Townsquare Media (NYSE:TSQ) executives said the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results met the total net revenue and Adjusted EBITDA guidance provided on the prior call, citing disciplined expense management and continued progress in its “digital-first local media strategy.” CEO Bill Wilson said the company also completed a refinancing in a “challenging environment” for broadcast media, extending maturities through 2030 and “granting us ample runway to execute our growth strategy.”
Dividend and capital priorities
Wilson addressed investor questions about dividend safety after the company’s year-end share price decline increased the implied dividend yield. He said management and the board “remain confident” in the company’s cash flow generation and ability to support the dividend at its current rate.
On capital allocation, Rosenstein said the company plans to continue investing organically—particularly in its digital businesses—while using excess cash flow to reduce debt through mandatory and voluntary repayments and to support the dividend. Wilson added that deleveraging is the company’s top priority, with a goal of reaching leverage “in the low threes” over the next several years.
Digital mix and the impact of audience declines
Wilson reiterated that Townsquare has shifted away from being a “legacy broadcast company” toward a digital-first model. In 2025, he said approximately 55% of total net revenue came from digital, up from 52% in 2024. Digital also generated 56% of total segment profit in 2025, up from 50% in 2024.
At the same time, management again highlighted headwinds tied to declining online audience referrals from search engines, which Wilson attributed to the emergence of AI-driven changes affecting publishers. He said average monthly unique visitors across the company’s owned-and-operated websites and apps fell to about 40 million in 2025 from about 70 million in 2024, a decline of roughly 45%.
That traffic decline pressured “remnant” or indirect digital advertising revenue—nearly 100% margin revenue, according to Wilson. He said remnant revenue fell about 40% year over year to approximately $12 million in 2025, down from about $20 million in 2024, reducing remnant’s share of digital advertising revenue to about 8% from 13%.
Wilson said the company does not expect audience and indirect revenue to fall to zero, pointing to other traffic sources including social media, direct visits, email newsletters, and mobile alerts. He said January unique visitors increased month over month and reached the highest level since July 2025, which management described as an early sign of stabilization.
Ignite digital advertising: programmatic strength offsets remnant weakness
Townsquare’s digital advertising segment (Townsquare Ignite) posted modest growth for 2025 but showed pressure from remnant revenue declines. Rosenstein said fourth-quarter digital advertising revenue declined 1% year over year, while full-year digital advertising revenue grew 1.6% year over year.
Wilson said digital advertising grew 2% year over year in 2025, and that absent the remnant drag, total digital advertising revenue would have increased 8%. He identified two growth drivers:
- Programmatic digital advertising (about 65% of digital advertising segment revenue in 2025) grew 9% year over year for the full year. Wilson said the programmatic business was up about 20% year over year in the first quarter of 2026.
- Direct sales of owned-and-operated digital assets (inventory sold on 400+ local apps and websites) grew 9% year over year in 2025. Wilson said Q1 2026 is projected to be up over 10% year over year.
Wilson also provided an update on the company’s third-party media partnership model within programmatic advertising. He said the initiative produced about $6 million in revenue in 2025 with six local media partners, and that Townsquare has now signed agreements with five additional parties, bringing the total to 11 partners. In the Q&A, Wilson said the company does not expect “a lot of revenue” from the newly added partners in 2026 due to onboarding and training, but expects the overall media partnership business to roughly double in 2026, largely driven by the existing partner base. He said the division operates at about a 20% profit margin and he expects it could become a $50 million revenue business within four years.
On margins, Rosenstein said Ignite’s profit margin declined to roughly 22% in 2025 due to the loss of high-margin remnant revenue, and management expects digital advertising margins to remain in the “low 20s” going forward.
Looking ahead, Wilson said Q1 2026 digital advertising revenue overall is expected to be up “high single digits,” and that full-year 2026 digital advertising should also grow “high single digits,” despite an expected $3 million year-over-year decline in remnant revenue (from about $12 million in 2025 to about $9 million in 2026). He said remnant revenue is forecast to be down about 40% year over year in Q1 and Q2, then roughly flat year over year in Q3 and Q4.
Interactive: record margin as revenue softness persists
Townsquare Interactive, the company’s subscription digital marketing solutions business, delivered its “highest segment profit margin in its history,” according to Wilson, driven by customer service restructuring, sales structure changes, and AI-related efficiency gains.
Rosenstein said fourth-quarter Townsquare Interactive net revenue decreased 5.6% year over year and full-year revenue declined 0.7%. However, segment profit increased 12% year over year in Q4, and full-year segment profit rose 17.4% year over year, or $3.7 million, to an all-time high profit margin of 33.6%. Management said it expects profit margins in 2026 to remain in line with 2025.
Wilson said revenue has been muted in the near term due to a sales team that is temporarily smaller—down about 40%—though he emphasized it is “absolutely our plan” to rebuild the sales force. He said Q1 2026 Interactive revenue is expected to decline about 8%, with a potential return to quarter-over-quarter revenue growth as early as Q3 2026.
In response to a question about whether customers are using AI tools to self-serve and reduce demand for Interactive’s offering, Wilson said the company is “not seeing that,” emphasizing that the target customers are small businesses seeking help operating their digital marketing rather than a do-it-yourself model.
Broadcast: continued declines, stable margins, and modest improvement outlook
Broadcast radio remained a cash-flowing but non-growth segment, executives said. Wilson stated that in 2025 broadcast advertising net revenue (excluding political) declined 8% year over year and 12.6% in total. Rosenstein added that in Q4, total broadcast revenue declined 17.8% year over year, reflecting the absence of political revenue in 2025 compared to the prior year.
Despite the revenue pressure, management highlighted expense control. Both Wilson and Rosenstein said broadcast segment profit margins were approximately 26% in 2024 and 2025 when excluding political. Wilson also said the company again gained local and national broadcast market share in 2025, citing Miller Kaplan estimates.
For Q1 2026, Wilson said the company is forecasting a “very slight improvement” in ex-political broadcast performance versus 2025. In the Q&A, he noted the geopolitical environment has been challenging for advertising, but said the company is seeing improved trends in 2026 compared to 2025.
Financial results, leverage, and 2026 guidance
Rosenstein reported fourth-quarter net revenue of $106.5 million, down 4.5% year over year excluding political and down 9.6% in total, within guidance of $105 million to $109 million. Full-year net revenue was $427.4 million, down 2.8% excluding political and down 5.2% in total.
Fourth-quarter Adjusted EBITDA was $21.5 million, down 17% year over year excluding political and down 30.9% in total, within guidance of $21.5 million to $23.5 million. Full-year Adjusted EBITDA declined 3% excluding political and 12.2% in total. Rosenstein said Adjusted EBITDA margins were flat at 20.3% in both 2024 and 2025 when excluding political.
The company reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $4.8 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, and a full-year net loss of $9.8 million, an improvement of $1.2 million year over year. Rosenstein also cited approximately $121 million of federal net operating loss carryforwards and said the company does not expect to be a material cash taxpayer until around the end of 2028.
Cash flow from operations was $31 million in 2025, and cash flow from operations before cash interest payments was $83 million. Following the February 2025 refinancing, Townsquare repaid $23 million of debt in 2025, and Rosenstein said the company ended the year with $457 million of total debt and $5 million of cash, for net leverage of 5.14x. He said current annualized interest expense is approximately $39 million, and that each 25-basis-point interest rate cut would reduce annualized interest expense by about $1.1 million.
For 2026, Townsquare guided to first-quarter net revenue of $96 million to $98 million and first-quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $16 million to $17 million. Full-year 2026 guidance calls for revenue of $420 million to $440 million, including forecast political revenue of about $8 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $87 million to $93 million.
About Townsquare Media (NYSE:TSQ)
Townsquare Media, Inc (NYSE: TSQ) is a diversified media and entertainment company that operates primarily in small and mid-sized markets across the United States. The company owns and manages over 300 local radio stations that deliver music, news, sports and community programming to listeners. In addition to its core broadcasting business, Townsquare Media provides digital marketing solutions and advertising services through its proprietary platforms and specialized agencies, helping local businesses connect with consumers via targeted online campaigns.
Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Purchase, New York, Townsquare Media has grown its footprint through strategic acquisitions and the development of a broad digital portfolio.
