What was the revenue generated by the Pluto platform in Q3 2019, and how does it compare to the previous quarter

Wade Davis -- Chief Financial Officer
OK. So in terms of the ongoing growth investment, it's fairly modest and it's important to note that we're actually stepping on the gas where we're seeing delivered, where we're seeing the ability to deliver results, right? So as we've seen Pluto traction begin to take hold. We've started incrementally investing to support and help accelerate that growth. We are starting to invest incrementally in our niche B2C products, as Bob described.
And obviously, we're investing in supporting the AMS infrastructure. When you take all of that together, these are very modest incremental investments in the scheme of Viacom. We are going to continue to invest in things like Pluto. Obviously, it's in a hyper-growth mode.
Going to require investment in order to continue to support that. But one of the great things about Pluto is that the majority of its cost structure is variable. So unlike a lot of other people's forays into this area, we don't have to invest significantly ahead of the curve in terms of big fixed costs, licenses and content distribution. So we're able to grow the cost structure as the business grows.
In terms of overall margins, we've talked a lot previously about our cost transformation activities. We are able to, we continue to be able to drop significant savings to the bottom line. So in this quarter, if you look at SG&A improvements, we were able to improve SG&A by a couple of percent net of ad and promo expense. And so those savings are really allowing us to invest in these growth initiatives without really impacting Viacom's bottom line.
Bob Bakish -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. And in terms of your question on over the top and the like in the affiliate number, the reality is I'm not going to unpack that because we have a multifaceted distribution business, which is reflective of the significantly broader landscape that we now operate in. Viacom IP is in demand across this landscape, in many sectors. We're working to satisfy that demand, and that's driving growth overall in distribution.
And that's really how you need to think about it.
Doug Mitchelson -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
And if I could just follow up, Bob, if you sort of carry forward with Wade's comments on the growth question, have you sort of checked the box on a lot of the things that you wanted to do regarding driving growth initiatives? Or should we expect that there's plenty more to come?
Bob Bakish -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Look, I think we're just getting to an inflection point. Obviously, if you go back two, three years. We had a bunch of near-term revitalization work we had to do, and I won't recover that. But we said simultaneously we'd evolve the company for the future.
And when we entered fiscal '19, we said we were really leaning into that side, and that's exactly what we've been doing. And then you look at our third fiscal quarter and the return to growth on so many metrics, you're seeing it actually start to play through the P&L. And our focus now is on continuing to ramp that. And that might be, well, that includes ramping things like our Pluto platform, ensuring that broadband only and for that matter, video-bundled consumers first in the US, but really all around the world, have a premium content experience that leads the industry.
That includes our advanced marketing solution business, which as Wade discussed, really differentiated us in the quarter, in the upfront and sets us up and actually already has returned us to sustainable growth. So you should expect us to keep doing that. And you should also expect us to continue to look for ways to evolve our business and take advantages in a glass-half-full way of the many opportunities this shifting landscape presents.
Doug Mitchelson -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
All right, thanks so much.
Operator
Our next question comes from Rich Greenfield, please proceed with your question.
Bob Bakish -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Rich, you might be on mute?
Rich Greenfield -- Analyst
Sorry about that. Sorry. Sorry about t

Wade Davis -- Chief Financial Officer
OK. So in terms of the ongoing growth investment, it's fairly modest and it's important to note that we're actually stepping on the gas where we're seeing delivered, where we're seeing the ability to deliver results, right? So as we've seen Pluto traction begin to take hold. We've started incrementally investing to support and help accelerate that growth. We are starting to invest incrementally in our niche B2C products, as Bob described.
And obviously, we're investing in supporting the AMS infrastructure. When you take all of that together, these are very modest incremental investments in the scheme of Viacom. We are going to continue to invest in things like Pluto. Obviously, it's in a hyper-growth mode.
Going to require investment in order to continue to support that. But one of the great things about Pluto is that the majority of its cost structure is variable. So unlike a lot of other people's forays into this area, we don't have to invest significantly ahead of the curve in terms of big fixed costs, licenses and content distribution. So we're able to grow the cost structure as the business grows.
In terms of overall margins, we've talked a lot previously about our cost transformation activities. We are able to, we continue to be able to drop significant savings to the bottom line. So in this quarter, if you look at SG&A improvements, we were able to improve SG&A by a couple of percent net of ad and promo expense. And so those savings are really allowing us to invest in these growth initiatives without really impacting Viacom's bottom line.
Bob Bakish -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. And in terms of your question on over the top and the like in the affiliate number, the reality is I'm not going to unpack that because we have a multifaceted distribution business, which is reflective of the significantly broader landscape that we now operate in. Viacom IP is in demand across this landscape, in many sectors. We're working to satisfy that demand, and that's driving growth overall in distribution.
And that's really how you need to think about it.
Doug Mitchelson -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
And if I could just follow up, Bob, if you sort of carry forward with Wade's comments on the growth question, have you sort of checked the box on a lot of the things that you wanted to do regarding driving growth initiatives? Or should we expect that there's plenty more to come?
 Bob Bakish -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Look, I think we're just getting to an inflection point. Obviously, if you go back two, three years. We had a bunch of near-term revitalization work we had to do, and I won't recover that. But we said simultaneously we'd evolve the company for the future.
And when we entered fiscal '19, we said we were really leaning into that side, and that's exactly what we've been doing. And then you look at our third fiscal quarter and the return to growth on so many metrics, you're seeing it actually start to play through the P&L. And our focus now is on continuing to ramp that. And that might be, well, that includes ramping things like our Pluto platform, ensuring that broadband only and for that matter, video-bundled consumers first in the US, but really all around the world, have a premium content experience that leads the industry.
That includes our advanced marketing solution business, which as Wade discussed, really differentiated us in the quarter, in the upfront and sets us up and actually already has returned us to sustainable growth. So you should expect us to keep doing that. And you should also expect us to continue to look for ways to evolve our business and take advantages in a glass-half-full way of the many opportunities this shifting landscape presents.
Doug Mitchelson -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
All right, thanks so much.
Operator
Our next question comes from Rich Greenfield, please proceed with your question.
Bob Bakish -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Rich, you might be on mute?
Rich Greenfield -- Analyst
Sorry about that. Sorry. Sorry about t