Fox Corporation hits $5B revenue on ad gains, cable growth

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 to...