CBS Syndication Deals Reveal Seismic Strategy Change
This shift, while a stark departure for the TV industry, is one that CBS plans to pursue with vigor. Not only will the company look to expand into traditional web video sites, but CBS CEO Les Moonves plans to go beyond that to social networking sites. For example, CBS is working on agreements with social-networking sites such as Facebook to allow users to post CBS video clips to their profiles, according to the Times article.
Two additional aspects of the CBS strategy are interesting: First, CBS is contemplating a deal in which sites would be allowed to personalize or modify photos and video clips for user’s pages; this strategy would put CBS content front-and-center in the legitimate remix and mashup trend that is emerging as a way to garner publicity for movies, albums and videos—the most recent high-profile example being Trent Reznor’s release of Nine Inch Nails tracks as GarageBand multitrack files.
Second, CBS has timed the announcement of its expanded internet syndication strategy to coincide with the broadcast industry's "upfront" ad-selling season. This high-stakes advertising season officially kicks off today, with the major networks unveiling their fall schedules to advertisers as a strategy to negotiate placement.
Under this new strategy, then, CBS will be negotiating ad placement in more than just traditional broadcast, cable, and CBS websites. It will be expanding its media placement capabilities at the start of an estimated $9 billion ad season, which begins in September but is often tied up weeks or months in advance.
This strategy of working with smaller sites is antithetical to the way that traditional media has approached the ad buying season. According to the article, ABC is streaming all of its prime-time programming through its own ABC.com player, while NBC Universal and Fox are creating a new internet video portal to compete with YouTube. Like CBS, the NBC-Fox partnership will syndicate content from the web sites that CBS is also syndicating from, but only for placement on the partner site.
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22 May 2013