NFL, World Cup Bolster Fox’s Revenue

Fox’s investments in sports are paying off.

The company reported a 4% year-over-year increase in second-quarter revenue to $4.61 billion and a 4% increase in advertising revenue to $2.5 billion.  

The latter is attributed to the FIFA Men’s World Cup, Fox Sports’ NFL programming, political advertising revenue, and growth at streaming service Tubi.

• Fox paid $425 million for the English-language rights to broadcast the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
• Fox noted that the advertising revenue was partially offset by the absence of “Thursday Night Football,” which was acquired by Amazon for around $1 billion annually.

Net income reached $321 million compared to a net loss of $73 million during the same period last year.

Fox’s NFL results could be even stronger in 2024, when Tom Brady starts his reported 10-year, $375 million contract as the network’s No. 1 NFL analyst.

Super Bowl Expectations

Fox is expecting a successful sports-driven third quarter, too.

One Fox executive reportedly said that if trends during the NFL playoffs continue, Sunday’s Super Bowl could bring in a record viewership of 115 million.

Super Bowl XLIX between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks in 2015 holds the viewership record with 114.4 million.

The company expects to generate more than $500 million in advertising revenue for the game.