The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ:SSP) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 24, 2023 9:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Carolyn Micheli - Head, Investor Relations

Adam Symson - President and Chief Executive Officer

Jason Combs - Chief Financial Officer

Lisa Knutson - Chief Operating Officer

Conference Call Participants

Michael Kupinski - Noble Capital Markets

Craig Huber - Huber Research Partners

Steven Cahall - Wells Fargo

Nick Zangler - Stephens

Dan Kurnos - Benchmark Company

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q4 2022 E.W. Scripps Company Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now turn the conference – for today’s call, we will begin with Carolyn Micheli, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Carolyn Micheli

Thanks, Alan. Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us for a discussion of the E.W. Scripps Company’s financial results and business strategies. You can visit scripps.com for more information and a link to the replay of this call. A reminder that our conference call and webcast include forward-looking statements and actual results may differ. Factors that may cause them to differ are outlined in our SEC filings. We do not intend to update any forward-looking statements we make today. Included on this call is a discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures that are provided as supplements to assist management and the public in their analysis and valuation of the company. These metrics are not formulated in accordance with GAAP and are not meant to replace GAAP financial measures and may differ from other companies’ uses or formulations. Included in our earnings release are the reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the GAAP measures reported in our financial statements.

We will hear this morning from Chief Financial Officer, Jason Combs, then Scripps’ Chief Operating Officer, Lisa Knutson; and then Scripps President and CEO, Adam Symson. Here is Jason.

Jason Combs

Thanks, Carolyn. Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us. I am going to start today with a quick look back at the fourth quarter of 2022. Then I will give guidance for the first quarter at the division level and guidance on a few items full year, including our expectations for distribution revenue, which includes retransmission revenue. I will conclude with a deeper look at our recently announced reorganization and how much we expect to safe.

For the fourth quarter, Scripps delivered $681 million in revenue, up 9% from Q4 of 2021 and $204 million in segment profit, up 21%. The quarter included $112 million of total company political advertising revenue to cap our record year for a midterm election of $208 million. We are pleased that the local broadcast industry once again dominated election spending with a 55% share of political ad dollars.