There are bad earnings days, and then there is what happened to iHeartMedia Inc. (IHRT) on Tuesday. The audio media company's stock plunged more than 60% after third-quarter 2026 results came in weaker than anyone on Wall Street expected.

The numbers: a loss of 6 cents per share, wider than the analyst estimate of a 2-cent loss. Revenue rose 3.3% year over year to $1.03 billion, but that missed the $1.052 billion estimate. Strip out political advertising and revenue grew just 0.9%.

CEO Bob Pittman pointed to strong digital audio demand, particularly in podcasting. President and COO Rich Bressler was more blunt about the miss, saying the weaker performance reflected advertiser spending delays, consumer uncertainty and broader economic pressures.

Pittman said several major advertisers delayed spending until after the elections. He also warned that inflation, volatile fuel prices and growing consumer uncertainty were squeezing advertising budgets, and he expects these pressures to persist through the end of 2026.

Mixed Results Under The Hood

GAAP operating income reached $73 million, a sharp swing from a GAAP operating loss of $116 million a year earlier. But adjusted EBITDA fell to $170.5 million from $204.8 million. Net loss narrowed to $8.2 million from $65.8 million.

Podcasts Surge While Traditional Radio Struggles

Digital Audio Group revenue climbed 13.8% to $388.7 million, driven by a 24.4% jump in podcast revenue to $173.7 million. That is the growth story iHeartMedia wants investors to focus on.

The Multiplatform Group tells a different story. Revenue fell 4.9% to $562.4 million amid weaker broadcast and network advertising. Segment adjusted EBITDA plunged 42.9% to $68 million, and its margin narrowed to 12.1% from 20.2% a year earlier. Management cited disappointing political advertising, delayed spending by major advertisers and a faster shift toward programmatic audio advertising.

Audio & Media Services Group revenue increased 22.6% to $81.6 million, with segment adjusted EBITDA surging 65.9% to $37.5 million.

Debt Remains High Despite Improving Cash Flow

iHeartMedia ended September with $139.7 million in cash, $415.8 million in available liquidity and $5.02 billion in debt. Free cash flow was negative $10.4 million, compared with negative $32.8 million a year earlier. Better, but still negative.

The Programmatic Bet

The company expects full-year adjusted EBITDA of $550 million to $600 million. Management forecasts approximately $200 million in programmatic revenue in 2026 and $400 million in 2027, including about $100 million in incremental broadcast radio programmatic revenue next year.

iHeartMedia also plans to make podcasting a standalone reporting segment in 2027. Its video podcast content is already available on platforms including Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Disney and Hulu, expanding its reach beyond YouTube.

For the fourth quarter, management forecasts mid-single-digit revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA of $135 million to $185 million.

IHRT Price Action: iHeartMedia shares were down 62.71% at $0.66 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to market data. Trading volume surged to 19.73 million shares, about 27.4 times the 100-day average of 719,959 shares, highlighting heavy trading activity in the micro-cap stock.