Newsmax Inc Stock

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Newsmax Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call.

[Operator Instructions]

And please note, this conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Chris Odeh with Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

Good afternoon, and welcome to Newsmax Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. I'm joined today by Chris Ruddy, Chief Executive Officer; and Darryl Burnham, Chief Financial Officer. On this call, Chris and Darryl will provide prepared remarks on the most recent quarter. We will then take 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 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 these 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 Chris Ruddy, Chief Executive Officer of Newsmax. Chris?

Thank you, Chris, and welcome, everyone, to our second quarter 2026 earnings call. The story of the second quarter is simple. We did what we said we would do and more. Revenue came in at a record $54.1 million, up 16.5% year-over-year. And for the first time as a public company, Newsmax was profitable. We delivered net income for the quarter of $2.9 million and adjusted EBITDA of $5.7 million.

Let me put the profitability in perspective. The onetime costs of becoming a public company and legal costs are now largely behind us. These numbers carry less noise and give a cleaner view of the business. We are encouraged by what we see and we'll look to invest behind this growth. We remain in strategic investment mode that will not change.

We are also seeing growth in key areas of our business. Broadcast revenue rose 20.5% to $45.8 million, led by our higher-margin affiliate fees and licensing. Overall, the value creation opportunities of our multi-platform model are showing positive results. Our audience tells the same story. -- despite the post cycle normalization total viewership rose again.

We reached 26.9 million total viewers, up 4% year-over-year. This represents our highest second quarter reach in the past 4 years. Our total viewers also include 11.3 million adults, 35 million to 64 million. We remain the fourth highest-rated cable news channel and ranked #2 in the category for engagement among adults 35 to 64. Even when the news cycle slows, our viewers stay with us, and we continue to grow.

Our audience is highly loyal. That is one of the great strengths of the Newsmax brand. The way people find news is not standing still and neither are we. We maintain a strong presence on social media. Our growth there is resilient. Total followers climbed over 28% year-over-year to over 26 million. This shift in news consumption has also increasingly been moving to AI and we continue to be at the forefront in meeting viewers where their preferences evolve. We are excited about our multiyear AI content partnership with Meta.

Our journalism and reporting will help power AI answers across Meta's ecosystem, social, streaming, AI. We see this as the beginning of our AI efforts and it's nice to start with a bang by partnering with one of the largest online companies in the nation. None of this works without a solid foundation. Newsmax is the fastest-growing basic cable network since Nielsen began measuring us in 2020 up more than 280% across key dayparts. That broadcast strength is what allows us to invest in the rest of the platform.

Even as consumption shifts across platforms, there is still a strong place for linear news. We are well positioned to maintain that presence. Streaming continues to be a strategic focus for us. It's a key investment area and the next frontier of our business evolution. On our year-end call, we said Newsmax plus needed stronger content and more on-demand programming and then we would put resources behind it.

We have the NewsMax Plus catalog now tops 300 titles including broadening our content library of family-friendly content, including more new original premium specials and documentaries. Newsmax 2, our free streaming channel, keep scanning ground on the major platforms with news hours continuing to grow. Subscription revenue is still an area we are building. You will be hearing a lot more about those efforts in the months ahead.

We will keep taking deliberate steps to improve engagement, strengthen retention and translate the expanded lineup into subscriber growth. Our international business is building rapidly. In 2025, we reported $3.6 million in international licensing fees. This year, we expect fees of about $16 million, a 344% increase. During the past quarter, we officially launched Newsmax Poland solidifying our already vast distribution footprint in more than 100 countries. These are true partnerships.

The operators know their markets, run the channels locally, and license the Newsmax brand, we provide our high-quality content and the editorial framework. It is a capital-efficient way to add value for all parties, especially the viewers -- most importantly, we are bringing independent center-right journalism to these underserved audiences around the world. We believe Newsmax can become a truly global news brand and we are building toward exactly that.

Looking ahead, we are reiterating our full year 2026 revenue guidance of $212 million to $216 million. representing 13% growth at the midpoint. We continue to expect this growth to be structural, not cyclical, led by affiliate fee expansion and licensing. We also expect the full year operating profile to improve compared to 2025.

Let me close with the big picture. Nearly half the country feels underserved by legacy media with trust at an all-time low. The center right audience underserved, both domestically and internationally. That creates a significant and durable opportunity -- this audience is not shrinking, and few media companies can reach it with the scale, credibility and multiplatform presence of Newsmax. We deliver independent values-driven journalism across cable, streaming and digital. Our social audience is large and highly engaged.

Our reach continues to expand.We are also positioning Newsmax at the forefront of emerging technology as AI becomes a more important channel for news discovery and consumption. I'd like to say that Newsmax is leading a news revolution. And I don't say it lightly, we continue to grow, reach millions of Americans digitally on social and on TV, both linear and streaming as well as through our Plus service, podcasting and radio and now in a very robust way across the globe. This quarter showed that the foundation of our revolution is stronger than ever. record revenue, a growing international footprint, our first profitable quarter as a public company, a strong cash position and debt-free balance sheet.

Financial flexibility to support investments in content and growth. We are operating from a position of strength, and we are excited about the journey ahead. to our readers, our viewers, our advertisers, and you, our shareholders. Thank you. With that, I will turn it over to our Chief Financial Officer, Darryle Burnham, to walk through the financials. Darryle?

Thank you, Chris, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. As Chris highlighted, we delivered record revenues in our first quarterly net income since becoming a public company. The way we got there is just as important as the result. Our revenue mix continued to shift toward affiliate fee and licensing revenues. -- and higher rates across both expanded gross margin to 43.1% from 38% in the prior year quarter.

We are also operating with better visibility absence of the prior year legal settlement expense allowing strong top line growth to flow through to the bottom line. Importantly, profitability does not change our investment plans. Our capital allocation priorities remain focused on supporting long-term growth which includes investment in programming, talent, technology, distribution, digital initiatives and other strategic opportunities with improved visibility into our cost base, -- our focus is on sustaining this operating leverage as we continue to grow.

Turning to our second quarter results. In the second quarter, we delivered $54.1 million in total revenues representing a 16.5% increase year-over-year. Breaking this down by revenue stream for the quarter, first, starting with our reportable segments. Total broadcasting revenues grew by 20.5% year-over-year to $45.8 million in the second quarter of 2026. Our growth in broadcasting was driven by higher affiliate fee revenue attributed to new contractual relationships and rate increases that took effect in late 2025 and 2026 as well as expanded international licensing agreements.

Total digital revenues declined 1.3% year-over-year to $8.3 million in the second quarter of 2026. Growth in digital advertising, driven by new contractual relationships was offset by lower subscription revenue and product sales.

Now turning to our revenue by component. Advertising revenues decreased to $28.8 million, a 3.5% year-over-year decline mainly due to lower customer order volume and a challenging comparison from election-related demand last year. This was partially offset by digital advertising growth of 21.3%. Affiliate revenues increased 1.9% year-over-year to $13.4 million, driven by new contractual relationships as well as rate increases that took effect in late 2025 and 2026.

Subscription revenues of $6.3 million were down 9.9% year-over-year due to lower new customer acquisition partially offset by gains from expanded affiliate agreements that make Newsmax available on more linear cable providers. Product sales revenue decreased 31.7% year-over-year to $1.1 million primarily driven by decreased book and supplement sales.

Licensing revenues were $4.6 million, up from $0.7 million in the prior year quarter, driven by expanded international licensing agreements. We reported quarterly net income of $2.9 million or $0.02 per share compared to a net loss of $75.2 million in the prior year quarter. The improvement was primarily driven by higher total revenue, improved operating efficiency and the absence of legal settlement expenses recorded in the prior year period.

Our quarterly adjusted EBITDA was $5.7 million an improvement of $9.5 million from negative $3.8 million reported in the same quarter last year, primarily due to growth in high-margin affiliate fee and licensing revenue and lower general and administrative expenses partially offset by continued investment in programming, production and OTT initiatives.

We ended the quarter with $25.9 million in cash and cash equivalents and $102.4 million in short-term investments bringing our total cash and investment position to $128.3 million with no debt on the balance sheet. We are encouraged by our performance through the first half of the year and remain confident in our previously disclosed full year revenue guidance of $212 million to $216 million representing 13% year-over-year growth at the midpoint of the range, an acceleration on the growth we realized in 2025.

Our higher-margin affiliate fees and licensing streams are the biggest levers to our margin improvement in the near term. At the same time, we continue to scale the business. We expect opportunities to improve margins through revenue growth from content investment, technology and monetization across multiple platforms.

In closing, we remain focused on disciplined execution as we continue to invest in content, distribution and OTT initiatives that 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 this quarter's progress and deliver sustainable value for our shareholders.

Thank you for your time today, and we look forward to updating you on our continued progress during the next quarter earnings call. Now we would like to open the line for analyst questions.

Operator?

[Operator Instructions]

Our first question today is coming from Michael Kupinski with Noble Capital Markets.

Congratulations on a solid quarter. A couple of quick questions here. I know in your presentation, you highlight that Newsmax affiliate rates are roughly 7x below peers on average. And that's in spite of the fact that your distribution of ratings are increasingly comparable. And I know that you've been reluctant to talk about this in the past, but I just thought I'd ask anyway. What percentage of your subscriber base is scheduled for renewal over the next 12 to 24 months?

And then I guess the real question would be, how quickly do you think you can close that rate gap without sacrificing your distribution?

Darryle, do you want to chat about the first part.

Yes, absolutely. Michael, thank you for the question. It's good talking to you again. So consistent with what we've talked about before, we haven't really publicly disclosed what percentage of our affiliate fees are coming up for renewal. But I think what is beneficial is to look at some of the history on this, right? So we've talked about the fact that there's always a large opportunity for growth in affiliate fees and that comes with the fact of the renewal for the contracts because we're a relatively new entrant into the affiliate fee world.

When you look at some of the changes that we've seen in 2026 compared to 2025, I think you can see that already that strategy already really kind of coming through to fruition. So the goal really is to continue to execute on future renewals, similar to what we have in the past whether or not we'll be able to close the 7x gap is going to be contingent on our continued execution of our strategic vision by increasing in programming and talent and distribution across all of the areas that we can so that we're in the best position to be able to negotiate any of those renewals.

Got you, are...

I would just add that I would just add that the best leverage is always ratings and that are growing brand value. And I think that has been -- that has carried us fourth through a lot of years. I mean, people have said when we first started in the period, you're never going to get on any cable systems. We got on all the system. You're never going to get a cable fee, we got cable fees, remember, you'll never get renewals. We've gotten renewals from every major player and we just keep growing and affiliate fees were up 81% year-over-year.

So I think that is the start of a lot of these are rolling agreements. And so we're going to continue to see strength there.

Got you. I know that licensing revenue is obviously incredibly growing fast there as well. I was just wondering how much of that $16 million in terms of your guide is already contracted versus dependent on additional agreements? And then looking to 2027, how should we think about licensing as a recurring base that what should it grow from $16 million as we go look into 2027?

Well, the guidance that we've given on licensing so far this year was based on factual evidence of agreements that we had in place. So the $16 million that we gave for this year is not contingent on any future agreements, but $25 million that we talk about as an annualized run rate for next year, gives you some indication of the overall growth. And we're very excited with the growth in the interest really and conservative news internationally and globally. So it's become an area of focus within the company now where we want to continue to focus on that because we do believe that there is an interest in conservative news across the country or across the world.

And as a result of that, that's something where -- we've got a number of different projects that we're continuing to look at. So right now, the $16 million is I think, a very stable number. You can see that based on the results of the first 2 quarters. And right now, we're continuing -- we're not giving any guidance past the $25 million that we've already put out in our press release for 2027 but we are excited that there are additional opportunities in international licensing in the future.

And all our agreements are multiyear -- all our agreements are multiyear agreements, we're not doing this just as a one-off for 1 year or 2 years. So I think you can see something over the horizon for -- on these deals and then we hope we get renewals and years out. We have gotten renewals on our main deal that started in Serbia some years ago. So we're expecting -- we're hoping that, that continues. We don't have any reason to believe it won't for the moment. But we do think this is a huge area of opportunity for the company that was somewhat surprising for us, right?

It was not something we talked about much in the IPO process and it's just another add-on and the market for the global news is huge.

Yes. That's pretty exciting. And if I can squeeze 1 more in. Your meta agreement is your first major AI content partnership. And I was just wondering if you can maybe discuss the economics of that relationship without obviously getting into contractual specifics, but if you can just give us some more color there? And are you currently in discussions with other major AI platforms as well?

I would say that we're not revealing the financial details of that agreement. It's a multiyear agreement. And we think it's consistent with market and it's very powerful. Think about this, our first AI agreement, major AR agreement is with Facebook Meta, which is a huge Internet company. So I think it shows the value again of news match as a brand. And that Meta, which is investing, I think, over $100 billion in AI tease Newsmax as an important partner and that they were interested in doing a partnership with us.

So I think it's a very good milestone for the company. And we say in our release and what we talked about is that this is the beginning. We are in discussions with a number of AI companies and we hope to have more developments on that in the future. So we do think it's an area of incremental and strong supplemental revenue but also the company hopes to develop its own approaches to AI that we think will be beneficial to the shareholders of the company, not just as a licensing but also incorporating AI into our infrastructure.

Chris, if I could just follow up quickly on that. Can this partnership would it -- I'm just trying to understand the AI licensing. Could it become a meaningful stand-alone revenue stream going forward? I'm just trying to -- curious on how that relationship would work ?

Well, I'm not accounting. I don't know what stand-alone revenue stream means it's already a stand-alone run.

Much like you're licensing.

Correct. Well, we're hoping that the licensing we are hoping -- I can't promise that, but it could potentially be a significant licensing stream for us. I mean I taking is a revolutionary thing, and it's happening in very big ways. -- we have a lot of content AI companies need content.

And I think that kind of the key on this one, Michael, if I can add a little bit, right? I mean, AI is becoming an important channel for new discovery -- and I think, as Chris said, it shows the strength of the Newsmax brand with the fact that Meta wanted to partner with us to help kind of train the AI model. So we're all aware of the fact that there's a lot of capital that's being invested into AI. There's no real way that we can predict what that might be.

But I think we're very excited that we're able to participate in that. And hopefully, we can continue to participate in that in a meaningful way. So as that grows, -- could it be on stand-alone revenue stream in the future. But we certainly hope so, but we're not giving any guidance specific to that.

Got you. It sounds exciting. That's all I have.

Our next question is coming from Alicia Reese.

I wanted to dig into a couple of different things. One, the gross margin or the margin improvements that you cited that were related to improved operating efficiencies outside of just higher affiliate fees. Can you dig in a little bit on that and detail some of the improvements that you've made perhaps over the last quarter or over the last year?

Sure. Well, I think it's a couple of areas, right? I mean the obvious ones are increases in the affiliate license and the licensing revenue because those are both high-margin contributors to the business overall. And the other part would be just operating efficiencies that we've seen now that we're kind of through that first year as a public company. We don't have some of those same first year public company expenses a lot of the legal expenses we've gotten through that wouldn't affect the margins as much.

But overall, we've just seen the ability to focus more on the business and we're focused on some of those high-margin components of the business. And we're constantly looking at ways that we can utilize new tools to become more efficient within the business as well. I mean, there's been a total transformation in broadcasting over the last 10 years. And the things that the equipment and the content generation that used to be significantly more expensive advances in AI. All of these things are tools that we're looking at as ways to become as efficient as we can on containing the costs within the business overall.

And I think that might answer at least some of my follow-up question with that. Because you had mentioned you expect to get more margin expansion. -- of course, from affiliate piece in the future, but more so from tech and content investments. So I wanted to focus on that content investment. -- category. Is that due to the lower cost of content due to the AI implementation? Or are there other avenues by which you can come to those lower content fees? Or is it just driving higher users that would create the better margins on content?

I think... go ahead, Chris.

Yes. I think that the obvious one is the ability AI helps you create and put together content it's not perfect. It's not something you can go to print with just because it's -- but it helps speed up what our editors noticed on the digital side, on the TV production side. It speeds up the process of putting content together. It gives you a lot of background information. It all has to be double checked, but it's putting it together in a very coherent, logical typically good manner, but needs to be checked and verified and so we're finding that it is speeding up the process and reducing some costs, and we hold more.

On the digital side, TV production has seen similar things and graphics, too. It's very good at producing graphics and trucks, which are usually time-consuming and costly on the television side. So in social media, we use a lot of graphics -- so I think that's where the reduction in cost comes in. We really -- we're not implementing so far like an AI feature on Newsmax. So we're not really getting any users from that yet. But we are hoping that other companies we can partner with for our content, and they can have access to that that way like we're doing on the Medideal.

And I might add -- the other area, just to add 1 more point to that, that I think it's important to understand is that when you're looking at our investment in content and programming and technology and some of the things that we referenced in the press release, some of those investments are across multiple product streams, right? So when we're investing, for example, in programming and content and efficiencies within our Newsmax 1 channel, we get the benefit, and that's all the drive ratings and ratings will increase advertiser demand, right? So that gets the benefit of driving increased margin just through economies of scale because we're driving increased demand for advertising because news is still a primary source that advertisers have it because people are still watching news live.

The other benefit of that is that it continues to add to the value proposition for our Newsmax streaming service. And that continues to potentially give us the ability to attract additional subscribers to the news and expand service. And it puts us in a better position, as Chris mentioned earlier, with the ratings when we're negotiating for additional affiliate fees.

So the more -- we get an economy of scale with this as well where the investment starts to have a higher ROI just as we grow.

Excellent. That all makes a lot of sense. And I have 1 more, if I may. I was wondering and I hope this is a too naive question, but I'm wondering about the funnel. As you acquire new users. I assume a lot of it is through the social media, but I wonder to what extent people stay there and you're fine with that because useful as its own means of delivering news to users on those platforms. But is that a funnel to perhaps and Newsmax Plus now or any potential for that in the future?

Well, I'm not so sure that we have a funnel out of social media. I would say -- I always like to say that we're for all people on all platforms, and we've discovered in the old days where you were siloed, you reduce paper radio business. Those days are over. and we -- and even digital means a lot, right? Podcasting has included that includes video on digital side. So there's a lot going on.

Social media is -- falls under the umbrella of digital -- and we -- and there's some people that just want to consume news on social and not come to our platform. And so that we try to service those people who try to give them information. We really do like it when they see us in social and they're more likely to come to the website, they're more likely to download our app, which then leads them to the Nesmax Plus service to check their cable guide and watch us on cable. So we're constantly -- what I like to use the word instead of funnel is cross-promoting.

So TV will promote digital, digital promotes TV and TV being both linear and the streaming. And then we have the app and the app notifications promote the TV channel and the digital stuff. So if you looked at like a line chart, there'll be lines going all over the place. But it seems to work and the overall impact is pretty significant because you have synergies, the synergistic effect of all of those promotions and mentions.

I think it's a key reason if you look, Newsmax consider our revenue base consider what we come from and that we're Reuters in one of the recent studies had in one of the top 12 U.S. news brands. We're frequently listed as 1 of the top major Marquette. Law school just did a survey of viewership and news coverage, and they listed us as one of the top news media outlets in the country. And I think we're going -- our revenue monetization is going to grow pretty significantly because of the brand and the reach that we have and people obviously -- hopefully, we hope shareholders and investors see that, but we certainly see it.

Excellent. That's very helpful, and that makes a lot of sense.

Our next question is coming from Tom Forte with Maxim Group.

This is Henry Dare. I'm calling in for Tom. Just 1 quick question. Chris, you've talked about this in the past, but we would appreciate your current thoughts on what the midterm could mean for your audience engagement. -- both for your cable news network and digital efforts as well as your sales and profits for the back half of 2026?

Well, elections are always good for engagement, even if we don't necessarily get a lot of advertising fees. A lot of the midterm elections are very local oriented and people don't see them as national elections. Their state races, congressional races and what have you there. And so those advertising campaigns don't typically we get some increase, but we do see a lot more engagement because we've covered a lot of those places around the country. And we certainly think right after that election midterms over I think you'll see even more engagement.

You'll see for One is, I think there's a great likelihood of the Democrat control of the House of Representatives and then there is a potential likelihood of them controlling the Senate, divided government tends to mean more news, more conflicting stories and more engagement, I think, by both sides.

The second is the presidential campaign really begins in earnest, somewhat ours already begun. But the first Iowa debate typically is in the summer of the following year. So next year would be the summer -- so Iowa is going to be in play and discussed going, there'll be probably at least a half dozen candidates from what we're hearing running for President. So that will be good for engagement, we believe, for some revenues.

So it's very exciting. I think we have a 2-year great window to continue building out post IPO now and continuing our reach on all of the different platforms that we are engaging people.

Ladies and gentlemen, as we have no further questions on the line at this time, this will conclude our question-and-answer session and today's call. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you so much for your participation.

And good day, everyone, and welcome to Newsmax First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to hand the floor over to your host, Chris Odeh. Sir, the floor is yours.

Good afternoon, and welcome to Newsmax's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. I'm joined today by Chris Ruddy, Chief Executive Officer; and Darryle Burnham, Chief Financial Officer. On this call, Chris and Darryle will provide some prepared remarks on the most recent quarter, and 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, and 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 Chris 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 dayparts. We are also maintaining some of the strongest audience engagement with adults 35 to 64, ranking #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 ended 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 daypart, 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 Plus, 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 Telecom Serbia, continued to grow our international partnerships and saw Newsmax Poland 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 to $216 million, representing 13% growth at this midpoint. We continue to expect that growth to be structural, not cyclical with -- 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 into 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 Darryle 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.

Now 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 costs, continued investment in Newsmax2 and higher stock-based compensation. Our quarterly adjusted EBITDA was negative $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're encouraged by the strong performance to start off the year and remain confident in our previously disclosed full year revenue guidance of $212 million to $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 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, and 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?

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is coming from Michael Kupinski from NOBLE Capital.

Congratulations on a great quarter. Recently, you mentioned about the strong audience growth in April. And 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? And then how much do you think might be related to the investments in your content, if you can parse that out?

And then 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 where the -- 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. And of course, that started in Q1, the Iran conflict on February 28 to be exact. And so that obviously has led to an uptick since then. There are periods that there are lulls and then 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 2. 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 6:00 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 4:00 p.m. So I think that's helping access and then leading into prime time.

So there is no one thing, but we also -- there are primaries, for instance, we're expecting a lot of interest in the upcoming in the Texas primary at the end of May. And then, of course, there's the California primary where the governor's races there are of particular interest nationally. So we'll see some of that. And then 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.

Michael, this is Darryle. I was just going to add a little bit to that. In the broader picture, I think some of the components that Chris talked about are very important, right? I mean overall news is still something that is consumed live, and I do believe that there is still a lot of value in that. And as Chris mentioned, there will be cyclical cycles to the overall ratings but what we're really encouraged by is just the momentum we're seeing within our overall reach and the engagement that we're seeing with the consumers.

So 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. So 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. So we do think that, that is sustainable for the long period.

Got you. And then 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 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 pay TV ecosystem to move news channels and other channels into packages or tiers. And we have resisted that. And as far as I know, in 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 0.25 million added subscribers as a result of that.

But the pay 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. And CBS -- sorry, Paramount, on their Pluto positioning just recently moved Newsmax up in the news guide section of their Pluto TV guide. So we saw that as very positive. That happened recently. So again, more and more OTT distribution, I think, is going to help in streaming, and we're going to try to keep very consistent on the cable pay TV side.

Yes. If I could just slip one more in about the ratings. Given the improved ratings trends, are advertisers become more willing to shift with 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 going to happen, but we do see an improvement in brand advertising. And we do believe that over time, we'll see. People sometimes think there's a very linear connection between growth in ratings that somehow means or that you'll have immediate revenue growth.

We have found over the history of the channel, we started in 2014 that there's oftentimes lag effects and it takes a while. Marketing spends are not linear and that the increased engagement that comes with that does not necessarily translate immediately. So people need to think about the long-term impact of what we're doing. And I think when you do that, we operate in a 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. And there's very limited ability of players to access that. And so therefore, we think we're in a very prime position for growth and expansion.

Your next question is coming from Thomas Forte from Maxim Group.

So 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?

Well, we chatted a little bit about that, Tom, in the last question. And I think that there's a couple of factors. It was a war that started in Q1 in Iran. There's increasing interest in political things with primaries taking place in congressional, Senate and gubernatorial races across the country. We believe our efforts in marketing and social media having an impact on the growth that we're seeing there and changing some of the scheduling to improve ratings, starting with Carl Higbie and the nighttime program, we think, have been helpful. So 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. And then you kind of teased my second question. So 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 in what I would consider to be younger demographic, social media platforms, Instagram, TikTok. So first off, what do you attribute that performance? And 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 working 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 news organization in our category.

And so 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 in some of the platforms you discussed like TikTok. And so that -- any expansion that we would see on TikTok would mean that there would probably be a lot more younger people tuning in. And I think there is younger people that are pretty interested in politics these days. They're very fascinated one way or another by Donald Trump, for instance. So these types of things, I think, are driving interest by a younger demo.

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.

Greetings. Welcome to the Newsmax Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Chris Odeh, Riveron Investor Relations. Chris, you may begin.

Good afternoon, and welcome to Newsmax's Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. I'm joined today by Chris Ruddy, Chief Executive Officer; and Darryle Burnham, Chief Financial Officer. On this call, Chris and Darryle will provide some prepared remarks on the most recent quarter and full year results, and 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, and 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 Chris Ruddy, Chief Executive Officer of Newsmax. Chris?

Thank you, Chris, and welcome, everyone, to our fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. Fiscal year 2025 was a defining year for Newsmax and marked our first year as a public company. While many legacy television companies faced challenges in a nonelection year when audience levels, engagement and advertising demand typically normalize across the industry, Newsmax delivered strong growth and performed at the high end of our guidance range.

This performance reflects the strength of our brand, the loyalty of our audience and the momentum of our multi-platform strategy. During the year, we expanded our distribution and reinforced our position as the fourth highest-rated cable news network while finishing #6 among all cable channels in total day ratings across the hundreds measured by Nielsen.

We also exited the year with a strong debt-free balance sheet, providing a solid foundation to invest behind accelerated growth in 2026. For the full year, revenue increased 10.7% to $189.3 million, and broadcast revenue, which is key for us, grew 17.3%, driven by growth across advertising, affiliate fees, subscriptions and licensing.

Affiliate fees specifically were up a solid 14.9%. This performance highlights the strength of our diversified revenue model and the sustained demand for independent values-driven journalism across all our platforms. We continue to see Newsmax as a high-growth company. At a time when many media businesses are contracting, our growth stands out, and we expect that momentum to continue into 2026.

This performance is driven by our differentiated multi-platform model. We're not just a cable channel. We're not just a streaming FAST channel. We're not just a streaming plus service. We're not just a web digital company. We're all of these things and much more.

We figured out how to integrate the digital media with the legacy TV media and how to move our brand across several platforms and do so synergistically, creating a scalable ecosystem poised for growth. This approach allows us to meet audiences wherever they are and leveraging our expanded distribution to further monetize engagement across multiple channels.

While this model differs from traditional media businesses and may not always be fully reflected in how companies in our sector are evaluated, we believe continued execution and consistent growth will increasingly demonstrate the strength and durability of our unique multi-platform model. To put these results in context, it is helpful to revisit the priorities that guided us throughout 2025 and the progress we made against them.

First, we expanded our cable and TV distribution footprint significantly. This year, we deepened domestic MVPD carriage agreements and relationships while accelerating international growth with Newsmax available in more than 100 countries by end of year. We expect this international licensing growth to continue throughout the year.

In the fourth quarter of last year alone, we announced a slate of new international agreements, including launches in France, Israel and Cyprus as well as a brand license agreement to launch Newsmax Ukraine in the first half of 2026, which is currently underway.

We also launched on Hulu TV and renewed our multiyear agreement with YouTube TV. Maintaining Newsmax in its base package and expanding Newsmax+ distribution through YouTube prime time channels beginning in 2026.

Second, we scaled our audience and engagement across our various platforms. Newsmax, our cable channel, reached more than 58 million total viewers in 2025 according to Nielsen data. And we reach 50 million Americans regularly across all our platforms. We clearly are a top U.S. media property. We remain the fourth highest-rated cable news channel in the country, driven by consistent programming and a loyal diverse audience.

That strong ratings performance fuels advertising demand and reinforces our distribution relationships. As our reach and ratings continue to grow, affiliate contracts are renewing at higher rates, another key driver of long-term growth. As our cable channel keeps getting stronger, we have seen encouraging growth on our streaming side with Newsmax2, our dedicated FAST channel.

This channel is carried free on our app, on TV and on OTT streaming platforms such as Xumo, Pluto, Samsung Plus and almost all major platforms. Newsmax2 is also carried over the air as a Diginet channel in 64 markets across the U.S. We expanded into 18 additional markets in 2025 and are now present in 14 of the top 20 U.S. markets.

We continue to invest in our programming, adding top-tier news talent, expanding broadcast hours and deploying other key resources with the goal of becoming the #1 news streaming channel. Legacy broadcasters lack both the capital and strategic focus to invest meaningfully in streaming news, positioning us in a very good position to capture this growing audience.

Then there is our plus service, Newsmax+, our paid on-demand offering, which ended the year with more than 260,000 paid subscribers. This plus service not only benefits from our Newsmax and our Newsmax2 shows and talent, but also the addition of over 200 hours of new on-demand programming.

This programming includes documentaries, films and family-friendly content, and we believe there is real space in the market for news and family-friendly entertainment app. Lastly, there is also our broader digital ecosystem with our social media following now surpassing 24 million, growing more than 17% year-over-year.

Our third priority in 2025 was positioning Newsmax for long-term success as a public company. While the IPO process required significant time and resources, we completed it successfully while continuing strong operational growth. During the year, we also resolved a key legal settlement that removed a substantial overhang and absorbed much of the upfront costs associated with our transition to public ownership.

These milestones give us improved visibility into our underlying cost structure. Combined with a strong cash position, they provide a solid foundation to invest and grow in 2026 and beyond. Looking ahead, we see meaningful opportunities in today's evolving media landscape. There remains significant white space for independent reliable journalism that resonates with audiences who have lost trust in Legacy Media. Our engagement metrics demonstrate that Newsmax has become a trusted alternative, gaining share and building a highly loyal audience. That loyalty reinforces our ratings, strengthens our distribution relationships and supports monetization across affiliate, advertising and subscription revenue streams.

Newsmax has a proven track record of expanding its audience and growing revenue across both strong and more challenging market environments. While doing so with a more efficient cost structure than many of our peers. While traditional cable remains a vital part of our business and an important driver of audience growth across our ecosystem, we recognize that the future of news consumption is evolving rapidly.

Viewers are increasingly turning to streaming and on-demand platforms, and Newsmax is uniquely positioned to lead in that environment. As mentioned, we were born as a digital media company, and that digital backbone continues to be one of our greatest competitive advantages.

It was really key to us becoming a major cable property when others entered and failed. As the media landscape continues to shift, we will remain nimble and find and meet audiences where they are, delivering trusted values-driven journalism on all platforms for all people.

Although we are encouraged by the growth of our free streaming platforms and digital presence, Newsmax+ remains a strategic focus as we work to unlock its full potential. We are not satisfied with our current subscription trajectory. However, we felt it need better content from our channels and more on-demand video content, and we have been moving those pieces into position.

While we view the current pace of subscriber additions as a short-term headwind rather than a structural issue, we are taking deliberate steps to improve engagement, strengthen retention and translate expanded premium content into accelerated subscription growth.

Investments in exclusive programming, product and tech enhancements are helping with expanded distribution and are central to this effort. Despite near-term subscription softness, we expect 2026 to mark a year of accelerated revenue growth for Newsmax. Notably, this acceleration is driven by underlying business fundamentals rather than political cycles.

As we move beyond the transition year and gain improved cost visibility, we also anticipate stronger operating leverage and better alignment between revenue growth and our investment strategy. Our long-term vision is to establish Newsmax as one of the most trusted and influential news brands in America and around the world.

We are building a multi-platform media company that started in digital, grew successfully into cable, the only company to do so and now engages massive audiences across streaming, mobile apps, social media, publishing and international markets. We entered 2026 from a position of strength with financial flexibility, improved cost transparency and a disciplined growth strategy.

We are confident in the foundation we have built and in our ability to execute in the years ahead because, frankly, we have incredible support from our readers, our viewers, our advertisers and you, our shareholders. We are thankful to you and to them. I now turn it over to Darryle to walk through the financial performance.

Thank you, Chris, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. As Chris highlighted, we delivered full year revenue at the high end of our guidance range and closed 2025 with solid momentum. Importantly, we exited the year with $131 million (sic) [ $131.3 million ] in cash and short-term investments and no debt, providing meaningful financial flexibility.

With the majority of IPO-related and other onetime costs now behind us, we have improved visibility into our underlying operating structure. That clarity, combined with continued strength across affiliate revenues, supports our expectation for accelerated growth in 2026 and positions us to deploy capital with confidence. Turning to our full year results. In fiscal year 2025, we delivered $189.3 million in total revenues, representing a 10.7% increase year-over-year. Turning to our reportable segments. Total broadcasting revenues grew 17.3% year-over-year to $153.3 million in fiscal year 2025.

Growth in broadcasting was driven by an increase in advertising revenue due to increased demand and pricing, expanded distribution, increasing reach across our streaming platforms, continued affiliate fee growth from new and renewed agreements with higher rates and incremental contribution from Newsmax+ subscriptions.

Total digital revenues decreased 10.9% year-over-year to $35.9 million in fiscal year 2025. The decreases in advertising and subscription revenue are largely due to a more challenging prior year election comparison, partially offset by growth in product sales. As a reminder, our digital segment generates revenue from a mix of online advertising, including display, e-mail, other online placements and print, subscription products such as our health and financial newsletters, Newsmax magazine and membership programs and e-commerce primarily through the sale of nutraceuticals and books.

Now turning to our revenue by component. Total advertising revenues increased to $120.3 million, a 10.2% year-over-year gain by higher linear television advertising resulting from increased demand and pricing, supported by expanded audience reach, partially offset by lower digital advertising following the election cycle.

Affiliate revenues increased 14.9% year-over-year to $30.6 million due to new contractual relationships as well as rate increases to existing ones. Subscription revenues of $27.5 million were up 2.6% year-over-year with increases to Newsmax+, offset by reductions in digital publication subscriptions. Product sale revenues increased 20.7% year-over-year to $7.3 million, primarily driven by increased book sales, reflecting stronger performance across key titles within the company's publishing business.

Other revenues, which largely represent licensing was $3.6 million, up from $2.3 million from the prior year, primarily driven by new international license deals. We reported a net loss of $99.5 million for the full year 2025, a 37.8% decline compared to a net loss of $72.2 million in the prior year, primarily reflecting $78.6 million in legal settlement expenses, along with stock-based compensation costs, noncash derivative and warrant liability adjustments and higher production and programming investments, partially offset by higher revenues and affiliate and licensing fee growth.

Full year adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $6.5 million compared to a positive adjusted EBITDA of $10.2 million last year, reflecting continued strategic investments in content, talent, technology and public company infrastructure. We ended the year with $20.4 million in cash and cash equivalents and $110.9 million in investments, bringing our total cash and investment position to approximately $131.3 million.

This compares to $82.4 million at the end of 2024 and reflects the strength of our balance sheet following our initial public offering and related financing activities. Now turning to our fourth quarter results. We delivered $52.2 million in total revenues, representing a 9.6% increase year-over-year. Breaking this down by revenue stream for the quarter, first, starting with our reportable segments.

Total broadcasting revenues grew 12.6% year-over-year to $42.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, underscoring continued growth even in a nonelection year. Our growth in broadcasting was driven by affiliate fee revenue growth, increased demand and pricing for broadcasting ad revenue and licensing growth.

Total digital revenues declined 2% year-over-year to $9.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. Growth in product sales was more than offset by declines in advertising and subscription revenue. Now turning to our revenue by component. Advertising revenues increased to $33.9 million, a 5.9% year-over-year gain, mainly due to an increase in our audience reach as we expanded our MVPD partnerships, offsetting a lower digital advertising coming out of an election year. Affiliate revenues increased 17.9% year-over-year to $7.8 million, driven by new contractual relationships as well as rate increases that went into effect earlier this year.

Subscription revenues of $6.6 million were down 7% year-over-year, driven primarily by the post-election cycle normalization. Product sale revenues increased 64.2% year-over-year to $2.6 million, primarily driven by increased book sales. Other revenues was $1.2 million, up from $400,000 in 2024, attributed to expanded international licensing deals compared to the prior period.

We reported a quarterly net loss of $3 million, a 56.5% improvement compared to a net loss of $6.9 million in the prior year quarter. This improvement in net loss was driven primarily by higher strategic investments in headcount, programming and production capabilities to support the ongoing expansion and enhancement of our content offering, stock-based compensation costs, offset by higher broadcasting advertising, affiliate fees, book sales and licensing revenue. Our quarterly adjusted EBITDA was $1.3 million loss, a decrease of $3.8 million from the amount reported in the same quarter last year, reflecting higher production and programming expense, increased personnel, legal, consulting and public company costs.

Turning to our fiscal year 2026 full year guidance. We expect full year 2026 revenue to be between $212 million to $216 million, representing 13% growth year-over-year at the midpoint of the range, an acceleration on the growth we realized in 2025. It is important to note that we anticipate this growth to be structural and not cyclical.

We do not anticipate political advertising to be a meaningful contributor to our outlook. Instead, growth is expected to be primarily driven by structural momentum, including affiliate fee expansion, reflecting rate increases and new distribution channels. At the same time, we will continue investing in premium content and digital monetization initiatives to support further upside across our platforms.

From a profitability standpoint, we anticipate an improved operating profile driven by reduced legal and public company transition expenses. In closing, we are proud of the progress we've made in our first year as a public company and the strong finish to 2025. As we enter the new year, we remain focused on disciplined execution, thoughtful investment and driving long-term shareholder value.

With our diversified revenue streams, scalable multi-platform strategy and enhanced access to capital, we believe Newsmax is well positioned to build on this momentum and deliver sustainable growth in the years ahead.

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?

[Operator Instructions] And the first question today is coming from Thomas Forte from Maxim Group.

So Chris and Darryle, congrats on a strong quarter and year. I have one question and one follow-up question. So my first question is, Chris, when you look at the current media environment, what gives you confidence you can continue to take market share and grow ratings?

Tom, thank you for that question. If you look at this country and the media landscape right now, the country is clearly divided politically. We see it in the polling numbers of President Trump and major issues impacting the country. It's almost a 50-50 divide.

On the left side of that divide, you see a lot of media organizations all competing for that audience. On the right side of that divide, especially in the television media world, the cable world, there's really only 2 competitors, Fox News and Newsmax, and it's a huge market. It's half the country. And so we think that there's huge market share for us to gain Fox is a very powerful player in that market. It was an early on started 30 years ago, over 30 years ago. The founder of Fox famously said, people said I was a genius, Roger Ailes.

He said people said I was a genius. I said there should be a media organization that serves half the country. And Newsmax's view is that there can be more than one competitor in that field and we've proven it, and we continue to grow. So I think there's a lot of reasons that we're growing. But the fact that there's not blue ocean, but pretty darn close to blue ocean for us to grow in is really very positive for us.

Excellent. And then for my follow-up, Darryle touched upon this in his comments on the outlook. But at a high level, how should we think about your operating performance in a year where there's midterm elections?

Well, any time there's elections in this country, there's a lot of engagement. The presidential, we always call the Super Bowl of elections that happens every 4 years. But remember, it's really already started in some ways. It used to start a few months before the primary period. Now it's almost continuous, but we're going to really see a ramp-up of the presidential.

And the congressionals are going to be a huge battle. There's already indications. The Democrats are doing pretty good in the polls. The Republicans have a lot of work to do, but that's going to translate into a lot of dollars at both the local level, and we think some money will come into the national level. But we benefit not so much by the amount of money that comes in because of political advertising.

A lot of that in the congressional election, frankly, goes into the state and local media. But we benefit by the huge amount of engagement that happens across the country because we're covering all of the elections in 50 states. So we think it will be a big, big benefit for us.

And the next question will be from Michael Kupinski from NOBLE Capital Markets.

Congrats for a great finish for the year. Just a couple of questions here. In terms of your revenue guide for 2026, I know that you mentioned affiliate fee growth. I was wondering if you could just give us a sense of how much of the revenue growth is being driven by affiliate fee versus advertising revenues?

And just maybe add some color in terms of the biggest delta affecting the revenue growth guide there. And then if you could just talk a little bit about your renegotiation cycles for your affiliate fees and maybe give us a sense of how many subscribers are coming up for renewals in 2026?

I'm going to let Darryle answer that, but I will just say that most cable companies, cable channels get 70% to 80% of the revenues from affiliate fees and a very smaller share from advertising, some even do less than 20% in advertising. Newsmax has built our whole channel, our whole network almost entirely on advertising in the first 10 years of the company's history.

It's only in recent years that we started getting cable fees. People said we would not get any cable fees. Every cable operator want every major system and everyone pays us a cable license fee. And those fees continue to grow. So we believe there's a lot of room for us to continue to grow, and Darryle can give a little more insight into that. But it's a very positive trend for us.

Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Michael, for the question. Yes, as Chris said, we actually believe that affiliate fees is a very positive contributor to us, especially for our guidance for 2026. The momentum in affiliate fee revenue is going to be coming from a lot of the renewals that we've been working with that really is kind of showing with our investment over the last several years.

Now one of the things that I think is key is when you look at the affiliate fee momentum, it's clearly the biggest driver that we're looking at for 2026. As we've talked about in the past, a lot of our contracts dated back to when we first started having affiliate fees in 2023, and that gives us the opportunity for multiyear repricing when they come up for renewal, even in the declining ecosystem.

Live news is still a very important component of the MVPDs trying to retain their subscriber base, and that is also something that works to Newsmax's advantage when we're going through the negotiations on the renewal of these affiliate fees. Now there is delays in monetization due to launch timing and subscriber availability and adoption. But overall, affiliate fees is definitely one of the major drivers for 2026 guidance. But we also think that there's going to be more than one revenue stream that's going to provide benefits to 2026. We think that continued growth in advertising is going to be important, as Chris said, that even though we're not going to get a huge expectation for political advertising for midterms, it does drive an overall increase in engagement in the news, and that should increase overall demand. And then we are seeing some opportunities with licensing as well.

Got you. And then I know that, obviously, your investment in programming has obviously been paying off. Obviously, your ratings have improved, your audience engagement has gone up. I was just wondering if you could just talk a little bit about the trajectory of programming and programming costs over the next 12 to 18 months.

I know that you have interest in expanding field offices and going after some higher profile content and so forth. I was just wondering if you could just talk a little bit about your thoughts of the programming cost as you go into 2026.

Well, we're not completely sold on the idea that if you pay somebody a huge contract that might be famous, they're suddenly going to bring a large audience. And there's very few individuals out there that are of the type and level that can bring audience. I think even Bill O'Reilly, who left Fox had a premium value at the time he left Fox and he his declined quite a bit since then.

He sort of had some health issues and semi retired. So there's not many people like him. But if you look back at the founding of Fox, Bill O'Reilly was not a national name. He had been on a TV syndicated program, but he was not known, certainly in the news in the hard news genre of cable.

Sean Hannity had never even been on television before. And many of the people at Fox were known names. In fact, the most famous person of Fox had the lowest rating was Paula Zahn and she only lasted about a year. So there's -- it's a funny thing where people are looking for really exceptional content now, we believe. Exciting personalities are looking for fresh personalities, and we are constantly on the look for those where we've been changing our lineup, taking some of our own talent and promoting them.

Carl Higbie has been vying for #1 on our network. He starts at 6:00. He's a former Navy Seal, extremely popular in social media. Rod Schmidt is still #1 in our Nightly program. He was not famous before he came to Newsmax. Now he's very famous.

So we feel like growing our own talent organically and matching them with people that are veteran journalists like Greta Van Susteren, who leads our 4:00 evening news program or after late afternoon news program is the best way for us to continue growing that.

You're going to see more moves on our streaming channel, Newsmax2, we see a lot of potential growth for that channel. We also have a talent lineup there. So we're excited about it, but we're not necessarily buying into the concept that you just pay a big contract and you get an immediate audience.

And I might add a little bit Michael, but, I'm sorry, go ahead.

No, go ahead. I'm sorry.

I was going to say I might add a little bit that we do view 2026 as continued investment in programming and content. As Chris has detailed, and I think really as our results have detailed, the investment in the programming really pays off in a number of different areas. So we've talked in the past about how investment in programming on our N1 channel has a number of benefits across multiple revenue streams, right? It helps in terms of building the overall ratings and demand for the channel, which is going to increase advertising dollars. It helps because then the product that we're putting out for Newsmax+ is a higher quality product, and that would be something that people are also interested in.

And we've talked a number of times about continuing to investment in N2, right, because N2 has a long-term strategic value to the company with FAST channels, and we continue to see investment in that. So Newsmax1 we get the benefit of not only the demand for advertising and the Newsmax+ subscription potential to make that a better value-driven product, but it also helps because then the higher ratings help with any kind of affiliate fee renewal negotiations.

And then investment in Newsmax2 is obviously a long-term strategic objective for the company. And as Chris said, for Newsmax+ want to be the leading streaming platform on the national news level, and we've added over 200 hours of programming to that. So we do view continued investment in 2026 is important to the overall strategy of the company. And I think that some of the results that we've had in 2025 kind of bear out the fact that those investments are strategically important to the long-term future of the company.

I would add that if you look at the investment of Newsmax into talent so far, we've been pretty darn good. Considering last year, as I mentioned in my introductory remarks, we were #6 of cable in total day. There's hundreds of cable channels rated by Nielsen. We were #6. We did not spend the billions of dollars that other cable channels did to build out their ecosystem.

We spent a fraction of what Fox spent in its initial years. So I think we're on the right path, and we've shown and demonstrated by the ratings independent of us that we're doing the right thing, which is focusing on quality talent that resonates with the audience.

We're going to do the same thing, as Darryle said, in our Newsmax+ service and the Newsmax2 channel, continuing finding talent that resonates with the audience.

It's certainly remarkable. Just if I may, just 2 quick questions. I was just wondering if just to chat a little bit about the litigation with Fox. And I know that you might not be able to comment specifically on the litigation. But I was just wondering if in terms of the litigation itself, if there were ancillary benefits to the litigation that maybe it shined a light on some of the industry practices that have happened in the industry and maybe that has helped you a little bit in your negotiations with affiliate fees and so forth.

Well, I'm not sure it's helped with affiliate negotiations that we've had, but we've had a situation where we know that Fox was so fearful of us. They put in their agreements with other cable and MVPDs that they couldn't put Newsmax into their basic tier. And if they did, they had to pull down a lot of other Fox channels like Fox Business that have very little ratings and pay high fees.

So -- and we know that was true in a number of these, especially the virtual MVPDs, companies like Sling and Hulu and others that they apparently have these agreements called drag-down rights, which were blocking mechanisms to -- if a company like Sling took us down in their basic tier, they'd have to spend $20 million or $30 million in fees to Fox to take all these channels that people didn't watch.

And so they were very clever on how they did it. They didn't do it with all the operators, but they did it with some of the virtual MVPDs and we'll find out where else as we go through the litigation. We think it's extremely important to let Fox know that these bullying tactics won't work, that we're not afraid.

We will take them on, and we want to ensure that in the future, we will be protected. We are seeking very significant damages as we prove that they had engaged in these practices, we believe are anticompetitive. And I might mention that if we do -- if we are found to be vindicated in the court proceedings, they will -- Fox will have to pay triple damages trouble damages to us.

So we do see and we have a very respected law firm, Kellogg, one of the leaders in the antitrust area that's leading the litigation. So we think it's important for a number of reasons, including the future that we're not blocked, but also to make sure that we get reparations for any of the dealings that they did over the past 10 years to try to stop us.

One last question. You indicated you expanded to over 100 countries. I was just wondering what's the monetization strategy internationally? And when do you think international becomes a meaningful revenue contributor to the company?

Well, the -- we have a two-pronged approach to licensing. One is we take our American channel, Newsmax and allow other cable and other operators and distributors around the world to run it. And in return, they would give us a share of their advertising or fees. So every deal is different and every country is different situation.

The second option for us is people like the Newsmax brand, and there are countries where they want to have a Newsmax channel in local language. And we started this in Serbia with United Cable and it's morphed into Telecom. Serbia bought the license, which is the largest telecom company in the Balkans.

And they have a channel that's the #1 rated, as I understand it, cable news channel in the Balkans is Newsmax Balkans. And we are very excited about the growth and potential there of additional licenses. We get much higher fees for the use of our name, and we cooperate with them on news, especially international news and other help. And we are looking forward to growing the number of those type of branded licenses in 2026. And we have a number of things in the works, obviously, but we do think that it will continue to grow. I mentioned in my introductory remarks, it's an area where we see a lot of activity right now, and I'm hoping to report to investors soon on some developments there that will be very positive.

Thank you. This does conclude today's Q&A session, and it is also concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Newsmax Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to hand the floor over to your host, Brett Milotte. Sir, the floor is yours.

Good afternoon, and welcome to Newsmax's Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. I'm joined today by Chris Ruddy, Chief Executive Officer; and Darryle Burnham, Chief Financial Officer. On this call, Chris and Darryle will provide some prepared remarks on the most recent quarter. We will then 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, and actual results could differ from what is being 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 Chris Ruddy, Chief Executive Officer of Newsmax. Chris?

Thank you, Brett, and welcome, everyone, to our third quarter 2025 earnings call. I am excited to be here with you today on our first call as a public company after completing our IPO earlier this year. I want to sincerely thank everyone who participated in both our private raise and IPO. Your support has led us to where we are today, and we are excited about the journey ahead.

Newsmax was founded as one of the first digital news publishers built on a mission to deliver independent values-driven journalism. When we launched our television network in 2014, we extended that vision to new audiences, and we've been growing ever since. In a world where news consumption is increasingly fragmented and trusted media is declining, our founding principles remain as relevant as ever. Today, Newsmax has grown into a comprehensive media platform with multiple distribution channels and a significant national and international audience reach, now present in over 100 countries.

We operate the nation's fourth highest-rated cable news network, reaching 60 million homes through our main channel, Newsmax, our free streaming channel, Newsmax2, the NewsMax app and its paid streaming service, Newsmax+, our website, newsmax.com, and our publications such as Newsmax Magazine. Newsmax generates diversified revenues from across affiliate fees paid by cable and satellite distributors, direct advertising sales across our linear and digital platforms, subscription fees from our Newsmax+ streaming service and product sales revenue through our Humanix subsidiary, which publishes books and other content and products. We are making strides across our revenue streams, demonstrated by our significant year-over-year growth results in the first, second and now third quarters of 2025. It is important to note that the year following a general election is typically a softer period for the broader news and broadcast industry as audience engagement and advertising demand naturally moderate from election year highs. Even with this backdrop, we are pleased to announce year-over-year growth this quarter, demonstrating the strength of our diversified revenue model and engaged audience base.

With that, I would like to share some key highlights from this quarter. Financial performance. For the third quarter of 2025, we reported total revenues of $45.3 million, representing a 4% increase year-over-year. Total broadcasting revenues grew 10.1% year-over-year to $36.6 million and affiliate revenues increased 22.3% year-over-year to $8.1 million. Our strong performance, especially considering this was a nonelection year, was driven by affiliate fee revenue growth, higher pricing for broadcasting ad revenue and an increase in Newsmax+ subscribers.

Audience growth. Newsmax remains the #4 cable news network by delivering quality content across multiple platforms. This has been reflected in our strong ratings growth on our Newsmax channel year-to-date. During each quarter this year, Newsmax has remained a top 10 network in cable for a pivotal daypart like 9a to 8p and a top 18 network in all of cable TV in total day. That's out of 100-plus cable networks. Domestic distribution. This quarter, domestically, we saw a number of key distribution agreements, including with a leading provider of in-room entertainment within the hospitality hotel sector, making Newsmax accessible in more than 900 hotels and over 300,000 hotel rooms in the United States. We also partnered with Curb to bring Newsmax programming to their taxi TV platform, reaching over 15,000 screens across 65 U.S. markets with 2.3 billion annual impressions.

International distribution expansion. We have seen continued success with our brand licensing partnerships with Newsmax Balkans and the launch of Newsmax en Español, the first and only AI live dubbed news channel. This quarter also saw a significant expansion through our continued multiyear carriage partnership with Fubo, where we recently launched Newsmax en Español on Fubo's Latino plan and Latino Plus add-on package. We also partnered with Trump Media & Technology Group to make Newsmax available at a global scale via the Truth+ streaming platform. Streaming success. Adding to our streaming success was Newsmax2, our free streaming channel airing across more than a dozen major OTT FAST platforms and over-the-air digital broadcast channels as well as on the Newsmax app.

Newsmax2 saw a remarkable double-digit growth in viewership in the third quarter versus the election year last year with viewership up 33% in daytime and always challenging daypart in news. Our paid streaming service, Newsmax+ also saw strong growth, approximately 8% year-over-year versus Q3 2024. Content investment. This quarter, in addition to continuing to deliver best-in-class reporting and content domestically, we expanded our international news coverage with Carl Higbie broadcasting live from Israel for a week straight in August. We provided comprehensive coverage of developments in the region as well as exclusive interviews, including with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Newsmax is a high-growth business, and we are focused on investing resources into the long-term execution of our business model and strategic growth initiatives.

Looking ahead, we aim to continue executing on these opportunities, including affiliate fee advancement, favorable agreements with cable, satellite and streaming distributors to secure higher per subscriber fees and expanded channel placement while pursuing new distribution partnerships that reflect our growing audience value and market position, programming expansion, new original programming and expanded news coverage capabilities through strategic investments in premium content and additional correspondence in key markets. We are also keenly focused on bringing exclusive programming that differentiates our brand while serving our audiences' evolving information needs, such as our new World at War channel and our growing catalog of family-friendly content on the Newsmax+ app. Market expansion, opportunities in international markets and new distribution channels by evaluating strategic partnerships with global media distributors, developing localized content offerings and expanded our digital presence to reach underserved audiences, both domestically and abroad. Technology investment, enhancing our streaming platform capabilities and digital infrastructure to support our multi-platform distribution strategy.

Before I hand things off to Darryle, I would like to reiterate that Newsmax is in a strong position at an exciting time in the news media industry. The media landscape today continues to evolve with growing opportunities in streaming, international markets and multi-platform distribution, and we are uniquely positioned to benefit from these ongoing trends. Our cash position and strategic operating model provides us the flexibility to pursue growth opportunities as they arise. Finally, I would like to thank our shareholders and partners for their support and all of you for joining our call today.

With that, I will pass it on to our Chief Financial Officer, Darryle Burnham. Darryle?

Thank you, Chris, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. As Chris mentioned, Newsmax is in a strong financial position, well capitalized with access to the public markets following our successful IPO earlier this year. This milestone has provided us with significant capital and strategic flexibility as we continue to execute our growth initiatives. It is important to note that while the ratings growth this year Chris mentioned is a positive indicator of our success, our financial performance is driven by multiple variables, including advertising rates and inventory availability, affiliate fee negotiations and rate increases, subscription revenue from our streaming services, timing of contract renewals and intra- and inter-year seasonal political patterns.

With that said, in the third quarter, we delivered $45.3 million in total revenues, representing a 4% increase year-over-year. This strong performance demonstrates the continued momentum across our diversified business model. Breaking this down by revenue stream, total broadcasting revenues grew 10.1% year-over-year to $36.6 million in the third quarter of 2025, which, as Chris mentioned, is even more impressive when considering this is a nonelection year. Our growth in broadcasting was driven by affiliate fee revenues, higher broadcasting ad revenue and an increase in Newsmax+ subscribers. Affiliate fee revenues specifically increased 22.3% year-over-year to $8.1 million, driven by new contractual relationships as well as rate increases that went into effect earlier this year. Advertising revenues decreased slightly to $27.6 million, a 1.6% year-over-year decline, mainly due to the nonelection year comparison period versus 2024. Despite the tough comparison, we are encouraged by higher linear cable and satellite advertising rates and improved Nielsen ratings in 2025, which has translated into directly higher advertising rates and increased advertiser demand.

Subscription revenues of $6.9 million were flat year-over-year, driven by continued growth in our Newsmax+ subscriber base and offset by reductions in publication subscriptions due to the aforementioned election cycle comparison. Product sales increased 1.8% year-over-year to $1.5 million. We reported a quarterly net loss of $4.1 million, a 58.1% improvement compared to a net loss of $9.8 million in the prior year quarter. This improvement in net loss was primarily driven by a reduction in legal expenses relating to a previously disclosed and now resolved litigation matter.

Our quarterly adjusted EBITDA was negative $1.8 million compared to a positive adjusted EBITDA of $4.4 million in the same period of 2024, reflecting higher production and programming expenses and increased personnel and public company costs associated with the company's continued expansion. We view these investments as essential to our long-term growth strategy and market position. We ended the quarter with $14.2 million in cash and cash equivalents and $116.2 million in short-term investments, bringing our total cash and investment position to approximately $130.4 million. At the end of 2024, our total cash and investment position was $82.4 million. This represents a significant strengthening of our balance sheet following our successful IPO and pre-IPO funding rounds.

We are encouraged by the strong performance we are seeing early in the fourth quarter and remain confident in our previously disclosed full year revenue guidance of $180 million to $190 million. In summary, we are demonstrating strong growth across key revenue metrics while making strategic investments for the future. Our diversified revenue model, strengthened balance sheet and access to capital markets provides us with a solid foundation to continue executing our growth initiatives. Thank you for your time today, and we look forward to updating you on our continued progress during next quarter's earnings call.

Now we would like to open the line for analyst questions. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is coming from Michael Kupinski from NOBLE Capital Markets.

Good solid quarter. I just wanted to -- a couple of questions here. In the advertising line, you really didn't have political advertising in the year earlier quarter. The reason why you saw a little softness related to political was just because of -- related to the year earlier quarter was because of just the heightened level of engagement -- audience engagement from the year earlier election cycle. Is that right? I just want to clarify that.

Well, Darryle, do you want to answer it or should I?

I can answer it. I mean, yes, Michael, we didn't -- thank you for your question. We didn't have a lot of political advertising in 2024, but we've continued to see an interest in political advertising overall, both in '24 and '25. I think that, that is something that we're looking forward to as we continue to grow the business and the brand overall. But when you look at the quarter-over-quarter, we're really pleased with the fact that even though there is heightened engagement in Q3 of 2024 that we were still able to exceed last year's revenue with our Q3 2025 results.

I would just add that -- I would add that 2024 was a Super Bowl of elections. That's how I describe every presidential. There's usually very high engagement. That drives advertising. And there's -- even though we don't get a lot of direct -- most advertising is spent in local market swing states, and we're a national advertising platform. We still get a lot of ancillary companies that are selling financial newsletters, for instance, will oftentimes make their pitches and play into the election and other types of advertisement. So it's usually for us, the year after presidential is not as good as a presidential. This year, we'll beat expectations.

Yes. And then in terms of your investments, can you provide a little color on the the content investments that you're making, are they showing signs of paying off ratings or advertising support? Has there been a direct correlation to those investments? Are you starting to see that already?

Well, I think in the history of Newsmax, we have found that there's never really a linear one-to-one progression when you make an investment, you see an immediate return. Some businesses, you do seem like or act like that. With Newsmax, it usually takes a bit of a lag effect before some of that has weight. For instance, this year, we've been investing in increasing the content on our app. We've purchased or licensed a lot of documentaries, films, scripted programs from the 1960s and 70s. We've been adding a bunch of new documentaries that we've offered the money to or went into contract to have developed. And those -- if you go on to the Newsmax+ app, you'll find there's a lot more content. We're laying the groundwork for a significant marketing effort in the coming months for people to join the app for that content. So not all of that is immediately increased. We're still looking for some very significant talent to join the company, and we're in discussions and looking for people that would add -- that would be an investment in content. But there would not be an immediate return, we believe, just because we hired somebody that even if they're well known, that immediately generates revenues for the company.

Got it. And if I can...

Michael, I might add to that just a little bit that when we're investing in content, it really has multiple advantages because of the fact that investing in content, for example, on our [ Newsmax1 ] channel is obviously something that we're looking to do to increase ratings, which will lead to higher advertising. But the investment in content on our Newsmax1 channel also benefits our Newsmax+ subscription because that is the same content that we're providing on the Newsmax+. And it also benefits the potential for affiliate fees down the road because that investment will give us basically stronger -- a stronger content is going to put us in a much better position on renegotiating any of our affiliate fee renewals.

Got you. And if I could just squeeze just 2 quick ones in. In regards to the current advertising environment, can you just discuss the tone of the current advertising environment and how have major events like the most recent government shutdown, for instance, how has that affected your business? And then finally, in terms of distribution deals, do you have any major distribution deals that are coming up for next year?

Well, we haven't noticed anything that we think the government shutdown has harmed our business, that I've noticed anything in the sales that we would report. So we haven't seen that. And second, I think for next year in terms of distribution agreements, Darryle has a little more insight into that in terms of what's up for renewal.

Yes. So right now, on the advertising market, Michael, I think when you look at that, the overall advertising market generally is up, right? It's really kind of a redistribution between what we would call linear cable and satellite. And then you're seeing a lot of growth in CTV and OTT advertising as basically advertisers are looking to make sure that they're shifting their marketing over to areas that offer more precise targeting and measurable ROI. We've been investing in continuing to increase our content on Newsmax2 so that we can monetize that and take advantage of that growth.

But then just on our linear and cable advertising, we also think we're in a unique position because while there is a decline in cord cutting that's been occurring, Newsmax has continued to see increases in advertising. So even in a period when you're comparing a nonelection year to an election year, so that is also something that we're basically going to be focusing on because, as I said earlier, that's going to lead us towards continuing to gain market share, which, as I said before, will yield higher advertising rates and revenue. And it also puts us in a great position for the affiliate fee contract renewals.

In terms of major distribution deals that are coming up for renewal, we do have a deal that we're working on right now that is going to be coming up for renewal within the next couple of months. I think that right now, everything is positive on that. I don't think we're going to be going into the details of which MVPD that is. But generally speaking, all of the negotiations that we've been entering into as the deals do come up for renewal have been very favorable. I think that's kind of highlighted by the fact that you've seen an increase in affiliate fee revenue of 22% quarter-over-quarter. And when you look at -- when you look at our scenario, even in a declining market, the distributors or MVPDs, they recognize the value of having a 24/7 trusted news brand on their platforms. And as we all know, news and sports are still continuing to address both viewers and advertisers.

And Darryle, what percent of the total subscribers are -- is this one that you're working on? Can you give us some color on that?

Is that something -- I mean we haven't released that information publicly at this point in time. I'm not sure that we wanted to do that on this call.

Your next question is coming from Alicia Reese from Wedbush Securities.

This is Kate on for Alicia. I was wondering if you guys could speak a little bit more about your competitive advantages and how you plan to monetize your social engagement in the future.

Well, I think one of the main competitive advantages that Newsmax has is that we are a company, a TV broadcaster, cable and now streaming that came out of the digital world. Our core competency was digital, not TV originally, right? We started in 1998. That we created a very powerful digital engine between websites, e-mail lists, databases and then social media that you mentioned, all of that took a lot of time. And the investors in Newsmax got the benefit of owning a company that had this big digital engine. It's one of the reasons I believe Newsmax succeeded as a cable channel during a period that there really have been relatively few entrants into the cable news market, and there have been a lot of failures, a few that did enter.

We are the, I think, the big success story in the past 10 years. And I think it's because we have a competitive advantage over companies. NewsNation, for instance, has had a very weak digital engine, backbone, One America, for instance. I think also -- we don't have complete competitive advantage, but I think that we're in the marketplace that Fox News is, which is the center right pay TV market in America. And there's really only Fox News as a player. So it's not blue ocean territory, but it's pretty close. And it allows us to maneuver a lot more and have less competition to deal with. Fox is a very significant competitor. So I don't want to underplay it.

But I do believe that a lot of Americans would like to have more choice in that area. And I think certainly, we have proven and demonstrated that the marketplace is strong and robust and can have another major player in it. Social media for us is not as easily monetizable as a direct -- as you know, they don't necessarily share fully all the revenues that you put on social media. We are seeing an uptick on that, but it's not to the degree that we would like to see. I know Facebook and some of the others are showing some increases this year across the board. But we believe that social media is a very important component of our overall reach as a platform.

And when we sell to advertisers, they like to hear that we have over 22 million, I believe it is now social media followers. That's a really big number. And there are ways for them to benefit from that reach. There's -- each of the social media platforms have rules about how people can put advertisements into that. But it's a very strong overall selling point for the company. And it really helps us not just in advertising, our cable distribution agreements. It's a powerful club to have when you go into a negotiation, you have 22 million followers. And you can reach. So it gives you ability to let them know, for instance, if a cable operator is not keeping you. So there's other little other benefits, we believe, and we continue to invest in social media. We think it's a very critical important growth area for the company.

Your next question is coming from Thomas Forte from Maxim Group.

I have one question and one follow-up. So Chris, you had made some comments recently on the floor of the NYSE about Newsmax's growth on multiple fronts, including cable TV, digital, Newsmax+, print, streaming. What are the various growth drivers? And what gives you confidence that the growth is sustainable on so many fronts?

Well, I think they're sustainable because they're very much interrelated. Our digital backbone, for instance, relates very much to the growth of our TV and vice versa. We've been -- as our TV has grown, we've been able to push those viewers on to digital, take polls, read articles online, sign up for e-mails. We've been able to sell newsletters, books. We're having a lot of success this year with a book that Humanix has done called Pagan Threat, and that book is by Lucas Miles. It's now #4 -- it's been on the top 10 New York Times bestseller list for 4 weeks in a row. And sales are really strong. And it has a forward by Charlie Kirk. And Charlie wrote the forward for the book. He's a friend of the author, and that came out the week after he passed away.

So for instance, that drives not only book sales, it's also driving subscriptions to our magazine. It's driving engagement on the website. It's something that we're able to promote on our TV channels. When I was on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, I talked about 3 general areas, Tom, that we're growing. One is the cable pay TV world. We believe we have significant growth still to come, even though that's a contracting ecosystem. Number two is our streaming channel, Newsmax2. We are seeing very significant double-digit growth on streaming platforms. We believe that we have one of the strongest cable -- sorry, streaming news channels because the big cable companies are not investing to the degree they should be on the streaming side.

And there's a number of reasons for that. And number three, the Newsmax+ service, as I mentioned earlier, we're investing a lot in the content Newsmax1, Newsmax2 channels are available. We have a new military history channel called World at War. We believe that's an area of growth. All 3 of these areas will -- as each of the channels grow, the Plus service will grow, and they will also, as people subscribe to the Plus service and have the app, they'll be able to watch all of these channels and engage in our content. So we're very excited, and we think that we've really laid the groundwork, and we have a really robust infrastructure, both digitally in our marketing department and through our various platforms to really sell the offerings of the company. And I think you're going to see very significant continued growth next year.

Great. Then for my follow-up, Darryle, I know you talked about this before, but I wanted to ask it in case there's anything else you want to add. How are affiliate fees trending as you negotiate carriage deals with cable and streaming distributors?

Well, as we said before, I think they're trending very favorably, right? You've already seen, as I referenced earlier, a 22% increase quarter-over-quarter. And I think one of the key components when you are looking at affiliate fees is the fact that we're basically -- we're a new entrant into the market, right? I mean we didn't start collecting affiliate fees until late 2023. So in many cases, we actually are on our first affiliate fee contract. And we've been seeing positive results in the ones that have come up for renewal. We expect that to continue. And that's one of the reasons that we're going to continue to invest in the programming and the quality content that we're putting out with Newsmax1 because that's just going to put us in a much stronger position in those renegotiation contract renewals.

And then as we said as well, right, the MVPDs and advertisers, they're both looking for live news and sports. Those are really kind of the key areas that they're focused on, having live news networks on an MVPD network is going to be key in terms of retaining their subscribers. And we don't have the same downward pressures that some of our competitors do because of the fact that we're relatively new into the marketplace. So I think overall, we've got a lot of upside in the affiliate fee growth area, and we're looking forward to continued momentum in that in the years to come.

Yes, I might add that, Newsmax, we're new to the market this year. We've been a new company. And I think the market hasn't fully appreciated just how successful we've been in various things with not a lot of capital. We haven't really spent a huge amount of capital. We've already developed a tremendous foundation. The Reuters Institute last year said we were one of the top 12 media properties in the whole United States. And I think as the market understands and the economists had a similar ranking and so forth as among the most trusted news agencies, as the marketplace, as we monetize that 50-plus million people we regularly reach, the company is going to grow very -- we believe, significantly into profitability.

We've been facing the headwinds of what I would say is just maybe we call it fake financial news, not fake news, but fake financial news. Companies like Seeking Alpha, which just have no basis on fact, they have reported, I believe, more than once that I was selling shares in Newsmax or that I had planned to sell shares. I have never sold a share of Newsmax. I have no plans to sell Newsmax. Frankly, I would like to own more shares of Newsmax. So investors read this stuff online. And unfortunately, it's not a really accurate understanding of both the management company and the desire of the management of the company and the ownership to continue to drive, and we're very much aligned, and I want to stay aligned with the success of the company with our shareholders, and we're going to be looking for very strong results next year.

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now hand the conference back to CEO, Chris Ruddy, for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Well, I want to thank everyone. This has been a tremendous year for us. We went public on the New York Stock Exchange. It was a historic Regulation A offering. The first time that a Regulation A+ offering has gone directly to the big board. I think investors, we have expanded our investment base tremendously. I think we've already on a number of parts of the company that are key for the future, have shown that we're going to continue having success this year, and we expect to continue that in future years ahead. We very much appreciate all the investors for standing with us. We like to say that they're joining our news revolution. We really do believe we have changed a lot of the concepts of how news is delivered in America and will continue to be delivered. And we're very excited about the future and appreciate your interest and support.

Thank you. Everyone, this concludes today's event. You may disconnect at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.