The E.W. Scripps Company today reported that its TV station revenue was $121 million in the third quarter of 2014. That’s up $21.8 million, or 22%, from the same quarter in 2013. According to TVNewsCheck, the increase was fueled by a combination of higher local, political and digital revenue.
Here’s what the ad revenue looked like, broken down into categories:
- Local, up 1.8% to $55.6 million
- National, down 2.8% to $26.6 million
- Political, $17.4 million compared to $1 million in the 2013 quarter
- Retransmission fees, up 46% to $15.2 million
- Digital revenue increased 8.5% to $4.6 million
High network fees linked to the increase in retransmission revenue was responsible for $2.3 million of the $10.9 million increase.
“Our local TV brands proved to be the venue of choice for candidates and issue backers in several of the most active election states,” Scripps chairman-president-chief executive officer Rich Boehne said in a statement. “For us, this is a low-cost revenue stream that at its peak displaces some core local advertisers. Now with the elections behind us, we expect core advertisers to return through the remainder of the fourth quarter.”