Limbaugh Affiliate Cumulus Media Reports Millions In Lost Revenue
The boycott is causing pain:
Last night, Cumulus Media, a radio company that carries Rush Limbaugh’s show on 38 of its stations, announced millions in losses directly attributable to Limbaugh’s show.
From Radio Ink (emphasis mine):
Monday evening Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey said the advertiser boycott cost his company “a couple million” dollars in ad revenue in the first quarter and “a couple million” in the second quarter. He said things look like they will be back to normal in June. Cumulus carries Rush Limbaugh 38 markets and blames 1% of the 3.5% drop in revenue for the quarter on the Rush boycott. Dickey said Cumulus was “hit pretty hard by this.”
Cumulus confirmed that advertiser exits from Limbaugh’s show result in lost revenue. This is important when you consider what this means for the overall marketability of Limbaugh’s show.
Rush Limbaugh’s show is syndicated by Clear Channel’s Premiere Radio Networks. Limbaugh is broadcast on approximately 600 stations. Clear Channel carries Limbaugh on some, but the bulk of Limbaugh’s platform comes from affiliates.
Cumulus is but one of many affiliates carrying Limbaugh’s program. If they’re losing money due to advertiser losses, other affiliates are likely also losing money. If carrying Limbaugh on 38 stations results in millions in advertiser losses over the course of two months, then when you factor in all the other affiliates as well as Premiere’s own advertiser interests, the scale of lost revenue associated with Limbaugh’s show is likely quite significant.
Further, Cumulus (like some other affiliates) pays a hefty price to broadcast Limbaugh in certain markets. So, not only are affiliates directly losing money because they made the business decision to keep Limbaugh, but they’re also paying Premiere for the pleasure of losing money. This certainly helps mitigate some of Premiere’s losses, but I doubt it compensates for the overall damage that has been done to the business health and marketability of Limbaugh’s show.
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…Limbaugh continues to make things worse for his intersecting business interests and affiliates. He continues to refuse to issue a full apology to Sandra Fluke, let alone even acknowledge the full scale of his attacks. He’s taken to publicly attacking former advertisers lately. And, finally, he continues the same recklessness that put his show in this position in the first place.
Such as launching “Rush Babes For America”: