Fox blew past estimates for the March quarter as revenue jumped 27% to $4.37 billion – above Wall Street forecasts — on a whopping 65% hike in ad sales mostly driven by Super Bowl LIX along with continued digital growth led by Tubi and stronger news ratings and pricing for the Fox News parent.
Affiliate fee revenues increased 3%, driven by 4% growth at the Television segment and 3% growth at the Cable Network Programming, Fox’s two divisions.
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Fox has a June fiscal year so the March quarter was its third. The shares are up about 4% in early trading.
Net income, however, plunged to $354 million from $704 million as the revenue increase was more than offset by higher expenses led by programming rights amortization and production costs driven by the Super Bowl broadcast, and higher digital content and marketing costs.
Adjusted net income of $1.10 per share, however, was still above forecasts.
“Our strong fiscal third quarter underscored the central role Fox plays in informing and entertaining America, and our financial performance, highlighted by record free cash flow, once again illustrates the strength of the FOX platform,” said CEO Lachlan Murdoch in a statement ahead of a call at 8:30 ET.
“Whether it is our market leading coverage of a sustained, active news cycle or our broadcast of a record-breaking Super Bowl, we deliver for our audiences, advertisers and distribution partners. We are confident that our best-in class assets, deliberate strategy and robust balance sheet position us strongly to drive long-term value for our shareholders.”
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