Viacom Boss Talks Nickelodeon Ratings Issues, Ads, 'Paranormal Activity,' Investor Returns

NY - Viacom is constantly on the give consideration to growing without major purchases and return an thought $20 billion to traders over the following five years via returns and stock buybacks, leader and Boss Philippe Dauman mentioned here Monday inside a UBS media investor conference.our editor recommendsWall Street Weighs in at in at Viacom's Outlook Among Ad, Nickelodeon Ratings ChallengesViacom Boss: Vital Developing Recommendations for 'Paranormal Activity 4,' 'Transformers 4' In the keynote lunch interview within the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, Dauman mentioned he feels excellent about Viacom's outlook, including more effective advertising rise in early 2012, and mentioned it's "a great platform for future growth." The conglomerate is a much more multi-platform and global company in five years, he mentioned. Asked for in regards to the recent ratings challenges of babies funnel Nickelodeon, which Dauman formerly mentioned were "inexplicable" and is an error, he mentioned that there are no real news on that front and vowed that his systems unit's advertising trends would improve inside the first quarter of 2012. "There's not new,Inch he mentioned. "Nobody is a lot more annoyed with that than myself." The Wall Street Journal had reported earlier inside the day that Nielsen still thinks its ratings data for Nickelodeon is correct. "Right now, however imperfect Nielsen is, it is the only game around,Inch Dauman told the UBS conference. "We'll proceed.In . Nevertheless the ratings issue is "an problem which will be alleviated" due to more new shows on Nickelodeon in comparison to network ever suffered soon. Plus, advertising sales from Nickelodeon could make up a considerably smaller sized part of the organization's total beginning next quarter. More youthful crowd layed out that Nickelodeon is constantly hold its lead over ad-driven competitor Cartoon Network. For next quarter, all which means that he needs more effective ad growth due to a far more effective content pipeline together with a "better tone" available on the market in comparison to a current slowness in scatter ad market sales in recent days. "We are feeling excellent,Inch Dauman mentioned, repeating the Nickelodeon problem will use you need to be a "blip." Dauman once again acknowledged although the current quarter's ad revenue momentum will probably be drawn lower with the Nickelodeon problem and "some soft qualities generally scatter demand" throughout the final a few days. But he vowed that his firm's cable systems unit margins would grow this quarter. On more upbeat notes, Dauman once again famous such TV hits as Jersey Shoreline which is stars, additionally to film franchise Paranormal Activity. He mentioned the Vital studio, which will next season start praising its a hundred years in operation, expects to to create new Paranormal film every year thinking about the truth that it's developed a Halloween franchise from this that's "very lucrative." Meanwhile, Epix, the premium TV venture of Viacom, MGM and Lionsgate, sees an exclusivity window in the digital distribution deal with Netflix expire in September, interviewer and top UBS banker Aryeh Bourkoff mentioned. The initial a few the sale's five years were exclusive. Adked if Epix must boost the exclusivity, Dauman mentioned that "the requirement for our content has elevated" since the deal. The firm could extend the exclusivity for "valueInch or look for added handles other online entrepreneurs following a exclusivity period finishes. Highlighting an 11 percent compound annual rate of development in affiliate fee revenue since he needed over as Boss five years ago, Dauman on Monday mentioned he needs high single digit to low double digit gains in this particular area afterwards. Dauman mentioned he sees no go to a la carte options of cable systems afterwards. However when this might happen, Viacom can do well even if this might be a trend due to very good of the channels. Asked for about competition from YouTube's original content funnel strategy, he mentioned his firm stays billions yearly on content, so that it won't the simple for Google's movie site to deal with that. Speaking about Vital as well as the performance of Viacom's film unit, Dauman mentioned the studio would carry on growing margins in later on, which is new animation unit might be "arrivedInch in five years. Asked for about key challenges over the following five years, Dauman reported film piracy just like a key concern. But social media is constantly on the supply upside, Dauman predicted, pointing to how Beyonce's baby bump drove Twitter traffic through the MTV Video Music Honours. That aided ratings, and the organization knows how you can "use social media to market new shows we placed onInch too, he mentioned. Speaking about worldwide options, Dauman spoke of upside inside the BRI nations - South usa, Russia and India. He stressed he didn't take advantage from the more widespread term BRIC "because China remains a very tough market." Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Subjects Viacom Philippe Dauman