Yahoo Finance Fox's (FOXA) Fox News Ends 2022 as the Number One News Channel
Fox Corporation FOXA recently announced that Fox News Digital has finished 2022 as the top-performing new channel. It secured more than 18 billion multiplatform views, over 34 billion multiplatform minutes and averaged 82.7 million monthly multiplatform unique visitors in 2022.
Per Emplifi, Fox News Digital was also recorded as the most engaged news brand on social media in 2022, as it drove massive traction on Facebook and Instagram with 179.7 million and 215.9 million interactions, respectively.
Fox News Digital was also seen outperforming its competitor Warner Bros. Discovery’s WBD CNN, which had 17 billion multiplatform views and 29 billion multiplatform minutes. This marks the first time that Fox surpassed CNN in multiplatform views since 2019.
Fox Business Network also recorded a successful year as it earned 3.3 billion multiplatform minutes and 1.9 billion multiplatform views in 2022, the highest since its launch in 2007.
Fox Sees a Slow Down in Growth Due to Cord-Cutting
Despite outperforming its competitors and scoring the number one rank, Fox News Digital’s performance has been deteriorating on a year-over-year basis. The multiplatform views, multiplatform minutes and monthly multiplatform unique visitors for 2022 have slumped by 10%, 17% and 12%, respectively.
Viewership at Fox Business Network also slumped, as it drew 134,000 total viewers in 2022 compared to 180,000 in 2021.
Less engagement has abated revenue growth for Fox as in the first quarter of fiscal 2023, revenues improved by just 4.8% compared to 12% growth in the first quarter of fiscal 2022.
This primarily could be attributed to the ongoing cord-cutting as the viewers are shifting their preference toward streaming apps. Per Techjury, it is expected that 55.1% of U.S. consumers have cut cord by 2022 and are accessing TV content through the Internet.
Fox Corporation Price and Consensus
Fox Corporation price-consensus-chart | Fox Corporation Quote
This is a serious headwind for Fox as cord-cutting rates are expected to intensify in the future. Reports of Techjury also anticipate that cable and satellite TV penetration will fall by 26% by 2030.
Shares of Fox have declined 20.6% in the past year compared with the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector, which fell 24.2% in the same time frame.
What further escalates the threat for Fox is its merger with News Corporation NWSA, which has been facing opposition from big shareholders. News Corp’s heavy dependence on foreign currencies, which are shaky due to U.S. dollar strengthening, creates concerns for Fox’s investors.
Zack Rank & Stock to Consider
Fox currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
A better-ranked stock in the same sector is Nexstar Media Group NXST, which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Shares of Nexstar Media Group have gained 12.4% in the past year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $7.57, which has been constant over the past 30 days.
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News Corporation (NWSA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Nexstar Media Group, Inc (NXST) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Fox Corporation (FOXA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
