Nexstar Broadcasting Group reported net revenue in the second quarter of $74.5 million, up 19.9% from the same quarter last year. Gross local revenues climbed 7.8% and gross national revenues grew a whopping 32.6%.
Retransmission fee revenue was $7.3 million, a 14% increase from the same quarter last year.
Automotive advertising grew 37% in the quarter.
Taking the telcos' branding a step further, Nexstar Chairman/President/CEO Perry Sook said Nexstar's "quadruple play" of revenue streams--traditional media, subscription based revenue, mobile and e-media--paced the group to record numbers. "Nexstar achieved record second quarter net revenue based on the strength of our core television operations and growing contributions from our newer revenue streams," he said. "The net revenue reflects the broad-based advertising recovery, an acceleration of the growth of national revenue, our success in garnering leading shares of political billings in our markets and growth from our other revenue sources."
Nexstar owns, operates, programs or provides sales and other services to 62 television stations in 34 markets.
Its revenues are comparable to what other station groups have reported. Gannett, for one, showed a 20% increase in broadcast earnings in the second quarter, while LIN was up 23%.
"Beyond the strong gains in our core television operations, second quarter results highlight the further expansion of Nexstar's ‘quadruple play' of revenue drivers which include traditional media, subscription based revenue, mobile and e-MEDIA, and station management agreements," said Sook. "In aggregate, Nexstar's second quarter retransmission fee, e-MEDIA and management fee revenue, rose 12.8% to $11.1 million and these higher margin revenue streams accounted for 14.9% of 2010 second quarter net revenue."
Sook said the rest of 2010 looks rosy. "The advertising recovery shows no signs of abating," he said, "and the second half of 2010 presents Nexstar with prospects for continued growth from all of our revenue sources, including significant political advertising revenue contributions."
