A more normalized fall TV season start and continued growth at streaming service Tubi drove Fox to beat Wall Street’s expectations for its first fiscal quarter of 2022.
Fox surpassed Wall Street’s expectations for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2021, with analysts forecasting a $1.03 per share on $2.94 billion in revenue, according to a consensus compiled by Yahoo Finance. On Wednesday, Fox reported adjusted EPS of 1.13 on $3.05 billion in revenue.
Advertising revenues increased 17% from the year-ago quarter, primarily due to continued growth at Tubi and a much more normalized September schedule compared to the COVID-impacted one of 2020, which saw the return of a full schedule of live events at Fox Sports and scripted programming at Fox Entertainment. A year ago, Fox’s NFL and MLB coverage had to compete with the 2020 election cycle as well as delayed endings to the NHL and NBA seasons.
Quarterly net income of $708 million was down from the $1.12 billion from a year ago, though that quarter had a one-time $462 million gain on the books thanks to a cash reimbursement received from Disney for Fox’s prepayment of its share of the tax liabilities resulting from Disney’s 2019 purchase of 21st Century Fox assets.
“We have made a strong start to the 2022 fiscal year with broad-based operating momentum led by the return of a full slate of live events at Fox Sports, ratings leadership at Fox News and exceptional progress at Tubi,” Lachlan Murdoch, Fox’s CEO and executive chairman, said. “As audiences migrate to live news, sports and streaming, it underscores the strategy and priorities that have defined our short history at FOX. We remain focused on bolstering our core brands and leveraging the unique assets that distinguish us to further propel growth and drive value for our shareholders.”