By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – ViacomCBS stock (NASDAQ:VIAC) traded 9.7% lower in premarket Wednesday, a day after its fourth-quarter earnings fell short of estimates.
The media giant’s bet on the streaming business is also weighing on the stock, given that a serious play in an industry dominated by Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Disney+ (NYSE:DIS) will need billions of dollars in investments.
The company aims to have 100 million subscribers on its streaming services by 2024. Spending on new streaming programming will grow to more than $6 billion per year in 2024 compared to $4 billion estimated earlier, the company said.
From today, the company is changing its name, and will now be known as Paramount.
ViacomCBS added 9.4 million global streaming subscribers in the fourth quarter, closing December with more than 56 million. That compares with Disney+ Hotstar’s nearly 130 million and Netflix’s nearly 222 million. In quarterly subscriber additions, ViacomCBS was second only to Disney+ Hotstar’s 11.8 million.
The strong growth in subscriber additions drove the company’s revenue higher by 16% to $8 billion and the share of the business in the top line past 16% from 13% a year ago.
The company has laid out a large slate of programming to help draw new online customers. It is using two of the most famous animated series in TV history, South Park and Beavis and Butt-Head. Domestic streaming of future South Park episodes starting with season 27 will debut in 2024 while the international launch on the platform happens this year.
A “Beavis and Butt-Head” movie, planned for later this year, will now debut on Paramount+ as well, rather than Comedy Central, Bloomberg said.
Adjusted profit per share fell 75% to 26 cents due to a surge in costs and the absence of last year’s one-off gains.