Viacom (VIA-B) was able to grow its revenue by 13 percent in the second quarter to come in at $3.19 billion, but its earnings declined finishing at $434 million. Last years' earnings were $437.3 million for the same quarter.
Earnings a share were a nice surprise for the company as they rose to 54 cents, after taking away investment gains and charges for restructuring, in contrast to last years 48 cents. Analysts were expecting about 50 cents a share.
Movie revenues, including DVD sales, led the way for Viacom, as they grew by 20 percent to $1.31 billion. Earnings were strong for movies as it increased to $21.4 million from $4.8 million. Major movie performers were "Blades of Glory," "Disturbia" and "Shrek the Third."
Viacom's cable business grew by 10 percent in general revenue, finishing at $1.92 billion, with earnings rising by 3 percent to reach $734.2 million. The unit includes TV Land, Nickelodeon, VH1 and Comedy Central, among others.
The digital strategy for the company seems to be going strong, as the niche Web sites they've been putting up in droves has brought an average of 85 million unique visitors a month, an increase of 68 percent over last year. Of course there's a big difference between visitors and monetizing those visitors. Still, at least it looks like they have a foundation in place digitally.
Advertising revenue for the entire business grew by 6 percent for the quarter, bringing in $1.15 billion.
CEO Philippe Dauman, speaking to analysts on a conference call said the company expects the MTV Networks division to generate double-digit volume in dollars for the fall season through its selling of commercials. That would be good if it happens, as MTV has been struggling a lot as of late.
Dauman added for MTV Networks they are also trying some different things with ads to make them "engaging to consumers." Things like decreasing the length of a group of ads, including programming aspects to them and changing their order.
In response to the dropping ratings of Nickelodeon and MTV, the company will launch a number of new series, some of which are said to have some early promise - whatever that means.
Chief financial officer Thomas Dooley said while domestic ad sales for the third quarter will be larger than the second quarter, he added, "However, we expect higher programming expenses to put pressure on margins in the third quarter versus last year as we continue the ramp-up of our new programming."
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