Viacom's digital surprise
Looking for a hot new-media startup? You'd be hard-pressed to find one that's doing better than Viacom's digital operations. Most media outlets missed the news in the company's second-quarter earnings, but as PaidContent.org notes, Viacom's digital revenues rose 58 percent year-over-year to $51 million. Despite all the buzz about News Corp.'s MySpace, Viacom's online properties like Nick.com, Neopets and Xfire look set to make about as much money as Rupert's much-hyped social-networking site. Seems like people want their MTV.com.
And Viacom's digital empire is set to expand. In the earnings call, CFO Michael Dolan said that yesterday's $200 million purchase of online-video website Atom Entertainment should pay off quickly as Viacom's sales force starts to sell ads for the site. There's also Viacom's rumored interest in Bebo, a MySpace rival. The Lost Remote blog notes that CEO Tom Freston believes that digital operations could make up 5 percent of revenues by the end of the year. Not too shabby for an old-media outfit. 
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