Fox Corp., owner of Fox, Fox News, and Fox Sports, announced its Q3 2024 financial results, exceeding market expectations. The report revealed a revenue of $3.4 billion and a net income of $704 million, demonstrating robust performance despite challenges in the advertising sector. The surge in profits can be attributed to various factors, including a settlement at Fox News from the previous year and a gain on the value of its USFL assets. Notably, these assets were amalgamated with the XFL to form the UFL.
However, the quarter witnessed a sharp decline in advertising revenue, plummeting to $1.2 billion from $1.9 billion compared to the previous year. This downturn can be primarily attributed to the absence of the Super Bowl, which was a significant revenue driver in the prior year's quarter. Despite this setback, affiliate fee revenue experienced an increase, reaching $1.9 billion.
Fox's cable division, spearheaded by Fox News, generated revenue of $1.5 billion, a slight decrease from the previous year. Meanwhile, the TV division, led by the Fox broadcast network, reported revenue of $1.9 billion, reflecting a more substantial decline, again due to the absence of the Super Bowl compared to the previous year.
Lachlan Murdoch, CEO of Fox Corp., said in a statement: “Fox’s fiscal third-quarter results once again demonstrate how our unique strategy continues to distinguish Fox from our peers.” He then added: “The strength and leadership of our core brands, coupled with our focus on live content and must-have event programming, is clearly valued by our audiences, advertisers, and distribution partners. The consistent financial delivery from this strategy supports our investments in innovation which are driving momentum in our digital portfolio, led by Tubi. Our balanced capital allocation approach, fortified by our strong balance sheet, underpins our ability to drive long-term value creation for our shareholders.”
Revenue at the company’s cable operations fell to $1.47 billion, compared with $1.57 billion a year earlier. Fox said an increase in affiliate fees was offset by lower advertising, which was spurred by the absence of last year’s “World Baseball Classic,” lower revenue from digital advertising and continued but moderating price declines in direct-response commercials that make up a portion of the base of sponsors for Fox News.