Fox Corporation shares climbed over 3% on Tuesday as the media giant beat Wall Street expectations for its second quarter of 2025 with a 20% increase in revenue to $5.08 billion.
The revenue growth was primarily driven by a 21% increase in advertising revenue to $2.4 billion, primarily due to higher political advertising, the impact of MLB postseason ratings and NFL pricing, continued digital growth led by Tubi, and stronger news ratings and pricing. Affiliate fees also grew 6% to $1.9 billion, driven by 9% growth in the television segment and 4% growth in the cable network programming segment.
Overall, Fox’s quarterly profit more than tripled — increasing 238% year-over-year — to $388 million.
“These results are underpinned by industry-leading affiliate and advertising revenue growth and reflect strong on-screen delivery through our coverage of the presidential election, both at Fox News and across our local stations, strong NFL, college football and Major League Baseball postseason viewership and continued audience expansion at Tubi,” Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch told analysts on Tuesday. “We are firing on all cylinders.”
Here are the key results:
Net Income: $388 million, more than tripling from $115 million a year ago. Net income attributable to Fox shareholders was $373 million, compared to $109 million a year ago. On an adjusted basis, net income was $442 million, compared to $165 million a year ago.
Earnings Per Share: 81 cents per diluted share, compared to 23 cents per share. On an adjusted basis, EPS was 96 cents per share, up from 34 cents per share a year ago and the 65 cents per share expected by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue: $5.8 billion, up 20% from $4.23 billion a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research were expecting revenue of $4.89 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA: $781 million, up 123% from $351 million a year ago.
In addition to the quarterly results, Fox said that it plans to launch a new streaming service by the end of year.
Political Ads, Sports, Tubi Drive Cable Network Programming, TV Revenue Growth
The cable network programming segment posted a profit of $657 million, up 16% from $564 million a year ago, driven by a 31% increase in revenue to $2.17 billion, partially offset by higher sports programming rights amortization and production costs.
Affiliate revenue for the segment grew 4% to $1.07 billion as contractual price increases were partially offset by the impact of net subscriber declines. Ad revenue grew 32% to $460 million, due to higher news ratings, pricing and digital advertising revenues, and higher MLB postseason ratings.
The television segment posted a profit of $205 million, driven by a 16% increase in revenue to $2.96 billion, offset by higher digital costs.
Ad revenue grew 19% to $1.96 billion due to higher political ad revenue, the impact of higher MLB postseason ratings and NFL pricing, and continued digital growth of Tubi. The free ad-supported streaming platform saw a 31% increase in ad revenue and is on track to meet breakeven profitability, though Murdoch did not disclose when it would reach that milestone.
Affiliate fee revenue grew 9%, driven by higher average rates at Fox’s owned and operated TV stations and increases in fees from third-party affiliates.
Fox to Launch Streaming Service by End of 2025
Last month, Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery opted to scrap plans to launch their Venu Sports streaming service after facing increased antitrust scrutiny and settling a lawsuit brought by Fubo.
“In the end, the legal distractions around the business became increasingly difficult to bear,” Murdoch said. “Venu was to be another distribution outlet for our brands to access consumers in the market, wherever they are, and that is what we continue to be focused on: maximum distribution of our content, whether that be traditional digital streaming or our own DTC offering in the near future.”
Instead, Fox says it will launch a streaming service by the end of 2025. Murdoch noted that the service will be a “lean and mean bundle” of its existing sports and news content and brands. He added that it would be “economically positive” for the company, with an incremental cost that would be “relatively low” compared to its peers.
“We see the traditional cable bundle as still the most value for our consumers and and then, frankly, for the most value for the company. So we’re huge supporters of the traditional cable bundle, and we will always be. But having said that, we do want to reach consumers wherever they are,” Murdoch emphasized. “We are designing an offering to really target those cord-cutters and cord-nevers that are not traditionally in the cable bundle. We have no intention of turning a traditional distribution customer into our DTC customer, so our subscriber expectations will be modest and we’re going to price the service accordingly.”
“We would hope that this bundle will be attractive to cord-cutters and cord-nevers, but to the extent that it does turn a traditional cable subscriber, I hope it doesn’t, but if it does, we are certainly whole and, if not, some instances, better off,” he added. “We’re pleased with the emerging bundle. We think it bodes well for the business going forward.”
