• by Wayne Friedman , April 13, 2022

Comscore Movies -- a division of Comscore -- has hired veteran movie studio executive Michael Viane as head of global revenue, reporting to Arturo Guillén, executive vice president and global managing director of Comscore Movies.

Viane will be responsible for overseeing all Comscore's movie-related products -- including Comscore Box Office Essentials and International Box Office Essentials, as well as its forecasts and insights as they relate to films.

He will also work with Comscore's international unit to expand local products and identify synergies in 74 markets.

Viane most recently served as co-president of theatrical distribution at STX Entertainment. Prior to STX Entertainment he held senior commercial leadership roles at Vision Media, Bleecker Street Media and Regal Entertainment Group. Viane also spent 20 years at Warner Brothers.

A recovering movie theatrical business has seen Comscore posting $30.6 million in revenue for its movie reporting and analytics business in 2021 -- down 8% from the year before.

The 8% drop was a narrower loss versus a bigger 21% decline in 2020 -- the first year of the pandemic in which major movie theater chains closed completely. In 2020, Comscore saw revenues of $33.3 million, down from $42.3 million in 2019, a pre-pandemic year.

In its annual report 10K filing to the SEC filed earlier this year, Comscore says the pandemic and government mandates and restrictions hurt business -- “including with respect to the execution of new and renewal contracts, the impact of closed movie theaters on our customers, customer payment delays and requests to modify contractual payment terms.”

Comscore adds: “These conditions have negatively impacted our revenue and cash flows, particularly in our movies reporting and analytics business, and could continue to have an impact in future periods.”