Fox Corporation beat earnings forecasts in the second quarter of the current fiscal year thanks to a surge in ad revenue from the media conglomerate’s news networks and sports programs.
Fox Corp reported $5.18 billion in total revenue, a 2% year-over-year increase, as companywide ad revenue rose 1% and cable advertising jumped 7%, driven by news and sports pricing.
Tubi, Fox’s free, ad-supported streaming service, posted record quarterly revenue of 19% — marking EBITDA profitability for the second straight quarter.
Fox also leaned on its balance sheet during the quarter, repurchasing $1.8 billion of stock in the fiscal year to date as part of its ongoing capital return program.
The buybacks brought Fox’s cumulative repurchases since 2019 to $8.4 billion — roughly 35% of shares outstanding — including $1.5 billion tied to an accelerated share repurchase.
Lachlan Murdoch, executive chair and CEO of Fox Corp, hailed the second-quarter results on Wednesday, with Fox News powering the balance sheet.
“The advertising market for Fox News has been incredibly robust,” he told investors.
“This half, we’ve added about 200 new advertisers and you have to remember that is on top of 350 new advertisers that we added last year. So the demand for the product and audience remains incredibly strong.”
Fox News finished the quarter as the most-watched cable network in total day — having produced the top 11 cable news programs, according to Murdoch.
Nielsen figures show Fox News well ahead of the pack in the cable news race against rival outlets MS NOW and CNN. In some markets, Fox News draws larger audiences than the over-the-air broadcast networks including CBS, ABC and NBC.
Murodoch said much of the advertiser growth for Fox News could be attributed to the surge in scatter pricing — or the rates advertisers pay for commercial spots bought in the so-called “scatter market” where networks sell unsold ad inventory after the upfront buying season has closed.
Murdoch told investors Wednesday that scatter pricing for Fox News Channel is up “an embarrassing 46% or 47%.”
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the performance of advertising sales at Fox News,” the exec told investors on Wednesday’s earnings call.
Fox Television’s ratings strength during the quarter was powered by its deep slate of live sports, which continues to deliver large, real-time audiences that advertisers can’t replicate elsewhere.
The quarter featured record performances across marquee events, including a seven-game World Series that culminated in a Game 7 audience of more than 27 million viewers.
That momentum carried into the NFL postseason, where the Seattle Seahawks’ NFC Championship win over the Los Angeles Rams drew 46 million viewers — one of the largest audiences of the year.
The massive lead-in boosted Fox’s broader schedule, helping power strong ratings across the network and reinforcing the central role live sports play in Fox’s television performance.
Despite the strong quarter, shares of Fox Corp came under pressure following the earnings release as investors zeroed in on a sharp drop in net income and thinner margins, despite steady revenue growth.
Net income fell to $229 million from $373 million a year earlier, while adjusted EBITDA declined to $692 million from $781 million, reflecting costs that outpaced the company’s top-line gains.
The profit squeeze was driven by higher amortization of sports programming rights, increased production expenses, and heavier digital and marketing spending — a mix that weighed on margins in the quarter.
Shares of Fox Corp fell nearly 4% on Wednesday. The stock was trading at around $61 a share just before the closing bell on Wall Street. Fox Corp stock is up nearly 25% in the last 12 months.
Fox Corp is a sister company of The Post’s corporate parent, News Corp.
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