CINCINNATI — The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) has raised its expectations for full-year 2026 midterm Local Media political advertising revenue to about $275 million, which is about 40% above its 2022 midterm election revenue.
On Tuesday, the company also completed 431 workforce reductions, bringing the total employees impacted in 2026 to about 850 — nearly 20% of its employee count from the beginning of the year. The reductions are part of Scripps’ company transformation plan to generate $125-$150 million of enterprise EBITDA growth by 2028. The impact of the transformation work will become most evident beginning in the fourth-quarter results, and the company expects to have implemented about $100 million in annual run-rate savings by year end.
For the third quarter, Scripps’ Local Media political revenue was nearly $81 million, driven by strong candidate, issue and advocacy spending across Scripps markets in Michigan and Ohio as well as Arizona, Florida, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Virginia. In August, the company had guided to a full-year range of $225-$250 million.
At the end of the third quarter, Scripps had $83 million in cash and will use that and proceeds from Q4 political advertising revenue to pay down at least $150 million of debt in the fourth quarter.
Scripps will release its full third-quarter 2026 results after the market closes Thursday, Nov. 5, as previously announced.
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