Station group Nexstar Broadcasting reported an 11% rise in
non-political gross national spot revenue during the fourth quarter 2009.
According to the company's latest earnings statement and a 6% increase in local
spot revenue also increased 6% year over year.
Fourth quarter retransmission consent fee revenue rose by
62% to $6.4 million in the quarter to Dec. 31. While revenue from online
activities, was up 20% to $3.4 million for the period. Nexstar, which owns 62
stations in 34 markets, has affiliations with all the main broadcast networks
and has been looking at ways to lessen its dependency on core revenue streams.
President and CEO Perry Sook said in a statement,
"Highlighting the benefits of our revenue diversification initiatives, Nexstar
generated strong fourth quarter financial results despite the cyclical impact
of significantly lower political advertising."
While the fourth quarter ad revenue declines continued at
Nexstar stations, automotive advertising saw sequential improvement with fourth
quarter 2009 auto ad dollars rose 25% when compared to the third quarter 2009.
Auto advertising declined however by 7.7% from the previous while overall the
company's top ten advertisers spent more as a whole in the fourth quarter. The
company did not detail by how much.
Nexstar recorded a net loss of $12.6 million for full year
2009, versus a $78 million loss in 2008. Nexstar reported profit of $967,000 in the
fourth quarter, compared with a $21.2 million loss during the same period in
2008. Net revenue for the quarter was $74 million, an 8% decline for the
period. Excluding political, net revenue was up 11%. The company said revenue rose thanks to
improved ad conditions and retransmission fees among other factors. National
revenue was up 10.5% to $17.5 million while local revenue rose to $44 million
during the fourth quarter, a 6% rise.
