Nexstar reduced the losses at The CW by $50 million compared to last year in the first quarter of 2024 — a trend the company plans to continue for the rest of this year.
The large television station company said it anticipates making further progress in reducing The CW's losses, aiming for a total of over $100 million for the entire year, according to Lee Ann Gliha, Nexstar's executive vice president and CFO, when Nexstar released its earnings on Thursday morning.
“You’re starting to see the benefit of our programming plan coming into fruition,” said Gliha. “Some of that’s just due to timing of content and when those different programming expenses hit over the course of the quarter. That’s why we have a little bit more in the first quarter than we will have through the rest of the year on a quarterly basis.”
Nexstar will no longer be revealing The CW's numbers separately. However, Gliha pointed out that The CW has experienced two consecutive quarters of growth in primetime, even though the asset is being influenced by the national advertising market, which is currently facing challenges.
“We think it will continue to do well for the rest of the year because some of the sports programming that we’ve announced but hasn’t yet gotten on the air will be on later this year,” stated Gliha.
The CW has made substantial investments in live sports, securing over 500 hours of live sports content through several multi-year agreements. So far, only one season of ACC football, one season of ACC basketball, and the second season of LIV golf have premiered on the channel. The brand’s other live sports deals include a seven-year deal with NASCAR Xfinity Series, which will start in 2025, and a five-year broadcast deal with WWE NXT, which will begin in October.
Nexstar, the owner of more than 190 U.S. television stations, announced a net income of $175 million on Thursday, marking a 58% improvement from the same quarter last year, along with earnings of $1.28 billion, up 2.1%.
