Fox (FOXA) Business Network Rated as Business News Leader

Fox Corporation’s FOXA Business Network (FBN) surpassed all business news brands, including CNBC, in business day viewers, for May.

Per a Nielsen Media Research Report, FOX Business Network has been termed the number one network in business for the second consecutive month.

The network has ended the month with double-digit year-over-year growth across the business day, market hours, total day and primetime. In May, FBN delivered its highest-rated month in business day since November 2020.

Previously, Nielsen Media Research reported that FBN had ended April as the number one network in business day viewers for the first time since January 2020.

Fox Corporation Price and Consensus

Fox Corporation price-consensus-chart | Fox Corporation Quote

Expanding Distribution Agreements to Drive Prospects

Fox has been witnessing a growing demand for its live programming services, which bodes well for the company. The company generates a major portion of its advertising revenues from live programming, which is immune to the rapidly growing competition from subscription-based video-on-demand services.

Fox’s growth strategy revolves mainly around live programming from three of its brands, namely FOX News Media (which includes FOX News and FOX Business), Sports and the FOX Network, which is anticipated to drive its advertising revenues.

In the last reported quarter, advertising revenues increased 9%, primarily due to stronger pricing and higher ratings at FOX News Media and continued growth at Tubi.

To continue with its robust advertising growth, the company has been focusing on expanding its brand reach and distribution to drive both its subscriber growth and revenues.

FOX News Media has expanded the distribution of its streaming services across AT&T T – owned DIRECTV platforms. FOX News Media’s subscription-based streaming service, FOX Nation, is now available on DIRECTTV as a premium add-on.

Earlier this year, FOX News Media’s international streaming service, FOX News International, expanded its distribution on Roku ROKU and increased its reach across Chile, Costa Rica, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Panama and the U.K.

Fox News International is also currently available via mobile and OTT devices, on both Android and iOS and on Amazon’s AMZN Fire TV.

FOX Weather’s growth momentum is likely to have benefitted from its expanded distribution on Roku and YouTube TV.

In March, Fox expanded its relationship with Amazon to bring its leading news, weather and sports content to the Amazon News app available on Fire TV.

Per the Fox-Amazon deal, three FOX FAST (free ad-supported TV) channels – FOX Soul, FOX Weather and LiveNOW from FOX – will be available on the Amazon news app on Fire TV.

FOX Weather’s distribution was further expanded to AT&T’s DIRECTV STREAM and Gotham Media Group’s Vidgo. These distribution deals are expected to result in sequential growth in total view time in the near term.

Moreover, a narrower business focus is helping FOX drive higher retransmission-consent fees from pay-TV operators.

The company’s linear businesses continue to be driven by Tubi, where total view time increased by 50%, which can be attributed to record quality viewership. Tubi has also expanded its content library and currently has 42,000 titles in its portfolio. As of January 2022, Tubi has 21 million monthly active users.

Tubi’s renewed key distribution deals, including its Amazon partnership and first custom deal for Samsung’s smart TV, are likely to drive this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s advertising revenues in the near term.

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