Univision Reports Revenue Dip

Univision Communications, which recently put itself up for sale, on Wednesday reported lower second-quarter earnings amid lower revenue and higher operating expenses.

Univision, led by CEO Vincent Sadusky, during an analyst call discussed the current sales process for the company as rival media players were urged to be quick to kick the tires of the Hispanic media giant. "You've got to give this thing a good hard look. This is the last opportunity for this asset to trade," Sadusky insisted.

During the latest financial quarter, Univision reported second-quarter earnings from continuing operations of $92.0 million, compared with a year-ago profit of $121.3 million, down 24 percent. Quarterly adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA), another profitability metric, dropped 14 percent to $265.7 million.

Vincent Sandusky

Quarterly revenue declined 4 percent to $701.7 million, with core revenue down 3.5 percent to $694.5 million, including a 1.1 percent drop in media networks unit core advertising revenue. Total networks unit advertising revenue fell 2 percent to $347.2 million "due to declines in television advertising revenue, partially offset by higher digital advertising revenue."

Radio revenues were also down 4.6% to $61.7 million from $64.7 million, while radio advertising revenue decreased 6.2% to $57.9 million from $61.7 million. Core radio ad revenue fell 4.6% to $55.7 million from $58.4 million. Non-advertising radio revenue increased to $3.8 million from $3 million from the year-ago period. Adjusted OIBDA decreased 14 to $265.7 million from $308.8 million.

Media networks unit non-advertising revenue, including carriage fees and content licensing, declined 6.2 percent to $292.8 million in the latest period.

Subscriber fee revenue in the quarter reached $263.3 million, down from $279.6 million in the year-ago period. Univision this year had a carriage dispute with Dish Network, which it settled late in the first quarter.

Sadusky told analysts Univision would continue to see subscriber fee evenue declines away from its newly-signed deal with Dish, in line with the rest of the pay TV industry. "We're behaving as the ecosystem behaves," he said.

Besides recent stepped-up investments in programming and ad sales to draw Hispanic audiences and marketers, Sadusky pointed to "mid single-digit" growth in ad revenue after the recently completed 2019/2020 upfront sales cycle, combined with even stronger growth on the digital advertising front.