Fox Corporation (NASDAQ:FOX) Q3 2024 Results Conference Call May 8, 2024 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Gabrielle Brown - Chief IRO
Lachlan Murdoch - Executive Chair & CEO
Steve Tomsic - CFO

Conference Call Participants

John Hodulik - UBS
Robert Fishman - MoffettNathanson
Ben Swinburne - Morgan Stanley
Jessica Reif Ehrlich - Bank of America Securities
Michael Morris - Guggenheim

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Fox Corporation Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

I'll now turn the conference over to Chief Investor Relations Officer, Ms. Gabrielle Brown. Please go ahead, Ms. Brown.

Gabrielle Brown

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to our fiscal 2024 3rd quarter earnings call. Joining me on the call today are Lachlan Murdoch, Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer; John Nallen, Chief Operating Officer; and Steve Tomsic, our Chief Financial Officer. First, Lachlan and Steve will give some prepared remarks on the most recent quarter, and then we'll take questions from the investment community. Please note that this call may include forward-looking statements regarding Fox Corporation's financial performance and operating results. These statements are based on management's current expectations, and actual results could differ from what is stated as a result of certain factors identified on today's call and in the company's SEC filings.

Additionally, this call will include certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA or EBITDA, as we refer to it on this call. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release and our SEC filings, which are available in the Investor Relations section of our website.

And with that, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Lachlan.

Lachlan Murdoch

Thank you, Gabby, and thanks, everyone, for joining us this morning. This quarter, FOX continued to distinguish itself from its peers delivering 7% EBITDA growth and demonstrating again the strength of our brands and the advantages of our strategy. This result is even more impressive when considering we are comping to last year's third quarter, which enjoyed a significant tailwind from Super Bowl 57.

In the fiscal third quarter, total affiliate revenue fees grew 4% with positive growth at both our Television and Cable segments, driven by pricing benefits from our recent renewals. Headline advertising revenues were down during the quarter as expected, due to the absence of the Super Bowl and fewer NFL broadcast than in the prior year. If not for the difference in our NFL postseason schedule, our total advertising revenues would have increased a few percent. Overall, advertising trends at FOX are clearly moving in the right direction, both in the scatter market and in early upfront discussions. Demand for sports remains robust, while trends at FOX News are improving across the board, including the fact that we have now fully lapped the direct response market issue that had adversely impacted FOX News PR revenues.