Moonves Expects 2016 To Be Good Year For Ad Revenue

Les Moonves

Les Moonves told anaylysts Tuesday that he expect next year to be a very good year (with a Hat Tip to the Political Season) for Ad Revenue on local radio and television.  He also touted the new Star Trek TV Series.

Moonves stated, "(Monday) we announced that we're producing a new Star Trek television series that will be available exclusively on All Access in the United States and licensed across other platforms around the world. We will debut a special premiere episode on the CBS Television Network with all subsequent episodes only available to All Access subscribers here in the U.S. Star Trek is an unstoppable franchise and its auspices are tremendous and bona fide.

Here are six takeaways from Les Moonves, CEO CBS, from Tuesday's 3Q Earnings (Click Here for original posting)  Conference Call with analysts:

• Ratings:  "We have won every single week since except this past week where there were five World Series games on in the same week. And I will reiterate today that we will win the 2015-2016 television season as well.Comprehensive measurement of our shows is very important to our success. This is why we're encouraged that Nielsen has just launched its new platform total audience measurement program and why we have joined the industry in support of a combined Rentrak and comScore, which will help expedite full measurement of our programming both nationally and locally."
• CBS News: "We're up across the board led by the strength of our flagship broadcast. Year-over-year CBS News is up 6%, CBS This Morning is up 9% and 60 MINUTES is up 15%. Taken as a whole, more people have watched CBS News this season than any other network news division. CBS News is capitalizing on this momentum by building our new online platform CBSN. As we do this, we're attracting a whole new set of younger viewers. The average CBSN viewer is under 40-years-old, so not only are we bypassing the cost of cable news by going digital, but we're also bypassing the demos as well. And our CPMs at CBSN are twice what they are on air."
• CBS Sports: "Ratings for Thursday Night Football are up 5% from a year ago and our Sunday package is up 9%, bringing the biggest audience we've seen in 29 years. We're also looking forward to the Super Bowl, which will be broadcast on CBS just as it was for the very first time 50 years ago. Super Bowl sales are going extremely well. Not only are we getting record pricing that we're looking for, but there are just a few units left to sell. You can imagine what these last few spots will go for."
• Local Broadcasting: "Premium content is also driving sales at our TV stations, which are benefiting from our number one schedule in primetime and our growth in late night. Looking ahead, both of our TV and radio stations are gearing up for the huge 2016 political season, where the only thing is certain is that it will be another great year for advertising. We are encouraging all 19 candidates from both parties to hang in there as long as they can. In addition, we are very aware of the lucrative valuations that are out there in terms of spectrum auction. We are evaluating how we could best participate with some of our 13 non-CBS television stations, while still providing our signal through other outlets. It's clearly a terrific option to have.
• Revenue: "So the biggest news in the quarter is that network advertising has swung back in a big way, the way it always does, and is now looking strong going forward as well. In addition, we're monetizing more and more delayed viewing of our shows with lots more upside as measurement advances. And we have set ourselves up to grow subscription revenue no matter how viewers want to consume our content. In short, we're growing profits today, while we're setting ourselves up for a very, very bright future."
• Looking ahead:  "The future begins with a very healthy 2016. Advertising will clearly be very strong, we know that. Anchored by Super Bowl 50 in the first quarter and political in the fourth, retrans and reverse comp will exceed $1 billion next year, which is a year ahead of the target we had previously given you, and we will exceed our target of $2 billion by 2020. Plus, there is a very good chance that one or more major media or tech companies will launch a new skinny bundle next year, leading to significant incremental subscription revenue for us. And this is in addition to the continued growth of All Access and Showtime OTT.