• by Wayne Friedman , November 7, 2023

Core advertising revenues for TV station group Tegna slipped 2.6% to $312.4 million in the third quarter.

With regard to the local TV station advertising marketplace, the company says, advertising market headwinds are abating. 

“Advertising trends in the third quarter showed sequential improvement compared to the second quarter. Automotive advertising revenue continued to show strong year-over-year growth for the fifth consecutive quarter.”

Going forward, Tegna says: "Fourth quarter revenue, excluding political, is projected to be flat despite macroeconomic headwinds in advertising."

Overall, for the first nine months of 2023, Tegna's advertising revenue was down 7.2% to $937.9 million.

Tegna's stock was up 2.3% to $15.77 in mid-day Tuesday trading.

Subscription revenue continues to be its steady earner, posting $377.9 million in third quarter revenue -- flat versus the same period a year ago -- and 2.6% higher to $1.2 billion for the first nine months of the year.

Separately, political advertising revenues in the period registered only $11.6 million -- down expectedly from the big midterm 2022 election period when it took in $92.9 million.

The company notes that its Premion business --- which sells owned as well as other streaming inventory, combined with its linear local TV stations commercial avails -- says it is gaining additional local advertisers who are spending more on streaming advertising. For easier deal-making Premion says it started offering programmatic selling capabilities to media agencies.

For its own TV stations, Tegna says stations’ streaming apps generated 677 million minutes on a 78% increase year-over-year.