E.W. Scripps' TV group revenue got a 15% lift in 2Q 2016, bringing the total for the three months ending June 30 to $192 million, the company reported Friday.
Retransmission revenue was up 46% to $53.4 million, bolstered by a January agreement with Time Warner Cable, Scripps said.
Election-year political money rose to $8.4 million from $2.2 million in 2Q 2015, Scripps said. Candidate and political action committee spending was focused in the key states of Ohio, Florida, Colorado, Nevada and Wisconsin.
In addition, local ad revenue was up 2.6% to $88.8 million (on a same-station basis, excluding the 2015 results of Scripps’ divested Boise station, KNIN), the company said. National ad revenue dipped 2.4% to $37.9 million (on a same-station basis).
Scripps digital revenue rose to $15.2 million during 2Q. That figure is roughly 20% higher than it was in 2Q 2015 when excluding the impact of recent digital acquisitions, Scripps said.
In April, Scripps bought the digital-media humor brand Cracked for $39 million. In June, the company spent $4.5 million on podcast listening service Stitcher.
(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.)
