Fox Corporation
’s
FOXA
News Digital network recently announced its strongest November performance as well as its highest month of multiplatform views on record.
The company saw
double-digit increases
on a year-over-year basis including multiplatform views of more than 2.7 billion (up 14%), and over 5 billion multiplatform minutes (up 25%), per Comscore data, cited by Fox. Moreover, multiplatform unique visitors increased 38% year over year.
The network’s comprehensive political coverage and post-election coverage in the United States propelled traffic and engagement to all-time highs.
Markedly, FOXBusiness.com reported 29.5 million multiplatform unique visitors, drove 115 million multiplatform total minutes and saw 251 million multiplatform total views last month, securing double-digit growth across all metrics versus the prior year.
Fox’s investments in expanding its network are expected to have driven ratings. Additionally, portfolio strength across entertainment and news content is expected to have aided viewership.
Fox Corporation Price and Consensus
Growing Efforts to Boost Digital Presence
Fox News has been strengthening its presence on social media platforms including
Facebook
FB
. FOX News retained its #1 position in Facebook and Instagram interactions for November among news competitors, totaling 51 million on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram, according to Socialbakers, as cited by Fox.
Additionally, FOX News Channel (FNC) has become the most-watched basic cable network for the fifth consecutive year. As cited by Fox, FNC had the largest total day and primetime audience among total viewers in cable news history with 1.9 million viewers in total day and 3.6 million viewers in primetime
Moreover, the company recently expanded the presence of FOX News International, FOX News Media’s international streaming service to 30 countries worldwide including Chile, Panama and Portugal, surpassing FOX News Media’s original goal of reaching 20 countries by the end of 2020.
Earlier this month, FOX News Audio extended the availability of its catalogue of over 30 original podcasts as well as FOX News Radio’s (FNR) three nationally syndicated talk shows,
The Brian Kilmeade Show, FOX Across America with Jimmy Failla
and
The Guy Benson Show
to stream on
Amazon
’s
AMZN
Music app, which has over 55 million customers.
Moreover, Fox News is expected to launch a new, advertising supported, streaming weather service titled FOX Weather by the third quarter 2021. The platform will make its debut with the FOX Weather App in the third quarter of 2021, accompanied by an integrated website and streaming service featuring local, regional and national updates as well as live programming.
Coronavirus Hits Advertising Demand
Despite rigorous efforts to digitize features and boost viewership, the company is expected to bear the brunt of coronavirus-induced macroeconomic woes and heightened fears of a prolonged recession in the near term. Lower ad demand and spending is anticipated to hurt advertising revenues, which accounts for over 50% of the company’s top line.
Local advertising, a major source of revenues for Fox, has been badly hit by the coronavirus outbreak. Notably, Fox’s first-quarter fiscal 2021 advertising revenues declined 6.9% year over year to $969 million.
Moreover, cancellation of major sporting events globally is expected to dent advertising revenues in the near term, partially offset by higher pricing and stronger ratings at FOX News Media in the to-be-reported quarter.
Further, stiff competition from tech companies like Facebook, Twitter,
Alphabet
GOOGL
owned Google and Amazon for ad-dollars poses a threat to this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company. You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
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