Scripps revenue reaches $2.5 billion in 2024
Scripps has reported a significant increase in its overall revenue for the year 2024, reaching $2.5 billion, which marks a nearly 9 percent growth compared to the previous year. The company’s financial earning report was initially set to be released in late February but was postponed to March in order to allow Scripps the time needed to refinance its debt obligations.
The delay in releasing the financial report was due to the company’s efforts to address the refinancing of its existing debt. Just recently, Scripps reached an agreement with a majority of its creditors to refinance approximately 70 percent of its total debt. This refinancing involves paying off $1.3 billion of prior debt, along with securing a new cash loan of $450 million and a new credit facility of $208 million. These financial arrangements provide Scripps with the flexibility to extend the maturity dates of certain loans and execute long-term strategic initiatives.
Throughout the third financial quarter of the year, Scripps utilized a portion of its political and core advertising revenue windfall to reduce its prior existing debt by about $115 million. Over the course of the year, the company managed to pay down a total of $330 million in debt, which included repaying $15.6 million towards the principal balance.
In terms of revenue breakdown, Scripps earned $363 million from political advertising revenue in 2024, with $343 million generated from Scripps-owned local stations. The majority of the political revenue, about 80 percent, came from six key markets: Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Nevada, and Wisconsin.
While Scripps did not provide specific details on its full-year core advertising revenue, it did note that the political ad inventory led to significant displacement in local core advertising within the six states where the majority of political revenue was generated. In the fourth quarter of 2024, core advertising revenue declined by 11 percent to $147 million, while political advertising revenue remained stable at $147 million. Distribution revenue, derived from fees charged to cable, satellite, and streaming cable services for carrying Scripps-owned local TV channels, totaled $186 million, reflecting a decrease of over 5 percent compared to the previous year.
Revenue attributed to Scripps Networks, including networks like Ion TV and Scripps News, experienced a 6.1 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2023, amounting to $216 million. Despite the drop in revenue, Scripps managed to reduce operational expenses associated with Scripps Networks by 6.3 percent to $155 million. Notably, the company downsized its workforce at Scripps News post the November presidential election, which coincided with the fourth quarter.
Looking ahead to 2025, Scripps anticipates a decline in local media revenue within the high single-digit percent range, along with lower revenue from Scripps Networks. While local media expenditures are projected to increase, expenses related to Scripps Networks are expected to decrease. In 2024, Scripps finalized affiliation agreements with ABC and CBS, allowing its affiliated stations to continue airing national news, sports, and entertainment content from both networks for the foreseeable future.
