Super Bowl LVII’s record-setting broadcast helped Fox Corporation’s third-quarter ad revenues soar 43%.
Quarterly revenues for Fox reached $4.08 billion, an 18% increase from the same period last year, but the network reported a third-quarter net loss of $50 million due to legal costs at Fox News and broadcast production costs for the USFL and World Baseball Classic.
Fox generated $590 million more in TV advertising revenue for the three months ending March 31 compared to the network’s same period last year.
The Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl matchup in February drew 115.1 million viewers across Fox platforms — surpassing NBC’s previous record of 114.4 million for Super Bowl XLIX and making it the most-watched Super Bowl ever.
The legal costs stem from Fox’s agreement in April to pay $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems, settling a defamation lawsuit over false claims that Dominion’s machines swayed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Japan’s defeat of Team USA in March’s World Baseball Classic Final was the most-watched WBC game ever in the U.S., scoring 5.2 million viewers across the FS1 cable network, Fox Deportes, and Fox Sports’ streaming platforms.
The USFL is in its second season broadcasting on Fox and NBC, while Fox Corp. is a minority owner in the spring football league. USFL games this spring have aired during the same window as Disney’s coverage of XFL games, allowing the rival leagues to cannibalize each other’s audiences.
