Spanish Broadcasting System Q3 2025 Earnings: Profit Doubles as Puerto Rico TV Sale and Cost Cuts Offset 13% Revenue Drop

Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) has turned a tough advertising market into a profitable quarter, using expense cuts, a TV asset sale in Puerto Rico and rapid digital growth to more than double its third‑quarter net income year over year—even as revenue fell double digits. ^[1]

Industry trades and the company’s own earnings package, released December 3 and followed by coverage this week from Radio Ink, Radio & Television Business Report (RBR+TVBR) and Radio Online, frame the quarter as a story of aggressive cost discipline and a pivot toward streaming and live events rather than a simple revenue decline. ^[2]

Key Numbers: Revenue Down, Profit Up

From SBS’s third‑quarter 2025 report for the period ended September 30: ^[3]

Net revenue: $31.3 million, down 13% from $35.8 million a year earlier.
Operating expenses: $21.4 million, down 12% from $24.3 million.
Station Operating Income (SOI, non‑GAAP): $9.8 million, vs. $11.4 million in Q3 2024 (‑14%).
Adjusted OIBDA (non‑GAAP): $7.9 million, vs. $9.3 million (‑15%).
Operating income: $7.1 million, down from $8.7 million.
Net income: $1.4 million, more than double Q3 2024’s $547,000. EPS rose to $0.15 from $0.06. ^[4]

Over the first nine months of 2025, the numbers tell a more challenging story:

Year‑to‑date net revenue: $93.3 million, down 15% from $109.5 million.
Operating expenses (YTD): $71.7 million, down 11%.
Adjusted OIBDA (YTD): $15.1 million, down 32%.
Net loss (YTD): $8.7 million, wider than the prior‑year loss of $1.4 million, driven in part by non‑cash impairment charges and January wildfires in Los Angeles. ^[5]

So while Q3 itself is solidly profitable, the year so far is still in the red—a crucial nuance for investors and lenders watching the company’s 9.75% senior secured notes due 2026, which sit at roughly $309 million on the balance sheet. ^[6]

Expense Management Becomes a Profit Engine

SBS’s path to a stronger bottom line runs straight through cost management. Radio Online’s summary of the quarter emphasizes that operating expenses fell 12% year‑over‑year to $21.4 million, thanks mainly to lower compensation and benefits, reduced programming costs, smaller commissions and slimmer affiliate payments. ^[7]

The earnings release breaks that down further:

Compensation and benefits were trimmed.
On‑air programming costs and affiliate station compensation were cut back.
Savings in outside services and corporate costs added to the impact. ^[8]

RBR+TVBR, which framed the story under the headline “Expense Management, Asset Sale Yields Net Income For SBS,” stresses the same theme: with core advertising soft and limited digital or political dollars to fall back on, expense control became the key lever for turning a revenue decline into bottom‑line growth. ^[9]

In simple terms: SBS lost around $4.5 million of revenue versus last year’s third quarter but clawed back roughly $2.9 million of that through lower costs. The rest of the gap—and then some—was covered by a one‑time gain from asset sales. ^[10]

Puerto Rico TV Sale Delivers a $2.8 Million Gain

The single biggest swing factor in this quarter is the company’s August 15 sale of its Puerto Rico TV stations WVEO, WTCV and WVOZ‑TV, plus related transmission equipment. SBS received $5.7 million in proceeds and booked a $2.8 million gain on the deal, which flows through the income statement as “gain on sale of assets.” ^[11]

A June press release announced that the buyer is Word of God Fellowship, operator of faith‑based Daystar Television Network. SBS framed the move as a “decisive step” in refocusing on its core audio and digital businesses while retaining a strong presence in Puerto Rico through its top‑rated radio stations Mega 106.9, La Nueva 94, Zeta 93 and Estereotempo 96.5. ^[12]

Critically, management concluded that selling the Puerto Rico TV operations doesn’t qualify as a “discontinued operation” under accounting rules, meaning those businesses and the related gain remain folded into ongoing results rather than being split out as a separate line. ^[13]

That decision underscores how SBS sees the deal: not an exit from Puerto Rico media, but the shedding of a capital‑intensive TV asset to accelerate investments in radio, digital, and events.

Sequential Momentum: Q3 vs. Q1 2025

The headline year‑over‑year declines hide an important internal trend that SBS and trade coverage are keen to highlight: the business looks a lot healthier than it did at the start of 2025.

In the earnings release, CEO Raúl Alarcón points to strong sequential gains since Q1: net revenue is up 5%, Station Operating Income is up 35%, and Adjusted OIBDA has surged 61% from those early‑year levels. ^[14]

That sequential trajectory is one reason Radio Online characterizes the quarter as evidence of “strong sequential gains” despite lower year‑over‑year revenue. ^[15]

For operators with high fixed costs and heavy debt like SBS, direction of travel matters almost as much as absolute levels. If the revenue line stabilizes while cost cuts stick, incremental dollars can drop quickly to the bottom line.

Digital Expansion: LaMusica and the Roku Channel

While the linear radio market continues to feel advertising pressure, SBS is leaning hard into digital audio and video through its LaMusica platform.

Key digital metrics from Q3 2025: ^[16]

Monthly Active Uniques on LaMusica grew 13.4% year‑over‑year.
A new partnership with The Roku Channel drove a 34% quarter‑to‑quarter increase in new users in Q3.
SBS now produces nearly 70 hours of live video content every day, repurposing its top radio shows and personalities for streaming at minimal incremental cost.

The Roku partnership, announced in June, turns LaMusica into a 24/7 FAST (free ad‑supported streaming TV) channel on one of the most widely used connected‑TV platforms in the US and Mexico. The offering includes livestreams of major SBS shows like “El Vacilón de la Mañana” from WSKQ‑FM in New York and the Raúl Brindis morning show from KROI‑FM in Houston, along with concerts such as Calibash and MiamiBash. ^[17]

This is more than a distribution tweak. It shifts SBS deeper into connected‑TV advertising, where budgets are still growing even as traditional linear TV and radio dollars soften. It also gives the company another avenue to monetize its existing content library and brand equity with Latino audiences.

Live Events: A $10 Million Complement to Ad Sales

SBS’s live events arm, which includes branded concerts and festivals across its markets, is emerging as a meaningful earnings driver.

In Q3, the company drew about 70,000 fans to its concerts and generated more than $10 million in ticket and sponsorship revenue across these events. ^[18]

That level of revenue, while still smaller than the core ad business, acts as a diversification hedge:

It leverages SBS’s star talent and radio brands to sell high‑margin sponsorships.
It creates unique content and experiences that can be repurposed for LaMusica and social channels.
It offers advertisers integrated campaigns across on‑air, online, on‑site and now connected‑TV environments.

In an environment where local and national spot demand can swing quickly, recurring tentpole events give SBS anchor inventory it can price and package more strategically.

Market Strength: Houston, New York and Beyond

Even amid revenue pressure, SBS’s stations continue to post standout ratings, particularly in Hispanic demos.

A May press release highlights KROI‑FM “La Ley 92.1” in Houston, acquired late last year, as a breakout performer: within roughly three months of launch, the station had climbed to the No. 4 rank overall in the market and hit No. 1 in morning and afternoon drive among key Hispanic age groups (25‑54, 18‑49 and 18+). ^[19]

SBS also continues to tout: ^[20]

WSKQ‑FM in New York as the top Hispanic radio station globally.
Four of the top six over‑the‑air Hispanic stations in the US.
The top three streaming radio stations nationally among Hispanic listeners.
A multi‑market footprint spanning New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, Orlando, Tampa and Puerto Rico, plus the AIRE Radio Networks syndication platform, which reaches more than 90% of the US Hispanic audience through over 250 affiliates.

These ratings wins help explain why management repeatedly stresses the “market leadership” component of the SBS story, even in a tough ad cycle.

Industry Context: Hispanic Media Faces Broad Ad Headwinds

SBS isn’t alone in seeing revenue dip while profits are propped up by cost controls and asset sales.

TelevisaUnivision, the much larger Spanish‑language media giant that operates both TV and radio properties, also reported a tricky Q3 2025:

Total revenue slipped about 3% to $1.27 billion.
Net income fell to $90.5 million from $180.9 million a year earlier, largely because last year included a big gain from broadcast tower sales and this year carried a debt refinancing charge. ^[21]
Advertising revenue slid around 6% year‑over‑year, with US ad revenue alone dropping from $483.1 million to $428.2 million as marketers shifted budgets away from linear. ^[22]
Yet adjusted OIBDA still grew about 9%, thanks to growth in subscription and licensing revenue and improved profitability at streaming service ViX. ^[23]

That pattern—flat to declining ad revenue, offset by digital subscription growth and heavy expense discipline—looks strikingly similar to what’s playing out at SBS, albeit at a far smaller scale.

For Hispanic audiences and advertisers, the upshot is clear: the big players are doubling down on streaming platforms and cross‑platform offerings even as their legacy broadcast assets remain highly influential.

Balance Sheet and Risk: Debt Still Looms Large

Despite Q3’s profitable print, SBS’s capital structure remains tight:

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $9.0 million as of September 30, 2025.
The company carried about $309 million of 9.75% senior secured notes due 2026, plus a stockholders’ deficit of nearly $29 million. ^[24]
Year‑to‑date, operating activities have used roughly $9.5 million of cash, while asset sales (including the Puerto Rico TV deal) produced about $4.4 million of positive investing cash flow. ^[25]

Those numbers highlight why the firm is so focused on trimming expenses and exploring additional sales of television and real estate assets: interest expense alone totaled $8.5 million in Q3, slightly more than the quarter’s operating income. ^[26]

For bondholders and any future equity investors, the key questions over the next several quarters will be:

Can SBS keep growing digital and live‑event revenue fast enough to stabilize the top line?
Will the company close further non‑core asset sales on attractive terms?
How will it handle the 2026 note maturity in a higher‑rate environment?

None of those have clear answers yet, but Q3’s improved profitability and sequential momentum make the story more constructive than it looked early in the year.

Management’s Outlook: “Surfacing the Value of Our Premier Assets”

Throughout the Q3 documentation and trade coverage, Raul Alarcón sticks to a consistent narrative. SBS is, in his view, a premier Latino audio and digital company operating in a $4 trillion U.S. Hispanic consumer market, and the current restructuring phase is about surfacing that value for advertisers and investors. ^[27]

He cites:

The breadth of the company’s multi‑platform ecosystem (local radio, AIRE Radio Networks, LaMusica, live events and LaMusica TV on Roku). ^[28]
The company’s leadership in Nielsen Hispanic ratings across multiple markets. ^[29]
Strong early returns from digital monetization initiatives, including programmatic ad integrations and streaming sponsorships. ^[30]

On December 22, SBS will hold its Q3 conference call with analysts, bondholders and institutional investors—an opportunity to drill further into its refinancing plans, asset‑sale pipeline and digital growth strategy. ^[31]

What It Means for the Radio and Audio Market

For the broader audio industry, SBS’s latest quarter highlights several key trends that are likely to shape 2026 and beyond:

Audio‑first Hispanic media is shifting from “radio vs. digital” to a single, multi‑platform sales story. SBS’s integration of LaMusica, AIRE, live events and Roku distribution mirrors where many broadcasters are heading: bundling linear reach with streaming impressions, social content and experiential activations. ^[32]
Cost discipline is becoming a competitive advantage. Operators that can take real structural cost out of the business without damaging ratings—through centralization, automation and smarter programming decisions—will be better positioned to weather uneven advertising cycles. SBS’s 12% cut in operating expenses is one of the more aggressive moves among mid‑size broadcasters this year. ^[33]
Non‑core asset sales are back on the table. SBS’s Puerto Rico TV sale shows that there is still appetite for broadcast assets in niche segments (in this case, faith‑based TV), even as mainstream M&A remains slow. That could encourage other groups with under‑performing TV or real‑estate holdings to explore similar transactions. ^[34]
Hispanic audiences remain a growth engine—but the dollars are shifting platforms. Both SBS and TelevisaUnivision are seeing ad weakness alongside strong streaming and subscription growth. Marketers chasing Latino consumers increasingly want cross‑screen, data‑driven buys rather than just traditional spot schedules. ^[35]

Bottom Line

Spanish Broadcasting System’s Q3 2025 results are a study in how a mid‑size broadcaster can manufacture earnings growth in a difficult ad market:

Tight cost control and a well‑timed asset sale turned a 13% revenue drop into a more‑than‑two‑times increase in net income. ^[36]
Digital and live‑event businesses, particularly LaMusica and LaMusica TV on Roku, are gaining traction and giving SBS new ways to monetize its dominant Hispanic brands. ^[37]
However, a sizeable debt load, negative year‑to‑date cash from operations and a wider nine‑month net loss mean the turnaround is still a work in progress. ^[38]

For advertisers, the message is straightforward: SBS remains one of the most powerful ways to reach U.S. Hispanic audiences across radio, streaming, events and now connected TV. For investors and lenders, the next few quarters will determine whether today’s expense cuts and asset sales are the start of a sustainable deleveraging story—or just a temporary patch in a structurally tough market.