Bob Bakish
The general manager of Viacom, Bob Bakish, said that although they are expecting modest growth in their traditional linear networks, eventually, mobile devices will be the content company’s true engine.
The agreement signed recently with Telefónica to license their content brands to Movistar Play’s mobile video offer is part of this shift to come. “We are in a very interesting conversation in the US on how to take our brands to mobile devices and I think that will happen in 2018. It is an opportunity we are thrilled about and we will hear more about his further in the year,” said the executive during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, held in San Francisco.
Bakish also spoke about a direct offer for the consumer that taps into the film library’s more than 10 thousand hours in a “differentiated way” as a complement to their relations with the MVPD.
The Company is in conversations with other OTT companies, as it already did with DIRECTV Now and Sling TV, to transport their networks.