Fox Corp Class A (NASDAQ:FOXA) stock rose 1.34% (As on February 9, 11:32:17 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company  reported second-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates and unveiled an additional round of share buybacks, as major sports events and November’s midterm elections in the U.S. helped boost advertising at the media company. Adjusted net income attributable to shareholders more than tripled to $259 million in the three months to the end of December compared to the same period in the prior year. The New York-based group behind the Fox News cable news channel posted a 4% climb in quarterly advertising revenue. Fox said the uptick partly reflected the impact of the Fifa World Cup soccer tournament in November and December, strong results from National Football. Quarterly Adjusted EBITDA was $531 million, a 71% increase from the $310 million reported in the prior year quarter, reflecting the revenue increases noted above and lower expenses due to the absence of Thursday Night Football.

Moreover, Television reported quarterly segment revenues of $2.93 billion, an increase of $175 million or 6% from the prior year quarter. Advertising revenues increased $98 million or 5%, primarily due to the broadcast of the World Cup, strong NFL ratings and pricing and additional broadcast windows at FOX Sports, higher political advertising revenues at the FOX Television Stations and continued growth at Tubi, partially offset by the absence of Thursday Night Football

FOXA in the second quarter of FY 23 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 48 cents, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 47 cents. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 4 percent to $4.61 billion in the second quarter of FY 23, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $4.57 billion. Affiliate fee revenues rose 1% thanks to 6% growth at the Television unit. Ad revenue climbed 4%, no mean feat in a tough economic climate, mostly due to the World Cup in Qatar and strong NFL results at Fox Sports. Other boosts came from political spending at the company’s local stations and growth for streaming service Tubi. The category of “other revenue” increased 13%, which the company said was primarily due to the December acquisition of Mar Vista Entertainment and higher Fox Nation subscription revenue. Fox has not disclosed subscriber numbers for Fox Nation, which launched in 2018.

Meanwhile, Fox announced that its board had authorized the incremental repurchase of an added $3B in shares, bringing its total buyback program up to $7B.