performance bonus from Young.
Atlanta-based Gray operates 36 television stations, including KAKE-Wichita and WOWT-Omaha, serving 30 markets.
