- Revenue was $4.57 billion, a 22% year-over-year increase that surpassed the $4.29 billion estimated by analysts at Yahoo Finance
- Advertising revenue increased by 47%, driven by the World Cup, midterms political ads and Tubi
- Shares of the company increased by about 2.8% as the markets opened on Monday
While the news story of October is a ratings decline at Fox News, parent Fox Corp. reported a 22% year-over-year increase in revenue during its first quarter earnings for fiscal year 2027, the company announced before markets opened on Monday. Total quarterly revenue came in at $4.57 billion thanks to the FIFA World Cup, political advertisements during a midterm year and the performance of Tubi.
Shares of Fox Corp. increased by 2.8% after markets opened.
“Fox has had an outstanding start to fiscal 2027 with first-quarter records for revenue and Adjusted EBITDA underpinned by robust growth in both advertising and distribution revenue,” Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch wrote during the company’s earnings release.
Revenue related to Cable Network Programming increased 8% year-over-year, coming in at $1.8 billion. Distribution revenue increased by 10% owning to contractural price increased as well as an increase in the average number of subscribers. As for advertising revenue for the division, that increased by 8% due to higher sports advertising revenue. That boost from the World Cup helped offset lower digital news advertising revenue — a decline that may prove to be an issue for Fox in the coming quarters.
The Television segment reported revenue of $2.71 billion, which was a 32% year-over-year increase. Advertising revenue for the segment increased by 60% due to the World Cup, higher political advertising revenue during a midterm year and the continued digital growth led by the Tubi. Distribution revenue also increased by 4%, a lift that was once again due to an increase in the average number of subscribers as well as higher average rates at Fox’s owned and operated TV stations.
The segment also saw an increase in expenses, which was driven by higher programming rights and production costs related to the broadcast of the World Cup. That increase was partially offset by lower NFL costs.
Here are some of the top takeaways during the quarter.
Fox News hasn’t seen viewers leave for competitors despite viewer fatigue
In October, Fox News lost 27% of its total day viewers compared to where the network was last year. During that same time period, CNN and MS NOW gained ground. When asked about this decline, Murdoch cited viewership fatigue and noted that what the network is seeing now is similar to the 2006 midterms with George W. Bush.
Murdoch also noted that this time last year, Fox News had “a tremendous news cycle” between Trump’s inauguration, the Charlie Kirk tragedy and stories about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the short-lived federal initiative that was helmed by Elon Musk.
“Those viewers are not going to any other news channel. They’re not switching to MS NOW or to CNN. They’re just fatigued and watching slightly less television overall,” Murdoch said. “We feel pretty confident where we are. We’ve seen this playbook, and we know how to move through it.”
Tubi’s total view time increased by 23%
Once again, one of the shining lights during the quarter was Tubi. Revenue for the free, ad-based streamer grew 35% year over year, and total view time increased by 23%. Engagement on Tubi was driven by library viewership, viewership related to the World Cup, the streamer’s original content and its collections of shows, movies and specials from more than 600 creators.
On the advertising side, Tubi brought in about $50 million of revenue. This is in addition to the over $60 million in national political advertising revenue that sits across Fox’s sports and news and entertainment offerings. Tubi’s core audience of younger, diverse cord cutters is a major reason why the streamer has been so popular with advertisers.
“The pleasing thing is that we’re seeing this growth continue into the current quarter,” Murdoch said.
Tubi is expected to continue to see momentum on the advertising side as midterm ads continue to roll out. Fox’s NFL Thanksgiving Day game will also stream live on Tubi.
Fox One exceeded expectations, but its subscriber base is expected to be seasonal
The company also gave an update on Fox One, Fox’s streaming offering that launched a little over a year ago. Murdoch noted that the offering has “consistently exceeded our expectations for users and engagement” during the company’s earnings call with shareholders. In the month of September, subscriber acquisitions for Fox One increased by 20% compared to the start of last year’s football season.
“We have seen a very healthy engagement balance by subscribers between news and sports consumption,” Murdoch said.
Subscribers to Fox One continue to be “almost entirely incremental” to Fox’s core subscriber base and have helped offset cable declines, Murdoch said. That distinction has been key to the strategy around Fox One, which is more of an option for interested cord cutters rather than a streamer than threatens to cannibalize Fox’s entertainment, sports or news offerings in any meaningful way.
Now that the streaming option is more than a year old, Murdoch warned shareholders that Fox One may only see seasonal growth in the future.
“I would press a modest note of caution as we move forward. Is Fox One always going to be able to supplant some of the driver losses in the traditional ecosystem? Probably not as sports seasons come and go,” Murdoch said.
Fox has made “significant progress” toward closing the Roku deal
Fox also addressed the other free ad-supported streamer the company is eyeing: Roku. In mid-October, Fox’s proposed $22 billion acquisition of Roku secured shareholder approval, meaning that deal is closer than ever to becoming a reality. Murdoch previously said that the goal of this deal is to pair Fox’s “high-impact live sports and news content” with Roku’s “leading streaming distribution and technology platform.” If the deal is approved by regulators, it would cement Fox as a dominant player when it comes to free ad-supported streaming. The Fox-owned Tubi has 110 million monthly active users, and Roku has more than 100 million streaming households.
On Monday, Murdoch noted that the company’s conviction in the deal “has only grown.” However, Fox was clear it would not be answering questions related to the upcoming deal on the earnings call.
“From a process standpoint, we have made significant progress towards closing, including receiving all required Fox and Roku shareholder approvals and foreign regulatory approvals,” Murdoch said. “We are continuing to work cooperatively with the DOJ [Department of Justice] in order to obtain HSR [Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act] clearance and expect to close the transaction as soon as we can.”
