The U.S. Presidential election and the historical World Series victory for the Chicago Cubs spelled out success for 21st Century Fox. The media company saw revenue increase by 4% to $7.68 billion according to their most recent quarterly earnings report. The earnings rise occurred thanks to the battle over the White House and rising interests in the World Series.
Profits for last quarter were up 53 cents a share, an increase from 44 cents in 2015. However, investors reaction to the quarterly earnings report was less than optimistic. Shares of Fox dropped in after-hours trading, before bouncing back.
Since it was an election year for 21st Century Fox, the number of election commercials and high ratings for live sports helped the company’s struggling film sector.
The studio was hit hard by box office flops including Assassin’s Creed, Trolls, Why Him? and Rules Don’t Apply. However, the studio benefited from the DVD sales of Matt Damon’s The Martian, a Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and Deadpool.
“Our record-breaking post-season baseball run underscores the immense value of our sports programming, as well as the broader competitive advantage we have built through our other leadership positions in entertainment and news,” Executive Chairmen Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement.
The earnings report comes the day after the Super Bowl game between the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots. The media company explained that the game would result in $500 million in advertising and sponsorship revenue. Over 100 million people watched the Super Bowl on Sunday. That said, ratings for the Super Bowl were down slightly from last year.
The company’s CEO also discussed the future of the company as the media entity focuses on moving towards online programming.
Earlier this year it was announced Fox News correspondent Megyn Kelly departed from the company and signed a deal with NBC.
But, Fox’s film industry is off to a decent start. The Georgia-filmed Oscar-nominated movie, Hidden Figures, took home $127.5 million.