Fox Corporation

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Fox Corporation fourth quarter fiscal year 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. I would like to emphasize that functionality for the question and answer queue will be given at that time. If you should require assistance during the call, please press star then zero. 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.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, and welcome to our fiscal 2024 fourth quarter earnings call. Joining me on the call today are Lachlan Murdoch, Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer, John Mallon, Chief Operating Officer, and Steve Tomczyk, 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.

Thank you, Gabby, and thank you all for joining us this morning to celebrate our fiscal fourth quarter results. Fiscal 2024 was another successful year for Fox, in which we delivered nearly $14 billion of revenue and $2.88 billion of EBITDA. The year that just ended and the momentum from the start of our new fiscal year underscore that the soundness of our strategy, the consistency of our delivery, and and the strength of our financial position has never been more clear. Looking back, there were clear achievements across our businesses in fiscal 24, including delivering strong total company affiliate revenue growth each quarter from our ongoing renewals, cementing Tubi's position as the most watched free TV and movie streaming service in the United States, and generating reinvigorated ratings and share growth at Fox News. The power of our brands and our ability to deliver engaged audiences at scale across our platforms remains remarkably strong. Total time spent viewing all Fox brands increased in fiscal 24, despite the absence of the Super Bowl and FIFA Men's World Cup. To-be viewing time, as measured by Nielsen, grew 57% in fiscal 24, with absolute growth in minutes viewing easily surpassing the growth of leading subscription video on-demand services. Fox Sports' Big Noon Saturday was the number one ranked window in college football for a third straight year, while America's Game of the Week hit an eight-year viewership high this fiscal year. And Fox News was, again, the most watched network in cable news in fiscal 24, with 52% more minutes of viewing than its closest competitor. Our foundation for this coming fiscal year is solid, as we carry the momentum from fiscal 24 into another year of major events, particularly for our news and sports businesses. The recent news cycle has been nothing short of extraordinary. And when news breaks, people turn to the news brand they trust. The strength of our news coverage is unmatched, And Fox News remains the clear first choice for viewers during the most pivotal moments. The fourth quarter saw audience levels return to growth at the Fox News channel, driven by our political coverage and strong primetime lineup. Fox News exited the fiscal year as the most watched network in all of cable, in total day and in primetime, and gained share amongst cable news networks in both prime and total day versus last year. Furthermore, the ratings story at Fox News continued to improve into this fiscal year when, in July, total viewers grew nearly 80%, and the 25-54 demo grew 120% over last year. Fox News had its highest-rated weekend ever in primetime in July, with over 5.7 million viewers tuning in to its extended coverage of the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In fact, Fox News had its highest share of the cable news audience across the board in prime time since August 2015. And the Fox News channel rated number one across all linear television in July for total viewers in weekday prime, beating the nearest broadcast competitor by nearly 10%. These positive trends bode well for news as we continue through this extraordinary news cycle. But news is not our only business with great momentum. Tubi is also enjoying impressive viewership metrics and revenue growth. Tubi improved upon its status as the most watched free TV and movie streaming service in the US, finishing the fiscal year at a record high of 2% of total TV viewing. Tubi saw continued momentum in viewership during the fourth quarter. reaching an all-time high of 81 million monthly active users and growing total view time by 17%, driven by an expansive library that offers something for every consumer. Not only is the Tubi library the largest in the U.S., but it also has unique content that audiences can only find on Tubi. Notwithstanding a complex digital advertising marketplace and a tough year-on-year comparison, this viewership drove 7% revenue growth during the quarter, Importantly, however, we ended the month of June with revenue growth in the teams, and that pace has continued into this quarter with steady pricing, despite increased inventory in the overall market. Over at Fox Sports, the fourth quarter was very active, thanks to Fox's Summer of Soccer, which exceeded all expectations and set viewership records. The UEFA European Championship averaged 1.7 million viewers across the Fox broadcast network and FS1, a 34% gain over the 2021 tournament. And Cobra America averaged 1.4 million viewers over a three-time increase above the 2021 tournament. The two finals also broke records and now rank as the most watched soccer matches ever on Fox, other than World Cup matches. But it's not just soccer that our audiences are watching this summer. The regular season of Major League Baseball is also trending positively. And our special broadcast of the Rickwood game and the Major League Baseball All-Star game each performed well above expectations. And in just a few short weeks, we welcome back the NFL and college football on Fox. Our 2024 NFL schedule will start strong. Fox's first Four Americas game of the week windows includes three Dallas Cowboys games and a rematch of last year's Chiefs versus Niners Super Bowl. And, of course, our schedule ends strong, too, culminating in Super Bowl 59 this February on Fox. Also debuting this fall will be a new lineup from Fox Entertainment with the return of popular shows like Hell's Kitchen and The Masked Singer, and the debut of new dramas like High Surf and Murder in a Small Town, which many of you saw a preview of at our successful upfront presentation in May. Speaking of the upfront, we see a much healthier market than the nuanced one I referred to six months ago. As evidence, our upfront commitments were strong. Our focused portfolio of market-leading properties in sports, news, entertainment, and streaming delivered year-over-year growth in both linear and digital advertising commitments, as well as growth in overall portfolio pricing in this year's upfront. Notably, we saw double-digit volume growth and stable pricing at Tubi, which is testament to its incredible momentum in the streaming marketplace. At the local level, we are expecting a very robust election advertising cycle that will be weighted to our second quarter. If anything, As the polling tightens, the election map may be extended to more of the markets in which we operate. As we enter a very exciting fiscal 2025, we will continue to focus on execution with events such as the U.S. election cycle at our local stations and Fox News Super Bowl 59 on Fox, the renewal of one quarter of our distribution revenue, and the launch of the venue sports streaming service in the fall. Our strong differentiated position, coupled with the strength of our balance sheet, underpin our confidence on continuing to deliver meaningful shareholder returns. And with that, I'll hand over to Steve.