November 4 – Fox Corp posted a 22% rise in quarterly revenue to $4.57 billion, driven by this summer’s World Cup and advertising around the US midterm elections.
Advertising revenue rose 47% in the fiscal first quarter, according to the Wall Street Journal, with the free streaming service Tubi also contributing. Profit climbed to $957 million from $609 million a year earlier. The period also included the start of the NFL season and the MLB playoffs.
The World Cup was the standout. Fox’s coverage of the final, Spain’s win over Argentina at MetLife Stadium, set a US English-language record with 38.9 million viewers, and Nielsen research has since shown the tournament added nearly 10 million soccer fans in the US in a year.
Chief executive Lachlan Murdoch said Fox was “obviously happy with the performance of the World Cup this past year and we’ll be looking at the rights for 2030 and 2034 in a disciplined manner as we would with all sports rights.”
FIFA began the bidding process last month, according to Bloomberg, and the rights are expected to fetch as much as $4 billion. The competition will be fierce. Netflix has already bought the 2030 rights in Spain and holds exclusive US and Canadian rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups.
Fox has held US English-language rights since 2015, and the company’s comments suggest it wants to keep them, but not at any price. ‘Disciplined’ is often a word broadcasters use when they expect to be outbid.
Elsewhere, Fox reported $350 million in political advertising across the midterm cycle. Murdoch put an October ratings dip at Fox News, down 28% in prime-time year on year, down to “viewer fatigue” and strong comparisons with a year earlier. The network remains the most watched in US cable news.
Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]