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This year’s Super Bowl was a big one for Fox Sports—but the game’s ad revenue wins were overshadowed big-time by Fox News Media’s legal woes.
In its quarterly earnings today, Fox Corp. reported a $50 million revenue loss in the quarter, which it attributed primarily to the $787 million settlement it reached with Dominion Voting Systems, one of the largest defamation settlements ever in the US.
- The lawsuit alleged that Fox had knowingly aired false claims about the company’s voting machines during the 2020 election, and the discovery process ahead of the last-minute settlement unearthed private messages from Fox News talent.
- As part of the Dominion settlement, Fox did not admit wrongdoing.
- In a prepared statement Tuesday, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch characterized the settlement as a “business decision to resolve this dispute and avoid the acrimony of a divisive trial and a multi-year appeal process.”
Superb bowl: On a call with investors Tuesday morning, Murdoch said February’s Super Bowl brought in “approximately $650 million in gross advertising revenue.” Overall, ad revenue increased 43% year over year last quarter to nearly $1.9 billion, CFO Steve Tomsic said. Murdoch said growth in auto, restaurants, and entertainment helped buoy ad revenue, particularly in local TV markets.
Growing FAST: Fox’s free ad-supported streamer, Tubi, whose founder and CEO departed last month as part of a restructuring, saw growth in the quarter that was “nothing short of stellar,” Murdoch said. Revenue from Tubi increased 31% in the quarter, and total view time on the platform increased 38% year over year, he noted.
Unbothered: Murdoch said the pricey Dominion settlement “in no way alters Fox’s commitment to the highest journalistic standards across our company or our passion for unabashedly reporting the news of the day.” The surprise departure of primetime host Tucker Carlson late last month, meanwhile, represents “no change” to Fox News’s programming strategy, Murdoch added. “It’s obviously a successful strategy,” he said.
More to come? Though the Dominion case is settled, Fox is facing additional legal action, including lawsuits from the election tech company Smartmatic and from a former network employee.