Foxtel, Kayo drive 17pc surge in News Corp earnings
NEWS Corp has chalked up a surge in quarterly earnings, helped by the consolidation of Foxtel and strength in the group’s book publishing business.
The media heavyweight has also reported fast-paced growth in subscriptions at its Kayo Sports streaming service, launched late last year.
Total Kayo subscribers now number 239,000, doubling since February, when there were 115,000. More than 209,000 of the tally are paid subscribers.
For the three months to March, News Corp’s revenue spiked 17 per cent from the same period a year earlier, to $US2.46 billion ($3.52 billion).
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation clocked in at $US247 million for the quarter – up 36 per cent from a year earlier.
Year-to-date revenue was up 20 per cent to $US7.61 billion while earnings were up 29 per cent at $US975 million.
News Corp reported growth in paid digital subscribers at its newspapers, which include the Herald Sun, The Australian, London’s The Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Digital subscribers now account for more than 36 per cent of the publishing business’s total subscriber base.
News Corp chief Robert Thomson said the outlook for the media company was positive on strength of growth in digital.
“There is no doubt that the content landscape is changing and that we are seeing more people prepared to pay more for trusted and innovative entertainment delivered efficiently and seamlessly to their mobile phone or home devices,” Mr Thomson said.
The group’s news publishing and information services business, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of total revenue, reported a 5 per cent slide in revenue to $US1.22 billion.
Earnings in the unit were down 16 per cent, primarily due to a lower contribution from News America Marketing, and weakness in print advertising across the British and Australian businesses.
The decline was partially offset by a higher revenue contribution from Dow Jones.
Digital revenue represented 31 per cent of global publishing revenue in the second quarter compared with 29 per cent a year earlier.
At News Corp’s Australian mastheads, the number of digital subscribers increased from 409,000 a year ago to 493,200 at the end of March.
Mr Thomson said the Australian business should hit the 500,000 subscription mark in coming weeks.