Best Medicine, Fear Factor reboot help drive Fox’s best midseason launch in 14 years

Fox’s Doc Martin adaptation Best Medicine

Fox Television Network claims to be having its best midseason launch in more than 14 years, helped by new shows Fear Factor: House of Fear, Memory of a Killer and Doc Martin adaptation Best Medicine.

The Murdoch-run company on Wednesday said each of the series has driven more than 11 million viewers across platforms, driving a 21% year-over-year increase in total minutes watched.

During Fox Corp’s second-quarter (Q2) earnings call on Wednesday, executive chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the network’s strategy for both scripted and unscripted programming was working – a fact that was also reflected in the financial results, with Fox’s entertainment revenue growing for the first time in four years, he said.

Overall, Fox Corp’s revenue hit US$5.18bn in Q2, up 2% from US$5.08bn the year before. Within that, revenue at its cable networks division was up 5.1% to US$2.26bn, while television revenue dipped less than 1% to US$2.94bn. Over the past two quarters, TV revenue is up 1.5%.

Adjusted earnings hit US$692m in Q2, down from US$781m a year earlier.

Elsewhere, Murdoch said the launch of Fox One, the company’s new streaming service, had exceeded expectations, with around two-thirds of the new audience being sports fans while the remaining one-third are coming to the service to watch Fox News.

Fox has not yet disclosed how many sign-ups Fox One has had since launching in August.