• by Wayne Friedman , August 8, 2017

With the completion of its big Media General deal, Nexstar Media Group’s second-quarter results posted strong advertising and retrans revenue gains.

Company-wide revenue grew 140% to $626 million, with net income nearly doubled from $24.8 million to $48.4 million.

Local TV advertising and national spot TV advertising revenue had similar triple-digit percentage improvements. Local TV was up $238 million, while national TV spot dollars gained 154% to $91 million.

Retrans fees now exceed local TV advertising -- at $253 million, 158% higher than the same period a year ago. Rising retrans fee has been good news for TV stations -- and for Nexstar in particular.

Perry A. Sook, chairman, president and CEO of Nexstar, stated: “Notably, 51% of our second-quarter gross revenue was derived from non-core advertising revenue sources. The ongoing shift of our revenue mix reflects our long-term initiatives to build scale and diversify revenue through our focus on high growth retransmission and digital opportunities.”

Digital ad revenue gained 157% to $63.9 million. Political advertising revenue -- as with most TV station groups for this year -- sank, losing 43% from the same period a year ago to $6.5 million.

In January, Nexstar completed its purchase of Media General. Nexstar, based in Irving, Texas, now has 170 TV stations and digital multicast signals reaching 100 markets or nearly 39% of all U.S. TV households.