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Date

May 11, 2026, 4:30 p.m. ET

Call participants

  • Chairman & Chief Executive Officer — Bob Pittman
  • President, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer — Richard J. Bressler
  • Executive Vice President, Treasurer & Deputy Chief Financial Officer — Mike McGuinness
  • Executive Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development — Andrey Hart

Takeaways

  • Consolidated revenue -- $884 million, an increase of 9.6% year over year, aligned with guided high single-digit growth.
  • Adjusted EBITDA -- $93 million compared to $105 million prior year, slightly below guidance of approximately $100 million due to accelerated recognition of non-cash marketing expenses and March advertising softness.
  • New cost savings initiative -- Announced $50 million of additional annualized savings to begin in the second half of the year, on top of previously announced $100 million in 2026 savings.
  • Tax cash outflow -- Management expects minimal cash taxes for at least the next three years, projected to preserve $150 million-$200 million in cash from 2026 to 2028, due to tax law changes.
  • Digital Audio Group revenue -- $327 million, up 18%, above "mid-teens" guidance.
  • Podcast revenue -- $147 million, representing growth of 26.9%, exceeding guidance of "up low 20s"; half generated through local sales force.
  • Digital X Podcast revenue -- $180 million, up 11.6% year over year.
  • Digital Audio Group adjusted EBITDA -- $87 million, flat year over year; margin was 26.5% (down from 31.4% prior year).
  • Multiplatform Group revenue -- $493 million, up 4.3%, fractionally below midpoint of "mid-single digits" guidance; excluding political, up 3.9%.
  • Multiplatform Group adjusted EBITDA -- $47 million, down from $70 million in the prior year quarter.
  • Audio & Media Services Group revenue -- $67 million, up 12.2%; excluding political, up 13%.
  • Audio & Media Services Group adjusted EBITDA -- $24 million, up 54.7% year over year.
  • GAAP operating income -- $1.5 million, reversing a $25 million prior-year operating loss.
  • Free cash flow -- Negative $114 million, compared to negative $81 million prior year; shaped by about $40 million higher interest expense due to prior refinancing timing.
  • Net debt -- $4.7 billion as of quarter end.
  • Total liquidity -- $495 million, including $135 million cash (with $50 million borrowed under ABL).
  • Net leverage ratio -- 6.9x net debt to adjusted EBITDA at quarter end.
  • Debt draws and repayment -- After quarter end, drew $75 million on ABL (outstanding $125 million); repaid $51.2 million on remaining 6 3/8 notes and term loans, thereby fully retiring stub facilities.
  • Second quarter outlook -- Adjusted EBITDA guidance of $140 million-$160 million; consolidated revenue expected up low single digits; Digital Audio Group revenue to rise ~10%, podcasting to grow low 20s%, and Digital X Podcasting up low single digits; Multiplatform Group revenue expected flat; Audio & Media Services Group projected up low teens%.
  • Full-year guidance -- Reaffirmed $800 million adjusted EBITDA and $200 million free cash flow targets.
  • Programmatic revenue target -- $200 million expected in 2026, up 50% from $135 million in 2025; management expects trajectory to mimic podcasting revenue growth pattern.
  • Interest expense and capex guides -- Full-year interest expense estimated at $440 million, capital expenditures to be about $90 million, and cash restructuring costs at $50 million.
  • Net leverage year-end target -- Management projects ending 2026 in the "mid-5s" leverage range, representing more than a full turn improvement year over year.
  • Category performance -- Top ad revenue gainers were health care, financial services, computers, electronics and appliances, and political; biggest decliners were entertainment, beauty and fitness, government, and telco.
  • Segmental diversification -- No single advertising category comprises more than about 5% of total ad revenue, and no individual advertiser exceeds about 2%.
  • Programmatic platform partnerships -- Broadcast inventory made available across Amazon DSP, Yahoo DSP, Google, and DV360, with Amazon DSP live in the second half of the year.
  • Podcast market leadership -- Management asserts, "We are the number one podcast publisher as measured by both Podtrac and Triton" and the “industry’s number one podcast sales network.”
  • Broadcast radio audience -- Company noted more broadcast listeners today than 20 years ago, and continued support from major partnerships (Netflix, TikTok) for programming campaigns.

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Risks

  • Adjusted EBITDA fell short of the $100 million guidance, with Pittman citing, "The timing of the non-cash marketing expenses that we discussed in the last few earnings calls drove the majority of our slight under relative to our EBITDA guidance, as we recognized more of this non-cash expense in the period than previously anticipated due to timing of some of our partnership campaigns," as well as lower-than-expected March advertising revenues linked to macroeconomic uncertainty.
  • Bressler noted that first-quarter free cash flow was negative $114 million versus negative $81 million previous year, "driven by an increase in our interest expense," reflecting prior year’s accelerated interest payments from Q1 2025 to Q4 2024.
  • Pittman highlighted that an internal survey found "61% of U.S. consumers say the economy is getting worse, and 31% list inflation or price of goods as their most important issue," the highest since 2022, which may depress advertising demand.

Summary

iHeartMedia (IHRT 3.35%) delivered consolidated revenue growth of 9.6% and reaffirmed both its $800 million adjusted EBITDA and $200 million free cash flow guidance for the fiscal year, despite first-quarter EBITDA and free cash flow shortfalls versus prior-year periods. The company announced an incremental $50 million cost reduction initiative to begin manifesting in the year's second half, compounding previously targeted savings. Management expects tax planning actions to eliminate substantial cash tax outflows for at least the next three years, freeing $150 million-$200 million for reinvestment or debt reduction. Segment data reveal sustained digital and podcasting momentum, with digital audio and podcasting revenue up 18% and 26.9%, respectively, alongside digital margin contraction. Multiplatform Group growth lagged, and adjusted EBITDA declined, while Audio & Media Services Group outperformed with 54.7% EBITDA growth. Strategic initiatives focus on expanding programmatic sales across major platforms and leveraging core broadcast assets and industry partnerships for cross-segment growth and market share gains.

  • Bressler noted, "We expect our net leverage ratio at the end of 2026 to be in the mid-5s, which would be more than a full turn improvement year over year," indicating ongoing deleveraging focus.
  • The company plans to fully pay down current ABL borrowings by year end with free cash flow, reflecting confidence in cash generation, particularly as political advertising bolsters second-half results.
  • Podcasting now achieves EBITDA margins accretive to the total company, supporting management’s assertion of leadership in U.S. podcast profitability.
  • Pittman attributed growing video podcast revenue to Netflix and similar partnerships, with the iHeartRadio app set to carry video podcasts and expand monetization opportunities.
  • Segmental exposure remains diversified, as management emphasized that "no advertising category that is greater than about 5% of our total advertising revenue, and no individual advertiser that is more than about 2%," reducing concentration risk.

Industry glossary

  • Programmatic (ad buying): Automated, platform-driven method for buying and selling advertising inventory, often using demand-side platforms (DSPs) for targeted, scalable ad placements.
  • ABL facility: Asset-based lending facility, a secured revolving line of credit backed by company receivables or other assets.
  • DSP (demand-side platform): Technology platform enabling advertisers or agencies to buy digital advertising inventory from multiple sources via a single interface.
  • Stub facilities: Remaining principal amounts on legacy term loans or notes, often after refinancing or partial repayment.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Bob Pittman: Thanks, Andrey, and good afternoon, everyone. In the first quarter, our consolidated revenue was $884 million, up 9.6% compared to the prior-year quarter and in line with our guidance of up high single digits. Excluding the impact of political, our consolidated revenue was up 9.3%. We generated adjusted EBITDA of $93 million in the first quarter, slightly below our previously provided guidance of approximately $100 million, compared to $105 million in the prior year.

The timing of the non-cash marketing expenses that we discussed in the last few earnings calls drove the majority of our slight under relative to our EBITDA guidance, as we recognized more of this non-cash expense in the period than previously anticipated due to timing of some of our partnership campaigns. This was also driven in part by our March advertising revenues coming in a little lower than anticipated, and we believe this correlated with advertiser and consumer uncertainty resulting from the impact of current macroeconomic issues.

Before I go into the details of this quarter's results, today we are announcing a new cost reduction initiative that will generate an additional $50 million of annualized savings, which we will begin realizing in the second half of the year. As a reminder, this is in addition to the $100 million of in-year 2026 savings that we have previously announced. As you know, we continually reevaluate our organizational structure, flatten layers of management, and push the adoption of new technologies and tools, including AI, to improve our operating efficiency, and this latest announcement is further evidence of that commitment.

I also want to add, as a result of the implementation of changes to the tax code, we expect our cash taxes for 2026 to be effectively eliminated and for the next few years as long as the current tax laws remain in effect. This will materially improve our free cash flow generation moving forward. Rich will speak to all of this in a bit more detail, and now I would like to turn to our individual operating segments. The Digital Audio Group generated first quarter revenues of $327 million, up 18% versus prior year and slightly ahead of our previously provided guidance of up mid-teens. Within the Digital Audio Group, our podcast revenue momentum continues.

Podcast revenue was $147 million for the quarter, up 26.9% compared to prior year of $116 million, above our guidance of up low 20s. Approximately 50% of our podcasting revenue was generated by our local sales force. Our podcasting EBITDA margins remained accretive to our total company EBITDA margins, which we achieved by applying rigorous financial discipline, and we believe we have the most profitable podcasting business in the United States. In fact, we are the number one podcast publisher as measured by both Podtrac and Triton, and we are also the podcasting industry's number one podcast sales network.

And one more thing to note: a major key to our success in building our podcast business has been our broadcast radio assets. If Netflix is, in essence, TV on demand, then podcasting is radio on demand. And as the number one radio company in America, that gives us a great advantage. In the first quarter, Digital X podcast revenue grew 11.6% compared to prior year. The Digital Audio Group generated first quarter adjusted EBITDA of $87 million, flat to prior year. The Digital Audio Group's adjusted EBITDA margins were 26.5%.

As a reminder, Q1 margins are always the lowest of the year, and we expect to see the Digital Audio Group's full-year adjusted EBITDA margins in the mid-30s as they were for the full year 2025. Turning now to the Multiplatform Group, which includes our broadcast radio, network, and events businesses. First quarter revenue was $493 million, up 4.3% versus prior year and slightly below the midpoint of our guidance range of up mid-single digits. Excluding the impact of political advertising, Multiplatform Group revenue was up 3.9%. The Multiplatform Group's adjusted EBITDA was $47 million compared to $70 million in the prior year.

Despite this quarter's Multiplatform Group adjusted EBITDA performance, we remain confident we can return the Multiplatform Group to adjusted EBITDA growth during this year. To reach that goal, in addition to our continuing efforts on cost, we are focused on four major drivers. Number one, programmatic. We have built the ad-tech infrastructure and systems to make our broadcast inventory available through programmatic buying platforms. These partnership agreements with Amazon DSP, Yahoo DSP, Google, DV360, and others will enable our broadcast radio inventory to participate alongside our digital inventory in the same growing programmatic TAM. Second, integrated sales.

By positioning ourselves as a true marketing partner for our clients and agency partners, we focus on bringing all of our advertising assets to bear, including continuing to bundle broadcast radio with other platforms for the benefit of our advertising partners. Third, increasing share of the broadcast radio TAM. In Q1, we outperformed the radio industry's revenue performance by 5.8 percentage points, according to Miller Kaplan, and we expect this to continue given the unique scale of our audience, our ad tech platforms, and the fact we have the largest sales force in audio. Fourth, our resilient radio audience.

There are more broadcast radio listeners today than there were 20 years ago, and one constant in advertising is that revenue eventually follows consumer usage. We continue to see our partnerships with companies like Netflix and TikTok as validation of the unique power of our broadcast radio assets. We continue to premiere new music with our TikTok partnership with our broadcast radio, and following on the tremendous success of our Bruno Mars album preview earlier this year, we have nationwide programming campaigns coming up to launch new music by Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter.

If you are looking for further validation of the power of our broadcast radio assets and our radio personalities, out of all the video podcasts that appear on Netflix, in the first quarter one podcast got over 40% of all their podcast views, according to Samba TV, and that is our own Breakfast Club with Charlamagne. Why? Because they talk about it on the radio every morning. That is one more way we are quantitatively proving the value of broadcast radio to advertisers and marketers. Before I turn it over to Rich, I want to give you our view on the current macro environment.

Our internal Corporate Insights group does weekly updates on consumer sentiment to help our on-air talent and programmers stay in touch with the issues that are important to our listeners. This week, one of the studies showed that 61% of U.S. consumers say the economy is getting worse, and 31% list inflation or price of goods as their most important issue, which is the highest since 2022. We believe this has probably created some softness in what we feel is a reasonably healthy advertising marketplace. With that, I will turn it over to Rich.

Rich Bressler: Thank you, Bob, and good afternoon. Our Q1 2026 consolidated revenue was in line with our guidance of up high single digits and was up 9.6% compared to the prior-year quarter. As Bob mentioned, we saw some softness in March that appeared to correlate with the start of the conflict in the Middle East. Having said that, we still believe that 2026 will be a significant year in terms of adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow generation for iHeartMedia, Inc. I want to repeat two key updates that Bob gave.

The first is the update on our cost reduction work and our new savings initiative that will generate an additional $50 million of annual savings, which we will begin realizing in the second half of the year. As a reminder, this is in addition to the $100 million of in-year 2026 savings that we have previously announced. The second is the update to our cash taxes. As a result of changes to the tax code, we now expect to have minimal cash taxes over the next three years, assuming the current tax laws remain in effect. When we think about our free cash flow generation, this will preserve approximately $150 million to $200 million of cash from 2026 to 2028.

Let me provide you with some additional detail on our advertising revenue performance in the first quarter. As a reminder, one of our strengths is our diversified advertising revenues. There is no advertising category that is greater than about 5% of our total advertising revenue, and no individual advertiser that is more than about 2% of our total advertising revenue. In the first quarter, the largest category gainers in terms of absolute dollars were health care, financial services, computers, electronics and appliances, and political. The four categories that declined the most in terms of absolute dollars were entertainment, beauty and fitness, government, and telco.

In the first quarter, our five largest advertising categories in terms of absolute dollars were health care, financial services, auto, and home building and improvement. Our consolidated direct operating expenses increased 5.3% for the quarter. This increase was primarily driven by higher variable content costs associated with the revenue growth of our digital business. Our consolidated SG&A expenses increased 11.9% for the quarter. This increase was primarily driven by expenses related to our non-cash co-marketing partnerships, partially offset by a decrease in employee compensation costs. We generated first quarter GAAP operating income of $1.5 million compared to an operating loss of $25 million in the prior-year quarter.

We generated adjusted EBITDA of $93 million, slightly below our previously provided guidance of approximately $100 million and compared to $105 million in the prior year. As Bob mentioned, this performance below our guide was driven primarily by the timing of non-cash marketing expenses recognized earlier in the year than expected and some softness in the advertising marketplace in March as a result of uncertainty correlated with the conflict in the Middle East. As we previously discussed, some of the investment in our proprietary audience database, which is the foundation of our broadcast programmatic offerings, takes the form of co-marketing partnerships to drive engagement with the iHeartRadio digital services.

We continue to view these marketing activities as critical for the success of our broadcast programmatic initiative. As a reminder, this is all in support of our efforts to make our broadcast inventory as easy for our advertising partners to transact as our digital inventory. This is one of the important steps in returning the Multiplatform Group back to EBITDA growth. We will continue these partnerships in Q2, and they will start tapering off in the second half of the year. As you know, all the revenue and expense associated with each partnership has a net zero impact on adjusted EBITDA over time. As a reminder, the majority of this revenue and expense impacts the Multiplatform Group segment.

I think it is important also to tie this non-cash marketing activity to our focus on reducing costs and conserving cash. If you go back 10 years, this company spent approximately $100 million a year on cash marketing in support of driving listeners to our stations. Since then, we have replaced most of this cash marketing expense with these non-cash marketing partnerships and have focused those marketing efforts on driving our broadcast programmatic initiatives in addition to radio listenership. Turning now to the performance of our operating segments. In the first quarter, the Digital Audio Group's revenue was $327 million, up 18% year over year, slightly ahead of our guidance of up mid-teens.

The Digital Audio Group's adjusted EBITDA was $87 million, flat to prior year. Our Q1 adjusted EBITDA margins were 26.5%, compared to 31.4% in the prior year. Within the Digital Audio Group, our podcasting revenue was $147 million, which grew 26.9% year over year and was above the guidance we provided of up low 20s. Our first quarter Digital X Podcast revenue grew 11.6% year over year to $180 million. Turning now to the Multiplatform Group. Revenue was $493 million, up 4.3% compared to prior year, slightly below the midpoint of our previously provided guidance range of up mid-single digits. Adjusted EBITDA was $47 million, down from $70 million in the prior-year quarter. Turning to the Audio Media Services Group.

Revenue was $67 million, up 12.2% year over year, driven primarily by the continued growth of its digital revenues. Excluding the impact of political revenue, the Audio Media Services Group revenues were up 13%. Adjusted EBITDA was $24 million, up 54.7% compared to the prior year. In the first quarter, our free cash flow was negative $114 million compared to negative $81 million in the prior-year quarter. This was driven by an increase in our interest expense. As a reminder, in Q1 2025, we recognized low interest expense due to the acceleration of a portion of our interest payments into Q4 2024 related to our refinancing. This drove a year-over-year increase in interest expense of approximately $40 million.

Adjusted for that shift, our free cash flow improved slightly compared to prior year. At quarter end, net debt was approximately $4.7 billion. Our total liquidity was $495 million, and our cash balance was $135 million, which included $50 million borrowed under the ABL facility. Our quarter-ending net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 6.9 times. At the end of April, we drew down $75 million from our ABL, which now has an outstanding balance of $125 million. We fully expect to pay down that balance by the end of 2026 with our free cash flow generation.

As a reminder, we typically have negative free cash flow in the first half of the year and then generate meaningful free cash flow in the second half of the year. Remember, 80% of political advertising comes in the back half of the year, which helps drive free cash flow. On May 1, we repaid $51.2 million of remaining balances of our 6 3/8 notes as well as the term loan and incremental term loan, fully retiring those stub facilities. Let me now turn to our guidance for the second quarter and the full year within the context that Bob discussed regarding the current economic environment.

For the second quarter, we expect to generate adjusted EBITDA between $140 million and $160 million. We expect our consolidated revenue to be up low single digits compared to prior year. We are still closing April, but it is pacing up low single digits year over year. Turning to the individual segments, we expect the Digital Audio Group's revenue to be up approximately 10% year over year, with podcasting revenue expected to grow in the low 20s and Digital X Podcasting to be up low single digits. We expect the Multiplatform Group's revenues to be approximately flat compared to prior year. We expect the Audio Media Services Group's revenue to be up low teens year over year.

Turning to the full year, we are reaffirming our full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance of $800 million and our free cash flow guide of $200 million. Embedded in our adjusted EBITDA guidance are the following: We expect to generate approximately $200 million of overall programmatic revenue in 2026, up approximately 50% from $135 million in 2025. As a reminder, we expect our broadcast programmatic revenue trajectory to be similar to the growth we experienced in podcasting revenue. We expect podcasting revenue to continue with strong momentum. We expect this to be a robust midterm election year in terms of generating political revenue, and as a reminder, the vast majority of our political revenue occurs in Q3 and Q4.

Our guidance also includes the benefit of our cost savings programs. Let me provide some of the inputs embedded in our free cash flow guidance. Interest expense will be approximately $440 million. As we discussed earlier, due to tax planning actions taken in response to changes to the tax code, we now expect to have minimal cash taxes this year and for the next few years as long as the current tax laws are in effect. As I said before, this is a great outcome and will help us avoid approximately $150 million to $200 million of cash taxes over the next three years. Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $90 million.

Cash restructuring expenses will be approximately $50 million. We expect our net leverage ratio at the end of 2026 to be in the mid-5s, which would be more than a full turn improvement year over year. Before we open the line for Q&A, I want to remind you that our company does not comment on rumors or speculation. And now we will turn it over to the operator to take your questions. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. We will now open the call for questions. To withdraw any questions, press 1 again. Our first question comes from Aaron Watts from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Aaron Watts: Hi, everyone. Thanks for having me on. A couple of questions, if I may. First, you are affirming your full-year guidance. Is the right way to think about that as being a balance between the macro headwinds that the whole industry is experiencing balanced against the incremental cost savings you have introduced? And on the political side, I know you refocused your efforts there. Can you give us your latest thoughts on how this year is shaping up for you relative to the last election and how much political is baked into that full-year guide you have given us?

Bob Pittman: I think that is probably an accurate assessment of where it is. I think we also obviously have political revenue coming in. If you read the same headlines we do and talk to the same people, everybody thinks it is going to be a very big political spend year. As a reminder, most of that comes in Q3 and Q4.

Rich Bressler: Yes, and Aaron, it is Rich. I would just add a couple of things to what Bob said about confirming the full-year guidance. Obviously, we are sitting here in May. We have a lot of moving pieces. Also, as a reminder, Q1 is by far the smallest quarter we have for the year. That is nothing new. It always has been. Q2 and Q3 are about the same from a financial standpoint. Q4, just like the rest of the advertising industry, is our biggest quarter. We see no reason it will not be another strong political year. We announced the latest savings program today, which is on page 7 of the investor deck.

Because we know there are a lot of moving pieces, we tried to do an even better job of laying it out and how it hits the individual quarters. You take that altogether, and as we sit here today, based on everything we see, that is what comprises reaffirming our $800 million EBITDA guidance.

Aaron Watts: Okay, great. And then secondly, on your non-cash marketing, I believe I heard you say it came in a bit heavier than you anticipated in this quarter, but that it would moderate as the year progresses. Did I hear that correctly? Are you getting from these efforts what you expected, and can you give us an update on how it is translating into your ability to sell programmatically, especially your broadcast inventory?

Rich Bressler: Maybe I will just start and Bob will add. Yes, on timing, you heard exactly correctly. The impact was more in Q1. Nothing changes in terms of the way to think about the full year; it is just timing. When you think about building up from a programmatic standpoint, we reiterated that we expect programmatic to be up 50% year over year. As we have talked about, in terms of measurement and conditioning the dollars, we are working with the DSPs we have discussed—Yahoo, DV360—from a broadcast standpoint, and the Amazon DSP in the second half of this year.

We said that previously, so we continue to be pleased about that, and it continues to be an important part of returning the Multiplatform Group back to EBITDA growth.

Bob Pittman: I think as you look at the whole programmatic opportunity, we have said in the past that we expect the trajectory of the growth to be somewhat like podcasting, so we anticipate some healthy growth moving ahead. Going to the point on non-cash marketing expense, anytime we can use non-cash instead of cash is a good thing. If you go back 10 years, this was a substantial cash expenditure for the company when we needed to attract users, and being able to do it this way has a very positive benefit for the company.

Mike McGuinness: Aaron, this is Mike. In terms of the timing, we did say that we feel we will have enough of a media bank to continue this into Q2 to drive those efforts, and then we will taper down through the back half of the year. That is all embedded in the guidance, and obviously EBITDA will come.

Aaron Watts: Okay. Very helpful. If I could sneak one more in, and again thank you for the time. Richard, it sounds like you attacked some of your stub maturities post quarter, and you have a series of debt maturities to address beginning in earnest in 2028. Can you remind us how you are thinking about that? And also, if you could just confirm your flexibility to address those maturities within the confines of your various covenant packages.

Rich Bressler: First of all, yes, we are going to continue—as you saw, we reiterated our guidance for the generation of $200 million of free cash flow for this year. I also want to reiterate the importance of our tax planning and the tax synergies that we expect to generate—$150 million to $200 million over the next three years. Between the operations of the business and the generation of that free cash flow, we are very comfortable with our ability to address the upcoming stub maturities.

Mike McGuinness: And within the framework of the debt documents, we believe we will address those with free cash flow generation. We have the ability to do that within the debt documents.

Aaron Watts: Great. Thank you again, guys.

Operator: Our next question comes from Stephen Laszczyk from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Stephen Laszczyk: Hey, great. Thanks for taking the questions. Bob, Rich, maybe just to unpack advertising a bit more. I would be curious if you could dive into the ad market today—what you are seeing in terms of ad categories, what has been more resilient, less resilient, or more sensitive against this macro backdrop. And then, as you look into the quarter and ultimately out to the full year for the guide, what is implied in terms of either recovery or some sensitivity in the macro impacting top line in the guide? Thank you.

Mike McGuinness: Look, I think we have a reasonably healthy ad market, especially considering all the macro factors at work. But we watch it closely. Bob gave you a little bit of our internal numbers, which we use to work with our on-air talent and programmers so they understand the mood of America.

Bob Pittman: I think when you see high gas prices and you see inflation, you are probably going to have more of an impact on lower-income groups.

Mike McGuinness: The bigger spenders, higher income, appear to be not as affected by it.

Bob Pittman: But we watch it closely. I do not think anybody is heading for the hills, but we have to be cognizant of the moderating effect on the ad market.

Rich Bressler: And, Stephen, in terms of categories, I covered a number of areas in my remarks. I will just point everybody to slide 12 in the deck that was attached to the presentation, which goes through the top category gainers and decliners and total revenue. In terms of the rest of the year and the advertising marketplace, Bob covered it. I would just continue to point out, with that aspect of uncertainty, the continued resiliency of the medium that we have. We expect that will play well as we go through the rest of this year and into the future. Also, remember political does eat up a meaningful piece of the inventory, which has a positive effect on the entire marketplace.

Stephen Laszczyk: Got it. That is very helpful. And then maybe just one on the programmatic opportunity. You mentioned the $200 million targeted—growth to 50%. Just curious if you could talk more about the drivers of programmatic this year so far and what has been executed against that opportunity. And then, as we think about longer-term unlocks on programmatic, are there any pieces that still need to come together over the course of the next couple of quarters or years to unlock further revenue upside past $200 million? Thank you.

Bob Pittman: If you look at what is driving it, it has been our digital and podcasting strength, with our broadcast radio beginning to come on. We think the big growth driver in the long term will be broadcast radio getting into the digital TAM. Right now, unlike video, if you try and plan a digital audio campaign, you have a hard time getting reach without broadcast radio. We are very cognizant of that. I think that is the reason the DSPs are anxious to get us into their buying platforms so that these campaigns can deliver the reach they are accustomed to getting when they do a video campaign.

Rich Bressler: Just to add because Bob talked about the future, when we look at broadcast and think about the trajectory similar to podcasting revenue: we did about $550 million in podcasting revenue in 2025. If you go back about five years before that, we did about $50 million overall. That is the context for how to think about it. In addition to all the DSPs, everything happening with generative AI and the relationships we will have—not just with the DSPs, but directly with the advertising holding companies—is also going to be a continued driver. We remain optimistic about our future there.

Stephen Laszczyk: Great. Thank you both.

Operator: Our next question comes from Sebastiano Petti from JPMorgan.

Sebastiano Petti: Hi. Thank you for taking the question. Thinking about the business portfolio over time and how you are evaluating it—Bob, you talked about the importance of one of the major drivers of the success in podcasting being your broadcast radio assets. We are increasingly getting the question on whether those two assets need to stick together long term, or if there is an opportunity for perhaps synergy or value unlocked by some sort of separation. Is that something you have contemplated in the past or are looking at going forward? Thank you.

Bob Pittman: We have not looked at it because we do think they go together well. Having said that, we are always open to maximizing the value of the company. We have been pretty smart in how we have used broadcast radio not only to build podcasting, but to build the iHeartRadio app, to build the iHeart brand name, to build the iHeartRadio Music Festival, the awards show, etc. That is at the base of why we have this extraordinary reach and very high engagement. I go back to what happened with Netflix. They put video podcasts on the platform, and one of them got 40% of all the views. Which one?

The big morning radio show—Charlamagne and The Breakfast Club—because they were talking about it on the radio. That kind of power allows us to propel and build a lot of the future of the company.

Rich Bressler: And, Sebastiano, the other thing to point out as you talk about the assets working together: broadcast radio listening is at a high versus the last 10 to 20 years. In addition to the absolute performance of our Multiplatform Group—and as a reminder, financially, 75% to 80% of the incremental broadcast revenue dollars drop to the bottom line—it is an incredible financial-performing asset and a great free cash flow generator. The Netflix deal was born out of our impact and reach. The attraction, whether it is Netflix or our deal with TikTok, affects not just influencers and podcasting but also our broadcast radio assets.

We have mentioned the importance of all the DSPs and being in the Amazon DSP for broadcast in the second half of the year. Think about all these assets working together. Finally, on the revenue side, we have 1,000-plus ad salespeople that can sell anything, anywhere, anytime. That is a deliberate strategy across the company, so they are selling all of our assets. We have 1,000-plus people also selling podcasts both nationally and locally on a daily basis. Almost half of our podcasting revenue now is originated locally. You have to think about all the assets working together. It is hard to pick out any one piece.

Sebastiano Petti: If I could quickly follow up there—you talked about the Netflix deal. Is that now at full run rate as we think about the revenue contribution to digital? Or is there some partial quarter or incremental opportunity from Netflix? Any context on fixed versus variable, and is it at scale as we go forward?

Mike McGuinness: I think the way to think about it—let us take it up a level.

Bob Pittman: There is a new thing called video podcasts, which appear to be incremental to audio podcasts. It is not the same usage case; it is another time and mode of consumption. Now we are able to get video podcasts in there, so it opens up a new revenue stream for this business called podcasting. Netflix is the first example of that, but there are others that would like to carry our video podcasting. The iHeartRadio app is beginning to carry video versions of audio podcasts this month. You are seeing the same with Spotify and Apple, and certainly YouTube has been doing it. The big concept is that we have found yet another market that we can play in.

Sebastiano Petti: Thank you.

Operator: Our last question comes from Patrick Sholl from Barrington Research. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Patrick Sholl: Just following up on programmatic and the flow-through of incremental revenue to the Multiplatform Group. I was wondering if there was any sort of difference between the programmatic sales efforts and your traditional ad sales efforts in terms of flow-through to EBITDA.

Mike McGuinness: You mean in terms of the margin on the business? If that is the question—yes.

Patrick Sholl: Yes.

Mike McGuinness: I think it is relatively the same.

Patrick Sholl: And then on the macro uncertainty, to what extent is that contributing to people buying advertising later and maybe switching their buys from direct to programmatic?

Mike McGuinness: I do not think it is that. I think you are finding some players are saying, “We are automating our process.” Some advertisers are buying directly using programmatic, and agencies are using it a lot. They have one platform where they are able to put almost all the players on one platform, make it easy to buy and coordinate, and they need fewer people to do it. It happens faster. I think it is more of that trend than anything to do with macroeconomics.

Rich Bressler: And remember, programmatic—putting our broadcast inventory to be bought and sold as easily as digital—is the way the advertising industry is transacting. On digital, we are already in all the programmatic buying systems. This has been going on for some period of time in the video world. It is not a new way to transact; it is the way the advertising industry has been transacting, and we are making sure—with all of our assets, starting with the uniqueness of broadcast, and with digital already there—that we meet the industry, agencies, and advertisers the way they want to do business.

Andrey Hart: Okay. Thank you.

Patrick Sholl: Great.

Rich Bressler: Great. Well, if there are no other questions, we really appreciate everybody taking the time. Thank you for the interest in the iHeart story. Bob, myself, Mike, and Andrey are always available for follow-ups and to answer any questions.

Operator: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.