Fox Corporation saw higher overall revenue as a result of an advertising windfall during the Super Bowl in February coupled with higher fees charged to cable and satellite distributors for its channels, the media company revealed on Monday.
Fox earned $354 million in profit off $4.37 billion in revenue during the company’s fiscal third quarter (Q3) of 2025, which coincides with Q1 on the calendar — the first three months of the year. Revenue was up 27 percent on a year-over basis, while profit was down nearly 50 percent.
Profit was impacted by higher costs associated primarily with sports programming, including Super Bowl LIX on Fox and Tubi in February, though digital content and marketing expenses also played a factor.
That was one of the few blemishes in Fox’s earnings report, which otherwise delivered results that most broadcast and cable network owners would envy.
Advertising revenue climbed to $2.036 billion, up 64 percent, spurred by higher uptake Super Bowl inventory (there were reports that Fox charged as much as $8 million for a single, 30-second ad spot during the NFL championship game). Affiliate fee revenue — the amount charged to cable and satellite companies for distribution of Fox-owned stations and cable networks — was $2 billion, up from $1.938 billion during Q3 2024.
Broken down by segment, broadcasting and Tubi accounted for the lion’s share of Fox’s revenue, earning $2.704 billion during Q3, up 40 percent. Affiliate fees from local TV stations clocked in at $870 million, up 4.3 percent. Operating expenses climbed to $2.36 billion, influenced by higher licensing and production costs associated with the Super Bowl.
Cable networks earned $1.636 billion in overall revenue during the quarter, spurred by higher interest in advertising against the Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network at a time when more Americans are tuning in for the latest news on geopolitical matters. Advertising inched up to $372 million during Q3, up 26 percent. Affiliate fees continued to be the biggest part of Fox’s cable segment, earning $1.135 billion during the quarter, up from $1.104 billion one year ago.
“Our strong fiscal third quarter underscored the central role Fox plays in informing and entertaining America, and our financial performance, highlighted by record free cash flow, once again illustrates the strength of the FOX platform,” Lachlan Murdoch, the CEO of Fox Corporation, said in a statement on Monday. “Whether it is our market leading coverage of a sustained, active news cycle or our broadcast of a record-breaking Super Bowl, we deliver for our audiences, advertisers and distribution partners. We are confident that our best-in-class assets, deliberate strategy and robust balance sheet position us strongly to drive long-term value for our shareholders.”
Fox reported its earnings before the stock market opened on Monday. Shares of Fox were trading up around 6 percent in pre-market activity, and opened 4 percent higher after Fox’s Q3 results were released.
On a conference call with investors Monday morning, Murdoch revealed that Fox Sports was one of the industry’s most-watched TV sports brands, driving 3.3 billion hours of sports event viewing, “17 percent better than our closest competitor.” Tubi assisted in that effort three months ago when the streaming platform offered a free simulcast of Super Bowl LIX in ultra high-definition; Murdoch said Tubi delivered more than 24 million unique visitors and 16 million peak concurrent viewers during the game, with 40 percent in the lucrative 18 to 34-year-old demographic that advertisers target on TV. Many of those viewers stuck around with Tubi after the Super Bowl, Murdoch affirmed.
Moving forward, the company is building out its second direct-to-consumer streaming service, Fox One, which will offer online access to live cable news and sports from Fox’s cable networks, as well as live feeds of local Fox stations and affiliates in most parts of the country.
Murdoch said Fox One will launch around the same time as the start of the NFL’s regular season — so, August or September — and its monthly price will be commensurate to the wholesale rate that cable and satellite operators pay for Fox programming. The Desk previously reported that executives were considering a $20 per month starting price.
The approach to Fox One will be measured, with the company mainly targeting news and sports fans who have never signed up for a pay TV package, Murdoch said. The company doesn’t intend to market Fox One as an alternative to a cable or satellite package, which continues to earn Fox retransmission consent fees that are a lucrative part of its business.
“We do not wanna lose a traditional cable subscriber to Fox One, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure as much as is humanly possible that that’s that’s the way we market,” Murdoch said.
