Fox Corp. quarterly ad revenue up 4 percent thanks to sports, midterm elections

Fox Corp., led by executive chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch and chairman Rupert Murdoch, on Wednesday reported improved fiscal revenue for the second quarter as advertising revenue rose 4 percent in the period ended Dec. 31.

The company reported total quarterly revenue of $4.61 billion, up 4 percent from the $4.44 billion reported in the same period last year.

Ad revenue growth primarily reflected “the impact of the FIFA Men’s World Cup and strong NFL results at Fox Sports, higher political ad revenue at the Fox Television Stations and continued growth at Tubi, partially offset by the absence of Thursday night football”said the company.

Affiliate fee revenue was up 1 percent, led by 6 percent growth in the company’s television segment. Other revenues were up 13 percent, “primarily due to the impact of the consolidation of entertainment production companies in the television segment and higher Fox Nation subscription revenue.”

In the previous quarter, the company had published a record number of midterm elections ads. Fox took advantage of the midterms through its Fox TV channels, which saw record purchases of political ads in a number of states, as well as Fox News, one of the most watched channels on TV.

Macroeconomic concerns have been swirling since last year, leading media investors to dissect the latest advertising data with keen interest. “While we are aware of the current macroeconomic conditions, the sustainability of our brands and Fox’s ability to serve audiences at scale position us well to navigate this uncertainty while continuing to create value for our shareholders” , said Lachlan Murdoch at the end of 2022.

On Wednesday, he emphasized, “An attractive fall sports program, combined with an active mid-term political news cycle, demonstrated the strength and relevance of the Fox platform in our fiscal second quarter. Whether measured in terms of engagement, monetization or profitability, our focused strategy of live news and sports programming, coupled with our growing digital initiatives, continues to deliver.”

Wednesday’s earnings update came after the Murdoch family dropped a proposal late last month to merge Fox, home of Fox News, the Fox broadcast networks, TV stations and Fox Sports, with News Corp., the owner of Fox Sports. The Wall Street JournalBritain The times And The sun, Dow Jones, as well as Australian pay TV giant Foxtel. “By withdrawing the proposal, Mr. Murdoch indicated that he and Lachlan K. Murdoch have determined that a combination is not optimal for News Corp and Fox stockholders at this time,” News Corp said in a statement at the time. It also featured on the Super Bowl, which airs on Fox this year.

Fox also increased its share repurchase program by $3 billion to $7 billion. The company also announced that it intends to enter into an accelerated share repurchase transaction to repurchase $1 billion of Class A common stock under its share repurchase program and to repurchase an additional $450 million of common stock. through the remainder of fiscal 2023,” Fox added. . “To date, the Company has repurchased approximately $2.2 billion of Class A common stock and approximately $935 million of Class B common stock.”

“Today’s announcement to increase our share repurchase authorization and our intention to immediately commit a significant amount of capital in an accelerated share repurchase transaction reflects the confidence we have in our strategy, the quality of our assets and the strength of our financial position,” the statement said. Lachlan Murdoch.

Fox has invested heavily in streaming through its free ad-supported platform Tubi and its Fox Nation streaming service, with the company citing Fox Nation in its fiscal first quarter as a driver in its “other” reporting segment.