Nov. 4: Fox Corp reported a 22% rise in quarterly revenue to $4.57 billion, boosted 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 free streaming service Tubi also contributing. Profits rose 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 highlight. 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 shown the tournament added nearly 10 million US soccer fans in a year.
Chief executive Lachlan Murdoch said Fox was “obviously happy with the performance of the World Cup last year and we will look at the rights for 2030 and 2034 in a disciplined way as we would with all sports rights”.
FIFA began the bidding process last month, according to Bloomberg, and the rights are expected to reach $4 billion. The competition will be fierce. Netflix has already bought the 2030 rights to Spain and has exclusive US and Canadian rights for the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups.
Fox has held the US English rights since 2015, and comments from the company suggest it wants to keep them, but not at any cost. “Disciplined” is often a word used by broadcasters when they hope to outdo themselves.
Elsewhere, Fox reported $350 million in political advertising during the midterms. Murdoch dropped Fox News’ October ratings, down 28% in primetime year-over-year, due to “viewer fatigue” and strong year-over-year comparisons. The network remains the most-watched cable news network in the US.
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