E.W. SCRIPPS Co (SSP) · Oct 28, 2026 · Guidance
Guidance raised — 2026 political revenue ~$275M vs prior $225M-$250M range
Scripps raises 2026 political advertising guidance to $275 million while completing another 431 job cuts under its transformation plan.
Scripps is a legacy broadcaster trying to repair weak underlying advertising economics, reduce leverage and modernize operations; its 2026 story depends heavily on a strong midterm-election advertising cycle while a broader transformation plan targets $125 million-$150 million of annualized EBITDA improvement by 2028.
The near-term revenue signal is better than Scripps’ own prior bar. The company raised full-year Local Media political advertising guidance to about $275 million from its August range of $225 million-$250 million, a roughly 10% increase above the prior range’s high end. The third quarter alone generated nearly $81 million of political revenue. There is no published consensus in the filing for this specific line item, so the clean benchmark is the company’s previous guidance: this is a genuine upward revision, not merely confirmation.
| Metric | Current filing | Prior comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Full-year 2026 Local Media political revenue | ~$275M (Guidance) | $225M-$250M prior range (Guidance) |
| Q3 Local Media political revenue | Nearly $81M (Q3 political revenue) | — |
| Employees impacted in 2026 | About 850 (Workforce reductions) | Nearly 20% of beginning-year employee count |
| Latest workforce reduction | 431 employees (Workforce reductions) | Completed October 27, 2026 |
| Expected annual run-rate savings by year-end | About $100M (Transformation plan) | Long-term EBITDA target of $125M-$150M by 2028 (Transformation plan) |
The cost program is becoming operational, not just aspirational. Scripps completed another 431 reductions, taking the 2026 total to about 850 employees—nearly one-fifth of its starting workforce. 〔0〕 That supports the transformation’s savings case, with about $100 million of annual run-rate savings expected by year-end. But this is primarily execution evidence for a plan already announced, not a new structural growth driver; the stronger, newer information in this filing is the political-revenue upside.
The improvement is meaningful but partly cyclical. Political advertising is an unusually favorable 2026 tailwind for Scripps, while the company’s broader business still faces the structural shift of advertisers and audiences away from traditional linear television. The filing therefore improves the near-term cash-generation story, but it does not yet prove that the underlying business has turned; full third-quarter financials are scheduled for November 5.
Bottom line: This filing advances Scripps’ turnaround story: political demand is running above its prior plan and the cost cuts are now producing measurable savings progress. It matters, but the revenue upside is cyclical and the broader operating turnaround still awaits the complete Q3 results and evidence that savings offset the underlying broadcast headwinds.
Q3 results, November 5
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