• by Wayne Friedman , 6 hours ago

Fox Corp. posted strong Q1 advertising results for its Fox News Media, Fox Television Network, and Tubi platforms early this morning, with its upfront program presentation scheduled for later this afternoon.

The company said advertising performance at Fox News Media -- including Fox News Channel and Fox Business -- grew 5%, achieving “its highest calendar 1Q 26 ad revenue ever,” according to company executives.

This was driven by higher news pricing. Overall, Fox’s cable TV networks grew to 4.8% to $390 million.

Company executives say this strong trend will continue into the second quarter this year.

Fox Corp’s Television segment -- including Fox Television Network and Tubi -- posted lower 30% lower advertising due to unfavorable comparisons to the previous year, when it aired Super Bowl LIX.

Taking out the Super Bowl, Madison and Wall estimates core overall first-quarter advertising growth of 11% year-over-year. Without the Super Bowl, Fox said, its advertising was up by double-digit percentages.

Free, ad-supported/streaming TV channel (FAST) Tubi now comprises 23% of Fox’s total advertising business, according to industry estimates -- around $358 million for this first quarter period, growing 23% year over year.

During its earnings call, Fox said there are very few quarterly options acted on by brands to pull back on upfront advertising deals made a year ago -- adding that the scatter market is fairly healthy, especially coming from pharmaceutical, financial, and technology marketers.

Fox can count on its advertising seeing a major boost this summer because of the FIFA World Cup events -- and starting next season, two additional NFL regular-season games.

Fox revenues were down 9% to $3.99 billion with cash flow -- adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization -- up 11% to $954 million.

Mid-day Monday trading of Fox Corp. stock was up 7.4% to $56.95.