Viacom Sees Slowdown in Rate of Ad Growth

Viacom Inc. is seeing a slowing rate of growth in advertising in the second quarter, the company's chief executive said Wednesday, in one of the first admissions by a big media company that the economy is beginning to hurt the national ad market. Viacom expects to see domestic ad-sales growth of 3% to 4% in the quarter ending next month, well below the 7% growth the company reported in the first quarter, Philippe Dauman said at the Sanford Bernstein & Co. Strategic Decisions Conference in New York.