Viacom experiments with VOD release dates
CEO cautious about day-and-date, touts online video revenue
By Danny King -- Video Business, 5/27/2009
MAY 27 | DIGITAL: Viacom is experimenting with different video-on-demand release date windows for its Paramount Pictures' films, the company's chief said today. Viacom also is boosting revenue for its cable networks from online video programming as affiliate rates rise.
Viacom is working with cable distributors such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable to move some of its VOD titles day-and-date with DVD, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said at the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Strategic Decisions Conference in Danbury, Conn., today.
"We're looking at the windows and how they impact the rental market and sell-through market," said Dauman, who cautioned that the studio is being "very careful" about moving VOD release dates. "It'll be a little while before you see all titles be moved to day-and-date."
Dauman also said the audience for its cable networks such as Spike and Comedy Central, which is younger than the average overall viewing audience, is helping boost affiliate sales for online video programming, because Viacom networks' ratings account for a disproportionately large share of on-demand viewing for services such as Comcast's Fancast.
Viacom is looking to reverse its first-quarter revenue decline by increasing sales derived from its cable network and home entertainment operations. Despite having the first quarter's most-rented DVD in Eagle Eye and distributing the second-best-selling DVD, DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Viacom said last month that Paramount Home Entertainment’s DVD sales dropped 9% from a year earlier, while overall revenue declined 7%.
As part of its strategy, Paramount will cut its number of theatrical releases per year to between 15 and 20, with a higher percentage of its titles derived from franchises such as Star Trek, Iron Man and Transformers, Dauman said, adding that such titles pose less risk for the company because they cost less to make and translate to better DVD sales.
