In the meantime, the company\u2019s Multiplatform Group \u2014 which includes its broadcast stations, networks, and events \u2014 saw revenue decline 4.6% from a year ago<\/a> in Q3. Categories like healthcare, telecom, professional services all posted gains. Even though there was some political spending, the category had the biggest decline. Without it, Multiplatform revenue would have been down 2.5% in the quarter.<\/p>\n \u201cSpending is holding up, and discussions with advertisers are positive,\u201d Pittman said. \u201cNo one knows what the impact of government shutdown is, but right now, we’re not feeling anything.\u201d He noted that several studies continue to point to the effectiveness of radio, and that is catching on among ad buyer leading to what he sees as a \u201crenaissance\u201d for the business among many marketers.<\/p>\n Podcasts Ad Sales Go Local<\/p>\n Local radio sales teams are also increasingly powering growth in iHeart\u2019s podcast business \u2014 a development executives see as key to uniting the company\u2019s traditional and digital audio platforms under a single monetization strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cApproximately 50% of our podcasting revenue is generated by our local sales force, up from about 11% in Q3 2020,\u201d said Pittman. \u201cIt demonstrates the unique advantage of having what we believe is the largest local sales force in media.\u201d He said the next stage will link those local podcast sales to iHeart\u2019s growing programmatic channels.<\/p>\n By moving podcast ad inventory through its established radio sales network, iHeart is also making it easier for regional and local advertisers to enter the medium. That integration of local sales muscle with iHeart\u2019s digital infrastructure is paying off. The company\u2019s podcasting revenue climbed 22.5% from a year ago, to $140 million in Q3, helping drive a 13.5% gain for its overall Digital Audio Group.<\/p>\n Political will still be a factor in Q4 as the company anticipates total revenue to be down low-single digits\u2014although it would be up by mid-single digits if not for that overhang. The impact will be biggest on the Multiplatform Group, with digital and podcast revenue both forecast to be up double-digits.<\/p>\n Looking ahead to 2026, President\/COO\/CFO Rich Bressler said both cyclical and structural factors offer reasons to be optimistic. \u201cWe expect it to be a strong revenue cycle on the political front,\u201d he told analysts. Bressler also pointed to another $50 million in expected cost savings, most of which will benefit Multiplatform Group earnings.<\/p>\n Bressler said the coming year is also expected to see another 20,000 events across the iHeart portfolio, saying it remains an important part of the revenue and marketing mix. That point was reinforced with an announcement yesterday of an alliance with TikTok<\/a> that will include a series of live event integrations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"iHeartMedia executives said Monday their radio business is stabilizing and showing early signs of a return to growth,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,3872,341,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-276443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-free","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"http:\/\/www.insideradio.com\/app\/Images2025\/iHeartchartNov112025.jpg\")
<\/p>\n