Fox Corp. said it expects to generate nearly $300 million in political advertising during the second half of 2020.
Speaking on the company’s first quarter earnings call with analysts Tuesday, Fox CFO Steve Tomsic said that so Far this quarter, the company has seen just under $100 million in political advertising.
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Of that about 70% went to the Fox’s local TV stations with most of the rest airing nationally on Fox News and Fox Sports.
Both parties have taken the unusual step of buying ads in the World Series and during NFL games.
“When we look at it across the first half, from July 1st through to day, without wanting to steal the thunder of the next earnings call, we’ll push close to $400 million dollars of political ad revenues for the full six months, of which just north of $200 million will be local,” Tomsic said. “So its been an enormous quarter and a half for us.”
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch added that the growth of national political political advertising has been unique this election cycle.
“Political advertising has been almost entirely local and the growth in national political advertising, particularly on Fox News, but also importantly in sports, has been a a new and I think, very positive development.”
Murdoch added that political spending is added to the strength of the overall advertising market.
“What the robustness of the political market has really done is drive our scatter price up as advertisers have scrambled to find time across local stations, across sports, across news and across entertainment.”
Fox made a “strategic decision to hold back a little bit more time than we normally would in our upfront negotiations negotiations--about 5% more time,” he said. “That bet is paying off handsomely.”
