BAD NEWS, GOOD NEWZ FOR VIACOM

Viacom’s underwhelming earnings gave investors yet another reason to sell on Wednesday, Claire Atkinson noted in the New York Post—but the struggling media giant got some good news from an unlikely sector of its TV ecosystem.

After Viacom reported yesterday that its profit fell more than expected in the last quarter, with ad revenue falling 9% as ratings fell across all its major networks, shares lost 14.2% on, closing at $44.10. Year to date, Viacom stock has lost 41.4% while dropping 50% from its one-year high of $81.99 on Sept. 3, 2014.

While the current uncertainty among investors is largely due to a lack of big films this year, Atkinson notes, there have been questions about how it will handle a shift in how people consume media as more and more consumers cut the cable cord. “There is no question that our industry is in the midst of significant change,” Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman acknowledged.

Somewhat ironically, given its recent lack of sizzle, MTV delivered the strongest performance of the week for the parent company. While real-time ratings for Sunday night’s Video Music Awards were off, MTV says the show has generated more than 73m views to date across platforms, inclusive of video viewing across TV, MTV.com and the MTV App, and social platforms. Through Tuesday, the VMAs had recorded 41 million videos streams—up 55% over last year—across MTV's digital platforms, Twitter and Facebook.