• by Wayne Friedman , November 9, 2020

Leaving out those new acquisitions, total revenue was 14% higher.

Total company revenue was $738 million in the third quarter -- with political advertising at $116 million -- a new third-quarter record for the company -- compared to the total of $8 million for the third quarter of 2019.

Since the beginning of the year, political advertising has totaled $395 million.

In addition, Tegna saw strong gains from subscription revenue of $317 million, gaining 32% due to rate increases and acquisitions of TV stations.
Highly watched “core” advertising -- year-in, year-out non political brand and consumer marketing -- was flat at $299 million.

Over the last nine months -- through the COVID-19 pandemic that began in March -- advertising was down 3.3% to $822.8 million. Subscription revenue over that period grew 35% to $973 million.

Tegna noted that its OTT and CTV advertising-selling division, Premion, with returning live sports TV events, had “very strong year-over-year growth.” The company did not provide details.

Tegna’s net income more than doubled to $132 million for the period.

Tegna stock was up 4.8% on Monday morning to $13.80.