Viacom And Hulu Expand Content Partnership To Bring Nickelodeon Programming To The 'Hulu Plus' Service, Including Nickelodeon's Brand New "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Animated Television Series
Below is a Viacom Inc. Press Release from PRNewswire:
Hulu and Viacom Expand Content Partnership
Nickelodeon Joins BET, COMEDY CENTRAL, MTV, SPIKE, TV Land and VH1 on Hulu Plus
LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK, Oct. 9, 2012 /Viacom Press Release via PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hulu and Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA and VIAB) today announced an expansion of their content partnership that will bring Nickelodeon programming to the Hulu Plus service and its more than 2 million subscribers for the first time. Beginning October 9, 2012, Hulu Plus subscribers can access five recent episodes of currently airing Nickelodeon live action and animated series, including "iCarly," "Big Time Rush," "VICTORiOUS," "How to Rock," "Supah Ninjas," "SpongeBob Squarepants," "Kung Fu Panda," "Penguins of Madagascar," "Winx Club," "Robot & Monster," "The Legend of Korra," "T.U.F.F. Puppy," and the new season of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (coming soon), 21 days after the episodes air on television. Subscribers can catch up on these and many other current series at a new Nickelodeon destination on Hulu Plus, which will feature tune-in information and promotional elements to drive viewership of Nickelodeon's on-air lineup.
Additionally, over the next few months, content from Viacom's bilingual network, Tr3s, will broaden the Hulu Latino selection of youth-focused content on Hulu Plus. Series include, but are not limited to, "Ninas Mal," "Quiero Mis Quinces," "Quiero Mi Boda and "Quiero Mi Baby."
Under the agreement, Hulu and Viacom will also continue to make current and full episodes, and clips of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" available on the free ad-supported Hulu.com service and Hulu Plus. Hulu Plus subscribers will continue to enjoy programming from BET, COMEDY CENTRAL, MTV, SPIKE, TV Land and VH1, including a selection of current shows 21 days after they air and more than 1,500 episodes of archive programming. The availability of Viacom content on Hulu Plus varies on a show-by-show basis.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
About Viacom
Viacom is home to the world's premier entertainment brands that connect with audiences through compelling content across television, motion picture, online and mobile platforms in over 160 countries and territories. With more than 160 media networks reaching approximately 700 million global subscribers, Viacom's leading brands include MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, BET, CENTRIC, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, Nick at Nite, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV Land, SPIKE and Tr3s. Paramount Pictures, celebrating its 100th year in 2012 and creator of many of the most beloved motion pictures, continues today as a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. Viacom operates a large portfolio of branded digital media experiences, including many of the world's most popular properties for entertainment, community and casual online gaming.
Hulu is an online TV service whose mission is to help people find and enjoy the world's premium content when, where and how they want it. As we pursue this mission, we aspire to create a service that users, advertisers and content owners unabashedly love. (www.hulu.com).
MIPCOM: US on-demand platform Hulu is expanding its agreement with Viacom by making Nickelodeon content available on its subscription service Hulu Plus for the first time.
From today, Hulu Plus subscribers will be able to access the five most recent episodes of Nick’s current live-action and animated series 21 days after they air on TV.
Shows covered by the agreement include iCarly, Big Time Rush, SpongeBob SquarePants and Kung Fu Panda.
In the next few months Viacom will also make content from its bilingual network Tr3s available on Hulu Latino, the Spanish-language section of the site, including Ninas Mal, Quiero Mis Quinces and Quiero Mi Baby.
Announcing the new Viacom agreement during his keynote speech at Mipcom today, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar also announced a fresh coproduction deal with BBC Worldwide Americas. This is its second with the US division of the BBC’s commercial arm, after the two teamed up on season four of political comedy The Thick of It in July – Hulu’s first international copro.
The latest copro is for another comedy series, The Wrong Mans, about two lowly office workers who become caught up in a deadly criminal conspiracy. The show will star UK actors James Corden and Mathew Baynton and is being directed and produced by Jim Field Smith (Episodes). Exec production duties fall to head of BBC in-house comedy Mark Freeland and Hulu’s Charlotte Koh.
The show is already at the pilot stage and will appear on Hulu next year, said Kilar.
Kilar used BBC3 comedy Misfits as an example of a UK show that was able to find a strong audience on Hulu after debuting on the service, having never been aired on US broadcast TV.
Discussing the growth of Hulu since its launch in 2007, Kilar said: “This year we’re averaging around 30 million monthly users on the Hulu service. Our Hulu Plus subscription service exceeded two million subscribers in March of this year – the fastest ramp to two million paid subscribers of any video service in US history, whether online or offline.”
Kilar said the service was growing “unusually fast” and is already licensing more than 55,000 episodes. He urged producers to contact him directly, Hulu’s US-based senior VP of content Andy Forssell or SVP of International Johannes Larcher. “We’re just getting started,” he said.
Prior to today’s extended Viacom deal, the firm was already making full episodes and clips of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report available on free ad-supported Hulu.com. Content from BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Spike, TV Land and VH1 are already available on Hulu Plus.
TAGS: digital, Online, vod GENRES: Children's, Comedy SHOWS: Big Time Rush, iCarly, Kung Fu Panda, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Wrong Mans PEOPLE: Charlotte Koh., James Corden, Jason Kilar, Mark Freeland, Mathew Baynton Jim Field Smith COMPANIES: BBC Worldwide Americas, Hulu, Nickelodeon, Tr3s, Viacom SECTIONS: FutureMedia COUNTRIES: US
Hulu renews Viacom deal, adds lots of Nickelodeon shows
Hulu has announced a new deal that will keep current Viacom TV shows parked on the streaming video service and even add some new ones.
Per the new agreement, Hulu users will have access to a backlog of shows from kid-friendly cable channel Nickelodeon, including SpongeBob SquarePants, iCarly, The Legend of Korra, the new cowabunga-less Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and lots more. And of course, you'll still be able to watch popular shows like The Daily Show, South Park, and The Colbert Report.
All new episodes of Viacom shows will be available the day after they premiere on television to all Hulu users, and not just those who subscribe to the Hulu Plus premium service.
Hulu is also getting shows from Viacom’s bilingual network Tr3s, which should give a nice boost to Hulu’s Latino-focused content library. The Tr3s programming will roll out over the next few months.
Both the Latino and children’s content deals from Viacom should prove useful for Hulu against rival streaming video service Netflix, which is also focusing on improving those two areas to grab new subscribers.
The Viacom deal coincides with a keynote speech Hulu CEO Jason Killar gave today at the MIPCOM media industry event, in which he highlighted the company’s progress over the last few years. Hulu currently brings in 30 million monthly users and over 2 million paying Hulu Plus subscribers. (We’ve embedded Kilar’s keynote talk video below.)
Nickelodeon shows like “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “iCarly” are coming to Hulu, the streaming TV Web site, for the first time.
In a pact announced Tuesday by Nickelodeon’s owner, Viacom, episodes of selected shows will be accessible to subscribers of Hulu’s paid service, Hulu Plus. The episodes will show up online three weeks after they first appear on television.
The Nickelodeon shows are an addition to a pre-existing distribution deal between Viacom and Hulu. The deal, announced early last year, instituted the same three-week delay for shows like MTV’s “Jersey Shore” and TV Land’s “Hot in Cleveland.” Since then, though, some shows have been removed from Hulu Plus completely. Searches for “Jersey Shore,” for instance, now refer users to MTV’s own site, where episodes are still available.
In making their announcement on Tuesday, the two companies acknowledged the changes by saying, “The availability of Viacom content on Hulu Plus varies on a show-by-show basis.”
“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” remain the two shows that are available on Hulu free the day after their premieres on television.
Viacom said the streaming Nickelodeon shows will include, along with “SpongeBob” and “iCarly,” “Big Time Rush,” “Victorious,” “How to Rock” and “Supah Ninjas.” Five episodes of each will be available to Hulu Plus subscribers on a delayed basis.
Nickelodeon has suffered some TV ratings weakness in the past years. Some Viacom analysts have wondered whether the weakness was attributable, in part, to the online availability of Nickelodeon shows. But Viacom executives (and other analysts) have played down that possibility.
Online streams, when delayed by three weeks, might instead be a promotional platform for the TV premieres, thus increasing ratings: Viacom and Hulu said Tuesday that the new Nickelodeon page on Hulu Plus would “feature tune-in information and promotional elements to drive viewership of Nickelodeon’s on-air lineup.”
The Nickelodeon episodes are available on Hulu Plus right away. Down the road the service will also add episodes of shows from Viacom’s bilingual cable channel for Latinos, Tr3s. The two companies declined to comment on the financial terms of the pact.
MIPCOM 2012 – Cannes. Hulu and Viacom have announced an expansion of their content partnership that will bring Nickelodeon programming to the Hulu Plus service.
Programmes will be available 21 days after the episodes air on television. Subscribers can catch up on these and many other current series at a new Nickelodeon destination on Hulu Plus, which will feature tune-in information and promotional elements to drive viewership of Nickelodeon’s on-air lineup.
The expanded agreement will also bring content from Viacom’s bilingual network, Tr3s, and broaden the Hulu Latino selection of youth-focused content on Hulu Plus.
Under the agreement, Hulu and Viacom will also continue to make current and full episodes and clips of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report available on the free ad-supported Hulu.com service and Hulu Plus.
Viacom continues to make content available from its other networks, BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Spike, TV Land and VH1.
Hulu has also announced that it is co-producing The Wrong Mans in partnership with BBC Worldwide Americas. This is Hulu's second co-production with BBC. Hulu came on board at the script stage and is working closely with actor and writer James Corden, co-writer/actor Mathew Baynton and director/producer Jim Field Smith on the creative vision for this new show.
The Wrong Mans will be on Hulu, Hulu Plus and BBC in the UK in 2013.
Hulu has also said its Hulu Plus service has more than two million subscribers for the first time.
Hulu also announced at MIPCOM an expansion of a pre-existing agreement with Viacom that will add series from Nickelodeon to a trove of content already on the subscription component of the service, Hulu Plus. Programming from the conglom's channels including Comedy Central, BET and MTV will stay on Hulu Plus with a 21-day delay from their premiere airdate. Hulu Plus is the only SVOD service to have in-season Nickelodeon content.
Also, from a Reed MIDEM Press Release from PRNewswire:
MIPCOM Wows Global Entertainment Industry
With Top Industry Executives, Talent, Buyers and More Screenings Than Ever at Vibrant Market
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Digital players seek content
"Companies such as Netflix, Google/YouTube or Hulu have been attending MIPCOM for several years, but mostly as buyers," commented Laurine Garaude, Director of Reed MIDEM's Television Division, which organises MIPCOM. "Today, they are very much involved in developing great content."
As for Google/YouTube, Robert Kyncl, Google/YouTube's Vice President, Global Head of Content, grabbed MIPCOM headlines by announcing the company is to launch 60 new channels in the UK, Germany and France, with original content coming from such TV heavyweights as FremantleMedia, BBC Worldwide, Endemol and All3Media. He urged the content production community to embrace YouTube.
Jason Kilar, CEO of online TV service Hulu told MIPCOM delegates that his company has spent $500 million on content this year. He stressed that Hulu is working closely with traditional broadcasting heavyweights, bringing the BBC's 'Misfits' to US audiences and Nickelodeon content to Hulu for the first time, thanks to a deal with Viacom.
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Also, below is a Zacks Investment Research, Inc. Press Release from PRNewswire:
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: AT&T, Viacom, Verizon Communications, Sprint Nextel and Bristol-Myers Squibb
CHICAGO, Oct. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Viacom Inc. (Nasdaq: VIA), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY).
Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513
Here are highlights from Tuesday's Analyst Blog:
AT&T Bolsters U-Verse Offerings
The second-largest U.S. mobile service provider AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) has inked a deal with Viacom Inc. (Nasdaq: VIA) to add several Viacom channels to its U-verse TV online offerings.
With the AT&T U-verse ID, AT&T customers will now get to view the full-length episodes from BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike and VH1 on demand through Viacom's network-based websites like www.mtv.tve. Also, customers will soon get the access to these services on their mobile devices including smartphones and tablets.
This is the first "TV Everywhere" offering from AT&T and Viacom. AT&T's U-verse service offerings are a huge success and gaining strong momentum in the market. Healthy growth from its U-verse video (U-verse TV and bundled satellite) services is helping AT&T to counter increasing competition in the business from its major rivals – Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S). The U-verse services coupled with support from business revenue, in particular strategic services, are driving the growth in the wireline business.
Revenue from residential customers edged up 1.7% year over year (maximum growth in more than four years) to $5.5 billion in the second quarter, driven by AT&T U-verse services. AT&T's total video subscribers, which include U-verse TV and bundled satellite customers, touched 5.8 million at the end of the second quarter. Total U-verse TV subscribers reached 4.1 million with the net addition of 155,000 customers on continued high-speed Internet attach rates. Strategic business services such as Ethernet, Virtual Private Networks, hosting, IP conferencing and application services, spiked 13.5% year over year.
We believe the expansion of U-verse services will continue to boost data revenue and ARPU (average monthly revenue per user) in the wireline segment.
We are maintaining our long-term Neutral recommendation on AT&T. The company retains the Zacks #3 (Hold) Rank for the short term (1–3 months).
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Andy Forssell, senior VP of content, Hulu Dealmakers Impact Report 2012: Disrupters
Hulu is closing out 2012 on a high note, thanks to Forssell's multi-year licensing deal with CBS to bring its TV library to the Hulu Plus subscription service starting in January. "This is in addition to the more than 400 other content partners from whom we offer current and classic TV programming on Hulu and Hulu Plus," says Forssell, who has amped up the number of such relationships from just two in 2007 -- and led the charge into original programming with content such as Kevin Smith's "Spoilers" and the travel show "Up to Speed." He's also brought exclusives from overseas, such as Israel's "Prisoners of War," upon which "Homeland" is based; the U.K.'s "Rev"; and BBC co-prod "The Thick of It." In October, Forssell expanded Hulu's partnership with Viacom by wrapping a deal for Nickelodeon's current programming on Hulu Plus without advertising 21 days after air and broadened Hulu Latino to include content from Viacom's Tr3s.
Outside the office: Hiking, traveling and spending time with his three kids.
