ViacomCBS focuses on streaming gains in Q3; says Star Trek is helping drive “significant growth”

ViacomCBS announced their Q3 earnings on Friday

NOVEMBER 9, 2020 - The Star Trek Universe has helped ViacomCBS beat its third-quarter market expectations, even against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ViacomCBS held its Q3 earnings call last Friday and showed a drop in revenue and earnings per share over the prior year, but their results still beat market expectations, according to MarketWatch. MarketWatch also reported on Friday that ViacomCBS stock has gained 16% over the quarter, a steady improvement from earlier in the year when it dropped sharply in the quarter immediately following the CBS and Viacom merger, in December 2019. The price of ViacomCBS stock currently sits around $30, after starting the year around $42 and dipping as low as $11 in March. (It should be noted that stock prices were in steep decline well before pandemic-related lockdowns started going into effect.)

ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said in a statement that the performance is reflective of the company starting to realize the investments they’ve put in place the past year in accordance with their strategy. He said, “This quarter, we’ve achieved strong user growth across our streaming platforms as we continue to build our linked ecosystem of pay and free services - with big steps taken, including the preview and brand reveal of Paramount+ ahead of its launch in early 2021, and more recently, the unification of our global streaming organization. Our company’s transformation is ahead of schedule and we are incredibly excited by the opportunities ahead.”

TrekMovie.com noted that during the earnings call on Friday, ViacomCBS executives featured Star Trek as one of the key products that helped them to favorable results. Bakish pointed to original programming like Star Trek: Lower Decks as one of the drivers for them reaching a record nearly 18 million subscribers on CBS All Access. (Star Trek: Discovery, of course, was not included in these results.) He also held up the Star Trek channel as one of those that helped propel the free streaming service Pluto TV to 36 million global monthly active users. TrekMovie also noted that artwork from Discovery and Lower Decks featured in the slide deck for the results presentation.

Results for the quarter - outside of ViacomCBS’s streaming services - were mixed. Advertising and content licensing revenue decreased year on year, mostly due to effects of the pandemic, but revenue from their affiliates increased (for both TV and cable). In films, theatrical revenue was what they called “immaterial”, with cinemas largely being closed. Home entertainment and licensing for films likewise decreased on the year, which (again) was due to effects of the pandemic, this time on the timing and availability of releases. On the plus side however, publishing was up, buoyed by a couple of timely releases: journalist Bob Woodward’s Rage, and Mary Trump’s scathing book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. Those results could be unlikely to repeat going forward, especially as ViacomCBS is reportedly looking to sell off its print division, Simon & Schuster (which, it should be noted, is the publisher of hundreds of Star Trek titles).

Overall, against the backdrop of a challenging third quarter with revenue drops driven by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, ViacomCBS turned in a solid performance and looks well-positioned headed into the end of 2020.