Digital Drives Growth At Cumulus, DMS Revenue Soars 38% in Q2.

Cumulus Media faced another difficult quarter for radio advertising, but the company says it’s continuing to outperform peers and lean into its digital growth strategy to offset headwinds in its traditional broadcast business.

In the second quarter of 2025, Cumulus reported a 9.2% year-over-year decline in total revenue, slightly better than previously forecast, but CEO Mary Berner said the company is making “meaningful progress in the areas under our control,” including growing market share and accelerating digital transformation.

“The broadcast revenue backdrop remained frustratingly difficult,” Berner told analysts. “However, within that context, we continue to outperform our peers across several key metrics… reflecting disciplined execution and strategic investments, even in a capital-constrained environment.”

Broadcast Market Share Climbs Despite Industry Headwinds

Even as national spot and network revenues declined, Cumulus said it gained market share across all spot revenue categories, driven by an 11th consecutive quarter of ratings growth in its PPM markets and a continued focus on live and local programming.

“We believe a key contributor to our local spot outperformance is our strong focus on having a live and local presence, even in today’s fragmented media environment,” Berner said. “The strong relationships created by our trusted on-air personalities not only build enduring audiences but also create highly effective incremental opportunities for revenue from endorsements and sponsorships.”

While local spot performed better than the broader market, Cumulus’ national and network businesses remained under pressure. Network revenue fell 20%, affected by tough year-over-year comparisons related to the loss of Dan Bongino and Daily Wire programming, as well as a strategic culling of unprofitable inventory.

“The overall market environment continued to substantially pressure both our national spot and network revenue channels,” Berner said. “That said, our consistent ratings share outperformance allowed us to continue to grow share in national spot.”

Digital Marketing Services Surge 38%

One of the clearest bright spots in the quarter was Cumulus’ local digital marketing services (DMS) division, which grew 38% year-over-year, an acceleration from 30% in the prior quarter and a rate nearly double that of radio peers and more than four times the pace of the digital ad market overall, according to PwC estimates.

“This performance is even more notable because it comes off a meaningful base of revenue, an annual run rate of nearly $80 million,” Berner said. “Achieving that level concurrent with nearly 40% growth reflects the success of the strategic plan we put in place several years ago.”

Berner credited the company’s locally embedded sales force, which maintains relationships with some 30,000 advertisers, as a major driver of DMS growth. Over the past few years, Cumulus has invested in digital sales infrastructure, training, product capabilities, and operations to support this business line. The result: rising average campaign sizes, record customer counts, and growing crossover with existing radio advertisers.

“We’ve nearly doubled the percentage of our radio broadcast customers who also buy DMS, with plenty of runway still remaining,” she said. “We now expect it to surpass a $100 million run rate early next year.”

Cumulus’ other digital businesses, including podcasting and streaming, also performed well. Podcasting revenue was up over 30% when normalizing for the Daily Wire and Bongino exits.

Overall, total digital revenue rose 20% year-over-year in Q2.

Continued Cost Reductions and AI Adoption

To offset softness in core broadcast advertising, the company continues to tighten expenses. Cumulus trimmed another $5 million in annualized fixed costs in Q2, bringing total reductions over the last five years to more than $175 million. Recent efforts include a restructuring of network sales and operations and outsourcing of the company’s traffic function, which is expected to save several million dollars beginning in 2026.

Cumulus has also accelerated its adoption of artificial intelligence across the organization.

“We’ve considerably accelerated our efforts to identify and take advantage of the wide array of opportunities that AI provides,” Berner said, citing over 100 active AI-driven projects. “We’re already seeing great success creating efficiencies using customer service agents, repurposing content for our websites and social platforms, and streamlining information access across our training and sales platforms.”

AI is also being deployed to assist Cumulus’ sales team with pitch development, creative generation, pricing strategies, and competitive analysis.

Looking Ahead

Looking to Q3, Cumulus said revenue trends are continuing from Q2, with total revenue pacing down in the low double digits. While the company’s fast-growing digital businesses are helping to offset declines, Berner acknowledged that digital revenue has not yet reached the scale needed to fully counterbalance weakness in higher-margin broadcast channels.

“We are not yet at the point where the contribution from our digital growth is offsetting the impact of broadcast revenue declines on EBITDA,” Berner said. “So, we will continue to focus on fixed cost reduction while investing in digital growth areas and re-engineering the business for efficiency.”

Still, she expressed confidence in the company’s core strengths and long-term strategy.

“We remain confident in the value of the core assets of the company and our ability to serve listeners and customers and drive new areas of growth,” Berner said.

Cumulus ended the quarter with $97 million in cash, including a $55 million draw from its ABL revolver, giving the company flexibility as it continues to navigate a difficult ad market.