Media conglomerate, Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA) fiscal third quarter earnings fell by 7% as its ratings continued to slide even as Nickelodeon, a children network failed to catch the eyeballs.
Announcing its quarterly results on Friday, the company said profit for the period ending June 30 stood at $534mn against $574mn in the corresponding period of the last year. Revenue also plunged 14% to $3.2bn.
While the revenue from Viacom’s TV-networks division fell 5% to $2.27 billion, revenue from advertising plunged 7% domestically and 9% globally.
The Company’s affiliate fees from cable and satellite operators also dropped 1% in the quarter; however it is important to note that a digital licensing deal helped increasing revenue in the last year.
Meanwhile, revenue from its Film-entertainment segment also plummeted 29% to $1.01 billion. Lower revenue can be attributed to fewer films release in the last quarter compared to the same quarter in the last year.
For the company, Nickelodeon remains its biggest concern. Its viewership ratings started to fall sharply from last fall as it struggled to bring new shows even as it decided to push some of its content to Netflix’s digital service.
Rattled by falling viewership, the company announced launching of new programming in past few months, aimed at winning back its lost viewers. On Friday, the company also said that 14 projects are in the pipeline.
While speaking to investors in the conference call, Company’s Chief Executive Officer, Philippe Dauman, sounded positive for the next year; but declined to comment on when Nickelodeon’s ratings will improve.
“The network is beginning to show momentum; and I certainly expect to see year-on-year ratings improve”, said Dauman.
The company also said that it will continue repurchasing its shares; and, for the fiscal year ending September it expects to buyback common shares worth $2.8bn.
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