The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ:SSP) Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call November 8, 2022 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Carolyn Micheli – Head-Investor Relations

Adam Symson – President and Chief Executive Officer

Jason Combs – Chief Financial Officer

Brian Lawlor – President-Local Media

Lisa Knutson – President-Scripps Networks

Conference Call Participants

Dan Kurnos – Benchmark Company

Steven Cahall – Wells Fargo

Nick Zangler – Stephens

Pat McCann – NOBLE Capital Markets

Craig Huber – Huber Research Partners

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Scripps Quarter Three Earnings Conference Call. At this time your telephone lines are in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, your call today is being recorded.

I’ll now turn the conference call over to your host, Head of Investor Relations, Carolyn Micheli. Please go ahead.

Carolyn Micheli

Thank you, 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 will be a discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures that are provided a supplement 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’ll hear this morning from Scripps’ President and CEO Adam Symson; and Chief Financial Officer, Jason Combs; Local Media President, Brian Lawlor; and Scripps Networks President, Lisa Knutson. Also on the call is Controller, Dan Perschke.

Here’s Adam.

Adam Symson

Thanks, Carolyn. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining us on this midterm election day. If you haven’t already, please make sure to take the time to vote. I want to start with the obvious. Political revenue did not meet our very high expectations this year. Early on, things were lining up in a way that led us to believe our portfolio for the midterm would attract spending that would beat our record revenue in 2020’s presidential election. But despite a very strong start to the year with record spending for the first half, dynamics suddenly changed. Brian will be along shortly with the detail you’re looking for.