Business of Media
Lachlan Murdoch: “Unprecedented” political advertising spend fueling Fox Corp. growth
Fox Corp, led by CEO Lachlan Murdoch, reported higher advertising and affiliate fee revenues for its fiscal fourth quarter, while overall earnings and revenue missed analyst expectations, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s Etan Vlessing.
The media company posted total revenue of $3.03 billion for the three months to June 30, up 5 percent from a year-earlier $2.89 billion. Zack Consensus Estimate forecast $3.06 billion in overall revenue.
The media giant also posted net income attributable to shareholders at $306 million, compared to a year-earlier net income attributable to shareholders at $253 million. The adjusted net income attributable to shareholders was 74 cents, which missed on an analyst’s forecast of 78 cents in per-share earnings.
Murdoch, on a morning premarket analyst call, said Fox continues to strengthen core brands while investing in “high-growth digital initiatives,” including Tubi, Fox Nation and Fox Weather. He also discussed the domestic advertising market.
See More: Record revenue and profits continue: News Corp reports full year results + reaction (updated)
Meta’s potential payment about-face books it a review by Treasury
Meta has moved to address concerns that it might renege on deals with Australian news organisations to pay for content, declaring its local arrangements are safe for now, following the company’s decision to dump news payments in the US, and reports of it not attending relevant local events, reports News Corp’s Chris Griffiths.
In 2021, Meta – then called Facebook – and Google reluctantly agreed to pay news companies and journalism organisations in Australia after the federal government introduced a mandatory bargaining code.
The code included compulsory “baseball” arbitration should no agreements be reached.
Treasury now is conducting a review of the code, which will examine the extent to which the code delivered outcomes consistent with its objectives, and identify potential improvements.
The review does not include the code’s policy objectives, say the terms of reference.
Disney edges past Netflix in streaming subscribers as it raises ad-free prices
Walt Disney edged past Netflix with a total of 221 million streaming subscribers at the end of the most recent quarter and announced it will launch a Disney+ option with advertising this December, reports The Guardian.
In the just-ended quarter, Disney+ added 14.4 million Disney+ customers, beating the consensus of 10 million expected by analysts polled by FactSet, as it released Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi and Marvel’s Ms Marvel.
Combined with Hulu and ESPN+, Disney said it had 221.1 million streaming subscribers at the end of the June quarter. Netflix said it had 220.7 million streaming subscribers.
Last month Netflix announced it had lost another 1 million subscribers, the company’s first ever back-to-back quarterly loss of customers. Netflix too is planning an ad-supported streaming option.
Disney lowers streaming subscriber forecast, sticks to profit target
Walt Disney Co lowered its long-term subscriber forecast for Disney+ customers on Wednesday, blaming the loss of cricket rights in India, but stuck with its target date for turning a profit from the company’s big push into streaming television, report Reuters’ Lisa Richwine and Dawn Chmielewski.
To protect streaming margins, the media giant announced it will raise the price of the ad-free version of Disney+ by nearly 38% when it launches an option with advertising in December.
The company now projects between 215 million and 245 million total Disney+ customers by the end of September 2024. That is down from the 230 million to 260 million which Disney had been forecasting.
BuzzFeed expects recession fears to pressure advertising
BuzzFeed Inc. posted a wider quarterly loss amid rising costs and expenses, and said it expected recession concerns to keep putting pressure on the advertising market, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Denny Jacob.
The digital media company, which beyond its namesake site houses the Tasty, Complex and HuffPost brands, said it lost $23.8 million in the second quarter, compared with a loss of $582,000 in the year-earlier period.
Revenue rose to $106.8 million from $89.1 million, a roughly 20% increase that met BuzzFeed’s prior forecast. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected $108.1 million.
Shares of BuzzFeed were up 4.8% in light after-hours trading. The stock has lost more than 80% of its value since going public late last year through a merger with a special-purpose-acquisition company.
Agencies
Wavemaker announces three promotions to its Adelaide office
Wavemaker has announced the promotions of Brooke Major, Jordan Hooper and Celine Le in its Adelaide office, under the leadership of managing director Phil Mumford.
Major, who has been with the agency for five and a half years, takes on the role of marketplace director, stepping up from marketplace associate director. In the new role, she will be Wavemaker Adelaide’s single marketplace leader, responsible for leading activation and investment across all Adelaide-based clients.
Mumford said of Major’s promotion: “With nearly two decades of media agency experience, mostly spent in the investment area, Brooke is making a well-deserved move into the role of Marketplace Director to be our market lead for all things investment-related.
“Having been the marketplace lead on the key Mitsubishi Motors client for the past few years, we are excited for her to be expanding her role to cover agency-wide marketplace operations while remaining a key member of the Mitsi client team,” he added.
News Brands
What next for Kevin Rudd’s Murdoch royal commission push?
It has been almost two years since Kevin Rudd uploaded a video to his social media channels calling Rupert Murdoch an “arrogant cancer on our democracy” and invited Australians to sign his petition for a royal commission into media diversity, reports Nine Publishing’s Lisa Visentin.
It gathered half a million signatures, including that of former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, and triggered a year-long Senate committee inquiry that concentrated its focus on the influence of Murdoch’s News Corp empire.
Controversially, the committee delivered on Rudd’s call in November, with Labor senators teaming up with the Greens to recommend the government initiate a judicial inquiry with “the powers of a royal commission” to investigate media concentration.
But Labor’s senior ranks moved almost immediately to snuff out any momentum. First in opposition and then in government, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland made it clear they had no interest in taking up the cause, repeatedly ruling out a royal commission into the Murdoch press or the Australian media landscape more broadly.
SMH editor Bevan Shields defends Peter FitzSimons’ interview with Indigenous senator Jacinta Price
Nine Entertainment’s Sydney Morning Herald has backed the behaviour of a star columnist accused of bullying Indigenous senator Jacinta Price during an interview, but has declined to settle the dispute by releasing a recording of the hour-long exchange, report News Corp’s James Madden and Sophie Elsworth.
Sydney Morning Herald editor Bevan Shields revealed he had now listened to the interview by Peter FitzSimons and declared it “interesting”, dismissing the claims by Senator Price and saying it was time to “move on”.
Shields, who has faced a rocky start to his editorship, with a staff revolt and several apologies, including for outing a Hollywood actress, backed FitzSimons, dismissing Senator Price’s account as wrong.
“There was no yelling and no shouting from either participant,” Shields posted to Twitter.
“This was an interesting interview in which the senator’s positions and views were tested.”
Television
Can House of the Dragon be HBO’s next Game of Thrones?
George R.R. Martin has seen the comments, and he’s read the emails, reports The New York Times’ John Koblin.
Ever since Game of Thrones, the groundbreaking HBO fantasy series, went off the air in May 2019, he has been well aware of the backlash against the show’s final season. Martin, the man who painstakingly created the Thrones universe over the last three decades through his many books, and who was mostly on the sidelines during the final seasons of the TV series, does wonder if there will be some viewers who skip House of the Dragon, the first Thrones spinoff. The series will make its much-anticipated debut on HBO and HBO Max on Aug. 21.
“People say, ‘I’m done with Game of Thrones, they burned me, I’m not even going to watch this new show — I’m not going to watch any of the new shows,’” Martin said in a recent interview.
The question, he said, is how much of the Thrones audience do the complainers represent?
Sports Media
More AFL games likely to end up behind paywall
More AFL games are expected to end up locked behind a paywall in the next broadcast deal, and if Foxtel gets its way there will be no free-to-air football on a Saturday, reports 3AW.
The Age reports more games will be behind a paywall, regardless of who wins the rights to the broadcast deal from 2025.
Chief football writer at The Age, Jake Niall, says Foxtel is pushing for no free-to-air games on Saturdays, seeking to have an exclusive ‘Super Saturday’, similar to the NRL broadcast deal.
“Essentially what would happen is Saturday night footy, which is on Seven, there would be two games on Saturday night and both of them would be carried by Foxtel,” he told Ross and Russel.
“Very likely the trade off would be Thursday nights would increase.
“So I think what we’re hearing is the Thursday night slot will become bigger, there will be more games on Thursday night and more of them will be on free to air.”