Fox Corp. beat Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue on Monday as the media company benefited from higher political advertising ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, sending its shares up nearly 3%.
Americans are turning to more traditional news and television programs for updates on the tight race between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, leading to increased advertising spending on Fox News.
Fox Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch pointed to record political advertising across the company and strong growth at its ad-supported streaming platform, Tubi.
Fox executives said Tubi has become a “content recipient” of political advertising and expected the streaming platform to surpass $1 billion in revenue in the fiscal year.
Fox’s advertising revenue rose nearly 11% to $1.33 billion in the first quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $1.13 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The company reported a 15% increase in revenue at its cable network programming to $1.60 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.41 billion, at a time when subscribers are moving toward digital streaming.
Last week, telecom and media giant Comcast said it was considering Spin-off of its declining cable network,
But Murdoch doesn’t see any potential cable network potential in Fox. “I don’t understand how we can do this. I think it will be very difficult to break up some parts of the business.”
The company’s television segment reported revenue of $1.95 billion, beating estimates of $1.92 billion.
Fox reported total revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to estimates of $3.37 billion.
On an adjusted basis, it earned $1.45 per share, beating estimates of $1.11.
