Viacom-CBS merger close, ad sales up for Ten's owner

Industry Contributor 12 Aug 2019 - 2 min read

Viacom-CBS merger close, ad sales up for Ten's owner

By Paul McIntyre - Executive Editor

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Viacom, owner of Nickelodeon, MTV and Paramount Pictures, saw ad sales increase for its cable networks for the first time in five years, says Variety.

Key points

Advertiser interest in advanced TV advertising products, which include audience targeting and data-driven ad placement, was helping with ad growth
Viacom's ad revenues rose 6 per cent in the third quarter
Group revenues for the third quarter rose 4 per cent to $3.6bn, over the same period last year
The results come as Viacom is in ongoing talks to merge with CBS Corp.
A deal could be sealed within days

Network Ten will be subject to plenty of market conjecture when the Viacom-CBS merger is done - and it is close, by all accounts. A Viacom-dominated merged entity will most certainly bring a different dynamic to Ten's operations - given it was CBS which did the deal. The timing for Ten management is probably a little better than even four weeks ago given the strong performance of recent shows like The Bachelor. But with a new set of American masters, there will be a new set of challenges around structure, reporting lines and performance.