Corus Entertainment’s consolidated revenue saw a 10% decrease in its second quarter compared to the same period the previous Q2.

In the company’s quarterly results for the three-month period ending Feb. 28, released on Friday (April 11), the company reported a 10% decrease in revenue to $270.4 million from $299.5 million. This includes a 9% drop for television revenues, to $251.8 million from $278.1 million, and a 14% decrease for radio revenues, to $18.5 million from $21.5 million. This is in-line with what Corus predicted in its Q1 report, expecting year-over-year advertising revenues to continue to decrease into Q2.

Looking deeper into the company’s television revenue, advertising saw the most significant decrease, dropping 13% to $129.5 million from $149 million. Subscriber revenue fell 5% to $111.9 million from $117.3 million and distribution, production and other revenues decreased 12% to $10.4 million from $11.8 million the previous Q2.

When looking at segment profit, Corus’ television profit fell 62% in Q2 compared to the same period in 2024 to $22.6 million from $58.9 million. Radio profits saw a 68% increase for Q2, jumping to $1.4 million from $857,000 in the previous Q2.

According to co-CEO and CFO John Gossling, who spoke about the results alongside fellow co-CEO Troy Reeb in an earnings call, industry-wide advertising trends are continuing to impact television advertising demand. That combined with subscription revenue contributed to the overall decrease in revenue. The increase in radio segment profit was attributed to cost containment measures that Reeb said more than offset the loss in advertising revenue.

The company’s free cash flow for Q2 saw a 40% increase, jumping to $46 million from $32.9 million, mainly attributed to higher cash provided through operating activities. However, fiscal year-to-date cash flow has decreased 37%, to $35.9 million from $56.6 million the previous six-month period ending in late February. That is attributed to lower cash provided by operating activities, offset by higher proceeds from sale of property.

According to data from Numeris highlighted during the call, Corus’ Global TV saw 11% growth for full-day and 25% growth for primetime for spring season-to-date. According to Reeb, Global News has seen significant gains in viewership and its YouTube channel has the most subscribers of any national Canadian news broadcaster at 4.65 million. Additionally, according to data from Numeris, Global and Stack TV hold 11 of the top 20 shows, including Survivor (U.S.), the U.S. adaption of Ghosts and Saturday Night Live. Corus saw a viewing increase of 11% on its linear platforms and an 18% increase across its streaming platforms.

Corus also recently announced its spring 2025 lineup for its specialty channels the Home and Flavour Networks including new seasons of Corus series such as Renovation Resort (pictured) and Scott’s Vacation House Rules.

Reeb also discussed, as part of the company’s strategy, how Corus is leaning into the “Buy Canadian” movement that has emerged in recent months.

“During this pivotal moment of national resilience, we have leaned into our hundreds of weekly hours of Canadian original programming and homegrown brands like Flavour Network and Home Network to create new integration opportunities for clients that want to fly their Canadian colours,” said Reeb. “Investing in Canadian media supports our efforts to provide extensive multi-platform video and audio offerings, for Canadians and by Canadians.”

Later in the call, Reeb elaborated on Corus’ efforts on the front of moving to repatriate Canadian advertising dollars.

“We, along with our domestic broadcast counterparts, are also taking every opportunity to reinforce that buying Canadian means investing in Canadian media too,” he said. “This means repatriating ad dollars to Canadian companies who have robust multi-platform offerings and a proven ability to effectively reach audiences.”

Reeb also said, in response to a question on the company’s Buy Canadian strategy and if advertisers were moving to Canadian players, that the company has assisted some Canadian advertisers with campaigns packaged by Canadian messaging, specifically because of the recent tensions between the U.S. and Canadian governments. Corus does not predict its content supply to be disrupted by any potential tariffs.

A few weeks prior, Corus announced that it had updated its credit facility which includes improved terms such as debt to cash flow ratio of 9.5 times to one through the end of this year and an extension of the maturity date to March 20, 2027. Additionally, the new credit facility provides access to up to $75 million of revolving credit and a fixed interest rate of 7.29%.

The updated facility will provide necessary financial flexibility as the company continues efforts to impact its cost structure through efficiency and cost-reduction measures, said Gossling during the call.

Corus’ net debt, as of Feb. 28, is $1.06 billion, a decrease from its net debt from Aug. 31 the previous year of around $1.09 billion. However, its net debt to profit ratio did increase from that same period to 5.04 from 3.84, due to a decrease in segment profits.

Image courtesy of Corus Entertainment