Fox Corporation reports strong quarter, boosted by advertising and cable growth
Fox Corporation on Wednesday reported its second-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates amid growth in advertising revenue from the company's news networks and sports programming.
The company reported $5.18 billion in revenue for the second quarter of its 2026 fiscal year, an increase of 2% from the prior year quarter and above the LSEG estimate of $5.06 billion. Distribution revenues were up 4% in the quarter, driven mainly by 5% growth in Fox's cable network programming segment.
Advertising revenues were 1% higher primarily because of higher pricing for ads during sports and news programs, additional MLB postseason games, as well as digital growth led by Tubi – Fox's free, ad-supported streaming platform. Ad revenue growth was partially offset by lower political advertising revenues and lower ratings.
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Fox's cable programming, which includes Fox News Channel and FOX Business Network as well as its cable sports networks, grew revenue 5% to $2.28 billion in the quarter, while its advertising revenue rose about 7%.
"Whether streaming, linear, social or digital, Fox News Media continues to meet our audiences where they are," Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said on the company's earnings call. "Over the past 12 months, a fast-moving and consequential news cycle has reinforced Fox News Media's leadership position, with audiences turning to the network for live coverage and in-depth analysis."
"Fox News again finished the quarter as the most watched cable network in total day, while maintaining its lead as the most watched cable news network and producing the top 11 cable news programs," he noted. "According to recent Nielsen data, Fox News is the number one cable news network among all three political parties, which bodes well for the upcoming political election cycle."
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"On the digital side, social media views for Fox News Digital were up an astounding 170% over the prior year, and both Fox News and FOX Business ranked number one in YouTube video views among their peers during the quarter," Murdoch added.
Murdoch said that Tubi saw its most streamed quarter of all time and grew total viewer time by 27% year over year, with the streaming platform's content slate expanding to include a simulcast of an NFL game on Thanksgiving.
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Fox's subscription streaming service, Fox One, completed its first full quarter since launching in August, and Murdoch noted the company hasn't seen any cannibalization of traditional subscribers to date as it looks to market the platform to cord cutters.
He said that live sporting events are driving the majority of engagement on Fox One, news accounts for about one-third of the minutes viewed and that news viewers engage with the platform more frequently than non-news viewers.
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Fox Corporation is the parent company of FOX Business.