Paramount Committed To Channel 5 Amid Skydance Sale Process, Reveals UK Chief Sarah Rose

Channel 5 remains part of the Paramount “ecosystem” as the Skydance sale progresses and the network’s American owners are even “envious” of its model, according to UK chief Sarah Rose.

All Creatures Great and Small | Masterpiece

Speaking at the VLV Conference, Rose stressed she can’t comment on the ongoing $8B sale, which should complete in the first half of next year, but posited: “Paramount is being sold to another owner and therefore Channel 5 is being sold with it, we are part of that ecosystem.” Chatter has abound since Paramount went on the block over the future of the American giant’s local international channels, which includes Australia’s Network 10 and Telefe in Argentina.

Under content boss Ben Frow, Channel 5 has nurtured a reputation for punching above its weight with hits including All Creatures Great and Small and Michael Palin in North Korea. Rose, who is also Paramount Global regional lead, said her American owners recognize this and are prepared to invest more in the network next year. Under Paramount’s decade-long ownership, she said Channel 5 has doubled its number of annual UK productions to 400.

“It has massively helped that we return profits to them and they are about to get some more,” Rose told the VLV conference. “I’m not losing sleep about being left by the wayside.”

Paramount owning linear network CBS helps with its understanding of Channel 5, Rose added, and she said Co-CEO George Cheeks and the Paramount team are “a bit envious” of what Frow and his commissioners have achieved.

“They are a little wide-eyed at how much bang for the buck we get,” she said. “They find some of our more regional focused commissions have a certain British idiosyncrasy that is of curiosity to them.”

Rose was speaking at the VLV after BBC News boss Jonathan Munro.

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More Nick: Nickelodeon USA and Milkshake! UK Partner For New Preschool Series 'Tim Rex in Space'!

Originally published: November 30, 2024.

Original source: Deadline; H/T: Special thanks to @916786wc for the news!

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Nina Hahn Sets Out ViacomCBS' Wishlist for Nickelodeon and VIS Kids

ViacomCBS International Studios Kids (VIS Kids) is looking for preschool, animation, live-action and TV movies for its Nickelodeon channels.

Nina Hahn, head of the new division, recently outlined her shopping list at the Children’s Media Conference’s (CMC) online Animation Business Conference virtual event in November.

ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS), meanwhile, wants programmes that “reflect the world authentically in which a kid lives,” particularly dramas, anthologies and young-adult content aimed at those over the age of 14.

For the Nickelodeon channels, show lengths should follow the typical seven-, 11- and 22-minute rule in order to fit with the commercial model and ad breaks.

For VIS, Paramount+ and Pluto TV, the company is “length-agnostic,” according to Hahn.

The exec, who serves as Senior Vice President (SVP) of Production & Development at Nickelodeon International and head of ViacomCBS International Studios' (VIS) VIS Kids added that she is happy to see ideas at any stage of development, but that earlier is better in order to fully “understand and bring to life the creator’s vision” and prevent the company from feeling “less like a partner and more like a translator.”

“Showing us anything earlier is great, even if it’s just on a scribbled piece of paper,” Hahn said.

From C21 Media:

VIS caters to new demand for fresh content

The pandemic has seen a spike in demand for Viacom International Studios content, according to senior VP Lauren Marriott, who outlines her playlist on C21’s Digital Screenings this week.

Viacom International Studios (VIS), a division of ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI), was launched in 2018 as a studio serving third parties and the parent company’s own brands and channels.

Viacom International Studios Distribution acts as distributor for VIS, the studio’s production arm with bases in Latin America, Europe and the UK, as well as VIS Kids and Brazilian comedy indie and web streamer Porta Dos Fundos. It also distributes content from VCNI’s kids brand Nickelodeon, youth skewing net MTV, Comedy Central, BET, UK terrestrial broadcaster Channel 5 and Argentina’s Telefe.

Early last year, VCNI added an extra brand to its portfolio by acquiring Israeli pay TV channel provider and prodco Ananey Communications Group.

VIS’s presence in international markets has proved beneficial to the company during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Lauren Marriott, senior VP of sales and business operations. She explains that the business has experienced increased demand for non-English-language dramas from buyers needing to fill gaps in their schedules created by Covid-related production delays.

“One of the interesting things we’ve seen is a boom in interest in scripted content – not the traditional scripted content you’d expect from the US, but international and non-English-language dramas. This has been really great for us because that’s the space we’re in, with our extensive slate of content from Lat Am and Israel,” Marriott says.

“Maybe that’s happened because, number one, the streamers have made it more acceptable for English-speaking audiences to watch subtitles; and number two, there’s less supply coming from the US, so people have had to look elsewhere and into other markets to find new content.”

With that in mind, VIS is including five foreign-language titles in its playlist on C21’s Digital Screenings this week, starting with Spanish-language dramedy R.

Coming from Telefe, R tells the story of a middle-aged man who is diagnosed with a terminal illness that will end his life in a matter of months. Free from all pressures, he decides to throw his life overboard and ends up killing a powerful mobster, only to find out that his diagnosis was a mistake and the result of a spelling mistake in his name.

The second Spanish-language series is Porta dos Fundos’s comedy format Backdoor. Adapted from the Portuguese-language original in Brazil for the Spanish speakers of Mexico, Backdoor features short sketches that showcase different social situations in satirical, over-the-top and comical ways.

VIS’s playlist also includes three scripted teen series from Ananey, each of which are available as finished tape in Hebrew. The first show, The Hood, centres on the struggles of a low-income family living on a social housing estate in the middle of one of the richest districts in Israel.

Rising, meanwhile, is an adventure series set in 1946, two years before the State of Israel was founded. A seemingly innocent training farm secretly functions as a special forces training base and recruitment centre for exceptional teens, as well as a home base for illegal immigration missions and special ops against the British mandate.

The third scripted teen series from Ananey is Greenhouse Academy, which follows two siblings who enrol at a private boarding school for gifted future leaders following the death of their astronaut mother in a rocket explosion. An English-language version has been commissioned by Netflix for four seasons.

Also from Ananey, but within the unscripted space, is competition format My Trip is Better, in which five strangers who love to travel, but otherwise have little in common, will meet for the first time in a foreign city to spend five days sightseeing. They each take turns to act as tour guide for the day, having full control of the itinerary and everyone’s entertainment – or frustration.

This unscripted format caters to another trend in demand that Marriott has seen during the pandemic, for escapist and humorous content “that makes people laugh and makes people feel like they can escape or feel like they are in a far-flung place.”

“There has definitely been an uptick in people looking for more escapist content, and a lot of our catalogue lends itself well to escapism. Our reality formats have done really, really well this year in terms of local adaptations; we’ve had several different shows adapted in Germany among others,” the exec continues.

“The other thing we’ve noticed is more demand for comedy. One of the titles we launched this year on Comedy Central UK was gameshow Guessable, which is hosted by comedian Sara Pascoe and was produced under Covid safety guidelines. That has had a couple of option deals as a format already.”

Guessable, which also features on VIS’s playlist, is a play-along comedy gameshow featuring two teams of comedians and celebrities battling it out to guess what is inside a mystery box. Each round is a twist on a classic family guessing game and the answers from each round are clues as to what is hidden in the box.

Elsewhere in unscripted, VIS is featuring one factual and one factual entertainment programme in its playlist. The fact ent series, The Story of Songs, was produced for Channel 5 in the UK and Reelz in the US and explores the stories behind music legends and their most iconic songs. Each episode focuses on a different artist, from Aretha Franklin to Metallica. According to Marriott, the series has been sold into 11 major territories and is one of VIS’s most successful factual shows of all time.

The factual show, meanwhile, is Channel 5’s one-off doc Diana: In Her Own Words, which features rarely seen footage and testimonies from those who knew the late Princess of Wales best. In line with the demand for escapist content, Marriott says VIS has also seen “huge demand” for documentaries on the British royal family.

Completing VIS’s playlist are three children- and family-oriented shows. With channels like Nickelodeon and Nick Jr in its portfolio, VCNI has a big presence in the kids’ space, allowing VIS Distribution to benefit from strong demand for children’s programming during the pandemic.

The first of the three kids’ shows featured in the VIS playlist is Nick Jr’s preschool animation Santiago of the Seas, a fantastical pirate adventure with exciting and altruistic missions rooted in Caribbean culture.

Introducing children to the Spanish language, the series also caters to the demand for educational content while kids are home from school. The debut of Nickelodeon’s animated series Santiago of the Seas garnered the biggest L+3 lift the network has ever had for a preschool launch in the US, according to Marriott, who hopes it will become the new Dora the Explorer.

Santiago of the Seas is joined by Nickelodeon’s live-action series Noobees. Filmed in Colombia, Noobees follows a young girl who creates her own eSports team to compete to win the Professional League of Video Games and help her brother’s dream come true.

The final series is Nickelodeon’s kids’ and family competition format America’s Most Musical Family, which sees 30 families compete by taking to the stage and performing for a panel of judges.

According to Marriott, most of the series on the studio’s playlist would be suitable for both linear networks and VoD platforms, although she thinks Ananey’s teen series The Hood and Rising would particularly suit a streaming model due to their “bingeable” nature.

“Our catalogue spans so many genres – kids, drama, entertainment, factual, comedy, young adult – and we’ve tried to pick something from each of those genres. We’ve also included some content from our different-language studios, so our playlist has a really broad selection across all those different genres,” she says.

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More Nick: 2021 on Nickelodeon | New Shows, Specials, Podcasts, Events, Movies, Episodes, and More!

Originally published: Tuesday, December 29, 2020.

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ViacomCBS to Launch Fully Rebrand CBS All Access in 2021

Beefed up streaming service will get a preview launch at the end of this summer

ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish gave a small update on the network’s upcoming rebrand for CBS All Access, CBS’ digital subscription video on-demand (SVOD) and live streaming service, on Tuesday, June 16.

As ViacomCBS drives deeper into the streaming space, including with other offerings like Pluto TV and Showtime OTT, planned changes to CBS All Access include new programming from Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, the Smithsonian Networks and Paramount Network.

After a preview launch of the beefed up streaming service, which will get an infusion of content from Viacom networks, the suped-up version of All Access will have its full launch sometime in 2021. Bakish made the updates during a webcast presentation for the Credit Suisse 22nd Annual Virtual Communications Conference.

“We have a good position in the older segment with the current All Access product, but this really brings a lot of young audience to the table,” Bakish said, adding they will add 15,000 hours of additional content to CBS All Access’ existing 15,000 hours, that includes a “much broader slate” of original content that will largely be based on franchise Intellectual Properties (IP). “We do anticipate a full launch of the to be rebanded service in 2021.”

The revamped CBS All Access will include an expanded slate of ViacomCBS programming, including content from Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Smithsonian, MTV, BET and Paramount. The updated service will also include national and local news from more than 200 CBS affiliates and ET Live, live and on-demand; and a “critical mass of live sports” content including PGA golf and NFL games and CBSN and Sports HQ services, with the NFL, NCAA and PGA, among other leagues and events, available to stream. These will join the existing array of sci-fi, comedy, reality TV, kids and procedural programming available on the SVOD. In February, Bakish first talked about a "House of Brands" streaming service to grow the CBS All Access service by adding content from both Viacom and CBS.

As of now, the platform’s most notable originals are Star Trek: Discovery and Stark Trek: Picard with many more additions to the Star Trek universe in development.

"The second part of our strategy is to transform All Access into a super service," said Bakish during the webcast.

Although ViacomCBS’s Paramount has cut licesning deals with Netflix, and Comedy Central’s South Park will stream on HBO Max, Bakish notes they will start to move away from these lucrative licensing deals in favor of keeping their franchises for their own platforms.

Nickelodeon also has a deal with Netflix which will see the network produce original animated feature films and television series based both on the Nickelodeon library of characters as well as all-new intellectual properties for kids and families around the world. Under that agreement, Nickelodeon is currently in development with two new SpongeBob spin-offs, including one starring SpongeBob's long-suffering neighbour and Krusty Krab co-worker Squidward. Prior to that deal, Nickelodeon announced that they are producing two new animated movies based on The Loud House and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the streamer, as well as a live-action adaptation series of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nick has also been licensing content to the platform, which has seen original series Pinky Malinky and Glitch Techs bow on the streamer, as well as the original Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series rejoin it's programming library - which quickly became the number-one title on the service upon debut in May.

CBS All Access currently runs customers $5.99 per month for ad-supported streaming and $9.99 for ad-free streaming. The service, together with Showtime’s streaming subscribers, hit 13.5 million customers by the end of Q1, up big from the approximately 8 million the two combined for at the same time last year. CBS All Access and Showtime OTT are set to collect a combined 16 million subscribers by year’s end, CEO Bob Bakish announced in February.

Last month, ViacomCBS said combined subscribers for CBS All Access and Showtime OTT platforms -- which both started up in 2014 -- was 13.5 million. ViacomCBS said in the first quarter all streaming and digital video revenue for all platforms grew 51% to $471 million.

The increasing investment in All Access comes as rivals like Walt Disney, HBO, NBC Peacock and Comcast continue to roll out direct-to-consumer streaming services in the U.S. and internationally to target cord-cutters in a fast-changing media landscape.

VicomCBS begun bulking up CBS All Access earlier this year, with the addition of Danny Phantom, Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel The Legend of Korra and iCarly and Victorious spin-off Sam & Cat, as well as the Nickelodeon Movies Harriet The Spy, Rugrats Go Wild, The Adventures of Tintin, Mad Hot Ballroom, and Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Also Tuesday, Bakish was asked about the TV advertising climate amid the pandemic. He called April as the bottom of the domestic ad market, with May and June having improved sequentially.

"Digital is improving week over week and Pluto TV's right back on track to pre-COVID," he added.

Original source: TheWrap, Dark Horizons, The Hollywood Reporter, MediaPost, Observer.

From Deadline:

Seeking More Control Of Its Streaming Destiny, ViacomCBS Won’t Sell Off “Critical Mass” Of Its Content, CEO Bob Bakish Asserts

Although ViacomCBS will “selectively” sell its content to third parties, as seen in recent deals with HBO Max for South Park or Peacock for Yellowstone, CEO Bob Bakish says such moves could soon become more rare.

“At this point, we will not license critical mass of any of our key programming areas — areas like sci-fi, kids or procedurals — to any single player,” Bakish said in an appearance Tuesday at the Credit Suisse Virtual Communications Conference. “We will prioritize franchise IP to our owned and operated platforms.”

The company is planning to launch what Bakish called a “super-service,” an expanded version of subscription streaming outlet CBS All Access that will have a “preview launch” this summer ahead of a full debut in 2021. All Access, which launched in 2015, already has 15,000 hours of film and TV programming and will add 15,000 more hours from across the ViacomCBS stable, Bakish said.

Eyebrows have been raised in media circles as ViacomCBS has reached licensing deals with Netflix and others at a time when Disney, WarnerMedia and, to a lesser extent, NBCUniversal are leaning in the opposite direction. With investment in streaming continuing to surge, licensing does bring in sizable revenue and, as Bakish pointed out, ViacomCBS still owns the IP of shows like South Park. Still, many media vets are more skeptical about licensing now that it is clear that it fueled the rise of Netflix, which still enjoys a large lead over rivals, certainly in the U.S.

Streaming in general has become a brisk business for ViacomCBS, Bakish said. In 2019, ViacomCBS generated about $1.6 billion in digital and streaming revenue, with 13.5 million subscribers between CBS All Access and Showtime. Pluto TV, meanwhile, has more than doubled its user base over the past 18 months, with more than 24 million active monthly users.

While the company only discloses official streaming numbers when it reports quarterly results, Bakish said trends in April and May have continued the momentum from the quarter ending in March. Despite the cancellation of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament due to COVID-19, the company still managed to gain a record number of new subscribers in the January-to-March quarter. Pluto, a leading ad-supported streaming platform acquired in early 2019, has been a driver of “strong conversions” of free trials to paid subscriptions, the CEO said.

While streaming has thus far mostly been a domestic story, Pluto is pushing into Europe and Latin America and Bakish said international streaming represents a “big opportunity” based on pre-existing global assets. Viacom and CBS, before they formally merged last December, each had been aggressive in circulating their programming around the world. Bakish oversaw the rise of Viacom’s international capabilities before becoming CEO in 2015. He said ViacomCBS would roll out a “broad pay streaming product in multiple markets” internationally over the next 12 months.

In addition to streaming, Bakish also hit on a subject being closely watched by many investors and certainly everyone in TV business: advertising. While COVID-19 has created adverse conditions, especially given the absence of sports and studio production since March, scatter prices in the second quarter remained above upfront prices and scatter in the first two weeks of June has come in “multiples above” previous June scatter markets.

The shape and timing of the upfront are a work in progress, Bakish conceded. He said sales teams at ViacomCBS plan to stay patient and nimble and be ready to respond as ad buyers start to ease back into marketing. Buyers unwilling or unable to commit up front “will pay a premium” for scatter ads, which could provide “incentive to transact,” he said.

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More Nick: Netflix and Nickelodeon Form Multi-Year Output Deal to Produce Original Animated Films and Series!

Additional source: Nickandmore!.

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Viacom to Roll Out Ad-Supported Service Pluto TV Worldwide as it Warns Global SVOD Market is 'Too Crowded'

Viacom To Roll Out Ad-Supported Service Pluto TV Worldwide As It Warns Global SVOD Market Is “Too Crowded”

Viacom is to roll out its ad-supported video streaming service Pluto TV internationally after its $340M acquisition closed earlier this month, Deadline reports.

James Currell, President of Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) in the UK, Northern and Eastern Europe, said that it will largely focus on advertising-backed services rather than subscription platforms.

Speaking at the Oxford Media Convention, he said, “Viacom believes the global SVOD sector is becoming too crowded and capital intensive. So, instead, we’re focused on building scale in ad-supported streaming. We’ve acquired Pluto TV and we plan to use our deep content libraries to accelerate its international roll-out, starting in Latin America.”

Pluto TV, which is led by President and CEO Tom Ryan was founded in 2013 and streams more than 100 channels in a range of genres, claiming more than 12 million monthly active users across devices.

Currell pointed to Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) plans by the likes of Disney, Comcast, Time Warner, Apple and Google, but added that it was notable that Amazon had launched Freedive, an ad-supported movie service and added that there was speculation that Netflix may introduce an ad-supported offering or tier.

However, he said that Viacom’s flagship brands, which include Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV, Comedy Central and VH1, have “significant potential to pivot further towards premium… if or when that proves expedient”.

Content from Viacom’s Channel 5 is also expected to join BritBox in the UK, the SVOD service being established by the BBC and ITV. “Viacom stands ready to partner to enhance the local content eco-system,” he said, echoing comments from C4 CEO Alex Mahon last week at Israeli TV conference INTV.

Currell used his keynote speech to highlight the performance and growth of C5 since it acquired it in 2014. He pointed to the fact that it is moving back into scripted drama for the first time in many years and the fact that it is “making a name for itself” with documentaries such as Michael Palin in North Korea and Raped: My Story. He said that C5 has brought it greater scale and a range of associated synergies across ad sales, content, marketing and commercial deal and helped to diversify its UK revenues as well as giving it access to a much wider pipeline of quality local content.

“I think it’s indisputable that under American ownership Channel 5 today is making a more valuable contribution to the broader British broadcasting ecology than it has ever done,” he said. “As a result of the benefits that Viacom has brought to Channel 5 and which Channel 5 has brought to Viacom, I look forward to us making an even more significant contribution to the UK’s commercial broadcasting ecology in the future.”

More Nick: Nickelodeon Embarks on New Direction with its Biggest, Most Wide-Ranging Content Slate Ever!

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Viacom CEO Predicts Nickelodeon Turnaround, Says "Not Focused" on Big Deal During Talk at 2018 UBS Global Media and Communications Conference

Bob Bakish at the 46th annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York also says the company is planning more streaming services.

Viacom CEO Bob Bakish. Photo credit: Jesse Grant/Getty Images

Viacom Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bob Bakish touted the turnaround outlook for Paramount Pictures and kids network Nickelodeon and said the company was planning three more streaming services, but no "big, transformational deal" during a talk at the 46th annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York on Monday, December 3, 2018.

He said the company was working on streaming offers in the reality TV, Spanish-language and African-American spaces. “What you’ll see is a multi-faceted offering,” Bakish said when asked about the company’s digital and direct-to-consumer plans. He mentioned direct-to-consumer offers, such as for Noggin and Comedy Central, ad-supported VOD services and the production of programming for streaming platforms. Bakish said that this was a differentiated strategy that doesn't require acquisitions of companies.

Bakish also said the company has been focused on acquisitions that accelerate its business rather than transforming mega-deals, citing the takeovers of Vidcom, Whosay and Awesomeness. "We are not focused on a big, transformational deal," he added," he told the 46th annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York.

The Viacom CEO once again touted the turnaround momentum of the Paramount studio under the leadership of Jim Gianopulos, which had such box office hits as A Quiet Place and Mission: Impossible - Fallout in its latest fiscal year that ended in September. It has also benefited from a growing TV production business.

The success meant that Viacom’s film unit loss for the latest year narrowed, but management has said it expects a return to profitability, which is likely to come in the current fiscal year. Viacom’s annual adjusted operating loss for its film unit of $39 million followed an operating loss of $280 million in the previous year, and a loss of $445 million in the year before that.

Gianopulos is a "fantastic, highly seasoned and well-liked, for that matter" executive, Bakish told the UBS conference, lauding the film team for seven straight quarters of year-over-year improvement in operating income. The Paramount team has built a "much more balanced slate" for 2019 and focused on making sure films stay on budget, he explained. "Jim’s doing great, and there’s more greatness to come," Bakish concluded.

About Paramount's growing TV production business, Bakish previously said that it had already reached about $200 million in annual revenue and "probably doubles from there.” On Monday, he said that there is "increasing demand" for entertainment content, with Paramount's deep library and expertise allowing it to create new revenue.

He said that after nine series in the latest fiscal year, it will make "16, maybe more" this fiscal year, with revenue growth of around 50 percent. He reiterated the goal of making this a $1 billion business in the next couple of years, with a margin of 20 percent.

With competitors vertically integrating, there is more upside ahead, he said. Bakish also was asked about a recent multi-picture deal with Netflix. "There will be a mix of library (intellectual property) and probably some original IP," he said, calling it "an exciting opportunity."

Bakish was not asked if Viacom and CBS Corp., both of which are controlled by the Redstone family’s National Amusements, will be re-merging.

The corporate siblings, which have been separate companies since 2006, have discussed a recombination twice in recent years amid the industry’s ongoing consolidation without a deal materializing. One key hurdle was former CBS boss Leslie Moonves who left the company in September following sexual harassment allegations. CBS is now led by interim CEO Joe Ianniello. When CBS announced Moonves' exit in September, it also settled a legal dispute with National Amusements and said the controlling shareholder "confirmed that it has no plans to propose a merger of CBS and Viacom and has agreed that it will make no such proposal for at least two years after the date of the settlement."

On the TV side, Viacom's cable networks have seen U.S. scatter advertising prices rise 30 percent from upfront market levels, the CEO told the UBS conference, reiterating that the back-half of fiscal year 2019 would see a return to advertising growth.

Asked about Nickelodeon's recent ratings declines, Bakish predicted improvements ahead, "particularly in the back half of the year," saying the new leadership was putting together a promising new programming slate. "I'm feeling great" about the new team, led by president Brian Robbins, and programming strategy, the CEO said.

Bakish’s UBS conference appearance came roughly two years after he was named Viacom’s permanent CEO. Under Bakish, Viacom has focused most resources on its six flagship brands – Paramount, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., BET and Comedy Central.

Viacom in its just-finished fiscal year 2018 managed to "cement" its turnaround, while in the just-started year it "will lean more into our investment initiatives and build incremental businesses," Bakish said, reiterating the company would return to revenue growth in the fiscal year. "I'm excited about '19."

At last year’s UBS conference, he had spent much time discussing his focus on stabilizing Viacom's business during his first year in charge and then going into growth mode via three core strategies. Those are focusing on next-generation business opportunities in the media networks business; diversifying beyond media, such as via live events and consumer products; and cost savings.

Content reboots will also continue as Bakish on Monday again touted the company's approach of developing fresh content and rebooting hit franchises, such as via Nickelodeon’s reimagination of Rugrats and MTV's return of Jersey Shore and reboot Floribama Shore, as well as .

"Why wouldn't you make as much as you can out of your library IP," he said after calling Jersey Shore "a great piece of IP we own." Citing talks about other franchises that could find a new life, he added, "We absolutely believe there is more opportunity at MTV." MTV's The Real World for Facebook has a U.S., Spanish and Asian version, Bakish also said, calling that a profitable new approach.

More Nick: Paramount & Nickelodeon Release New 'Wonder Park' Trailer!

Original source: The Hollywood Reporter.

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Bob Bakish Gives Talk at the Royal Television Society's Conference in London

Below are highlights from Viacom CEO's Bob Bakish talk at the Royal Television Society's (RTS) London conference held on Tuesday 18th September 2018.

Nickelodeon to Produce New Show Exclusively for Netflix

Bob Bakish, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Viacom Inc., the parent company of brands such as Nickelodeon, MTV and Paramount, today announced at the Royal Television Society (RTS) conference in London, that Viacom has struck a deal for Nickelodeon to produce a brand-new series exclusively for Netflix, as part of the latest move by Viacom to push the company into a future beyond traditional television!

It's currently unclear whether the show Bakish was talking about is Netflix's brand-new live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon's beloved animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which the streamer announced today. However, according to media reports, this series is being produced by Netflix in partnership with Nickelodeon. It's also unknown whether Bakish meant Pinky Malinky, a brand-new Nickelodeon produced animated comedy series which is set to debut exclusively on Netflix soon. Stay tuned to NickALive! as more news about the project is revealed!

You can find more highlights from Bob Bakish's talk today at the Royal Television Society can be found here.

More Nick: Netflix to Produce Live-Action Adaptation of 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'!

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Design Miami x Viacom

Redefining Cultural Impact: How New Technologies Influence Artists & Creatives. Kodi Foster, SVP Data Strategy, Viacom host this conversation with Cecilia Dean, Founder Visionaire, Daniel Arsham, Contemporary Artist and Anne Spalter, New Media Artist and the musical artist Young Paris.



Design Miami x Viacom: Kodi Foster



More Nick: 2018 on Nickelodeon USA | New Shows, Specials, Events, Movies, Episodes, and More!

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Viacom Africa's Alex Okosi Speaks At The 2017 CGMS; Emphasises Public-Private Partnerships

Alex Okosi, Executive Vice-President (EVP) and Managing Director (MD) at Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa and BET International placed an important call to action to Public Private Partnerships with the network’s future-focused message on the continent’s education challenges at the Children’s Global Media Summit 2017 (CGMS 2017).

Viacom’s Alex Okosi calls on collective mobilisation for an inclusive Generation U at Children’s Global Media Summit 2017

World Bank reports that while the number of children enrolled in schools in SSA Africa is growing, the region currently has 30 million children not receiving any form of schooling, in Nigeria that statistic is 11.4 million.

Speaking in step with the keynote address by Britain’s Prince William, Okosi highlighted the network’s commitment to development through “empowerful” content. He shared case studies of Nickelodeon’s education initiatives which featured financial literacy, mathematics and science for primary school kids. He also highlighted the MTV SHUGA project which together with the MTV Staying Alive Foundation has improved knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to family planning, contraception, gender-based violence, transactional sex and HIV prevention. The series reaches 720m people via 180 channels globally.

Okosi concluded with, “The most important question I have for you today is how can we all work together to help truly create a global Generation U that is inclusive of all the children in the world?”

Curated by the BBC and held in Manchester, UK, from 5 to 7 December, CGMS 2017 focused on five themes: education, empowerment, entertainment, innovation and freedom. The Children’s Global Media Summit brings together creatives, technology innovators, policymakers, executives and thought leaders from around the globe to inform and redesign the future of media for Generation U and explore the impact that digital technology will have in children’s futures.

Original source: Screen Africa; Additional source: Bizcommunity.com.

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Viacom CEO Talks Appetite For Deals, Paramount's Turnaround Efforts At 45th Annual UBS Global Media And Communications Conference

"This continues to be an extremely undervalued company," Bob Bakish tells the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York.

Viacom CEO Bob Bakish; Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Viacom is mostly focused on its current businesses and growing them organically, Chief Executive Officer Bob Bakish said Tuesday, with possible acquisitions likely to be smaller deals that can help it with that strategy.

"There is tremendous value to unlock from these assets" Viacom owns, he said when asked at the 45th annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York about all the recent industry deal chatter and his interest in acquisitions. "Our overwhelming focus...is on organic execution." Bakish added: "We will look at small opportunities that we can tuck in to use to accelerate our growth strategy."

The Viacom CEO spent much time Tuesday discussing his focus over the past year on stabilizing Viacom's business after becoming interim and then permanent CEO late last year and what is next for the company. "I feel very good about the progress we made," he said, emphasizing that "obviously, we are not done." As the company looks to 2018, he reiterated, management would focus on accelerating business momentum and highlighting the true value of the business.

"This thing is a significant cash machine," he said about the company and its $1.5 billion-$1.7 billion in annual cash flow, adding that "this continues to be an extremely undervalued company." In that context, he cited a $500 million India business that Viacom owns half of and that it doesn't get "any value recognition for." He added that the Paramount studio is also "clearly worth billions and billions of dollars" despite currently having "diminutive" profits.

He said the company has focused on bringing its flagship brands to life more, improving U.S. advertising trends, strengthening distribution relationships and rebuilding Paramount, and the company is continuing to see the benefits.

"The Hollywood community wants to be at Paramount," which is "a very good thing" for a creative company, Bakish said in lauding the early turnaround momentum of the studio under the leadership of Jim Gianopulos.

The Viacom CEO said 2019 will see Paramount get a chance to show off its exciting new slate, including branded MTV, Nickelodeon and BET films, adding that the studio also has an "under-recognized" TV production business, which is key to dampening the volatility of the film business. "There is a lot of great stuff going on" at the studio, he said, predicting improving profitability as "Jim is running the studio better" and there is room for better film performances and cost savings. "I am tremendously excited about what the team is doing."

Asked to go deeper on the TV production business outlook, he said it has already reached about $200 million in annual revenue and "probably doubles from there" as the company continues to look to grow it.

Bakish also argued that people usually think of Viacom as a pay TV company, but he really sees it as "a global content engine" that is active across TV, film and, increasingly, digital content. "If you listen to the conversation around media today, it is about content," he said, and "fundamentally," Viacom is a content company.

Asked about his experience running Viacom's international business, he said it was unprofitable when he took over, but with a focus on recognizable brands and partnering across the company and with other companies, it has become a key growth driver for the firm.

Nickelodeon's Top Wing (l-r) Brody, Swift, Rod and Penny

He again touted the company's approach of developing fresh content and continuing or rebooting franchises, such as via Paramount's recent deal for more Terminator movies with James Cameron, as well as MTV's Jersey Shore reboot Floribama Shore. He also touted Nickelodeon's animated Top Wing, which debuted on the network in November, calling it the next Paw Patrol, which is one of the network's big hits.

Bakish highlighted that he continued to be excited about the prospects for such flagship networks as MTV, BET and Comedy Central. "I'm very excited about what they have to come," he said after mentioning he spent time last week with the Comedy Central programming team, for example,.

Bakish reiterated that Viacom was now going into growth mode via three core strategies, arguing there was "substantial" upside ahead.

The first: taking advantage of next-generation business opportunities in the media networks sector, such as launching on new platforms, striking licensing deals with over-the-top providers and pushing further into direct-to-consumer offers. Bakish has said that the company sees more than 25 percent growth in these areas to about $450 million in fiscal year 2018 with a plan to "deliver more than $1 billion organically by 2020."

Asked about Philo, a recently unveiled service offering sports-free skinny TV bundles, Bakish said that "25-50 percent" of people don’t want to pay for sports content.

The adoption of media products on mobile devices is the "next great growth leg" opportunity for Viacom, Bakish said. In Japan, the company launched a variant of MTV on mobile. Now, it has more users there than on traditional pay TV.

Second is diversifying the company's business beyond media, such as via live events and consumer products, and growing its share and margins. The diversification businesses will bring in $350 million in revenue this fiscal year, with a goal of $500 million-$600 million by 2020, Bakish has said.

The third area is cost savings. "We see considerable opportunity" for $100 million in savings in fiscal year 2018 and hundreds of millions in savings "mostly realized" by fiscal year 2019, he recently said, citing such areas as real estate, automation and procurement.

More Nick: First Look At Nickelodeon's Upcoming 'Amusement Park' Theatrical Movie!

Original source: The Hollywood Reporter.

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Nickelodeon Backs Inaugural ATF Animation Pitch

Following announced the first-ever Asia TV Forum & Market Animation Pitch, partners Reed Exhibitions and Green Gold Animation Pvt. Ltd. are pleased to welcome the support of major international and regional children’s entertainment brands, as represented by the on-stage jury.

Confirmed to appear (so far) are Syahrizan Mansor, Vice President, Nickelodeon Brand, Asia, Viacom International Media Networks; Aram Yacoubian, who heads the International Kids Acquisitions and Co-Productions division at Netflix; and Anand Roy, Head of Acquisitions & Co-Productions, Talent and Music at The Walt Disney Company. They join Rajiv Chilaka, CEO of Green Gold Animation — India’s largest animation production company catering primarily for children.

Aimed at creators and producers with innovative concepts for new, original kids’ animated content, the ATF Animation Pitch seeks to facilitate an exchange of ideas and talent between leading international broadcasters/distributors and Asia-based producers. The most creative and original animation concept with the potential to be exported will earn its producer a $19,000 USD prize from Green Gold Animation. This will comprise $2,500 in cash, and a consultancy package worth $16,500 for the winner to develop their animation, making it ready to pitch to broadcasters.

Syahrizan Mansor, Vice President, Nickelodeon Brand, Asia,
Viacom International Media Networks

Creators and producers were invited to submit up to two entries into the inaugural Asia TV Forum & Market Animation Pitch online up until Tuesday 31st October 2017.

Taking place Wednesday 29th November - Friday 1st December 2017 at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, ATF is co-located with ScreenSingapore, and is part of the Singapore Media Festival (SMF).

Full information about the first-ever Asia TV Forum & Market Animation Pitch can be found online at animationpitch.asiatvforum.com.sg.

About Syahrizan Mansor, Vice President, Nickelodeon Brand, Asia, Viacom International Media Networks

With two decades of media industry experience, Syahrizan Mansor is currently the Vice President, Nickelodeon Asia at Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN). She is responsible for growing kids and family entertainment brands Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. across Greater China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. She also oversees content and creative production, programming, marketing and digital.

Nickelodeon, now in its 38th year globally and 19th year in Asia, is one of the most globally recognized and widely distributed multimedia entertainment brands for kids and family. Nickelodeon’s portfolio includes television programming and production around the world, plus special events, consumer products, digital offerings, recreation, books, feature films and pro-social initiatives.

With a 15-year tenure at Nickelodeon, Syahrizan was previously the Senior Director of Programming for Nickelodeon Asia, where she was responsible for programming, acquisitions and on-air promotions for Southeast Asia channels on both Pay TV and branded platforms across Asia. Syahrizan was also charged with leading the Channel’s localization strategies.

Before joining VIMN, Syahrizan was with MediaCorp’s previous TV12 in Singapore.

More Nick: Viacom Africa And YouTube To Join Children's Global Media Summit 2017!

Sources: Rapid TV News, Animation Magazine; Additional source: ContentAsia Summit.

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Viacom Africa And YouTube To Join Children's Global Media Summit 2017

Key figures from YouTube and Viacom Africa are the latest to join a line-up of industry-leading speakers at CGMS 2017 which is being held in Manchester, UK in December 2017.

Left: Alex Okosi, Viacom Africa; Right: Malik Ducard, YouTube

Alex Okosi, Senior Vice-President (SVP) and Managing Director (MD) at Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa, and Malik Ducard, Global Head of Family and Learning at YouTube will each address delegates at the 2017 Children's Global Media Summit.

Curated by the BBC and held in Manchester, UK, from Tuesday 5th-Thursday 7th December, CGMS 2017 will focus on five themes of education, empowerment, entertainment, innovation and freedom.

Alex Okosi is the driving force behind VIMN Africa, home to Viacom’s powerhouse entertainment brands Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., NickToons, MTV Base, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1 Classic‎ and BET on the African continent.

Now in its 13th year, VIMN Africa delivers more channels to Africa than any other international network and reaches more than 100 million viewers. A tireless supporter of initiatives that motivate, empower and educate Africa’s youth, Okosi was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2013.

Malik Ducard’s role at YouTube involves overseeing partnerships and business development efforts for the platform’s family entertainment and educational content. Prior to joining YouTube, he served as senior vice-president of digital distribution for the Americas at Paramount Pictures.

Alice Webb, Chair of CGMS 2017, says: “We’re thrilled to add two such prestigious names to our Summit programme, as global brands like YouTube and MTV have a huge part to play in young people’s digital experience.

“Both Malik and Alex will offer invaluable insight to delegates as we launch the conversation about how to shape our industry in the next few years.”

Sources: About Manchester, Licensing.biz.

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Viacom to Host 2017 Tech Inclusion New York Conference

Held in Partnership with Change Catalyst, Second Annual Event Will Focus on Improving Diversity & Inclusion in Technology, Media and Entertainment

Viacom and Change Catalyst today announced that Viacom will host the 2017 Tech Inclusion New York Conference on August 10th at Viacom’s Times Square headquarters. The second annual event will explore innovative ways of improving and expanding diversity and inclusion in the technology, media and entertainment sectors.

Kodi Foster, Senior Vice President (SVP), Data Strategy, Viacom said, “We’re proud to be part of this important event with Change Catalyst to showcase the many opportunities that are created by fostering an inclusive and dynamic workplace. At Viacom, our business is strengthened by the individual perspectives and experiences of our employees, and we’ve made it a priority to be an employer of choice for a talented, diverse workforce that reflects the audiences we serve around the globe.”

“My first career was in entertainment and media, and then I fell in love with the tech industry. These two industries are increasingly intertwined in defining our culture, our economy and our future,” said Melinda Briana Epler, Founder & CEO of Change Catalyst. “We are incredibly excited to partner with Viacom to shine the spotlight on inclusive innovation across technology, media and entertainment.”

Tech Inclusion New York focuses on promoting access and opportunity for media and technology professionals. The conference will feature keynotes and panel discussions to highlight the importance of driving workplace inclusion and diversity across the technology, media and entertainment spheres, and to promote these practices in new and creative ways. The roster of speakers includes Niels Schuurmans, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT; Bryson Gordon, Executive Vice President (EVP), Advanced Advertising, Viacom; and Jennifer Brown, the author of “Inclusion: Diversity, The New Workplace & The Will to Change,” among others.

The event will incorporate a networking happy hour for attendees, and follows a full day career fair for underrepresented tech candidates hosted by Change Catalyst at the West SoHo campus of Galvanize, a school for engineers, entrepreneurs and data scientists.

Change Catalyst hosts additional Tech Inclusion events, conferences, startup showcases, career fairs and forums across the world to improve diversity and inclusion throughout the technology ecosystem.

In addition to Viacom, the 2017 Tech Inclusion New York Conference is sponsored by Accenture, Galvanize, Squarespace, Twitter, Yelp and PayPal. Full details about the event, a complete list of speakers, and registration information are available here: https://ny17.techinclusion.co/.

About Viacom

Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, apps, games, consumer products, social media experiences, and other entertainment content for audiences in more than 180 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick, Channel 5 (UK), Telefe (Argentina) and Paramount Channel, reach over 3.9 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. Paramount Television develops, finances and produces programming for television and other platforms.

For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com. Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom's blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/viacom.

About Change Catalyst

Change Catalyst empowers diverse, inclusive and sustainable tech innovation – through education, mentorship and funding. Our Tech Inclusion programs explore and develop innovative solutions to tech diversity and inclusion. We partner with the tech community to solve diversity and inclusion together through conferences, career fairs, strategic consulting and training. Our work spans the full tech ecosystem, including: Education, Workplace, Entrepreneurship and Policy.

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Viacom In “Advanced Discussions” For $20/Month Entertainment TV Bundle

Viacom and other entertainment-focused programmers are in “very advanced discussions” with cable and satellite companies to offer a bundle without news and sports costing $20 or less a month — and it will “come to life this calendar year” — Bob Bakish, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Viacom, told investors this morning at the JPMorgan Tech, Media and Telecom Conference, reports Deadline.

Rex/Shutterstock

“That will be a very exciting development in the marketplace, and is a very positive development for Viacom” the CEO says. His networks including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and BET “have the largest share of viewing on pay TV for every demographic that we serve.”

But they’re priced low enough so that “you can offer that, and a few of our competitors, and still be at this very low price point.”

AMC Networks and Discovery Communications have also been talking to distributors about a low priced package that would include their channels — but not expensive sports networks such as Disney's ESPN.

Two weeks ago Discovery CEO David Zaslav forecast an entertainment-only bundle that might cost about $10, which he described as “a true skinny bundle in the spirit of what’s working around the world.”

Disney’s Bob Iger scoffed that such a low priced package probably would not include “any channels that were particularly attractive…I don’t see how that would be practical in terms of gaining much penetration.”

But new offerings with broadcast channels and sports that can cost about $40 a month — including Sling TV, DirecTV Now, and Hulu With Live TV — “are not well configured for driving incremental penetration,” Bakish says.

The price is “highly unlikely to bring in a cord never millennial,” he adds. “It might cause someone to churn down in terms of price…So that’s not the transformational opportunity.”

A much lower priced, entry level package could “be a path to bring someone in that wants high quality entertainment” and could either trade up from, or trade down to, “as the household needs change.”

He sees a drop in the number of subscribers paying $100 or more a month for the expanded basic bundle. Although there will be a $40 or so mid-tier offering “that’s not economically sustainable,” Bakish says. Those selling such a package now “say things like, ‘It’s very difficult to make money here’ — which is code for losing money on a variable basis.”

The bigger-than-expected drop in pay TV subscribers in Q1 might have reflected the end of the discounts that Time Warner Cable offered to boost its subscriber numbers while it was preparing for the deal to sell itself to Charter Communications.

“You may have had a situation where there was a larger sub base than there should have been,” Bakish says. “That got churned out as people focused on a quality on-going business.” He expects sub declines to “return to a more modest level.”

More broadly, Bakish says he’s looking to improve Viacom’s relationships with cable and satellite distributors which over the last few years became “a little bit frayed.”

He noted, for example, that under his predecessor, Philippe Dauman, some of “our largest and most important customers had inferior rights grants from a Viacom perspective to smaller [subscription video on demand] players. Think about that for a second. That doesn’t make any sense. But that’s where we were.”

Bakish has been trying to address that by revising carriage deals before they expire. “One of the things we’re focused on is broadening the relationship so it’s not just a brain damaged, zero-sum game negotiation about cost.”

For example, he says, two distributors now use Viacom's Vantage data to help local ad buyers target their sales pitches.

He noted that his company has “noise issues” with Charter — which has moved some Viacom channels to extra-cost tiers for new customers. “That’s something we firmly believe they don’t have the rights to do,” he says. “We’ve got to get that resolved.” But that’s “an outlier.”

Viacom Executive Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman to Participate in the Deutsche Bank Media, Internet, & Telecom Conference

Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), the parent company of the Nickelodeon brand, today (Monday 29th February 2016) announced that Philippe Dauman, Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, will participate in a question-and-answer session at the Deutsche Bank Media, Internet, & Telecom Conference on Monday, March 7, 2016 at approximately 12:05 p.m. (ET). A live webcast of Mr. Dauman's session will be available to the general public through a link on the Investor Relations homepage of Viacom's website, www.viacom.com. A replay of the audio webcast will be available in the "Events / Webcasts" section of the site.

Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, apps, games, consumer products, social media experiences, and other entertainment content for audiences in 180 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Channel 5 (UK), Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick and Paramount Channel, reach over 3.5 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.

For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com. Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom's blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/viacom.

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Viacom Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman to Participate in the Jefferies Media & Communications Conference

Original Viacom Inc. Press Release via Business Wire:

Viacom Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman to Participate in the Jefferies Media & Communications Conference

February 16, 2016 02:11 PM Eastern Standard Time

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) today announced that Philippe Dauman, Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, will participate in a question-and-answer session at the Jefferies Media & Communications Conference on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at approximately 12:20 p.m. (ET). A live webcast of Mr. Dauman's session will be available to the general public through a link on the Investor Relations homepage of Viacom's website, www.viacom.com. A replay of the audio webcast will be available in the "Events / Webcasts" section of the site.

About Viacom

Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, apps, games, consumer products, social media experiences, and other entertainment content for audiences in 180 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Channel 5 (UK), Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick and Paramount Channel, reach over 3.5 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.

For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com. Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom's blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/viacom.

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