iHeartMedia Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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November 9, 2023

There are 8 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning. My name is Audra, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Iheartmedia Q3 2023 Earnings Call. Today's conference is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.

Operator

After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mike McGinnis, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join us for our Q3 2023 earnings call. Joining me for today's discussion are Bob Pittman, our Chairman and CEO and Rich Bressler, our President, COO and CFO. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, Management will take your questions. In addition to our press release, we have an earnings presentation available on our website that you can use to follow along with our remarks. Please note that this call may include forward looking statements regarding our financial performance and operating results.

Speaker 1

These statements are based on management's current expectations and actual results could differ from what is stated as a result of certain factors identified on today's call and in the company's SEC filings. Additionally, during this call, we will refer to certain non GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations between GAAP and non GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release, earnings presentation and our SEC filings, which are available in the Investor Relations section of our website. And now, I'll turn the call over to Bob.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Mike, and good morning, everyone. We're pleased to report that our Q3 2023 results were at the high end of our previously provided adjusted EBITDA and revenue guidance ranges. Throughout the year, we've seen gradual improvements in the advertising marketplace, which is reflected in the quarter by Now let me take you through some of the key financial results of the quarter. In the 3rd quarter, we generated adjusted EBITDA of 204,000,000 At the high end of the guidance range we provided of $195,000,000 to $205,000,000 Our consolidated revenues for the quarter were down 3.6% Compared to the prior year quarter, a little better than the guidance we provided of down mid single digits and excluding the impact of political, our consolidated revenues were down 1%. In the Q3, we generated $68,000,000 of free cash flow.

Speaker 2

In addition to our reported free cash flow, we also generated $45,000,000 of cash from the sale of radio broadcast which we'll use to pay down debt. Turning now to our individual operating segments. In the Q3, the Digital Audio Group's revenues The Digital Audio Group's adjusted EBITDA margins were 35%, up from 31% in Q3 2022. And in the Q3, the Digital Audio Group accounted for 28% of our consolidated revenues. The Digital Audio Group's adjusted EBITDA performance for this quarter Reflects the strategic fixed cost investments we've made in the past few quarters.

Speaker 2

It also illustrates the strong flow through characteristics inherent in the business Expanded 4 20 basis points year over year and were 260 basis points better than the 2nd quarter. Turning to the revenue streams within the Digital Audio Group, our podcast revenues continued to perform well, growing 13% versus prior year, Illustrating the fact that podcasting continues to be a strong growth engine for the company. Additionally, our podcasting EBITDA margins continue to be accretive to our total company EBITDA margins. Podcasting is the best performing segment of the advertising marketplace, and we continue to have the largest podcast 2 largest podcast publishers combined according to PodTrak. As a reminder, the 3 segments of the podcasting ecosystem are publishers, Distributors and sales reps.

Speaker 2

Publishers control the content and, as a result, enjoy the majority of the economics Compared to the distributors who have virtually no economic benefit and the sales reps who operate on razor thin gross margins and are often unprofitable. From the beginning, our strategy is focused on the publishing sector of the industry and the financial results of our business are evidence of the success of that strategy. Our leadership position in podcasting is in part the result of the power of our broadcast radio assets, which we have used to build new lines of business for the company, Starting out with the iHeartRadio app over 10 years ago, our marquee live events business and most recently with podcasting. Our broadcast radio assets uniquely reach 90% of Americans every month, which for context is twice the consumer reach of the largest TV network And 3 times the consumer reach of the largest digital only streaming audio service, which is why broadcast radio is such a powerful tool for us in building new businesses. The intersection of AI and podcasting is also an area which we have been focusing on as an important driver of future growth.

Speaker 2

I'll give you three examples of how we're taking advantage of this evolving technology. 1st, strategically, we can use AI to Finally, cost effectively translate our unparalleled English language podcast library into other languages, Which creates the potential for global expansion and is another vector of earnings growth for the company. 2nd, on a more tactical level, We're giving our sellers who make up the largest sales force in audio, AI enhanced tools to help them prospect and communicate with clients about podcasting Along with radio and streaming products too. And 3rd, we're utilizing AI to enhance our dynamic podcast ad insertion capabilities, Helping us to serve the right message and the right voice for the targeted demo, time and territory in ways not previously possible with older technologies. In addition to our industry leading podcast business, we also have the number one streaming digital radio service, which is 5 times larger than our closest competitor.

Speaker 2

We have the largest social footprint of any audio service by a factor of 7, and we operate 3,000 national and local websites to reach almost 120,000,000 in the United States each month, all of which represent additional opportunities for our advertising partners to interact with our highly engaged consumer base and provide additional revenue growth for the company. Turning now to the Multiplatform Group, which includes our Broadcast Radio Networks and Events business. In the Q3, revenues were $626,000,000 down 5.1% versus prior year and down 3.2% excluding the impact of political. Adjusted EBITDA was $162,000,000 down 21.6% versus prior year. The Multiplatform Group's 3rd quarter adjusted EBITDA margins were 25.9 percent, and Rich will take you through the puts and takes of the Multiplatform Group's margins this quarter.

Speaker 2

The Multiplatform Group does continue to be impacted by some of the advertising uncertainty you've been hearing about. However, we've seen gradual improvement from quarter to quarter throughout the year, We remain confident that the Multiplatform Group will be an additional growth engine for the company in the advertising marketplace recovery. We continue to see substantial upside in our broadcast radio assets in large part because of our unique and unparalleled reach and scale, Including our participation in the migration to data and analytics infused planning, buying and selling of media. Additionally, as ad supported TV has suffered from their loss of audience, our broadcast radio assets with 90% monthly consumer reach in America It's the only platform, along with Google and Meta, that can provide true mass market reach for advertisers. So what does that mean for the bottom line?

Speaker 2

Today, over 30% of consumer media consumption in a day is audio, yet it is only 9% of total advertising And we expect that gap to close and to directly benefit our multiplatform group. As we talked about on previous calls, we expected Q4 to be the The quarter of the year for the company. Although it is still on track for that, it will be weaker than we originally anticipated due to some dampening of advertising demand, Which coincided with the uncertainty caused by the recent geopolitical events. Having said that, in some years, we do see significant last Advertising spend come in late November December, indeed it has in the last 2 years. However, since we can't predict it, it's not included in our guidance.

Speaker 2

As we look ahead, we remain confident that both the advertising marketplace and our company will be back in growth mode in 2024. And now I'll turn it over to Rich.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Bob. As I take you through our results, as Bob mentioned, our Q3 2023 results were the high end of our previously provided Adjusted EBITDA and revenue guidance ranges. Our Q3 2023 consolidated revenues were down 3.6% year over year, A little better than the guidance we provided down mid single digits. Excluding the impact of political, our consolidated revenues were down 1%. Our consolidated direct operating expenses increased 2.2% for the quarter.

Speaker 3

This increase was driven primarily By higher variable content costs resulting from an increase in digital revenue, including third party digital costs and profit sharing costs, as well as an adjustment from previous years relating to certain music licensing fees. This increase was partially offset by lower compensation expense as a result of our ongoing cost savings initiatives. Our consolidated SG and A expenses decreased 1.6% for the quarter, Primarily driven by lower sales commissions as well as the continued impact of our ongoing cost savings initiatives, Partially offset by higher bad debt expense, an increase in trade and barter marketing expenses associated with our events business and higher variable compensation expense. As a reminder, as you make the comparison to last year, in 2022, We paid minimal bonuses to our employees. We generated 3rd quarter GAAP operating income of $69,000,000 compared to an operating loss of $211,000,000 in the prior year quarter.

Speaker 3

Our 3rd quarter adjusted EBITDA was $204,000,000 compared to $252,000,000 in the prior year quarter and at the high end of the guidance range we provided of $195,000,000 to $205,000,000 Turning now to the performance of our operating segments. And as a reminder, There are slides in the earnings presentation on our segment performances. In the Q3, the Digital Audio Group's revenues were $267,000,000 Up 5.2% year over year and they comprised approximately 28% of our 3rd quarter consolidated revenues. The Digital Audio Group's adjusted EBITDA was $94,000,000 up 19.6% year over year And our Q3 margins were 35%, a year over year increase of 4 20 basis points. Within the Digital Audio Group are our podcasting revenues, which grew 12.5% year over year and our non podcasting digital revenues, which grew 1.1% year over year.

Speaker 3

As anticipated, in the Q3, we continued to see improvements in the Digital Audio Group's EBITDA flow through and EBITDA margins. In the long term, we continue to believe the Digital Audio Group should be a 35% adjusted EBITDA margin business on an annualized basis. The multi platform group's revenues were $626,000,000 down 5.1% year over year or down 3.2% Excluding the impact of political, adjusted EBITDA was $162,000,000 down 21.6% year over year. The Multiplatform Group's adjusted EBITDA margins were 25.9%. The Multiplatform Group's 3rd quarter margins We're impacted by a couple of items.

Speaker 3

1st, we recognized higher than normal bad debt expense. 2nd, in the Q3 this year, Our flagship Iheartradio Music Festival saw a year over year increase in trade and event revenues, which drove increased promotion expense And which have lower margins than our broadcast and networks revenues. And third, we have one more major event this quarter that we had in the Q3 of 2022, which drove incremental expense. The Audio and Media Services Group's revenues We're $62,000,000 down approximately 20% year over year and adjusted EBITDA was $17,000,000 Down $30,000,000 in the prior year. Excluding the impact of political in the prior year quarter, the Audio and Media Services Group's revenues We're down 7.4%.

Speaker 3

At quarter end, we had approximately $5,000,000,000 of net debt outstanding And our total liquidity was $625,000,000 which includes a cash balance of $213,000,000 Our quarter ending net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 6.2 times. We remain committed to our long term goal of a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of approximately 4 times. As highlighted on past calls, we have no material maintenance covenants And no debt maturities until mid-twenty 26. We will continue to be opportunistic in responding to debt market developments. In Q3, we repurchased $89,000,000 of the principal balance of our 8 and 3a's senior unsecured notes at a meaningful discount to their par value, Generating both earnings and free cash flow accretion.

Speaker 3

This brings our total repurchase of these notes to $519,000,000 Reducing the outstanding amount from $1,450,000,000 to approximately $930,000,000 and results in aggregate annualized interest savings of approximately $43,000,000 In the Q3, we generated $68,000,000 of free cash flow and we also generated an additional $45,000,000 of cash from the sale of our remaining radio broadcast towers, which we will use to pay down debt. Turning now to our outlook for Q4. As Bob mentioned before, and as some other companies have discussed on their earnings calls, we are experiencing some additional uncertainty due to recent geopolitical events And that is captured in our Q4 revenue outlook. So with that in mind, we expect our Q4 2023 revenues to be down high single digits. As a reminder, Q4 of last year was the biggest quarter in the company's history and was the largest political quarter of the year with $66,000,000 of political revenue.

Speaker 3

Excluding the impact of political, we expect our Q4 revenues to be on low Single digits. Revenue for the month of October was down approximately 8%. Turning to the individual segments, We expect the multi platform group's revenue to be down high single digits. Excluding the impact of political, And we expect the Audio and Media Services Group's revenues to be down approximately 30% or down low single digits Excluding the impact of political. As a reminder, the Audio Media Services Group includes KatzTV, which experiences a significant swing between its performance in political and non political years.

Speaker 3

Turning to adjusted EBITDA for Q4 2023, we expect to generate consolidated adjusted EBITDA in the range of $205,000,000 to $215,000,000 And as Bob mentioned, any potential last minute advertising spend in late November December is not included in this guidance. From an expense perspective, in Q4, we expect to incur a bonus expense differential compared to prior year And we also expect to recognize additional marketing expenses associated with the expansion of our events business in the quarter, Including our Jingle Ball holiday TV special moving to ABC and the streaming of our Iheartradio Music Festival moving to Hulu. I want to comment on the following items affecting free cash flow. We continue to expect our cash taxes to be approximately $15,000,000 in 2023. Our estimate of full year 2023 capital expenditures is expected to be approximately $100,000,000 As a reminder, this is substantially below our 2022 capital expenditures of $161,000,000 Cash restructuring expenses remain down year over year.

Speaker 3

We continue to be impacted by the current interest rate environment As approximately 40% of our debt is floating, but we are committed to opportunistically improving our capital structure and reducing our interest expense As the market allows, we generated solid free cash flow in the 3rd quarter and we expect our performance to improve in the 4th quarter, which is always our largest free cash flow generating quarter of the year. And as we look forward to 2024, We expect to generate significantly better free cash flow, driven in part by an improving macro environment as well as the impact political dollars, which are collected upfront. In addition to our reported free cash flows, we also generated $45,000,000 of cash from the sale of radio broadcast towers, which we'll use to pay down debt. As Bob mentioned, we expect 2024 to be back in growth mode. As a reminder, 2024 is a political year.

Speaker 3

And during the last presidential political year in 2020, we generated 167,000,000 of political revenues. And finally, on behalf of the entire senior management team, Bob and I want to thank our team members who work to deliver for their communities and for Iheart everyday. Now we will turn over to the operator to take your questions. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We'll take our first question from Stephen Cahall at Wells Fargo.

Speaker 4

Thanks. So first just on what you're seeing in the ad market. So, Bob, you said you expect, you're confident, I think, in a return to growth in 2024. I'm guessing That comment is not just political, but there is some ex political confidence in there too. And Rich, you said you expect significantly better free cash flow next year, Driven in part by an improving macro, we've seen a few media companies now kind of back off trying to call for an improving macro unless So I was hoping you could just give us a little more on your thought process here.

Speaker 4

Are you starting to see Some green shoots or inflections. It sounds like some of the geopolitical stuff maybe could be a little bit of a near term headwind. So just help us think about What's driving that confidence in the improvement in 2024? And then Rich, I don't think you all have any covenants. And I know you're retiring debt at a hefty discount.

Speaker 4

You do have a pretty big maturity wall in 2026. Quite a few broadcast So we're curious when you start those conversations, what you think the tone of those will be? And then finally just a housekeeping one, anything to read into the bad debt expense picking up? Thank you.

Speaker 2

Great. Well, let me start with the ad market I think there are 2 ways to look at it. 1 is subjective, one is objective. Let me start with the objective. I think in recovery, you generally see digital recover first.

Speaker 2

I think if you look at not only our digital, but look at the marketplace, you've seen the big guys go from negative To positive and pretty steady growth. So I would sort of say digital is sort of already in recovered mode or recovering mode. I think behind that historically you see sort of TV recovers next and radio next. I think with the TV and you asked the question about What others are saying, I think with the rather dramatic decline in TV audience and sort of the Accompanying advertising impact, there's an opportunity perhaps for radio to move ahead of TV in terms of that queue. And so from an objective standpoint, we're seeing the pieces falling in place.

Speaker 2

So that gives us confidence. On the subjective part, we're talking Advertisers are looking at sort of their plans for next year and having those discussions. And the general sense we get is from most of them Is that they're looking at 2024 being back into growth mode for them and spending to support that. So I think we are again the beneficiary of that. So Both the objective and the subjective line up for us in terms of giving us confidence for 2024.

Speaker 5

Hey, Steve, It's Rich. Maybe just a couple of things. The only thing I might add on to what Bob said, I think is further proof point. You saw we were up about 5% in Q3 on digital revenue. And just married to Bob's comment about that being one of the first ones in terms of Coming back and kind of leading the confidential revenue, if you look at our guidance for Q4 for digital, It's high single digits overall in digital revenue.

Speaker 5

So again, I think that's not just the words, but data. And also if you look at what we did, we did 13% growth in podcasting and approximately 13% growth in podcasting in Q3. We didn't give exact guidance for Q4, but clearly, we think we're going to be above the growth rate we had in Q3. We'll have higher growth rate in Q4. So just to put that in context, in terms of your questions, maybe I'll take them to reverse order for a second.

Speaker 5

In terms of bad debt expense excuse me, bad debt expense, nothing unusual in bad debts. We just It's limited to just a couple of advertisers without going into names or categories, but no, there's nothing at all Tori, on that front. And in terms of the debt, you just you confirmed that we've got no significant covenants and think we've done a nice job. We're down to approximately 900, a little over 900 on the 8.3.8. And not going to say anything I haven't said publicly already, just that we continue to monitor the credit markets.

Speaker 5

We obviously understand When our maturities are out there, I think from our standpoint, we just need to continue to execute on the operating plan. We need to continue to generate free cash flow. We need to continue to look for potential opportunities to monetize things like we did with the towers This quarter, which we're going to use to pay down debt also as part of that. And I can't comment about other companies. But again, if you look at the operating performance of this company, we're just we feel confident About the refinancing and doing in ways that continues to maximize our capital structure.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Operator

We'll move next to Jim Goss at Barrington Research.

Speaker 6

All right. Thanks. A couple of questions. One, looking at podcasting, it's still achieving growth. But I wonder if you could Position it in its business cycle, maybe discuss if you think the trajectory is slowing a little that it might be maturing somewhat Or is this just a function of like current type events that might be posing a bit of a drag on The very strong growth you obviously get in the earlier stages of the development.

Speaker 2

Yes, we don't think we're anywhere near maturity on podcasting. And I think if you look at the audience growth in podcasting, it's not an audience growth in terms of more people coming into podcasting listening, But they're spending more time with podcasting as well. If you look at stats about how many Downloads we have or how many shows get over a 1000000 downloads a month that continues to grow. It's sort of every metric you look at is a very positive metric. And what's also encouraging is that it's a relatively young audience for podcasting.

Speaker 2

So you're not talking about the issues of talk radio, which tend to be older. This is the young audience version of talk. What's also great about podcasting for us in terms of our business Is that about 2 thirds of the use of podcasting is at home, whereas in radio about 2 thirds of our usage is out of home. So it's a nice marriage Of the 2 and some people think about podcasting, if you think Netflix is sort of TV on demand, podcasting sort of radio on demand, And we think it continues to move. And there are now more people using podcasting than use the biggest streaming music services And continues to grow.

Speaker 2

So we're very optimistic about it and seeing and the only thing in the marketplace is you've seen some people pull back on Basically, uneconomic deals that they were doing, I think that's a positive for the marketplace, because it means The economics match real economics, and I think that helps us in getting the deals done. We need to continue to lead us the number one podcast publisher.

Speaker 5

Hey, Jim. And the only thing I might just build upon what Bob said and just go marry back to Steve's question, Just a couple of minutes, remember, we're up approximately 13%, a little less than that in revenue in Q3 of podcasting. And I think I just mentioned That we're we plan to be or forecast to be higher than that in Q4 in terms of percentage. So remember, We saw that increase in percentage and we're also told that we're getting to bigger numbers. So I'm not quite sure that there's any factual signs, at least from an Iheart standpoint, That we see anything podcasting slowing down whatsoever in terms of the growth.

Speaker 5

The second thing I would say Is that if you look at all the people that do projections in terms of revenue pies in North American advertising, If you go out 3, 4 years and everybody's got kind of little different years and slightly different numbers, but And you can all go read them yourself, whether it's e market or the other people out there, but everybody's got podcasting, like, going to $4,000,000,000 $5,000,000,000 pie of advertising dollars over whatever period of time, some are 3, some are 4. Even if those are not exactly right, just look at them directionally. And finally, I would just say that just remember, The podcasting industry in terms of big advertisers, well, consumers' listening habits, big advertisers coming to podcasting, Justin, which is so important because that's where big dollars come from, big advertisers, that is really only a couple of years, quite frankly, In the making. So when Bob talks about the early days and we see no signs of anything slowing down, Look to listening, what's out there with the consumers, I think it's something like 85% or some number close to that People that start a podcast listen to all the way through.

Speaker 5

So I don't think any of us that have been running media companies for a long period of time have seen engagement At that level and that's critical because ad engagement is what's driving this dramatic growth in ad revenue.

Speaker 6

Okay, very helpful. Couple of other things. Political, I know you talked about reach, but video seems to trump reach in terms of attracting political ads. So Local broadcast always gets the lion's share of that business. Excuse me.

Speaker 6

I wonder if you feel there's any risk to Digital or other forms taking any of the political momentum you've tended to have because it's not the biggest category, but it's an important category and very Preferable category for you.

Speaker 2

Yes, no, to the contrary, I think video has always been there and anybody wants to see their faces always bought video. I think so now the only variable now is reach. At a certain point, they got to say, if nobody is seeing it, they got to worry about getting their message out. And I think finally people are really beginning to appreciate I think with the success of streaming audio and the success of podcasting, The impact of the conversation and indeed I think probably the most products and by the way most candidates Probably it's not seeing their face, it's hearing the conversation about the candidate and nothing does that better than broadcast radio. So Again, I think if you look at the history of sort of growth we've had in political advertising in the 2020 cycle and 2022 cycle, I think we're encouraged that we're in good shape on political.

Speaker 5

Jim, and just one thing, You mentioned, I think when you asked your question, you talked about video and digital and just and Bob, just to hone back on that, From a broadcast standpoint, remember, going into this election cycle as well as we've done in past election cycles, Our capabilities from a data standpoint, our ad tech capabilities that we've talked about with our ability just at a very high level, It's a plan to plan out advertising campaigns, to monitor advertising campaigns and report out on them. That goes obviously not just from a digital standpoint, but we now have capabilities on broadcast that make broadcast Look like digital, again, not one to 1. We're still as we all know the world has gone away from, but 1 to 1 for many. And we've got capabilities going into this political season to get our dollars that we didn't have in the last election cycle. So I wouldn't that's not a small detail to overlook.

Speaker 6

Okay. Thank you. One last one. I know you can't exactly create a concert movie like Taylor Swift Era's Tour, but you do have Things that you put on ABC and Hulu, as you mentioned, Jingle Ball. But are there events you're creating that could Being monetized with sort of streaming relationships where it might be something that is accessible on an ongoing basis with That's what there's something of that nature that could add to the monetization of those types of events.

Speaker 2

Yes, the answer is yes. And indeed this year we moved the Iheartradio Music Festival to Hulu, and I think that's a perfect example of the success of that. And again, we do a lot of other major tentpole events and we are wide open to that and really looking at where is the consumer And how do we reach them and we always feel to get the audience monetization follows.

Speaker 6

All right. Thanks very much. Thank you.

Operator

We'll move to our next question from Dan Day at B. Riley Securities.

Speaker 7

Yes. Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. So just wanted to push on the EBITDA guidance a little bit more. I think the presumption coming into the Share was that the cost savings efforts, the real estate reductions you guys have talked about would at least stabilize the margin profile even if we So all continued softness in the advertising market, it seems like you're implying a pretty big step down in margins here 4Q kind of low 20s versus higher 20s in almost every 4Q you've reported.

Speaker 7

Just one of the things I hear from investors is that it seems like there's been a number of quarters where these items have mostly offset any fixed cost savings. So just any thoughts there When those might start to become more evident and any pushback you might give to that?

Speaker 5

Well, look, I think they are, It all has to be becoming evident. And one thing I want to just highlight and then I'll spend 30 seconds to elaborate more detail I wouldn't overlook Bob's comment that he said when we were discussing earnings about this is It's obviously there's a lot of uncertainty out there in the environment. I think people have heard this on every earnings call With respect to advertising based companies to different degrees, the ability to talk about Guidance for Q4, whether you go into 2024 is challenging. And I think Bob highlighted this is based on what we know today. But if you look at just historical, what's happened, we've seen periods of time where we have had a lot of business At the end of Q3, I'm sorry, at the end of November December.

Speaker 5

When you look at this year, kind of in particular, just kind of contrasted Just to last year, remember, we're comping against last year if you look at margins, both in the MPG level and we highlighted In our discussion, at the Audio and Media Services level, a dramatic difference in what we had in political revenue Year over year, I think last year we had $66,000,000 in political revenue at MPG. We had 20 about mid-20s I'm sorry, about $60,000,000 it should be in MPG in mid-20s at Audio and Media Services and that comes in Extremely high margin, quite frankly, that political of it is our highest margin business. So that's really quite frankly the biggest piece. And The balance going the other way is obviously the increase in DAG. We do have some nice cost savings in Q4.

Speaker 5

As a reminder, we announced $75,000,000 program at the beginning of this year that we started layering in during Q2 and We've got nice benefit in Q4, and we're lapping year over year, but I think we continue to look Our cost is just a way of life. And I think also as we highlighted 2 other things, one is we have bonuses Back last year, we didn't pay bonuses to any significant amount across our employee base. And finally, the trade and marketing expenses that we touched upon with both the Hulu deals now streaming The iHeart Music Festival and our deal with ABC. And so those are not comparable Year over year and those hit even though the music festival was in Q3, those hit in Q4. So that's really the items that are affecting comparability.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. Thanks, Rich. One more for me. Higher level question on Podcasting, it feels like we've hit a tipping point, where within podcasts like a majority of them, the most popular ones seem to have some sort of video component to them, Typically like hosted on YouTube or some other platform in addition to that like more traditional audio only format. So I'm just wondering how you've played in that, whether that's impacting discussions with talent, and your thoughts on the sort of hybrid audio video approach The podcasting seems to be moving towards.

Speaker 2

Yes, I actually disagree. I don't think it is moving to that. I think you have some shows that are hybrids, but I don't think that is an overall trend at all in the podcasting business. As a matter of fact, I think most people have been surprised by How little interest there is and seeing what they're hearing. I think people who've come out of the video business think everybody wants to see it.

Speaker 2

And the reality is no, they don't. They're cooking, they're driving, they're doing something else and it doesn't fit in well there. And I think, look, everybody who's in the video business would love to capture podcasting that are all trying desperately to do it. And we have some shows that are on both. And if it's the best way to do it, we certainly can do it.

Speaker 2

The video today is not much more expense to add to it. We're just looking for the best way to make money.

Speaker 5

Yes. And one last thing I may just add to that. Look, if you look at what our revenue growth is Both through the 9 months and then what I just talked about Q4 also just remind me as we've said, podcasting is Accretive to the overall company's EBITDA margin out there. So if you look at what Bob just articulated, that is our overall part of our podcasting strategy. I think it's hard to argue that we're not on the right strategy, that we've enjoyed pretty good success in the podcasting, both on revenue and also Most importantly, drive you to the bottom line for the benefit of our shareholders and profitability.

Speaker 5

So with that, I'd like to thank everybody for listening to the Iheart story, Bob, myself and the rest of the management team. We are available for questions and follow-up and appreciate everybody's time and support. Thank you.

Operator

And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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