Versant Media said profit in its first fiscal quarter fell as a consequence of erosion at its TV operations and better corporate costs tied to its recent spin-off from NBCUniversal, whilst a few of its direct-to-consumer businesses showed strength and buoyed its efforts to diversify revenue beyond traditional media assets,
The Recent York owner of MS NOW, CNBC and other cable businesses said net income fell $81 million, to $286 million, or $1.99 per share, compared with $367 million, or $2.55 a share within the year-earlier period. The corporate cited lower revenue, higher public company costs and interest expense following its separation from NBCU parent Comcast earlier this yr.
Revenue, nevertheless, slipped just 1.1%, to almost $1.69 billion, as Versant grappled with lower rankings and subscriber losses at its networks. Versant’s ad revenue got here to $368 million, down 5% from the year-earlier period, when it faced a 12% decline in ad sales. Distribution fees, meanwhile, fell 7.3%, to about $1 billion.
Revenue from the corporate’s various direct to consumer operations proved more robust, rising 9.5% to $192 million, largely as a consequence of performance across e-commerce businesses GolfNow and Fandango.
“We’re executing our strategy by extending the reach of our brands, deepening our reference to audiences, and scaling our digital platforms,” said Mark Lazarus, Versant’s CEO, in an announcement, noting tht the revenue increase at the corporate’s direct to consumer operations “reinforces our confidence in evolving the business over time and delivering long-term shareholder value.”
Versant has plans in place to bolster its non-traditional businesses. A brand new subscription app based on MS NOW is in development and can seek to boost a sense of community amongst adherents of the news and opinion outlet. Versant recently acquired StockStory, an AI-driven financial insights platform that is predicted to play a job in CNBC’s direct to consumer operations.
More to return…