Fox reports decent earnings amid industry challenges

Despite difficulties brought on by the political election season and dwindling cable subscriptions, Fox reported modest results for the first quarter of its fiscal year. The company’s success with Tubi, its free streaming service, and its strong pricing strategy offset the challenges.

The year-over-year increase in total revenue was less than 1%, with a 2% increase in affiliate revenue more than offsetting a 2% decrease in advertising revenue. The lack of political advertisements during the quarter was somewhat mitigated by Tubi’s success as an ad-supported streaming service.

The company’s strong reliance on live-viewing sports and news will keep Fox’s ad revenue pricing stable, but the upside potential for ad revenue from television broadcasts should be constrained by dwindling paid-TV subscriptions.

Similar effects were seen in affiliate fees, but strong pricing on subscription renewals more than made up for declining subscriber numbers. Given that a third of the company’s renewals are due this fiscal year, the company is still in a strong negotiating position with distributors.

Owning Fox News as well as a number of sports properties, including college football and the NFL, puts the company in a strong position to increase affiliate revenue through pricing power.