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Even in the heart of election season, sports was a critical revenue driver for Fox Corp.
The Fox Sports parent said it generated $3.56 billion in revenue during its fiscal first quarter, up 11% from the comparable period last year, with sports playing a significant role in that lift. The company in particular credited its “Summer of Soccer” coverage during the July to September period that included its airing of the UEFA Euros and Copa América tournaments and aided both advertising and sublicensing revenue.
Both tournaments generated record-level audiences for U.S. English–language broadcasts. The previous year’s fiscal first quarter included the Women’s World Cup, but the United States team was eliminated in the round of 16.
Net income for Fox more than doubled from $407 million in last year’s comparable period to $827 million in the most recent quarter. That total easily beat analyst projections of $522 million, even as earnings were hit somewhat by higher sports programming expenses.
Of course, political advertising was also a major component of Fox’s revenues during the quarter, to the point that company executives acknowledged the heavy frequency of the ads during football coverage and its negative impact on viewers. That relentless placement owes to the fact that Election Day is Tuesday and the massive popularity of both college and pro football make those sports a particularly fertile environment for candidates to reach voters.
“I apologize to anyone who was enjoying their football over the weekend and was bombarded with political ads,” Fox CEO and executive chair Lachlan Murdoch said during an earnings call with analysts. “Sports has been the beneficiary of national political advertising.”
Championship Event Talk
Fox Sports will be airing the NFL’s Super Bowl LIX in February, and not surprisingly, the company said advertising is already sold out at unprecedented levels. Even as pricing for Super Bowl advertising has largely flattened in recent years across multiple networks, spending for the upcoming game is more than $7 million per 30 seconds.
“We still have a pretty robust football calendar yet to come, culminating with our broadcast of Super Bowl LIX, where we are already sold out and at record pricing,” Murdoch said.
Murdoch also highlighted during the earnings call the network’s performance during the recently concluded MLB postseason. That event fell outside the fiscal quarter in question but nonetheless generated across-the-board viewership increases, including the best World Series audience since 2017.
Still Backing Venu
The company, meanwhile, is still firmly supporting Venu Sports, the streaming alliance with ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery, even as it remains on hold amid a legal fight with Fubo.
“We continue to believe that Venu is a tremendous pro-consumer, pro-competitive platform, and we are excited to launch it when we have the ability to do so,” Murdoch said.
