Television comprised more than half of Viacom’s revenue in 2011, generating $9.14 billion. And even more of the profits.
More surprisingly, television made up nearly all of Viacom’s income, raking in nearly $3.51 billion more than the film division.
Strong cable networks like ESPN and the Disney Channel and the affiliate and advertising revenue they generate enabled the Mouse House to emerge relatively unscathed from its recent “John Carter” and "Mars Needs Moms" debacles, with nearly half of revenue from television.
Meanwhile, Disney’s income from television -- $6.15 billion -- dwarfed the film studio’s $618 million.
TimeWarner’s sprawling television and cable properties – led by the formidable HBO – combined to take in $20.01 billion compared to $6.31 billion from movies. (About half of the Warner Bros. filmed entertainment division is Warner Bros. television studios.)
But in profit, television dwarfed the film properties, with its $5.05 billion -- $4.42 billion from cable plus half of the Warner Bros. profits.
Though the movie division of Rupert Murdoch’s media giant earned $6.89 billion in revenue, the film arm cost $5.91, leaving a measly $927 million in profit. Television earned $16.56 billion in revenue and had a much higher profit margin.
News Corporations lucrative television properties -- think Fox News, “Glee” and “Family Guy” -- earned Rupert Murdoch's media giant a $3.67 billion income. Movies took home $927 million of the $6.89 billion revenue.
It’s clear why Comcast plunked down $13.8 billion for NBCUniversal in 2011 -- the television arm earned $14.04 billion to the film division’s $4.24 billion.
The mere $27 million NBCUniversal generated from movies pales before the $3.318 billion its television properties took home.
The silver screen is taking a financial back seat to the small screen, which has turned to gold. An analysis of five major media companies' annual reports revealed that film generates a significant amount of revenue for each media company, but an ever-smaller slice of the profit compared to television.
Here is a detailed comparison of each company's revenue-to-income ratio.
And the full story is here: Why Television is Trouncing Film at Major Media Companies
By Alexander C. Kaufman and Brent Lang
All Graphics by Nelson Anderson
