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Your guide on what the US elections of 2024 mean for Washington and Le Monde
A conservative television empire is – without surprise – prosperous in the era of President Donald Trump. Can a second find similar success?
Hoping to reproduce, if not challenge, Fox Corporation, Newsmax went public this week. The cable television network adapted to Trump has raised $ 75 million. Tuesday, his shares went from his registration price from $ 10 to $ 233, which implies a market capitalization of $ 30 billion.
That day, Bump gave Newsmax a business value roughly comply with that of Fox Corporation, which has the longtime conservative network Fox News. However, Fox generated $ 14 billion in revenue during its fiscal year 2024. Newsmax, on the other hand, had a civil turnover of only $ 170 million.
Various projects affiliated to Trump – from the social application Truth to cryptocurrencies – have experienced an element of phenomenon of the same. Newsmax's actions are no exception. But do not reduce the influence of the network in the right circles and the resulting possibility of creating a significant business over time.
Newsmax is already transferred to households of 50 million and has several very well rated shows which accumulate well against Fox News. The difference between the two-Rivals now: Newsmax has barely started to monetize its subscribers.
Paid television networks are secular declining companies. In a decade, total households subscribe to a satellite and a cable fell by around 100 minutes in the United States to less than 60 million. But the sector still generates a lot of money via advertising and subscriptions.
On this last front, Newsmax notes that Fox News, CNN and MSNBC are charging between $ 0.83 and $ 2.50 per month per subscriber, among the most expensive networks available. Newsmax has not disclosed its exact rate but is estimated only to a penny or two.
Consequently, at Fox, total affiliation fees – think that subscriptions to customers have been reduced to the media company via the paid television distributor – on all of its broadcasting networks reported more than $ 7 billion, while advertising has only generated $ 5 billion.
The affiliation fees in 2024 in Newsmax represented only 16% of income, the company with an Ad Bucks for the rest. Expect that Newsmax is starting to charge distributors a sum more in accordance with its own grades and that of peers, it is already difficult in the audience figures.
Newsmax also builds a streaming platform, which has a subscription level which charges $ 4.99 each month. But the company admits that most of its viewers are over 45 years old and are still glued to traditional television. Various Fox personalities have now migrated to Newsmax. For the first time, the inherited conservative brand must fight for its main audience.
The sensational assessment of Newsmax will undoubtedly be part of the coming weeks. Wednesday, its shares dropped around 40%. But what remains is one of the most interesting entrepreneurial bets in the Trump era. Newsmax is not a technological disruptor. He also does not benefit from a booming sector. Its billionaire founder Christopher Ruddy is simply bet that even a dying industry can support a new entrant, if it produces content that people want.
