You are viewing the archive: “Viacom Philippe Dauman”

Viacom’s Philippe Dauman “Frustrated” By Lower Nick Ratings But Patient: UBS Confab

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday December 5, 2011 @ 10:38am PSTTags: Mission:Impossible--Ghost Protocol, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Philippe Dauman, Star Trek, Transformers, Viacom, Viacom Philippe Dauman

Viacom shares are down about 3.5% at midday on an otherwise up day for the market after CEO Philippe Dauman punted on the big question on the minds of analysts attending the UBS Annual Global Media and Communications Conference: What’s up with the steep decline in Nickelodeon’s ratings — which he said last month was due to a problem with Nielsen’s measurement system? “There’s nothing new” to report, he says. ”No one’s more frustrated than myself.” He didn’t continue his attack the ratings company, which said today that it made a mistake in calculating the number of kids who watch TV — but added that it’s unrelated to the double-digit change in Nickelodeon’s ratings. ”However imperfect Nielsen is, it’s the only game in town, so we have to live with it,” Dauman says. “It is what it is. We’re going to move on.” He acknowledged that the channel’s ratings dive is “unfortunate” because “this is by far the most important quarter for Nickelodeon” due to the number of toymakers who flock to the channel to advertise holiday gifts. But he says the Nick problem will become less significant after the holidays are over. ”One way or the other we’ll move forward” with growing profit margins. Viacom has “more new shows coming to Nickelodeon than we’ve ever had.” He adds that “next quarter we expect to see stronger ad sales growth because we won’t have that issue” with the ratings. READ MORE »

Comments (9)

Viacom Chief In Hot Seat As Another Analyst Questions Nickelodeon Slide

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday November 30, 2011 @ 8:07am PSTTags: Nickelodeon, Philippe Dauman, Viacom, Viacom Philippe Dauman

Nickelodeon’s Ratings Decline Is No “Blip”; Is Viacom Or Nielsen To Blame?

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman will be playing with fire if he tries to sidestep questions about Nickelodeon’s declining ratings on Monday when he addresses the annual UBS … Read More »

Comments (6)

Nickelodeon’s Ratings Decline Is No “Blip”; Is Viacom Or Nielsen To Blame?

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday November 29, 2011 @ 2:08pm PSTTags: Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Programming, Nielsen Co, Nielsen ratings, Philippe Dauman, Viacom Philippe Dauman

Looks like that “inexplicable drop” in Nickelodeon ratings from September that Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman noted in a November 10 conference call with analysts still bedevils the children’s network. Its full-day total audience was down 16.7% in the week of November 20. That gave Disney Channel its first victory over Nickelodeon since August 2007, when Disney introduced High School Musical 2. Nick’s audience of kids 11 and under was off 11% in September vs the same month last year, -17% in October, and -19% for the first three weeks of November. The reports worried Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce enough for him to downgrade Viacom to “neutral” from “buy.” He notes that “advertisers are going to want to pay for the lower Nielsen ratings, which could be resulting in make-goods … that could pressure ad revenue” in the current quarter.

It’s curious, though: When Dauman spoke to analysts early this month, he made it sound like the trouble at Nick was history: He called it “a short-term phenomenon,” adding that “I always believe in looking forward, so we’ll go through that blip, it’s not material to overall company and we will move on.” He also put the blame on Nielsen’s measurements — not Nick’s programming — noting that “independent set-top box data … shows meaningfully different viewership trends.” Read More »

Comments 50

UPDATE: Viacom Says Nielsen Snafu Led To Decline In Nickelodeon Toy Ads; Forecasts Strong 2012 Despite Economic “Headwinds”

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday November 10, 2011 @ 4:06am PSTTags: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers 3, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Viacom, Viacom Earnings, Viacom Finance, Viacom Philippe Dauman, Viacom Profits

UPDATE, 8:50 AM: Listen up Occupy Wall Streeters: Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman told analysts that the company is doing better than ever financially – yet is still cutting jobs. It reported a $130M restructuring charge in the … Read More »

Comments (1)

CABLE SHOW: Viacom And Its Mobile Push

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday June 15, 2011 @ 5:04am PDTTags: Viacom, Viacom Philippe Dauman

Comments (4)

Did Philippe Dauman Say He Plans Job Cuts At Paramount Home Video? You Decide

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday June 2, 2011 @ 4:00pm PDTTags: Epix, Jersey Shore, Netflix, Paramount, Philippe Dauman, Viacom Philippe Dauman

UPDATE, 3:50 PM: The folks at Paramount say that we misunderstood Dauman. He wasn’t trying to say that he plans to make cuts at home entertainment, they say. He was simply talking in general terms about being vigilant about all of Paramount’s costs. That’s not how it looks to me, but why don’t you decide for yourself? Here’s the transcript of Dauman’s response to a question about how he might “improve Paramount’s fortunes”:

There are some things you can control in the movie business…that is the
overhead. It doesn’t matter what movie you make. You can control that; that’s money in the bank if you can do that. And we have continuously improved that part of it. You continually have to adjust. For example, as the home entertainment stream is challenged, fewer DVDs are being sold, so you have to review your home entertainment overhead. That’s adjusting to the business model. We’re very focused on that. We continue to work on the overhead there.

PREVIOUS, 12:46 PM: This might be a good time to polish up your resume if you work at Paramount Pictures’ home entertainment unit. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman plans to review the “overhead” — a bloodless synonym for “jobs” — there as DVD sales tank, he told an investor group today. The nation’s highest-paid executive last year said that cutting overhead is “money in the bank.” Read More »

Comments 20

Big Media’s 1Q Earnings Roundup: Cash

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday May 12, 2011 @ 6:03am PDTTags: Advertising, Advertising Upfront Market, Big Media Earnings, Cars 2, CBS Les Moonves, Chase Carey News Corp, Cinemark Alan Stock, First Quarter Earnings, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, Netflix Online Streaming, Olympics, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Premium VOD, Steve Burke NBC Universal, The Hangover II, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Viacom Philippe Dauman

The money is flowing again into Big Media. Just about every media CEO who recently spoke to Wall Street analysts about this year’s 1st Quarter earnings said that ad sales are up and consumers are spending. “Viacom … Read More »

Comments (3)

Viacom’s Philippe Dauman Scores Major Payday

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday January 21, 2011 @ 4:51pm PSTTags: Big Media, Philippe Dauman, Philippe Dauman Compensation, Viacom, Viacom Finance, Viacom Philippe Dauman

Viacom has been very good to Philippe Dauman. A company proxy statement filed on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that the CEO amassed $84.5 million in stock, salary and other benefits during Viacom’s fiscal year, which ended … Read More »

Comments (6)