Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch touts Fox News Channel success as ratings, advertising revenue thrive
Murdoch, speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, said great content and a loyal audience are critical when Morgan Stanley's Head of U.S. Media Research Ben Swinburne asked how Fox News would sustain its recent success and continue to grow distribution revenues over time.
"Look, it comes down to great content, great journalism and a great brand ultimately. If you look at the Fox News viewer, they're incredibly loyal. They're passionate about the service. They really see it as not just as a news service but as a network for them. It's important to note that we don't see Fox News anymore as just a news service. We see it as one of the top five broadcast networks in the United States, even though we don't have the same distribution that broadcast has," Murdoch said.
"In January and February, we were the No. 2 broadcast network, right? Equivalent to the No. 2 broadcast network at Fox News. Despite having a much smaller universe in cable. In January, we were only beaten by NBC, and in February we were only beaten by CBS," Murdoch continued. "And so that's how we view it. And that's how we're able to drive, frankly, the affiliate revenue growth that we've achieved."
Swinburne then said, "I don't think I'm breaking any news here to say after the election, a lot of people feel like the whole country is sort of stepping to the right a bit politically. Is that something that you guys are reacting to at the network in terms of the program or how you manage the business?"
Murdoch simply said, "nope," before articulating why he disagreed.
"Fox News has been the No. 1 news network for 23 years. Twenty-three years. So, you know, we see ourselves as a commonsense network. We cover stories that we believe - our viewers - are newsworthy and that our viewers are interested in. That hasn't changed. I think what has changed is perhaps it's the reverse of what you're applying in your question, is that the election and the election results have sort of validated Fox News' position, and we've seen that most strikingly in our advertising revenues," Murdoch said.
"We've had over 100 new clients since the election -- obviously, our ratings are doing tremendously well. Our share is doing tremendously well, over 65% share of the cable news universe. Ratings are up something like 50%. But, I think because of the election result, many advertisers have sort of rethought their positioning in this country and understand that the Fox News viewer really does represent middle America," he continued. "And they're responding with their checkbooks."
Fox News Channel obliterated competitors in 2024, finishing the year with its highest share of the cable news audience since 2015. The network has finished No. 1 in cable news among both total day and primetime viewers for 23 years in a row.
Fox News Channel also started 2025 off with a bang, averaging the largest audience in the first two months of a year in cable news history while CNN and MSNBC both struggled. It was the network's most-watched month of February of all time as Fox News finished with its third-highest share of the cable news audience since launching in 1996.
While Fox News has dominated cable news, it has also outdrawn a variety of free-TV options by averaging 3.9 million weeknight viewers in primetime since January to beat ABC, CBS, NBC.
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