• by Wayne Friedman , March 7, 2013

Higher automotive and political advertising -- as well as the benefit of the acquisition of 10 new stations -- drove Nexstar Broadcasting to post sharply high financial results.

The Irving, Texas-based TV group witnessed fourth-quarter revenue soaring nearly 35% to $116.2 million, with income from operations almost double to $35.4 million -- up from $17.6 million.

Nexstar said its core local and national ad fourth-quarter revenue growth of 8.8% -- rising to $73.2 million during the period -- was boosted by a 12% rise in automotive advertising.

Local core advertising revenue grew 7% to $52.6 million, with national spot advertising revenue up 14% to $20.6 million. Political advertising was $27.3 million, up from $2 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. Digital advertising revenue was up 25% to $5.3 million during the period -- and 13% higher to $18.4 million. Nexstar also had a 60% rise in retransmission fees, to $16 million.

While political advertising is a boon to many TV station groups, some of their main core advertisers can be displaced by political commercials.

Perry Sook, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Nexstar, stated: “During the fourth quarter, we successfully managed inventory to maximize our share of election spending in our markets without materially impacting our core television business."

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