Good day, everyone, and welcome to Newsmax first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are placed on a listen-only mode, and we'll open the floor for your questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to hand the floor over to your host, Christopher Ruddy. Sir, the floor is yours.
Good afternoon, welcome to Newsmax's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. I'm joined today by Christopher Ruddy, Chief Executive Officer, and Darryle Burnham, Chief Financial Officer. On this call, Chris and Daryl will provide some prepared remarks on the most recent quarter, then we will take some questions from the investment community. A recording of this conference call will be available on our investor relations website shortly after the call has ended. Please note that this call may include forward-looking statements regarding Newsmax's financial performance and operating results. These statements are based on management's current expectations actual results could differ from what is stated due to certain factors identified on today's call and in the company's SEC filings. Additionally, this call will include certain non-GAAP financial measures.
Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures are included in the earnings release and our SEC filings, which are available in the investor relations section of our website. I will now turn the call over to Christopher Ruddy, Chief Executive Officer of Newsmax. Chris.
Thank you, Chris, and welcome everyone to our first quarter 2026 earnings call. Newsmax delivered a strong start to 2026. In the first quarter, we maintained our strong audience reach across cable, streaming, and digital while continuing to strengthen the scale of our platform. We reported revenue of $51.7 million, up 14% year-over-year, and broadcast revenue of $43.7 million, up over 20%. What stands out to me most is the quality of the quarter. We delivered broad first quarter audience reach with 30.4 million total viewers and 13.3 million adults 35 to 64, reinforcing Newsmax's position as the fourth highest rated cable news channel and a top 15 cable network across key day parts.
We are also maintaining some of the strongest audience engagement with adults 35 to 64, ranking number 2 in cable news by a wide margin. In a period when the media industry is seeing declines versus the post-election news consumption and presidential inauguration in early 2025, our first quarter rankings show that Newsmax continues to perform strongly in a more normalized environment. Despite the challenging comparison, we are encouraged by the 29% sequential increase in total viewership during the quarter versus Q4 2025 and by the continued momentum we saw in April. In addition, we continued to strengthen our multi-platform audience ecosystem with social media followers reaching 24.7 million at quarter end and now surpassing 25 million followers in May. We are also encouraged by the continued progress in our business model.
As anticipated, cable and pay TV affiliate fee and licensing momentum helped drive growth in the quarter while our profitability improved year-over-year as we continue to invest in programming, production, and OTT initiatives that we believe support long-term expansion. We end the quarter with $129 million in cash and short-term investments, giving us the financial flexibility to continue investing behind our growth and from a position of strength. Strategically, this quarter reinforced what we have said for some time. Newsmax is a differentiated multi-platform media company. We are not dependent on any single channel. We continue to integrate cable, FAST subscription streaming, digital, and social in a way that expands engagement and strengthens monetization.
Newsmax2, our free streaming platform, delivered sequential news hours growth of more than 22% and improved viewership across every key day part, and we continue to see streaming as an important part of our future. At the same time, we are investing in our paid subscription platform, Newsmax+, as we grow our family-friendly premium content. This includes a major expansion of our military history channels, World at War and War and Warriors, where available titles increased more than 200%. Internationally, we continue to build real momentum. During the quarter, we expanded our licensing agreement with Telekom Srbija, continued to grow our international partnerships, and saw Newsmax Polska go live. More broadly, we believe international licensing and brand expansion represent a meaningful opportunity for Newsmax and one that can extend our reach and diversify revenue in a highly cost-efficient way.
We are expecting to have more announcements over the coming quarters. Looking ahead, we are reiterating our full 2026 revenue guidance of $212 million-$216 million, representing 13% growth at this midpoint. We continue to expect that growth to be structural, not cyclical, led by higher margin affiliate fee expansion and licensing growth, along with ongoing investment in premium content and digital monetization. We also expect an improved operating profile as we move through the year. Stepping back, we believe there remains significant white space for independent, reliable, values-driven journalism that resonates with audiences who have lost trust in legacy media. The right-leaning marketplace is a proven and vast market opportunity with limited true alternatives from legacy cable platforms.
Newsmax is effectively capitalizing on the substantial demand by serving as the primary alternative to legacy media and staying ahead of audience migration across platforms. We are cementing our position as a trusted multi-platform leader in the space, not just from the legacy cable world, but also with the millions of people cutting the cord and going to streaming platforms, tuning in to our Newsmax2 channel and our app. Newsmax continues to attract unique viewers, gain traction with younger and other key demographics, and build a highly loyal audience in this underserved center-right market. We believe that positions us well to expand our reach, strengthen monetization, and deliver sustainable long-term growth in the United States and around the world. I will now turn the call over to Darryl Burnham, our chief financial officer, to discuss our financial results for the first quarter 2026.
Thank you, Chris, and thank you everyone for joining us today. As Chris highlighted, we delivered a strong start to 2026, with solid revenue growth and continued expansion across our multi-platform expansion. We are particularly encouraged by the quality of this growth, supported by increased reach, deeper engagement across cable, streaming and digital, and continued progress in building a more diversified and durable revenue model. At the same time, we are maintaining a disciplined approach to investment as we position the company for long-term expansion. We continue to allocate capital towards programming, production and OTT initiatives, supporting our strategic priorities around content, distribution and international expansion. This balanced approach positions us well to build on our momentum and deliver sustainable performance over time. Turning to our first quarter results.
In the first quarter, we delivered $51.7 million in total revenues, representing a 14% increase year-over-year. Breaking this down by revenue stream for the quarter, first starting with our reportable segments. Total broadcasting revenues grew by 20.8% year-over-year to $43.7 million in the first quarter of 2026. Our growth in broadcasting was driven by affiliate fee revenue growth and licensing growth. Total digital revenues declined 12.7% year-over-year to $8 million in the first quarter of 2026. This decrease was driven by declines in advertising, subscription revenue and product sales. Turning to our revenue by component.
Advertising revenues decreased to $27.2 million, a 5.8% year-over-year decline, mainly due to lower digital advertising reflecting a tougher comparison following the elevated demand environment associated with the 2024 election cycle. This was partially offset by higher linear cable and satellite advertising revenue due to expanded reach from new affiliate agreements. Affiliate revenues increased 75.2% year-over-year to $13 million, driven by new contractual relationships as well as rate increases that took effect in late 2025. Subscription revenues of $6.4 million were down 7.9% year-over-year as growth in Newsmax+ subscribers was more than offset by lower publication subscription revenue, primarily reflecting reduced new customer acquisition. Product sales revenues decreased 3.5% year-over-year to $1.5 million, primarily driven by decreased book and supplement sales.
Licensing revenue was $3.5 million, up from $437,000 in 2025 due to expanded licensing agreements. We reported a quarterly net loss of $2.2 million, an 87.3% improvement compared to a net loss of $17.2 million in the prior year quarter. This improvement in net loss was primarily driven by higher total revenue, lower legal expenses and improved other income, partially offset by higher production headcount, programming and production cost, continued investment in Newsmax2, and higher stock-based compensation. Our quarterly adjusted EBITDA was -$0.4 million, a decrease of $0.8 million from the amount reported in the same quarter last year, reflecting higher production, programming and personnel costs associated with our continued investment in content and OTT initiatives, partially offset by growth in affiliate fee and licensing revenue within our broadcast segment.
We encourage by the strong performance to start off the year and remain confident in our previously disclosed full year revenue guidance of $212 million-$216 million, representing a 13% growth year-over-year at the midpoint of the range, an acceleration on the growth we realized in 2025. In closing, we remain focused on a disciplined execution as we continue to invest in our content, distribution and OTT initiatives to support long-term growth. With a strong balance sheet and a diversified multi-platform revenue model, we believe we are well-positioned to build on our progress and drive sustainable value for our shareholders. Thank you for your time today. We look forward to updating you on our continued progress during the next quarter's earnings call. Now we would like to open the line for analyst questions. Operator?
Certainly. Everyone at this time will be conducting a question-and-answer session. Your first question's coming from Michael Kupinski from Noble Capital. Your line is live.
Thank you. Congratulations on a great quarter. Recently, you mentioned about the strong audience growth in April. I was just wondering a couple of questions around that. How much of the ratings improvement might be tied to your expanded distribution of the network? How much do you think might be related to the investments in your content, if you can, you know, parse that out. If you can also just chat a little bit about how much of that ratings growth might be tied to the news flow and geopolitical events. I'm just trying to get a sense of how sustainable do you believe the ratings might be going forward.
Well, I think, Michael, it's difficult to ascertain exactly all the benefits of what's resulting in the larger traffic. I think it's a combination maybe of all of the above. When Nielsen gives the ratings, they don't say it's from this source or from that source. They just give raw numbers. We are in a situation where there has been a very significant war. Of course, that started in Q1, the Iran conflict on February 28th, to be exact. That obviously has led to an uptick since then. There are periods that there are lulls. There are periods in this war so far that there's not a lot of news. There hasn't been a lot of news because there has been something of a ceasefire for the past week or two.
That may change. We are continuing to do a lot of marketing promotion. We're continuing to do a lot of social media. I think the social media numbers that we have reported that show that we're up, above now 25 million aggregate followers is very significant, and that, we said, would impact engagement, and we believe it partly does. We have made some changes in the lineup. Carl Higbie, we moved to 6 P.M., which really starts what we say is our nighttime programming. Greta, who is a fantastic journalist, ratings are usually not as strong. We have moved her to 4 P.M. I think that's helping access and then leading into prime time. There is no one thing, there are primaries, for instance.
We're expecting a lot of interest in the upcoming, in the Texas primary at the end of May. Of course, there's the California primary where the governor's race is there of particular interest nationally. We'll see some of that. The congressional elections, the Senate elections this year are going to be very heated, so we are expecting that there'll be strong engagement, due to the congressionals this year.
Thanks for the color there. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Chris.
Michael, this is Darryle. I was just gonna add a little bit to that. In the broader picture, I think, you know, some of the components that Chris talked about are very important, right? I mean, you know, overall news is still something that is consumed live, and I do believe that there is still a lot of value in that. As Chris mentioned, there will be cyclical cycles to the overall ratings. What we're really encouraged by is just the momentum we're seeing within, you know, our overall reach and the, you know, the engagement that we're seeing with the consumer. You know, there'll be an increased engagement in all of cable news or all of news actually, as we get into the third and fourth quarter of this year because there'll be more interest in the midterms.
We'll see continued increases as we start to approach in future years towards the presidential election. You know, overall, I think that there's still a lot of interest in news and politics and the different types of stories that we're covering. We do think that that is sustainable for the long term.
Gotcha. One follow-up. Obviously you're getting some significant rate in your negotiations for affiliate fees, but I was wondering if there's some ancillary benefits in that as well. Particularly, are you getting improved channel placement, broader packaging and inclusion, minimum subscriber guarantees, anything else that you might be able to, you know, benefit from your negotiations?
Well, I think our packages have been very strong. They're all usually in basic distribution. There is an effort underway on the paid TV ecosystem to move news channels and other channels into packages or tiers, and we have resisted that. As far as I know, on all of our main deals, we are on the basic package. We did renew with Cablevision now called Optimum Altice, and there will be some added subscribers. I think there'll be about a quarter of a million added subscribers as a result of that.
The paid TV world overall is declining, and we're seeing increases on the streaming side, and we see that as very positive, and we're on almost every major platform there. CBS, sorry, Paramount on their Pluto positioning just recently moved Newsmax up in the news guide section of their Pluto TV guide. We saw that as very positive. That happened recently. Again, more and more OTT distribution, I think is gonna help in streaming, and we're gonna try to keep very consistent on the cable pay TV side.
Yeah. If I could just slip one more in about the ratings. Given the improved ratings trends, are advertisers become more willing to shift larger national brand budgets towards Newsmax at this point? Are you starting to see that with the ratings improvement?
Well, we saw last year an increasing number of brands that were buying ads, and we hope that we would continue. There's no real guarantee that's gonna happen, but we do see an improvement in brand advertising. We do believe that over time, we'll see. People sometimes think there's a very linear connection between growth and ratings that somehow means or that you'll have immediate revenue growth. We have found over the history of the channel, and we started in 2014, that there's oftentimes lag effects, and it takes a while. Marketing spends are not linear. That, and the increased engagement that comes with that does not necessarily translate immediately. People need to think about the long-term impact of what we're doing.
I think when you do that, you know, we operate in the center-right market for pay TV and OTT. There's not many competitors in that field, and it's a very big marketplace. It's half the country almost, or some people say it's more than half the country. There's very limited ability of players to access that. Therefore, we think we're in a very prime position for growth and expansion.
Great. The trends look very encouraging. Good luck. That's all I got.
Thank you. Your next question is coming from Thomas Forte from Maxim Group. Your line is live.
Great. Chris and Darryle, congratulations. I apologize if you touched on these in your prepared remarks. I'm juggling multiple calls today. I have one question and one follow-up. Chris, you reported strong results for ratings in both the first quarter and the month of April. What were the drivers of the results, and what gives you confidence that growth is sustainable?
We chatted a little bit about that, Tom, in the last question. I think that there's a couple of factors. There was a war that started in Q1 in Iran. There's increasing interest in political things with primaries taking place and congressional senate and gubernatorial races across the country. We believe our efforts in marketing and social media are having an impact on the growth that we're seeing there. Changing some of the scheduling to improve ratings, starting with Carl Higbie and the nighttime program, we think have been helpful. All of those above, it's very hard to say exactly what causes it, but we're seeing general trends tend to be positive.
Great. You kinda teased my second question. You also posted impressive social media growth, not only on platforms that would seem to have a natural audience overlap, such as Truth Social, but also on what I would consider to be younger demographic, social media platforms, Instagram, TikTok. First off, what do you attribute that performance? Again, what gives you confidence the growth is sustainable?
We have a very robust team that does social media. We probably have about 15 people that sit there and work it, many hours of the day and night and the weekends. I think we've been pretty effective in the group Amplify does a lot of our studies, and they're very respected, and they show that we typically have either the highest or among the highest engagement for a news organization in our category. We think that that's a testament to the good content we're putting out. I think younger people are more likely to consume news on social media than older people, especially on some of the platforms you discussed, like TikTok. Any expansion that we would see on TikTok would mean that it would probably be a lot more younger people tuning in.
I think there is younger people are pretty interested in politics these days. They're very fascinated one way or another by Donald Trump, for instance. These type of things, I think, are driving interest by a younger demo.
Great. Thanks, Chris. Thanks, Darryl, for taking my questions.
Thank you. That completes our Q&A session. Everyone, this concludes today's event. You may disconnect at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.