CBS Corporation Q2 Revenues Rise by 10 Percent

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CBS Corporation reported second-quarter revenues of $3.8 billion, a 10-percent increase, with advertising, content licensing, affiliate and subscription revenues all higher than they were in the year-ago period.

“CBS delivered another outstanding quarter as we continue to execute on our long-term growth strategy, which is to invest in our premium content and direct-to-consumer streaming services,” said Joe Ianniello, president and acting CEO. “We achieved double-digit revenue growth in the second quarter, with increases in each of our three key revenue sources. Our direct-to-consumer services, CBS All Access and Showtime, continue to perform strongly, helping fuel a 13-percent increase in affiliate and subscription fee revenue for the quarter. And we remain on track to reach our goal of 25 million subscribers combined by 2022. Meanwhile, advertising grew 7 percent, and we have continued momentum as we head into the back half of the year, thanks to another robust upfront, with solid gains in pricing. Content licensing also had a very strong quarter, up 12 percent, as we continue to build a lucrative portfolio by creating must-have programming for our own content brands in addition to highly successful content for third-party platforms. So with our strong quarterly results and the prospects we have before us, we feel even better about our future as a global multiplatform premium content company.”

Net profit was up 10 percent to $440 million.

The entertainment segment, consisting of CBS Television Network, CBS Television Studios, CBS Global Distribution Group, Network 10, CBS Interactive, CBS Sports Network and CBS Films, posted revenues of $2.74 billion, a 14-percent increase. Ad revenues gained 9 percent and content licensing and distribution 18 percent, while affiliate and subscription fees rose by 22 percent, driven by virtual MVPD agreements and CBS All Access.

Showtime Networks, Pop and Smithsonian Networks generated total cable network revenues of $562 million, a 2-percent increase.