IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXST) (“Nexstar” or the “Company”) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024 as summarized below. Please visit Nexstar’s website to view the full press release.

STATEMENT FROM PERRY A. SOOK, FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO

“We ended 2024 with another quarter of record net revenue driven by increased election year political advertising highlighting the effectiveness of local television broadcasting and our presence in nearly 85% of contested election markets across the country. In addition, we continued to grow distribution revenue, a testament to our position as the largest owner of local broadcast television stations carrying the most-watched programming. In 2024, we generated $1.2 billion of Adjusted Free Cash Flow and returned $820 million, or 68%, to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases and used $327 million to reduce leverage. In 2025, our key initiatives include renewing distribution contracts representing approximately 60% of our subscriber base, continuing our march towards profitability for The CW, and pursuing deregulation. Looking ahead, we believe we are well positioned to consistently deliver strong financial results, a belief supported by our recent decision to increase our dividend for the twelfth year in a row.”

Company and Business Highlights

• Achieved record annual revenue of $5.41 billion in 2024, surpassing our prior high of $5.21 billion in 2022.
• Returned $820 million to shareholders, representing 68% of Adjusted Free Cash Flow, and repaid $327 million of debt during 2024.
• Secured a comprehensive multi-year renewal of our NBC Television Network affiliations in January 2025.
• Implemented targeted restructuring actions in the fourth quarter to reduce operating expenses and streamline management of key lines of business, including The CW and our in-house advertising sales division.
• Acquired, in January 2025, WBNX-TV/TV55 in Cleveland, Ohio, creating a duopoly in the nation’s 19^th largest television market. WBNX will become an affiliate of The CW on September 1, 2025.
• NewsNation and Decision Desk HQ were the first to call the 2024 presidential election for President Donald Trump and delivered over 200% increase in viewership from the network’s 2020 election night coverage.
• Announced, in January 2025, the creation of EdgeBeam Wireless, LLC a new joint venture (consolidating our prior joint ventures into one entity) among us, The E.W. Scripps Company, Gray Media, Inc., and Sinclair, Inc. to deliver wireless data via ATSC 3.0 transmission throughout the nation. In total, EdgeBeam Wireless represents spectrum covering 97% of the continental U.S. and over 7 billion MhZ-POPs.

Financial Highlights

• Net Revenue. Record fourth quarter net revenue of $1.49 billion, increased $184 million year-over-year, or 14.1%, primarily due to growth in advertising revenue.
• Distribution Revenue. Record fourth quarter distribution revenue of $714 million, increased $10 million, or 1.4%, over the comparable prior year quarter. Distribution revenue growth primarily reflects the benefit of distribution contract renewals in 2023 on terms favorable to the Company, annual rate escalators, growth in vMVPD subscribers, the addition of CW affiliations on certain of our stations, and the return of partner stations on one MVPD in January, which more than offset MVPD subscriber attrition.
• Advertising Revenue. Fourth quarter advertising revenue of $758 million, increased $173 million, or 29.6%, over the comparable prior year quarter reflecting a $223 million year-over-year increase in election-year political advertising to $254 million, which more than offset a $51 million year-over-year reduction in non-political advertising revenue due to advertising market softness and political displacement.
• Net Income. Fourth quarter net income of $229 million increased $129 million compared to the prior year quarter, primarily reflecting revenue growth and lower net interest expense, offset in part, by increased income tax expenses and reduced income from equity investments related to the performance of the TV Food Network LLC (“TVFN”) in which we have a 31.3% interest. Net Income margin increased to 15.4% from 7.7% in the comparable prior year period.

Financial Highlights (continued)

• Adjusted EBITDA. Fourth quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $628 million, increased $179 million, or 39.9%, compared to the prior year quarter primarily reflecting revenue growth, which more than offset lower income from equity method investments from TVFN primarily related to lower advertising revenue. Adjusted EBITDA margin grew to 42.2% from 34.4% in the comparable prior year period.
• Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities. Fourth quarter Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities of $411 million, increased $229 million, or 125.8%, compared to the prior year quarter, due primarily to increased net income, changes in operating assets and liabilities primarily reflecting timing of receipts and payments and the impact of cash tax payments.
• Adjusted Free Cash Flow. Fourth quarter Adjusted Free Cash Flow of $411 million, increased $166 million, or 67.8%, compared to the prior year quarter, due primarily to the increase in net cash provided by operating activities, partially offset by changes in operating assets and liabilities primarily reflecting timing of receipts and payments which are excluded from our definition of Adjusted Free Cash Flow, and no cash contributions from noncontrolling interests in the period.

Capital Allocation

• In the fourth quarter of 2024, the Company used cash on hand and cash flow from operations to repay $181 million of debt, pay $52 million in dividends, and repurchase of 1,060,862 shares of Nexstar’s common stock at an average price of approximately $167.30 per share for a total of $178 million.

Debt, Cash and Leverage

• As of December 31, 2024, the consolidated debt of Nexstar and Mission Broadcasting, Inc., an independently owned variable interest entity, was $6.5 billion, including senior secured debt of $3.8 billion.
• The Company calculates its leverage ratios in accordance with the terms of its credit agreements which exclude The CW Network’s operations and cash balance. As of December 31, 2024, The CW Network had $16 million of cash on its balance sheet.
  • As of December 31, 2024, the Company’s first lien net leverage ratio was 1.68x compared to a covenant of 4.25x and its total net leverage ratio was 2.91x.
• The table below summarizes the Company’s unrestricted cash balances and debt obligations (net of financing costs, discounts and/or premiums) as of December 31, 2024 and 2023.

Full Year 2025 Guidance

We are providing guidance for fiscal 2025 Adjusted EBITDA in a range of $1.5 billion to $1.595 billion.

Key factors differing from our current expectations could affect our outlook for Adjusted EBITDA for 2025 either positively or negatively. Those factors include, among other things, the rate of growth or attrition of pay television subscribers, the health of local and national advertising markets, our renegotiation of certain distribution and affiliation agreements on terms favorable to the Company, and the attributable net income related to our 31.3% ownership stake in TV Food Network.

Fourth Quarter Conference Call

Nexstar will host a conference call at 10:00 a.m. ET today. Senior management will discuss the financial results and host a question-and-answer session. The dial in number for the audio conference call is +1 877-407-9208 or +1 201-493-6784, conference ID 13751217 (domestic and international callers). Participants can also listen to a live webcast of the call through the “Events and Presentations” section under “Investor Relations” on Nexstar’s website at nexstar.tv. A webcast replay will be available for 90 days following the live event at nexstar.tv.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication includes forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. Forward-looking statements include information preceded by, followed by, or that includes the words "guidance," "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "could," or similar expressions. For these statements, Nexstar claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements contained in this communication, concerning, among other things, future financial performance, including changes in net revenue, operating expenses and cash flow, involve risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change based on various important factors, including the impact of changes in national and regional economies, the ability to service and refinance our outstanding debt, successful integration of business acquisitions (including achievement of synergies and cost reductions), pricing fluctuations in local and national advertising, future regulatory actions and conditions in the television stations' operating areas, competition from others in the broadcast television markets, volatility in programming costs, the effects of governmental regulation of broadcasting, industry consolidation, technological developments and major world news events. Nexstar undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this communication might not occur. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. For more details on factors that could affect these expectations, please see Nexstar’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Definitions and Disclosures Regarding Non-GAAP Financial Information

Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as net income, plus or (minus): transaction, other one-time and restructuring expenses, stock-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization expense (excluding amortization of broadcast rights), amortization of basis difference of equity method investments, (gain) loss on asset disposal, impairment charges, interest expense, net, pension and other postretirement plans costs (credit), income tax expense (benefit) and other operating and non-operating expense (income). We consider Adjusted EBITDA to be an indicator of our assets’ operating performance.

Free Cash Flow is calculated as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures.

Adjusted Free Cash Flow is calculated as Free Cash Flow plus or (minus): transaction, other one-time and restructuring expenses, changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of acquisitions and dispositions (excluding changes in income tax payable), taxes paid on sale of assets, pension and other postretirement plans costs (credit), (payments) for capitalized software obligations, proceeds from disposal of assets and insurance recoveries and other expense (income), cash contribution from (distribution to) noncontrolling interests and other items. We consider Adjusted Free Cash Flow to be an indicator of our liquidity. We consider Adjusted Free Cash Flow to be a liquidity measure that provides useful information to management and investors about the amount of cash generated by the business that can be available for use in ongoing operations, debt payments, pension contributions, dividends, share repurchases, acquisitions and other items. Adjusted Free Cash Flow is not intended to represent the amount of cash flow available for discretionary expenditures as certain items and non-discretionary expenditures, such as changes in working capital, mandatory debt service requirements and pension contributions, are not deducted from this measure.

For a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measurements to the GAAP financial results cited in this news announcement, please see the supplemental tables at the end of this release.

We don’t provide a quantitative reconciliation of forward-looking, non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure because it is difficult to reliably predict or estimate the relevant components without unreasonable effort due to future uncertainties that may potentially have a significant impact on such calculations and providing them may imply a degree of precision that would be confusing or potentially misleading. These components include, but are not limited to, acquisition-related expenses, restructuring expenses, asset impairments, legal settlements and other gains and losses.

About Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXST) is a leading diversified media company that produces and distributes engaging local and national news, sports and entertainment content across its television and digital platforms, including more than 316,000 hours of programming produced annually by its business units. Nexstar owns America’s largest local television broadcasting group comprised of top network affiliates, with 201 owned or partner stations in 116 U.S. markets reaching 220 million people. Nexstar’s national television properties include The CW, America’s fifth major broadcast network, NewsNation, our national news network providing “News for All Americans,” popular entertainment multicast networks Antenna TV and Rewind TV, and a 31.3% ownership stake in TV Food Network. The Company’s portfolio of digital assets, including its local TV station websites, The Hill and NewsNationNow.com, are collectively a Top 10 U.S. digital news and information property. For more information, please visit nexstar.tv.