• by Wayne Friedman , November 12, 2015

Viacom’s Paramount movie studio business took a dive in revenue during its fiscal fourth quarter with its cable network business unable to totally offset revenue results.

Viacom’s quarterly revenue sank 5.1% to $3.8 billion, with net income sinking nearly 16% to $614 million.

The company cable advertising revenues were down 7% -- although a bit better than expected, partly due to a stronger scatter TV market for TV networks overall. Shares of Viacom were up 3% in early Thursday trading to $50.79.

The big positive result came with double-digit-percentage growth in affiliate and subscription video-on-demand affiliate revenues -- up nearly 15%. International advertising revenues was another big earner -- gaining 45% -- due to consolidation of its U.K. Channel 5 interest.

Overall advertising revenues -- domestic and international -- were down 1% to $1.25 billion. Overall affiliate fees were were 10% to $1.4 billion.

Viacom’s Paramount studio films during the period -- "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” and “Terminator: Genisys” -- couldn’t compete with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Hercules” and “Transformers: Age of Extinction” in the same period a year before. It witnessed a 20% decline in theatrical revenues and down 24% in overall entertainment revenues.

Todd Juenger, senior media analyst at Bernstein Research, says that although Viacom benefited from a strong advertising market, it is still suffering -- partly because of an overall 13% drop in the quarter among total 2 plus viewers in Nielsen’s C3 measurement -- the average commercial ratings plus three days of time-shifted viewing.

Viacom has also begun to reduce commercial glut in its TV shows -- long a complaint among business analysts and media-buying executives.

“Comparing Viacom audiences to ad dollars shows monetization has actually decelerated. We believe a large part of the explanation is the 'ad stuffing' we have observed, which was especially egregious in previous quarters, less egregious in the current quarter.”

However, he adds: “As Viacom laps and unwinds those extra advertising units jammed into their linear networks, it will continue to be a headwind to advertising revenue.”