realfast95
4 years ago
6:51pm wth
Clear Channel Airports Wins Largest U.S. Airport Advertising Contract with Port Authority of New York & New Jersey to Transfo...
October 29 2020 - 06:51PM
PR Newswire (US)
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NEW YORK, Oct. 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Clear Channel Airports (CCA), the Americas-based airports business of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCO), and one of the nation's leading airport media providers, announced today the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) awarded it the largest airport advertising and sponsorship contract in the U.S. The 12-year deal will see Clear Channel Airports reimagine the media program with new digital displays and sponsorship opportunities for brands at the coveted PANYNJ airports, including; John F. Kennedy International (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA), Newark Liberty International (EWR) and New York Stewart International (SWF) Airports.
Contingent upon execution by both parties, which we expect to occur in mid-November, CCA anticipates the new contract will go into effect December 30, 2020, and the advertising platform transformation will begin with EWR's Terminal One redevelopment project and in conjunction with new LGA facilities. CCA plans to modernize the entire advertising program across PANYNJ airports with a proposed 95% of the overall investment going into highly impactful digital media. These world-class airports represent major travel hubs that historically welcomed over 140 million passengers annually, providing attractive opportunities for brands to reach valuable international, business and leisure travelers throughout the greater metropolitan region.
Moreover, in addition to modernizing the passenger and brand experience at PANYNJ, the partners aligned their interests with contract terms that set the stage for both parties to achieve their goals under the current conditions and for years to come and could become the new industry model. The deal contains a two-year transition period to account for the impact of COVID-19 and the traffic recovery at Port Authority facilities. The actual MAG due each year, as well as capex spend, after the two-year transition period will be dependent upon passenger traffic at JFK, EWR, LGA and SWF.
"We are confident in the audiences these world-class airports will deliver to our advertising partners over the longer-term as business and leisure travel ramps," said Scott Wells, CEO, Clear Channel Outdoor Americas (CCOA). "The PANYNJ airports are gateways to the world, and, as the region recovers, we believe our team is best suited to lead this historical transformation that will reimagine and modernize the brand experience for travelers. We believe this contract is a win-win for both organizations and provides an innovative approach to large-scale transit media deals against the backdrop of a difficult current reality."
"These contracts advance two key priorities for the Port Authority: increased ad revenue and significant investment in modern digital infrastructure at our facilities," said Rick Cotton, Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. "Moving forward, these contracts will enable the Port Authority to better sell advertising rights to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, while travelers will benefit from the latest in digital display technology that allows for real-time alerts."
With the addition of these high-value, marquee airport assets, CCOA will have one of the greater metropolitan region's most extensive Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising networks. As a result, brands will have the unique "one-stop-shop" ability to execute campaigns that reach consumers as they "drive, walk or fly" throughout the NY/NJ metro area including all major airports, highly desirable suburbs, major arterial roadways and the boroughs of New York City.
Additionally, we anticipate the new partnership will offer brands the OOH industry's most comprehensive audience targeting and measurement solutions available to help them optimize their OOH spend: CCO RADAR®. This includes access to the new industry standard audience impressions methodology from Geopath. Through this data integration, CCA has brought to bear, for brands in airports, the only OOH third-party validated impressions currency which factors in a travelers' movements through an airport, time spent in an airport and opportunity to see and consume advertising in an airport.
realfast95
4 years ago
William Eccleshare on the emergence of green shoots for Clear Channel
by Gurjit Degun
Added 4 hours ago
https://www.campaignlive.com/article/william-eccleshare-emergence-green-shoots-clear-channel/1689773
Signs of recovery for outdoor advertising are beginning to appear in town centres.
It’s no big surprise that Clear Channel’s worldwide chief executive wants to forget the financial implications of the coronavirus lockdown as quickly as he can. "[The second quarter has] been one of the toughest outdoor markets," William Eccleshare says.
As lockdowns were initiated around the world over the first quarter of the year, the deserted streets, transport hubs and shopping centres meant that no-one was looking at outdoor sites – a huge blow to the sector.
For Clear Channel, this led to a $25m cut in capital expenditure in Q2; for the year, it expects a 50% cut.
So of course Eccleshare wants to focus on the future and he says there is good news in that the business is "undoubtedly seeing signs of recovery". According to Clear Channel's anonymised data, green shoots have begun to emerge in town centres as the nation continues to work from home.
"What is interesting is that local high streets are massively over-indexing in terms of the speed of recovery, whereas city centres are significantly under-indexing," Eccleshare explains.
"The activity may not be back to normal, but from our data, it's probably running at about 80% of people [out and about in town centres]. That is three times the level of activity that we're seeing in the West End."
It’s a similar picture right across Europe. This means that Eccleshare is positive about the third quarter, which, he says, is "showing pretty good recovery".
With the government announcing last week that people in England can now use public transport for any journey (not just essential ones) and workplaces can welcome back employees from 1 August, where it is safe to do so, the movement in city centres is likely to improve further.
However Eccleshare doesn’t think there will be the same mix of advertisers that the sector had pre-Covid-19. "We are seeing certain categories come back very heavily," he says.
One such sector is automotive. Clear Channel has been running big campaigns for brands, including Vauxhall and Volkswagen, which have been suffering because of the closure of showrooms. "I think people are recognising that the car is actually quite a safe environment to be in," Eccleshare says.
He adds that other "early successes" have been from retailers and brands that want to shout about their return, such as McDonald’s (which also returned to TV last week), Vision Express and Tui.
Eccleshare is also optimistic about other brands returning to outdoor. "I can’t prove this yet," he says. "But I suspect they will come back, it’s simply a question of when."
He points out that the outdoor market had been a growing sector in the traditional media space before Covid-19 hit. "We have stronger audiences, we’re not fragmenting in the way TV audiences are and you can’t fast-forward us," Eccleshare points out. "I can't see any reason why there should be a kind of structural change against that."
Digital out-of-home investments
The impact of the coronavirus outbreak has led to many changes at businesses. For Clear Channel there is the question of how it will continue to invest in turning its sites into digital ones, having had to cut costs so much this year.
Eccleshare insists that the business continues to invest in the transition it began about 10 years ago. "The economics of it make very good sense," he says.
"One of the things that is encouraging at the moment is that advertisers are using the flexibility that digital offers for time-sensitive messaging about recovery, about the return to work and location-specific advertising. So, if anything, I think the crisis has demonstrated the value of digital inventory and will reaffirm our belief in it."
The only downside of the digital sites during the height of the crisis was the fast nature at which any cancellations could be implemented. "But the upside of that is we're benefiting hugely now [as lockdowns begin to ease]."
Supporting staff
The health of the business is not the only thing that Eccleshare has been concerned with. Supporting staff through the lockdown is something that many business leaders have had to adapt to.
"I've lived through several big recessions and worked through many of them but it was quite clear that this was going to be different from anything we've seen before in terms of the potential impact on our people," Eccleshare says.
Since the initial excitement of working from home began to wear off, Eccleshare has noticed that younger members of staff have found not being in the office harder than their older colleagues who are more likely to have the space – much like Eccleshare himself, who is speaking to Campaign from his study.
"The younger members of staff, who were big advocates for working from home, have found it harder than they anticipated and they're keen to get back into the workplace," he explains. "They miss their colleagues, the sociability, the mentoring, the learning from friends and they tend – because they're [earlier on] in their careers – to have smaller places to live."
Returning to the office
The younger staff will then be pleased to hear that Clear Channel is one of the businesses that have started to reopen offices. Eccleshare wants to encourage people to come into the Soho office, where he has been popping in now and then.
He is asking people to go into the office only if they have a specific reason, for example to attend meetings, and maintains that there is no pressure for anyone to do so. Eccleshare thinks that there will be a bigger appetite for people to return to the office once schools reopen.
He adds that the company will likely end up with a hybrid model where there is a lot of flexible working, mainly because there isn’t enough room for all staff to be in the office at the same time while abiding by social-distancing guidelines.
As lockdown measures begin to ease, Eccleshare is confident that the industry will go into 2021 "with momentum" but the question of when it will see a return to pre-coronavirus levels remains unknown.
realfast95
4 years ago
Results of Operations and Financial Condition
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) expects cash and cash equivalents to be approximately $650 million as of June 30, 2020. This amount includes the proceeds from the sale of Clear Media Limited.
This expected cash balance, combined with the amendment to the Company’s credit agreement announced in June and the Company’s successful cost savings initiatives, support the Company’s efforts to manage through the current macroeconomic environment.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
On March 11, 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak was characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. In an effort to slow the pandemic, governments around the world placed significant restrictions on travel and closed businesses, resulting in unprecedented nationwide lock-downs. Our business, along with the global economy, has been adversely affected by these developments, which have resulted in a significant reduction in time spent out of the home by consumers, reductions in consumer spending, large declines in GDP, volatile economic conditions, and business disruptions across markets globally. The full magnitude and duration of the pandemic and the resulting downturn and their impact on our business is difficult to predict.
To better ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees and their families during this extraordinary time, we initially transitioned a significant portion of our employees to work from home in Italy in early March, and expanded this directive globally by the end of March. We believe these teams were able to make the shift to a remote work environment relatively seamlessly. Our advertising inventory has been used to facilitate messages of support to medical teams, first responders, delivery professionals, food service workers, and many other key workers in all parts of the world. In addition, we have provided support to governments in helping remind citizens to observe restrictions and how to stay safe.
Markets in Europe have experienced dramatic declines in customer demand as a result of COVID-19. The downward impact across some European markets started to be felt in early March, corresponding with governments issuing advice on lockdowns in markets such as Italy, France and Spain. That downward impact continued across all European markets for the majority of the second quarter. In France, our largest market, the lockdown was announced mid-March and resulted in a sharp downturn in advertising spend at the end of the first quarter. In the U.K., our second largest market, the country entered full lockdown in the last week of March.
As a result, since March, there has been a significant decline in our customers’ near-term demand as they have deferred buying decisions and reduced marketing spend. The impact of COVID-19 and the protocols
2
implemented around the world significantly affected the behavior and movement of consumers and our customers’ target audiences. Transit was the hardest hit with many people avoiding public transport for health and safety reasons. The scale and speed with which near-term demand declined, and the number of requests we received to defer or cancel contracts, has been unprecedented. We have taken, and will continue to take, steps to ensure the continuity of our platform and operations to serve our customers as local conditions permit.
In May, as new daily cases continued to fall in Europe, European countries started to gradually reopen their businesses and lift restrictions, helping mobility recover toward pre-COVID-19 levels. Following the continued return to normalized traffic levels, we are experiencing not only an uptick in bookings but also a shift in behavior from our customers, with lead time from booking to display now shorter than normal. With our high proportion of roadside advertising, we believe we are well positioned to capture the recovery in walking and driving and the resulting audience exposure to our assets.
It is unclear when an economic recovery could start and what a recovery will look like as countries emerge from this unprecedented shutdown of the global economy. In light of the rapidly-evolving impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the magnitude and duration of its impact on our results of operations and overall financial performance will not be known until future periods. We anticipate significant adverse effects throughout our business during the remainder of the year. This is largely due to customers deferring buying decisions and reducing marketing spend.
We have taken a highly disciplined approach in managing the use of our cash through this period. We have implemented extensive cost saving initiatives, including reductions in operating costs and capital expenditures. We have taken steps that we believe will most effectively support our advertising partners to take quick advantage of renewed opportunities for connection with their customers as the pandemic restrictions begin to relax. Sales teams have been in active discussions with customers to develop advertising plans as restrictions are lifted. Importantly, we believe technology investments made before the pandemic, specifically in expanding our digital footprint, will serve to position our businesses to meet our customer’s needs. We believe that the depth of our digital inventory provides the flexibility to quickly accelerate advertising campaigns and most effectively target audiences at the right time for our advertisers. However, a second wave of the virus may result in changes or delays in our customers’ advertising plans, causing further adverse effects on our results.
Recent Developments
Our unaudited interim financial statements for the three months ended June 30, 2020 are unavailable at this time because our financial closing procedures are not yet complete. However, our results will be adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our preliminary estimated range of revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2020 is expected to be between $100 million and $115 million. In addition, we expect our Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended June 30, 2020 to be substantially negative and we do not expect to achieve positive Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2020.
starbuxsux
5 years ago
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. Reports Results For 2019 Third Quarter
6:00 AM ET 11/6/19 | PR Newswire
SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCO) ("the Company") today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2019.
"In our first full quarter as an independent company, we continue to successfully execute on our strategic plan. Our largest business segment delivered strong growth, and we strengthened our capital structure and cash flow generation," said William Eccleshare, Worldwide Chief Executive Officer of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. "Specifically, our Americas revenue grew more than 8% year-over-year in the third quarter, including double-digit growth in digital revenue. We continue to benefit from our technological transformation, most particularly the development of our proprietary CCO RADAR tools, and the positive audience trends for the outdoor medium.
"Globally, we are raising the bar in our industry by demonstrating the power and influence of our medium. We recently announced the first airport in the U.S. showcasing all-digital advertising displays in San Jose, California. In the U.K., our Adshel Live network now reaches approximately 38% of the population weekly and is the country's largest individual digital out-of-home network.
"We remain on track to achieve the financial guidance and outlook we provided in August. As a result of our recent capital market activities, Clear Channel Outdoor is benefiting from an improved balance sheet and reduced cash interest payments. We are investing our available free cash flow in attractive new assets that we see generating significant returns on capital for our business. This investment represents a majority of our capital expenditure guidance for 2019. We are optimistic and believe that our strengthened financial position, combined with expected growth in free cash flow, will provide us with greater flexibility to reduce leverage and drive shareholder value."
Key Financial Highlights
The Company's key financial highlights for the third quarter of 2019, as compared to the same period of 2018, include:
-- Consolidated revenue decreased 1.6%. After adjusting for the impact from
movements in foreign exchange rates, consolidated revenue increased 0.6%.
-- Americas revenue increased $24.8 million, or 8.2%.
-- International revenue decreased $35.1 million, or 9.7%. After adjusting
for a $14.4 million impact from movements in foreign exchange rates,
International revenue decreased $20.7 million, or 5.8%.
-- Operating income decreased $3.5 million to $47.7 million.
-- OIBDAN decreased 5.8%. Excluding the impact from movements in foreign
exchange rates, OIBDAN decreased 5.3%.
Additionally, during the third quarter of 2019:
-- The Company issued 100 million shares of common stock in a public
offering and used the net proceeds to redeem approximately $333.5 million
aggregate principal amount of 9.25% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2024
(which ceased to be subordinated indebtedness following the refinancing
transactions as described below) (the "New CCWH Senior Notes").
-- The Company refinanced its outstanding $2,725.0 million aggregate
principal amount of 6.5% Series A and Series B Senior Notes due 2022 (the
"CCWH Senior Notes") and $375.0 million aggregate principal amount of
8.75% Senior Notes due 2020 (the "CCIBV Senior Notes") with the issuance
of $1,250.0 million aggregate principal amount of new 5.125% Senior
Secured Notes due 2027 (the "New CCOH Senior Secured Notes") and a
$2,000.0 million seven-year term loan facility (the "New Term Loan
Facility").
-- The Company entered into a $175.0 million revolving credit facility (the
"New Revolving Credit Facility") and replaced its existing
receivables-based credit facility with a new $125.0 million
receivables-based credit facility (the "New Receivables-Based Credit
Facility").
Refer to the "Liquidity and Financial Position" section of this press release for more details.
Key Non-Financial Highlights
The Company's key third quarter non-financial highlights include:
Americas:
-- Adding 18 new digital billboards in the United States, for a total of
more than 1,600 digital displays, including more than 1,300 digital
billboards, in our Americas business as of September 30, 2019.
-- Transforming the San Jose International Airport into the first
all-digital and most advanced airport advertising and sponsorship program
in the U.S., integrated with CCO RADAR, our suite of audience planning,
amplification and measurement solutions.
-- Completing the transformation and launch of over 1,300 new visually
striking, printed out-of-home displays across the small, mid and large
U.S. market footprint. Premiere panels bring nearly bulletin-sized media
down-to-earth for even greater pedestrian and road travel visibility.
These newly repositioned, vinyl-wrapped posters are available in
highly-trafficked urban, upscale and nightlife areas and are fully
supported by our RADAR suite of products.
-- Partnering with a major movie studio to develop a unique campaign for a
blockbuster movie. The campaign expands the footprint of print displays
beyond the key Los Angeles and New York markets with 161 bulletins in 16
markets benefiting from the creative flexibility and impact that
out-of-home can deliver.
-- Continuing to build out our real-time digital capabilities, including the
first weather-triggered programmatic ad campaign in Times Square,
airports and across our roadside inventory. This enables advertisers to
reach consumers with relevant products in an audience-centric and
contextually-relevant way depending on weather conditions.
-- Launching a new capability through our RADAR platform which advances our
ability to measure and attribute mobile app download activity and
consumer actions relative to our ad campaigns.
International:
-- Adding 1,004 new digital displays in our International markets, for a
total of more than 15,000 digital displays in our International business
at September 30, 2019.
-- Close to completing the roll-out of more than 1,600 street furniture
units in Paris, with advertising campaigns for Éric Bompard, Chanel,
Netflix, Uber, Coca-Cola and Calvin Klein in place for the fourth
quarter.
-- Winning a six-year contract for the subway in Toulouse, one of France's
largest metropolitan areas, which will increase the number of digital
screens from 30 to 95 and reduce print screens from 415 to 332.
-- Renewing the Helsinki Airport contract for another 8.5 years with plans
to upgrade the airport's existing inventory and increase the digital
out-of-home presence significantly, with the ambition to have digital
represent 85% of total displays within the duration of the contract.
-- Installing the 2,000th Adshel Live digital screen in the U.K., which
firmly cements the position of Clear Channel's Adshel Live network as the
country's largest individual digital out-of-home network, reaching
approximately 38% of the population weekly.
-- Continuing our digital expansion efforts to reach 1,000 digital screens
across Sweden's biggest cities of Stockholm, Malmö, Gothenburg and
Solna. Clear Channel Sweden is the only out-of-home provider to offer
advertisers digital street furniture solutions in the cities of Stockholm,
Malmö and Gothenburg.
-- Receiving the "Best Poster Provider" award at the Swiss media industry
awards, which was voted on by the country's 750 top advertisers, media
agencies and creatives.
Guidance and Outlook
-- The Company anticipates revenue and OIBDAN growth in the Americas to be
in the mid-to-high single digits for the second half of 2019.
-- Internationally, excluding China and any foreign currency impact, the
Company expects low single digit growth in both revenue and OIBDAN for
the second half of 2019.
-- The Company is unable to discuss the expected performance of Clear Media
Limited, its consolidated Chinese investment, because Clear Media Limited
is a publicly traded company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
-- The Company expects its consolidated capital expenditures to be in the
$225 million to $235 million range for the full year of 2019.
-- The Company intends to provide full-year guidance for 2020 in its
earnings release for the fourth quarter of 2019.
GAAP Measures by Segment
Three Months Ended % Nine Months Ended %
(In thousands) September 30, Change September 30, Change
2019 2018 2019 2018
Revenue:
Americas $328,250 $303,421 8.2 % $928,114 $859,190 8.0 %
International 325,197 360,318 (9.7) % 1,010,464 1,114,927 (9.4) %
Consolidated
Revenue $653,447 $663,739 (1.6) % $1,938,578 $1,974,117 (1.8) %
Direct operating and SG&A expenses(1) :
Americas $192,465 $180,488 6.6 % $566,076 $532,448 6.3 %
International 294,853 309,990 (4.9) % 889,785 944,952 (5.8) %
Consolidated
Direct
operating and
SG&A
expenses(2) $487,318 $490,478 (0.6) % $1,455,861 $1,477,400 (1.5) %
Operating
income
(loss)(2) :
Americas $98,132 $83,150 18.0 % $240,331 $199,332 20.6 %
International (4,029) 13,701 (129.4)% 17,913 56,100 (68.1)%
Corporate (41,735) (38,724) (7.8) % (112,059) (114,039) 1.7 %
Impairment
charges (5,300) (7,772) 31.8 % (5,300) (7,772) 31.8 %
Other operating
income
(expense),
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