Gray Television on Tuesday withdrew its 3Q guidance for political revenue, but stopped short of lowering its forecast like Sinclair Broadcast Group did earlier in the day.
The station group said in a release that while political revenue “remains significant,” how much will actually come in can’t be forecasted with any accuracy based on a range of factors. Ad orders, Gray said, are coming in just days before they are supposed to run. And while the Trump campaign and PACS have expressed interest in advertising in up to 17 Gray markets, “the campaign’s future spending is currently impossible to predict,” the company said.
Related: CBS' Moonves Says Campaign Spending Is on Track
“There can be no assurance that increased spending will materialize given the very unusual nature of this year’s late presidential campaign season,” Gray said.
In August, Gray estimated its 3Q political revenue would range from $40 million to $46 million, up from $42.3 in the third quarter of 2012.
Related: Gray Reports Record-Setting Revenue in 2Q
Nonetheless, the company said it still expects to meet its total 3Q revenue projections. In August, Gray estimated that to be between $223 million and $231 million.
(Photo via Pictures of Money's Flickr. Image taken on Sept. 17, 2015 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 3x4 aspect ratio.)
