The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ:SSP) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ:SSP) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript February 23, 2024
The E.W. Scripps Company isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).
Operator: Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Scripps Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Executive Vice President of Investor Relations, Carolyn Micheli. Please go ahead.
Carolyn Micheli: Thanks, Rich. 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 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'll hear first this morning from Scripps' Chief Financial Officer, Jason Combs; then from Scripps' Chief Operating Officer, Lisa Knutson; and finally, from President and CEO, Adam Symson. Here's Jason.
Jason Combs: Thanks, Carolyn. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Let's start today with a look at our strong finish to 2023. I want to review a few fourth quarter and year-end highlights. Then I'll give guidance for the first quarter and several full year items, and I'll conclude with capital allocation and our debt picture. We were very pleased to end 2023 by significantly exceeding our free cash flow expectations. On our last earnings call in November, we set a range of $50 million to $60 million in full year free cash flow, and we ended at about $77 million. The over performance was driven by our highest political advertising revenue for an off-cycle election year as well as stronger-than-expected ad revenue results in Scripps Networks.
Also in 2023, we achieved $752 million in distribution revenue as we renewed 75% of our pay-TV households. That was up 15% over 2022, and those results drove net distribution dollars up more than 40%. We are pleased we were able to successfully avoid any blackouts with the cable and satellite providers throughout all of those negotiations. For the fourth quarter of 2023, we reported finance results that nearly all met or exceeded the expectations we set in November. We executed tight expense management, and our Scripps Networks revenue came in better than expected at down only 7%, driving Networks segment profit performance. Scripps Networks revenue for the fourth quarter was $230 million, exceeding our guidance because of better-than-expected revenue from all three key areas: general market, connected TV and direct response.
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