Corus Entertainment posted losses in the second fiscal quarter, mainly due to lower advertising spending.
Its consolidated revenues fell 13% to $299.5 million compared to Q1 2023, when the company recorded $343.8 million. The radio and TV broadcaster also saw a loss compared to Q1 this year, when it earned $369.9 million in revenues. The results, however, beat analysts’ expectations, who had expected a drop of $306.5 million.
Corus also reported a loss attributable to shareholders of $9.8 million in the second quarter. The broadcaster says the loss amounted to $0.05 cents per diluted share for the quarter, compared with a loss of $0.08 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
The results were largely due to a decline in TV revenue in the quarter, which fell 14% to $278.1 million. TV revenue was in turn affected by a 12% fall in advertising spend, coming to $148.9 million from $169,1 million in Q2 2023. Subscriber revenues also dropped 5% to $117.2 million. According to Corus, an increase in Global Television viewership supported TV revenues though, following the return of the successful franchises, such as NCIS and FBI, the dramas CSI: Vegas and 9-1-1, and Big Brother Canada.
Radio revenues also declined to $21.4 million, compared to $22.3 million in the previous year. For the six months ended on Feb. 29, Corus recorded advertising revenues of $404.1 million and subscription revenues of $235.5 million. The company also posted an increase in free cash flow, reporting $32.9 million for the quarter.
Corus president and CEO Doug Murphy said in a statement that the results were in line with the company’s outlook for the second quarter. “We delivered a strong quarter of free cash flow generation that was directed towards reduction of our term loan facility as we maintained focus on streamlining our operating model,” he said. “TV advertising revenue for the second quarter was in line with our expectations. Importantly, premium scripted content returned to our networks and platforms in February with promising early audience results.”
Murphy stated that the advertising market picture remains limited, regardless of the normalization of its program offerings following the impact of last year’s writers’ and actors’ strikes on linear programming. Looking ahead, Murphy said the company will focus on creating and launching more content “to monetize these audiences while we concurrently deploy a disciplined focus on expense reduction to improve operational efficiency.”
