WORLD SCREEN
Double-digit gains at Paramount helped to lift Viacom’s fourth-quarter revenues by 5 percent to $3.5 billion.
“Our strong performance in the fourth quarter capped off a pivotal year for Viacom,” said Bob Bakish, president and CEO. “We successfully turned around our core business, with dramatic improvements across our networks, at Paramount and in distribution. We also took important steps to evolve Viacom for the future—investing in our portfolio of advanced marketing solutions, digital and experiential offerings and global studio production business. As we head into 2019, we are excited about the company’s evolution and expect to return to topline growth.”
Filmed entertainment revenues were up 25 percent to $984 million, including improved licensing ($435 million) and theatrical ($337 million) revenues, and lower home-entertainment revenues of $157 million. Key drivers included the theatrical release of Mission: Impossible—Fallout and a boost at Paramount Television thanks to key deliveries such as Maniac to Netflix.
At Viacom Media Networks, revenues slipped slightly to $2.5 billion, with affiliate revenues up 4 percent to $1.2 billion and ad revenues down 6 percent to $1.1 billion.
