Viacom Inc. President and CEO Bob Bakish said he expects the company to sign new deals with over-the-top and mobile video providers in fiscal 2018.
Speaking at a recent industry conference, Bakish hinted at new direct-to-consumer products as well as rights deals with partners. He called mobile video in particular "a powerful growth engine" for Viacom's business, and pointed to Viacom's recent mobile streaming deal with Telefónica SA-owned Movistar Play in Latin America as a preview of more things to come.
"We're also in a very interesting conversation in the U.S. right now about bringing our brands to mobile, and I believe that will happen in fiscal '18 as well," Bakish said.
As for the company's direct-to-consumer plans, the CEO said Viacom would launch new products "in a differentiated way that we believe leverages not only our library assets, but also our ad sales capabilities and is complementary to what we're doing in the MVPD space."
