• by Wayne Friedman , August 5, 2010

Strong advertising and affiliate revenues helped Viacom push up net income for its second quarter.

Domestic TV advertising rose 4% from strong scatter pricing over lower upfront pricing of a year ago. Worldwide advertising moved up by the same 4% figure. Global affiliate revenues continued to climb at a rapid pace, up 11% versus a year ago.

Viacom's revenues landed at $3.3 billion, virtually even with its second-quarter 2009 numbers.

Factoring into these numbers: Viacom's worldwide ancillary revenues were flat. While there was growth in online content licensing fees and consumer products sales, this was offset by lower music video game royalties. Viacom said there were "lower losses" from video game "Rock Band."

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said in a conference call that "the overall advertising market continues to strengthen," predicting an improvement in the current third quarters.

For the period, Viacom pushed well into the black with net earnings at $420 million, a 51% hike from the $277 million number of a year ago.

Overall, its media networks rose 6% to $2.1 billion; net income for the group reached $789 million, climbing 14%.

Viacom's Filmed Entertainment unit had a mixed bag. Theatrical revenues grew 10% from "Iron Man 2" and DreamWorks animation "Shrek Forever After." But revenues from home entertainment sank 43%, since only three titles were released in the period, versus six the previous year.

All that pushed Film Entertainment down by 10% for the period to $1.3 billion. Still, the group made a $69 million profit versus an $8 million loss from the year before.