REVENUE

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]

REVENUE

REVENUE

Nature Of Goods And Services

The Company generates revenue from the sale to advertisers of various services and products, including but not limited to: (i) spot revenues; (ii) digital advertising; (iii) network revenues; (iv) sponsorship and event revenues; and (v) other revenue. Services and products may be sold separately or in bundled packages. The typical length of a contract for service is less than 12 months.

The Company recognizes revenue when it satisfies a performance obligation by transferring control over a product or service to a customer, in an amount that reflects the consideration it expects to be entitled to in exchange for those products or services.

Revenues presented in the consolidated financial statements are reflected on a net basis, after the deduction of advertising agency fees by the advertising agencies. The Company also evaluates when it is appropriate to recognizes revenue based on the gross amount invoiced to the customer or the net amount retained by the company if a third party is involved.

Revenue is recognized when or as performance obligations under the terms of a contract with customers are satisfied. This typically occurs at the point in time that advertisements are broadcast, marketing services are provided, or as an event occurs. For spot revenues, digital advertising, and network revenues the Company recognizes revenue at the point in time when the advertisement is broadcast. For event revenues, the Company recognizes revenues at a point in time, as the event occurs. For sponsorship revenues, the Company recognizes revenues over the length of the sponsorship agreement. For trade and barter transactions, revenue is recognized at the point in time when the promotional advertising is aired.

For bundled packages, the Company accounts for each product or performance obligation separately if they are distinct. A product or service is distinct if it is separately identifiable from other items in the bundled package and if a customer can benefit from it on its own or with other resources that are readily available to the customer. The consideration is allocated between separate products and services in a bundle based on their stand-alone selling prices. The stand-alone selling prices are determined based on the prices at which the Company separately sells the commercial broadcast time, digital advertising, or digital product and marketing solutions.

Spot Revenues

The Company sells air-time to advertisers and broadcasts commercials at agreed upon dates and times. The Company's performance obligations are broadcasting advertisements for advertisers at specifically identifiable days and dayparts. The amount of consideration the Company receives and revenue it recognizes is fixed based upon contractually agreed upon rates. The Company recognizes revenue at a point in time when the advertisements are broadcast and the performance obligations are satisfied. Revenues are recorded on a net basis, after the deduction of advertising agency fees by the advertising agencies.

Digital Revenues

The Company provides targeted advertising through the sale of streaming and display advertisements on its national platforms, RADIO.COM and eventful.com, and its station websites. Performance obligations include delivery of advertisements over the Company's platforms or delivery of targeted advertisements directly to consumers. The Company

recognizes revenue at a point in time when the advertisements are delivered and the performance obligations are satisfied. Revenues are recorded on a net basis, after the deduction of advertising agency fees by the advertising agencies.

Through its acquisition of Cadence13, the Company embeds advertisements in its owned and operated podcasts and other on-demand content. Performance obligations include delivery of advertisements. The Company recognizes revenue at a point in time when the advertisements are delivered and the performance obligations are satisfied. Revenues are recorded on a net basis, after the deduction of advertising agency fees by the advertising agencies.

Through its acquisition of Pineapple, the Company creates podcasts, for which it earns production fees. Performance obligations include the delivery of episodes. These revenues are fixed based upon contractually agreed upon terms. The Company recognizes revenue over the term of the production contract.

Network Revenues

The Company sells air-time on the Company's Entercom Audio Network. The amount of consideration the Company receives and revenue it recognizes is fixed based upon contractually agreed upon rates. The Company recognizes revenue at a point in time when the advertisements are broadcast and the performance obligations are satisfied. Revenues are recorded on a net basis, after the deduction of advertising agency fees by the advertising agencies.

Sponsorship and Event Revenues

The Company sells advertising space at live and local events hosted by the Company across the country. The Company also earns revenues from attendee-driven ticket sales and merchandise sales. Performance obligations include the presentation of the advertisers' branding in highly visible areas at the event. These revenues are recognized at a point in time, as the event occurs and the performance obligations are satisfied.

The Company also sells sponsorships including, but not limited to, naming rights related to its programs or studios. Performance obligations include the mentioning or displaying of the sponsors' name, logo, product information, slogan or neutral descriptions of the sponsors' goods or services in acknowledgement of their support. These revenues are fixed based upon contractually agreed upon terms. The Company recognizes revenue over the length of the sponsorship agreement based upon the fair value of the deliverables included.

Other Revenues

The Company earns revenues from on-site promotions and endorsements from talent. Performance obligations include the broadcasting of such endorsement at specifically identifiable days and dayparts or at various local events. The Company recognizes revenue at a point in time when the performance obligations are satisfied.

The Company earns trade and barter revenue by providing advertising broadcast time in exchange for certain products, supplies, and services. The Company includes the value of such exchanges in both net revenues and station operating expenses. Trade and barter value is based upon management's estimate of the fair value of the products, supplies and services received.

Contract Balances

Refer to the table below for information about receivables, contract assets (unbilled receivables) and contract liabilities (unearned revenue) from contracts with customers. Accounts receivable balances in the table below exclude other receivables that are not generated from contracts with customers. These amounts are $3.8 million and $5.1 million as of December 31, 2020, and December 31, 2019, respectively.

	December 31,
Description	2020		2019
	(amounts in thousands)
Receivables, included in “Accounts receivable net of allowance for doubtful accounts”	$	272,321	$	376,504
Unearned revenue - current	15,651		9,894
Unearned revenue - noncurrent	1,294		2,113

Changes in Contract Balances

The timing of revenue recognition, billings and cash collections results in accounts receivable (billed or unbilled), and customer advances and deposits (unearned revenue) on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet. At times, however, the

Company receives advance payments or deposits from its customers before revenue is recognized, resulting in contract liabilities. The contract liabilities primarily relate to the advance consideration received from customers on certain contracts. For these contracts, revenue is recognized in a manner that is consistent with the satisfaction of the underlying performance obligations. The contract liabilities are reported on the consolidated balance sheet on a contract-by-contract basis at the end of each respective reporting period within the other current liabilities and other long-term liabilities line items.

Significant changes in the contract liabilities balances during the period are as follows:

	Year Ended December 31, 2020
Description	Unearned Revenue
	(amounts in thousands)
Beginning balance on January 1, 2020	$	12,007
Revenue recognized during the period that was included in the beginning balance of contract liabilities	(10,692)
Additional amounts received during period	15,630
Ending balance	$	16,945

Disaggregation of revenue

The following table presents the Company’s revenues disaggregated by revenue source:

	Years Ended
	December 31,
	2020		2019		2018
Revenue by Source	(amounts in thousands)
Spot revenues	$	705,743	$	1,092,029	$	1,099,549
Digital revenues	189,988		146,274		119,020
Network revenues	80,346		75,629		44,197
Sponsorships and event revenues	42,478		102,385		115,846
Other revenues	42,343		73,612		83,955
Net revenues	$	1,060,898	$	1,489,929	$	1,462,567

Performance obligations

A contract’s transaction price is allocated to each distinct performance obligation and is recognized as revenue when the performance obligation is satisfied. Some of the Company’s contracts have one performance obligation which requires no allocation. For other contracts with multiple performance obligations, the Company allocates the contract’s transaction price to each performance obligation using its best estimate of the standalone selling price of each distinct good or service in the contract.

The Company’s performance obligations are primarily satisfied at a point in time and revenue is recognized when an advertisement is aired and the customer has received the benefits of advertising. In rare instances, the Company will enter into contracts when performance obligations are satisfied over a period of time. In these instances, inputs are expended evenly throughout the performance period and the Company recognizes revenue on a straight line basis over the life of the contract. Contract lives are typically less than 12 months.

Practical expedients

As a practical expedient, when the period of time between when the Company transfers a promised good or service to a customer and when the customer pays for that good or service will be one year or less, the Company will not adjust the promised amount of consideration for the effects of a significant financing component.

The Company has contracts with customers which will result in the recognition of revenue beyond one year. From these contracts, the Company expects to recognize $1.3 million of revenue in excess of one year.

The Company elected to apply the practical expedient which allows the Company to recognize the incremental costs of obtaining contracts as an expense when incurred if the amortization period of the assets that the Company otherwise would have recognized is one year or less. These costs are included in station operating expenses on the consolidated statements of operations.

Significant judgments

For performance obligations satisfied at a point in time, the Company does not estimate when a customer obtains control of the promised goods or services. Rather, the Company recognizes revenues at the point in time in which performance obligations are satisfied.

The Company records a provision against revenues for estimated sales adjustments when information indicates allowances are required. Refer to Note 6, Accounts Receivable And Related Allowance For Doubtful Accounts And Sales Reserves, for additional information.

For contracts with multiple performance obligations, the Company allocates the contract’s transaction price to each performance obligation using its best estimate of the standalone selling price of each distinct good or service in the contract.

For all revenue streams with the exception of barter revenues, the transaction price is contractually determined. For trade and barter revenues, the Company estimates the consideration by estimating the fair value of the goods and services received.

Net revenues from network barter programming are recorded on a net basis.