Fox beat revenue estimates in Q2 of its 2026 fiscal year, with solid gains in news, sports, and streaming. However, despite top-line strength, rising costs ate into profits and pressured the stock.
Fox reported $5.18 billion in revenue for the quarter, a 2% increase year-over-year and ahead of analyst estimates. The performance was driven by growth in cable advertising, which rose 7% thanks to strong pricing in live news and sports. Overall, company ad revenue rose 1% despite a pullback in political ad spending and softer ratings in some areas. Distribution revenues grew 4%, mainly due to a 5% increase in cable network programming.
Fox News continued to serve as a key growth driver. According to CEO Lachlan Murdoch, the network added 200 new advertisers this half on top of 350 last year. He cited “incredibly robust” advertiser demand, with scatter pricing up by nearly 47%. Fox News finished the quarter as the most-watched cable network in total day and delivered the top 11 cable news programs.
Live sports also played a central role in the quarter’s success. Game 7 of the World Series attracted over 27 million viewers. The NFC Championship Game between the Seahawks and Rams drew 46 million viewers, one of the largest audiences of the year. These events not only drove ratings for Fox Television but also boosted engagement across its platforms, including its new subscription streamer Fox One.
Tubi, Fox’s free, ad-supported streaming service, posted record quarterly revenue, up 19% year-over-year. Viewer time rose 27%, and the service remained EBITDA profitable for the second straight quarter. Murdoch highlighted Tubi’s growing role in the company’s digital strategy, pointing to a successful NFL simulcast on Thanksgiving and continued content expansion. Fox also reported that Fox News Digital’s social media views grew 170% year-over-year, while both Fox News and Fox Business ranked number one in YouTube video views among their competitors.
Despite the strong quarter, profit margins narrowed. Net income fell to $229 million from $373 million a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA declined to $692 million from $781 million. Fox cited higher amortization of sports rights, increased production expenses, and elevated digital and marketing costs as the main drivers of the margin pressure.
Fox continued to return capital to shareholders. The company repurchased $1.8 billion in stock during the fiscal year to date, bringing its total repurchases since 2019 to $8.4 billion, or roughly 35% of shares outstanding.
Still, investors responded to the margin decline. Shares fell nearly 4% following the earnings release, although the stock remains up nearly 25% over the past year.
The Streaming Wars is intentionally ad-free
We don’t run display ads. Not because we can’t, but because we don’t believe in them.
They interrupt the reading experience. They cheapen the work. And they burn advertisers’ money on impressions nobody actually wants.
So we chose a different model.
We say the things people in this industry are already thinking but don’t say out loud. We connect the dots beyond the headline and focus on explaining why things matter to the people working in this business.
If you believe industry coverage can exist without clutter and interruption, you can support it here → SUPPORT TSW.
Support is optional. But it directly funds research and continued coverage — and helps prove this model can work.
Support TSW →
