Fox Corp Earnings - Q4 2026 Analysis & Highlights
Fox Corporation delivered record financial performance in fiscal 2026, driven by the FIFA World Cup broadcast, strong advertising momentum across its portfolio, and accelerating growth at streaming platforms Tubi and FOX One, with management highlighting the company's ability to amplify premium live events while maintaining disciplined digital investments and returning substantial capital to shareholders.
Key Financial Results
Total revenue grew 5% to over $17 billion in fiscal 2026, with record advertising and distribution revenue.
EBITDA grew 8% to a record $3.9 billion in fiscal 2026.
Fourth quarter total revenue increased 28% to $4.2 billion, driven by the FIFA World Cup broadcast and strong performance across the portfolio.
Fourth quarter EBITDA improved 27% to $1.2 billion.
Advertising revenue across the company grew 7% for the full year, which is particularly noteworthy when compared to the prior year's Super Bowl and Presidential election cycle.
Distribution revenue increased 4% despite a relatively light year of renewals, led by 5% growth at the Cable segment.
Net income attributable to stockholders was $1.7 billion or $3.84 per share for fiscal 2026, compared to $2.3 billion or $4.91 per share in fiscal 2025.
Adjusted EPS was $5.42 per share, up 13% compared to $4.78 per share in the prior year.
Fourth quarter adjusted EPS was $1.79, up 41% compared to $1.27 per share in the prior-year period.
Quarterly free cash flow was $726 million, impacted by the timing of working capital related to World Cup rights payments landing in fiscal 2026 while advertising receivables will be collected in fiscal 2027.
Business Segment Results
Cable Network Programming segment revenue grew 9% with EBITDA declining 3% in the fourth quarter.
Cable advertising revenue grew 22% over the prior year, driven by the World Cup broadcast.
Cable distribution revenue grew 7% as pricing gains from affiliate renewals outpaced net subscriber declines of under 6.5% across third-party distributors.
Cable content and other revenue declined 39% due to the timing of sports sublicensing revenue.
Television segment delivered 45% revenue growth and 129% EBITDA growth in the fourth quarter.
Television advertising revenue grew 108% over the prior year, led by the World Cup broadcast, higher political advertising revenue at television stations, and continued growth at Tubi.
Tubi delivered its most streamed and highest revenue quarter ever, with fourth quarter revenue growth accelerating to 35%, fueled by a 17% increase in total viewing time.
Tubi closed the fiscal year with 110 million monthly active users.
Tubi was EBITDA positive in each quarter of fiscal 2026.
FOX News remained the most watched cable network in total day and prime time, finishing the quarter and year as a leader while continuing to reinforce its leadership position with market share levels well ahead of all competitors combined.
FOX News Media achieved record revenue in both the fourth quarter and fiscal year, driven by the addition of another 400 new advertisers to the platform during the year.
Capital Allocation
$2 billion in share repurchases were completed during fiscal 2026.
Approximately $243 million in dividend payments were distributed during fiscal 2026.
Semiannual dividend was increased to $0.29 per share, announced during the earnings call.
Cumulatively $10.7 billion of capital has been returned to shareholders since the spin-off.
$8.6 billion of share repurchases have been completed, representing approximately 36% of total shares outstanding since the launch of the buyback program in November 2019.
The company ended the quarter with approximately $4.2 billion in cash and $6.6 billion in debt.
The buyback program is expected to continue unabated through the pendency of the Roku transaction and beyond.
Industry Trends and Dynamics
The FIFA World Cup demonstrated the unique power of Fox to deliver live premium sports that bring people together at scale in an era of increasingly fragmented audiences.
Fox topped all networks in live event sports consumption in fiscal 2026, a remarkable achievement given that the next highest rated broadcast network benefited from both the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics.
The World Cup led to record-breaking broadcasts, with 104 matches and shoulder programming brought to American homes and watch parties.
The CTV ad market remains very active and very competitive, which means it is very price sensitive.
There is a lot of new inventory available in the CTV market, but Tubi has competed exceedingly well despite the heavy competition.
Close to 70% of Tubi's viewers are cordless (either cord nevers or cord cutters), which far exceeds any of the company's competitors in the marketplace.
Tubi's viewing is approximately 96% video on demand, where someone is proactively choosing to watch content, making its advertising more valuable due to high consumer engagement.
Competitive Landscape
Tubi has competed exceedingly well in the competitive CTV market despite heavy competition and new inventory availability, achieving 35% revenue growth.
Tubi has not had to drop its advertising rates in order to compete, partially because it is already a tremendously efficient advertising vehicle.
FOX News has market share levels well ahead of all of its competitors combined, reinforcing its leadership position as the most watched cable network.
Fox's ability to amplify events across its entire portfolio is unique in the market, as demonstrated by the World Cup broadcast across stations, the network, FOX Sports, FOX News, FOX One, Tubi, and other digital assets.
Macroeconomic Environment
The advertising market is very strong for Fox across its entire portfolio, including sports, news, local stations, Tubi, and entertainment.
The upfront market achieved double-digit volume growth across sports, news, and Tubi with leading rates of change.
Eight of the ten tracked advertising categories showed strength in the upfront, including entertainment, financial, auto, pharma, dining, retail, technology, and telecom.
The healthy advertising environment seen throughout fiscal 2026 has carried into the new year, culminating in one of the strongest upfronts in Fox's history with double-digit growth in volume.
The momentum and strength of the advertising market continue into the first quarter of fiscal 2027.
Growth Opportunities and Strategies
FOX One, the direct-to-consumer streaming service, continues to exceed expectations, with strong momentum driven by the World Cup and incremental subscriber acquisition with strong retention rates.
FOX One is targeting the cordless population, which has delivered meaningful additional distribution revenue across the company with minimal cannibalization of traditional pay TV business.
The pending acquisition of Roku is an extension of Fox's successful digital strategy, designed to bolster the company's position in connected TV distribution and advertising.
Roku brings streaming at scale through its open partner-friendly platform, making it a leading TV streaming platform in the US.
FOX and Roku will combine premium live content, deep market relationships, scale distribution, and leading platform capabilities to respond to the evolving needs of consumers and advertisers.
The Roku transaction is expected to close in the first half of calendar 2027.
Tubi has been successfully developed from its early stages into a leading streaming platform with 10x the revenue from when Fox started.
FOX One bundling strategy continues, with the company bundling FOX One where it makes sense for consumers and continuing to bundle to make it more efficient and attractive for consumers where there is a natural fit.
FOX One subscribers are truly incremental, with no churning of traditional MVPD customers, and churn has been well below expectations.
Financial Guidance and Outlook
Fiscal 2027 is off to an excellent start, with the success of the World Cup combined with the early stages of the midterm political cycle driving continued advertising momentum.
Independent political ad tracking firms are estimating over $11 billion of political ad spending in the upcoming midterm election.
Fox expects a record midterm cycle for political advertising, with expectations to beat the prior midterm cycle of over $260 million in revenue.
The World Cup will continue to benefit fiscal 2027 in the first quarter, with total tournament revenues weighted towards fiscal 2026 versus 2027 and 2027 revenues strongly weighted towards the Television segment.
Fiscal 2027 will return to a more normalized level of distribution renewals, which will be more skewed towards TV.
Both Cable and TV segments are expected to contribute to distribution revenue growth in fiscal 2027.
Digital investment levels are expected to moderate, with the level of investment in digital-led growth initiatives moderated in fiscal 2026 versus the prior year and continued bottom line improvement expected in fiscal 2027.
Tubi and FOX One momentum is expected to continue into fiscal 2027, with performance running ahead of expectations.
NFL Rights and Strategic Partnerships
No amendments will be made to the existing NFL contractual relationship, which extends to the completion of the 2029 season.
Fox will engage with the NFL on opt-out seasons and beyond at a date closer to the 2030 season, following the customary timetable.
Fox recently took NFL rights for Mexico, continuing to promote and amplify their games and the league as it has done for the last 30 years.
Fox has an incredibly positive relationship with the NFL and feels it continues to have a great relationship in a good place.
