Forbes, in its Great Speculations series, sets its sights on 21st Century Fox, specifically the cash cow of the company: Fox News Channel. If you read this blog you know about the network’s formidable ratings. But how does that translate into dollars and cents?
Fox News has benefited from its dominance in cable news and the subscription revenues have grown from $350 million in 2007 to $1.14 billion in 2014. This is primarily due to a steady growth in monthly fees per subscriber, which has increased from an estimated $0.32 to $0.99 per month during the same period.
And that’s expected to grow. So, how much could Fox News command from its viewers:
Given the appeal of Fox News and its ratings, which were next only to the sports giant ESPN in 2014, it should be able to negotiate even better pricing in the coming years. Accordingly, we estimate the monthly fees per subscriber to be north of $1.20, translating into subscription revenues of around $1.50 billion by the end of our forecast period.
That’s not chump change.