Fox Corp. is in the early stages of expanding into lifestyle verticals in categories like the outdoors, home and books, CEO Lachlan Murdoch told Axios in an interview.
Why it matters: The hope is that new lifestyle verticals, in addition to streaming, sports betting and web3 projects, “will give us our growth going forward,” Murdoch said.
Details: The push into lifestyle content builds on the success of Fox News Media’s subscription streaming service Fox Nation, which launched in 2018 as Fox News’s first big foray into softer content.
“It’s seen not just as a news brand,” Murdoch said at Fox Corp. headquarters in New York City. “A lot of the content on Fox Nation is lifestyle content. It’s outdoor content and documentaries.” meaning for the brand as it expands include food and home, Murdoch said.
The company has already started to plant some lifestyle products in its news unit, but the success of Fox Nation has prompted the company to redouble its efforts.
Fox News Books, the book publishing arm the company launched in 2020 with HarperCollins is “a profitable business” and “a great opportunity,” Murdoch said. So far, the company has sold more than 1 million copies of books on behalf of Fox News personalities. “You will see over time, we will also choose external authors.”Credible, the personal finance recommendation engine that Fox acquired a majority stake in 2019 will be used to help expand Fox’s personal finance vertical. Today, Credible exists as a section within the Fox Business website that helps users compare prices between lenders.fox time it is the most ambitious expansion of Fox News Media’s portfolio in recent months. The 24/7 ad-supported digital streaming service is supported by dozens of local affiliates across the country. Murdoch calls the app, which has had more than 1.5 million downloads since launch, “a great deal from an ad revenue standpoint.”
Between lines: The expansion comes amid growing criticism that Fox News programming has become too divisive. When asked about that, Murdoch noted:
“I think when you’re in the news business, and you’re number one … you get a lot of heat and it just comes with the territory,” he told Axios, referring to the company’s longtime cable news ratings leadership. weather.
Be smart: Fox will have competition as more conservative news properties have delved deeper into lifestyle content in recent months.
The Daily Wire, for example, has launched an entertainment branch that focuses on dramas that rebuke political correctness. Fox Nation includes special faith-based and patriotic-themed programming and offers a discount to veterans.
By the numbers: Murdoch describes Fox Corp.’s approach to streaming as “cautious,” which has helped the company avoid much of the recent Wall Street discontent with big streaming spenders.
The company acquired Tubi, a free, ad-supported streaming service that Murdoch calls “the future of streaming,” for $440 million in 2020. Murdoch said one analyst’s estimate that Tubi will generate about $700 million in revenue this year “is correct”. “As a whole, Fox is investing around $200-$300 million per year collectively in its broadcast companies, Tubi, Fox Weather and Fox Nation, and Murdoch expects Fox’s broadcast efforts to be profitable in “a few years” Figures for Fox Nation said the total addressable market for the service is much smaller than CNN executives projected for the now-defunct subscription streaming service CNN+.”It’s in the high-single-digit millions.” Murdock said.
The panorama: In the wake of the spin-off of Fox Corp.’s mass entertainment portfolio in 2019, Murdoch has focused on finding ways to more deeply engage Fox’s most loyal fans in news, sports and entertainment.
While lifestyle content will become the vehicle for developing new revenue streams around the Fox News media brand, betting and NFTs are being used to provide a great service to sports and entertainment fans. . properties. In the future, Murdoch said, there could be a deal worth “many millions” helping other brands produce NFTs through Fox’s blockchain studio, an effort he recently attempted with WWE.
Between lines: Fox is the only major sports broadcaster in the US to have launched its own betting platform. Murdoch says there are more than 6.5 million Fox Bet users to date.
Yes, but: Fox’s multi-million dollar foray into sports betting has hit a snag due to a dispute with Flutter, the parent company of the FanDuel Group, over the value of Fox’s stake in FanDuel. While Murdoch said the arbitration around the dispute “should be resolved by the summer”, the launch so far has been “disappointing”.
What to see: One of Fox’s most intriguing projects so far this year has been the reboot of the USFL’s spring football league that Fox launched with a historic simulcast with NBC in April. Ratings so far have been surprisingly good, considering previous efforts to build a spring football league have floundered.
Murdoch said that Fox plans to continue building small local teams and then sell those franchises to local owners within five to seven years. One area Murdoch has no current plans to move into is gaming. Murdoch said the company took a look at game companies 10 or 15 years ago, when it owned a large studio operation.
1 funny thing: Asked if the reports about Tom Brady’s massive 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox Sports are correct, Murdoch said those numbers are “directionally correct.”
Murdoch said the two sides began negotiating the deal months ago.
Go deeper: Lachlan Murdoch responds to criticism that Fox News is polarizing
Source: www.axios.com