Great Brands, Great Content, Great Audiences
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NEWNEW YORKYORK Great Brands, Great Content, Great Audiences An Interview with Philippe Dauman, President and Chief Executive Offi cer, Viacom Inc. EDITORS’ NOTE Before join- In addition, on the movie side, having a more competitive tax structure from a ing Viacom, Philippe Dauman we have had a powerful lineup of corporate tax standpoint, and having business was Co-Chairman and Chief franchises. confi dence translate into more capital invest- Executive Officer of DND Capital How do you balance digital with ment, which ultimately is necessary to drive the Partners, L.L.C. from May 2000 un- traditional revenue? economy. til September 2006. Prior to co- We do it holistically. Our digital How signifi cant is Viacom’s growth in founding DND Capital Partners, organizations used to be separate from the U.K. market? Dauman served in several posi- the traditional producers of television The U.K. is currently our highest-perform- tions at Viacom, including as a for example, or from those who sold ing international market from a bottom-line Deputy Chairman and Executive ads. We have, over the past few years, standpoint. We have over 20 cable networks Vice President of Viacom Inc. He is made it all one because people no in the U.K. and we have announced the pur- a director of National Amusements, longer distinguish how they get their chase of the Channel 5 Broadcasting Group in Inc.; Lafarge S.A.; and the KIPP Philippe Dauman content delivered. They want great the U.K. Foundation, as well as a member of content wherever it appears. Because we are programmers, we’re ex- the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences When we look at advertising revenues, af- cited by the possibility of creating more origi- and the Business Roundtable. He serves on the fi liate revenues, or distribution revenues, we nal programming for Channel 5 to add to its Executive Committee of the NCTA, the Board look at it as a whole and we manage it that way. current slate, and we can bring that pro- of Trustees for The Paley Center for Media, the We look at the different partner relationships we gramming to our networks around the world, Board of Trustees of the North Shore-Long Island have and what kind of content we give to each. including the U.S. It’s part of that virtuous pro- Jewish Health System, the Executive Committee This gets replicated outside of the U.S. as well gramming cycle. We’re spending more every of the Lenox Hill Hospital, and the Board of as domestically. year on creating content, and to the extent that Trustees and Dean’s Council of Columbia International growth is also a big part of we can disseminate it to more geographies and University Law School. our story. All of the great content we’re pro- technologies, the more programming we can ducing here can be exported through channels then create, which goes through that whole COMPANY BRIEF Viacom (viacom.com) is refl ecting our brands, be it MTV, Nickelodeon, cycle again. a leading global entertainment company de- Comedy Central or many other brands. Is content really king? livering content to its audiences via television, We are also developing new content in- Yes, but we also believe in great brands. motion pictures, and a wide range of digital me- ternationally, some of which is coming back to We create a passionate relationship among dia. With nearly 170 media networks, Viacom’s the U.S. brands and our audiences, and the content is brands include MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, BET, New technologies and international growth developed to fi t those brands. Centric, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nick at are the pillars of the future development of We put out close to 15 movies a year, many Nite, Comedy Central, TV Land, Spike TV, and Viacom. of which are associated with brands. For ex- Tr3s. Paramount Pictures, America’s oldest fi lm How strong is the economy in the U.S. ample, we have an animated features di- studio, continues today as a global producer and will much of your growth be international? vision that will start releasing movies in and distributor of fi lmed entertainment. We’re seeing a low level of growth in the February with SpongeBob, which is tied into U.S. compared to previous periods of recovery. our Nickelodeon brand. Some of the freestand- To what do you attribute Viacom’s growth Some of it has been driven by low-interest ing franchises are brands unto themselves, such and how has the business performed so well rates, which have persisted, but they can’t stay as Transformers, which ties in with Hasbro toys. for so many years? at the level they’re at, so we need fundamental We participate in the consumer products rev- Viacom is a content company with great growth and investment. enue that Hasbro generates from the characters brands, and it’s that focus that has resulted in Part of the problem is there hasn’t been in the Transformers movie. the success we have enjoyed. a quick enough recovery in areas like hous- Is there interaction among brands? When you have great content, you can take ing and exports. There have also been un- We coordinate where it makes sense. We advantage of the existing and emerging distribu- clear government policies, or policies that have a lot of networks that are run by manag- tion technologies. The developments in technol- are not always geared towards improving ers. These networks are bundled into network ogy are exciting for us because they give us new growth. groups where there is a logical tie-in. We have a ways to reach our viewers, our Tweeters, and There are some signs we can draw some Nickelodeon group and several networks within our audiences everywhere they live. We are de- optimism from. We are seeing better growth in that, such as Nick at Nite, TeenNick, Nicktoons, veloping new kinds of content and more of it for Europe in our own business. We also see con- and Nick Jr. our audience on these platforms. tinued opportunity in a number of emerging Then we have the music group, which in- It’s that focus on creativity that has made markets around the world. cludes MTV, VH1, CMT, and Logo; The enter- us successful. We also have a lot of good people We hope there will be more pro-growth tainment group, consisting of Comedy Central, who know how to monetize the great content policies coming from different federal and local Spike, and TV Land; and BET Networks, which we produce. branches of government, promoting investment, also includes Centric. VOLUME 37, NUMBER 4 POSTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2014 LEADERS MAGAZINE, INC. LEADERS 65 In the context of developing or acquiring We have always welcomed new compa- You can get anything done in New York if programming, because we run third-party pro- nies that have emerged. We talk to them all. people want to tap into that energy and exper- gramming, we try to coordinate among our Sometimes we help them fashion their ideas to tise. I’ve found the leaders of New York busi- networks and there are many cases when we refl ect the world as we understand it. nesses to be very engaged in their communities can cross-market shows. When we have a tent- In some cases, we’re not prepared to be and we cheer each other on. pole event, we can promote it not just on the their partner right away and, in other cases, we network running the event, but also on other embrace them and we fi nd that they add to our networks that we own. ecosystem. Will there be more opportunity for part- How critical is it that the workforce mir- nerships like those you have with Amazon rors the diversity of your customer base? and Twitter? Inclusion and diversity are core parts of We know a lot about technology – we have our culture. We have to refl ect our audience, and New technologies and engineers and data scientists working for us, we also get more good ideas with more diver- but we need to partner with others who focus sity of thought and people inside the company. in technology areas. We have Employee Resource Groups, so international growth We have worked closely with Twitter from to the extent that we have programs that are almost its inception. We were the fi rst to have geared to the Latino audiences, we will show Twitter VJs and we worked with them on our the programming to our Employee Resource are the pillars of the events, and our events tied to programming. Group, which is called Somos. It engages our We did a big deal with Amazon, involv- Latino employee population. It’s not just a way future development ing a lot of our content for their Amazon Prime for them to socialize and attend presentations; product, which was primarily a product aimed they truly are a resource for us. at getting people to shop on Amazon, but now These activities allow us to attract more of Viacom. has great video content as well. diverse talent. We’ve created these kinds of So we work with different partners where groups internationally as well. it drives our business while also driving their We also provide mentoring opportunities business. for employees coming into the company and Is it challenging at your size and scale mobility programs, so we have diversity at all to maintain an innovative culture? levels.