Fox's First Quarter Revenue Jumps 22% on World Cup Ads and Election Spending
Fox Corporation reported a sharp rise in revenue for its first quarter on Monday, 2 November. Revenue reached $4.57 billion, up $833 million, or 22%, on the same period a year earlier.
Net income attributable to shareholders came in at $943 million, or $2.20 a share. A year earlier it was $599 million, or $1.32 a share. The company's fiscal first quarter covers the first three months of its financial year.
The biggest push came from advertising. Fox said its ad revenue rose 47% in the quarter, tied largely to its telecasts of the FIFA Men's World Cup, which ran for several weeks. Political advertising also climbed, as the company pointed to a busy national and local election cycle. Chief executive Lachlan Murdoch said the quarter also covered the start of the college football and NFL seasons.
Fox also pointed to money from distribution. Distribution fees are what cable and satellite companies pay to carry a channel in their packages. Fees from carriers of Fox's programming rose 9%, and the company said more subscribers to its TV networks helped its profit.
The company's cable networks, which include Fox News Channel, brought in $1.8 billion, up 8% or $141 million. Distribution fees there rose 10%, and advertising rose 8%.
The television operations, which cover the Fox broadcast network and its stations, grew more quickly. Revenue there rose 32%, or $663 million, to $2.71 billion. Advertising in that unit was up 60%, and distribution fees were up 4%.
Fox owns the Fox broadcast network, Fox News Channel and the Tubi streaming service, which shows content free with advertising. The company has also launched FOX One, a streaming service sold directly to viewers without a cable or satellite package. Fox said in August that it expected to keep benefiting from the World Cup in the first quarter of 2027, its next financial quarter.
Fox had said in advance that it would release the figures at about 8:00 a.m. Eastern time on 2 November. It also held a live audio webcast for investors to discuss them.
For viewers, the quarter's story is mostly about where the money came from. Live sport and election campaigns filled the advertising slots, and cable and satellite fees kept growing. The company did not say how those numbers will look once the sporting calendar moves on.
