Digital dollars are finally starting to matter to Viacom

Up to this point, major content providers have faced a brutal choice. Digital and online delivery is seen as the future, but revenue for digital products just hasn't had the magnitude of the legacy products they replace.

The typical way of describing the revenue differences are that analog generates dollars while digital products generate pennies, perhaps dimes.

But that might be changing. Programmers like Viacom are finally starting to see a real uptick in the money they get from digital distributors.

On Viacom’s fiscal third quarter earnings call, the company reported that affiliate revenues grew 20 percent domestically and 16 percent worldwide. That growth was due in part to digital deals that the company has struck recently, including new ones with Netflix and Hulu that make its shows available for streaming.

Digital rights might finally be turning a corner. For consumers, that means higher prices for digital versions of legacy products, of course. But that's part of the price to be paid if users want the same high-quality content on their mobile, handheld and other screens as they are used to seeing on their TVs.

Digital dollars are finally starting to matter