Updated: CBS Taps OMD for Media November 19, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentAssignment includes namesake network and Showtime
NEW YORK CBS has awarded its media planning and buying chores across all traditional and digital platforms to Omnicom Group’s OMD without a review.
The assignment includes the CBS and Showtime networks. Spending on the account in 2007 was $135 million, per media tracking service Recma.
Interpublic Group’s Initiative has handled the work, which it won in March 2006 after a review. At that time, Alan Cohen, now CEO of OMD USA, was with Initiative and led the winning pitch. (Initiative took over the business from then incumbent Carat. OMD placed second in that review.)
Read The Rest—> Updated: CBS Taps OMD for Media
CNBC, LinkedIn combine business audiences via new alliance September 5, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a comment | OAS_RICH(‘Middle1′);  |
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.—Business network CNBC has teamed up with social networking service LinkedIn to share content.
CNBC will offer articles, blogs, financial data and video content to LinkedIn’s 27 million users, while user-generated LinkedIn content will be telecast on CNBC.
Targeted advertising is expected to be part of the joint effort, but the companies did not provide details on this or how they might share ad revenue.
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Irreverent Daily Web Show Brings Original Production Savvy May 23, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentCBS Acquires WallStrip
Irreverent Daily Web Show Brings Original Production Savvy
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Published: May 22, 2007
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Further evidence of the web as hit maker: CBS this morning validated recent rumors by acquiring WallStrip, the daily web show devoted to irreverent stock news. WallStrip announced the acquisition this morning on its show.
The six-month-old program attracts a predominantly male audience interested in the financial industry and has syndication deals with YouTube, Veoh, Blip.tv, iTunes, Yahoo! Podcasts, Google Finance, TheStreet.com, AOL Uncut, vSocial and Revver.
Much of its success is credited to host Lindsay Campbell, who has drawn comparisons to former Rocketboom host Amanda Congdon. Ms. Congdon was picked up last year by ABC News to produce original web content. Ms. Campbell will continue to host the program, and WallStrip producers Adam Elend and Jeff Marks will produce original web video for CBS. Creator Howard Lindzon will become a consultant for the network.
‘An audience company’
“As CBS evolves from a content company into an audience company, we need to build a team of talented web producers who ‘get’ the growing online demand,” said CBS Interactive President and acquisition veteran Quincy Smith in a release announcing the deal.
Mr. Smith has said he is interested in two types of acquisitions: those that bring new content to CBS and those that bring the company big online reach.
“Look for CBS to get in the game, like Fox, iVillage,” he said last month at a conference organized by PaidContent.org. “You should expect us to make a statement there, and you should expect that sooner rather than later.”
Can CBS Put the Net Into Network? May 14, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentCan CBS Put the Net Into Network?
Syndicating Shows on Web,
Admits Old Strategy Failed
May 14, 2007; Page B1
A year ago, CBS Corp. announced the creation of Innertube, an entertainment channel on CBS.com designed to make the company a player in online video. It streams video of sporting events, news reports and reruns of shows such as the hit comedy “How I Met Your Mother.”
CBS’s new chief Internet strategist now jokes that the Web address for Innertube should be “CBS.com/nobodycomeshere.”
![[Photo]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AJ904_CBS_20070513154131.jpg) |
| A version of what the hit CBS show ‘CSI’ would look like on a variety of Internet video players. Clockwise from top: Joost, AOL, TV.com and Bebo. |
CBS, after a year of experimenting with various Web initiatives, says that forcing consumers to come to one site — its own — to view video hasn’t worked. Instead, the company plans to pursue a drastically revised strategy that involves syndicating its entertainment, news and sports video to as much of the Web as possible. It represents a stark departure for the TV industry. Most of CBS’s major competitors, including Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal and News Corp.’s Fox, are to some degree all betting that they can build their own Internet video portals.
Starting this week, an expanded menu of CBS’s video content will be available for free to consumers on as many as 10 different Web sites ranging from Time Warner Inc.’s AOL to Joost Inc., a buzzy online video service that is just rolling out. The company calls its new venture the CBS Interactive Audience Network.
Because CBS plans to sell the advertising that will appear on the digital network, the launch is timed to coincide with the industry’s high-stakes “upfront” ad-selling season, which kicks off today. It is the time of the year when the big networks unveil their fall schedules to advertisers and start negotiations to place some $9 billion in ads for the 2007-2008 television season, which starts in September.
CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves plans in coming days to announce a flurry of other deals aimed at giving consumers new ways to use CBS content online. For instance, CBS is working on agreements with social-networking sites such as Facebook Inc. and Last.fm Ltd. to allow users to post CBS video clips to their profiles, according to people familiar with the matter. A deal is also imminent with Slide Inc., which allows users of social networks such as MySpace to personalize photos and video for their pages.
![[Net Nets]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AJ922_CBSjp_20070513160501.gif)
All the big networks will aggressively shop advertising space on their sites to media buyers this week, but most of the networks are pursuing a homegrown approach to Internet video. ABC, for instance, has focused on streaming all of its prime-time programming through its own ABC.com player. NBC Universal and Fox in March said they are creating a new Internet video portal to compete with Google Inc.’s popular video-sharing site YouTube. In addition to launching the new portal — which the two companies plan to support with a $100 million marketing campaign — the venture will syndicate the content to big Web sites. Those sites include AOL, Microsoft Corp.’s MSN, TV.com, News Corp.’s MySpace and Yahoo Inc.
In contrast, CBS has abandoned attempts to build its own blockbuster portal and is instead signing pacts with a raft of smaller — and often-untested — Web companies, from Joost to Veoh Networks Inc., a video-sharing service. Unlike other big media companies, CBS’s holdings in cable networks are limited, which gives it more freedom to distribute its content widely over the Internet without hurting a cable revenue stream. CBS is essentially placing bets on which video sites will matter in the coming months and years, both in the U.S. and around the world. With any luck, the smaller sites will grow in popularity, boosting the exposure of CBS shows — and lifting the network’s haul of online ad dollars. CBS will give advertisers the freedom to tweak their ads to fit the different sites. The internal code name for CBS’s new strategy: “Rolling Thunder.”
“We can’t expect consumers to come to us,” says Quincy Smith, the president of CBS Interactive. “It’s arrogant for any media company to assume that.”
CBS faces a particularly difficult challenge luring its viewers to the Web. The network, home to franchises such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “60 Minutes,” attracts an older average viewer than ABC, NBC or Fox. As a result, media buyers and analysts say, CBS’s audience is less Web-savvy and the company has a harder time funneling viewers to its Web site with on-air promos.
The likes of Yahoo and MSN see the networks as trying to leverage their relationships with TV ad buyers to siphon off online ad dollars. So while the Web companies want to offer their users access to portions of studio movies and TV hits — which explains why they are signing deals with all the networks — they argue that they should be selling the advertising that accompanies it. The company that sells the ads gets to keep the lion’s share of the revenue; in CBS’s case, it gets 90%, while the Web partners get a 10% cut.
Joanne Bradford, chief media officer of MSN, says advertisers would be served better by buying online ads directly from Web sites rather than buying Internet packages offered alongside their upfront TV deals with the networks. “I’m a little irritated that the networks have put together a digital package that lets a marketer check a box and isn’t as robust or deep,” she said at a conference last week for advertisers in Seattle.
Advertisers will ultimately decide if CBS’s new strategy is the right one. So far, media buyers are positive about the move, although they note that CBS has had troubles implementing some heavily promoted digital efforts in the past. CBS has already signed up major advertisers for
its digital network such as Procter & Gamble Co., General Motors Co. and AT&T Corp.’s Cingular Wireless.
“I’m really impressed, especially regarding the ability for us to make one buy but tailor the ad message differently to each of the sites,” says Tracey Scheppach, corporate vice president and video-innovations director at Publicis Groupe’s Starcom USA.
– Kevin J. Delaney contributed to this article
A CBS Take on the YouTube Madness February 28, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentA CBS Take on the YouTube Madness
WITH March coming in tomorrow, the March Madness days of college basketball are not far away. A division of CBS is hoping to intensify the mania by offering students and other fans a chance to create exuberant, exhortatory video clips and share them with friends, family and strangers — and use them, not incidentally, to taunt anyone who roots for opposing teams.
The CSTV Networks division of the CBS Corporation is starting a campaign today with the theme “Are you fan enough?,” inviting viewers to upload the do-it-yourself video clips to a community section of the CSTV Web site (cstv.com/postup). The campaign will appear on CSTV and cstv.com all during March Madness — officially, the men’s basketball tournament of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which begins on March 15 — and will end after the championship game is played in Atlanta on April 2.
The campaign represents the largest effort to date by CSTV to take part in a popular trend known as user-generated content, which seeks to capitalize on the eagerness of younger consumers to produce and share video clips on Web sites like MySpace and YouTube.
“This campaign is about the voice of the fans,” said Brian T. Bedol, president and chief executive at CSTV Networks in New York. “It says CSTV is a brand that connects college sports fans to their passion.”
America is experiencing the rise of “a video filmmaker culture,” Mr. Bedol said, now that “video cameras are in the hands of millions of everyday citizens in the form of digital cameras, camcorders and cellphones.”
As a result, “we’ve watched the quality of user-generated content increase pretty dramatically over the last year or so,” he added.
In addition to media companies like CBS and Time Warner, many marketers have begun exploring the realms of user-generated content and video sharing. For example, during the Academy Awards show on Sunday on ABC, Unilever ran a commercial created by a consumer that promoted a new product, Dove Cream Oil Body Wash. The spot can now be seen on a special Web site (dovecreamoil.com).
Also, during Super Bowl XLI, on CBS on Feb. 4, three advertisers ran four spots that were created by consumers or based on consumer ideas. They were the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo, General Motors and the National Football League.
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The growing interest in creating and sharing video clips “is where consumers are going,” said Tom Shipley, director for global industry development at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, part of the Anheuser-Busch Companies. “It’s something they expect.”
Anheuser-Busch is teaming up with Blue Lithium, an online marketing company in San Jose, Calif., to introduce a promotional program called Clink as part of its “Here’s to beer” campaign. The program, to be housed on MingleNow, a social networking Web site (minglenow.com), will let members upload and share photographs as well as video clips.
Anheuser-Busch also plans to add a video-sharing feature to bud.tv, the entertainment Web site the company introduced this month.
Sports is considered a fertile field for user-generated content because of the intensity of fan interest. Two professional leagues — the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League — have made deals to start branded channels on youtube.com.
“What makes YouTube and MySpace successful is the passion of people who are trying to post on those sites,” said Greg Weitekamp, broadcasting director for the N.C.A.A. in Indianapolis. “We’re excited to see what CSTV will be doing.”
To encourage college basketball fans to create and share March Madness video clips, CSTV asked Planet 3, an agency in Santa Monica, Calif., to produce examples of the kinds of material it hopes to receive. Planet 3 created six energetic, humorous commercials featuring actors who portray ardent fans of hoops powerhouses as well as lesser-known teams.
“I’m the Ba-baller,” an actor proclaims in one spot, “here to represent San Diego State.” Another spot replies to that one: a different actor taunts the “Ba-baller” by declaring, “You can’t get past the Running Rebels” of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Perhaps the best commercial features a pair of actors trying to channel comedy skits like “Wayne’s World” or Bob and Doug McKenzie of “The Great White North” as they support tiny Winona State University, which is the defending champion of Division II.
“Win, Winona,” the two young men chant. “Win, win, Winona.” When one asks, “So why do you think we never lose?,” the other replies deadpan, “Probably because nobody can beat us.”
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The sample commercials are scheduled to run on CBS, CSTV, CW, MySpace and YouTube. They can also be watched on the cstv.com/postup section of the network’s Web site.
“We tried to be as close to authentic as we could,” said Dylan Gerber, president at Planet 3, in reflecting “the intense feeling the fans have for their teams and the fierce rivalries between schools.”
Casey Moulton, creative director at Planet 3, likened the desire of fans to become videographers to the loyal way “they go to the games and cheer.”
“The hope is the fans take over and tell the story of the tournament,” he said.
The CSTV campaign is indicative of the growing importance of March Madness to CBS, which paid $6 billion for rights to the tournament from 2003 through 2014. The company covers the games on its CBS broadcast network and began last year to present free, ad-supported Webcasts of games from the first three rounds on sites like cbssportsline.com.
The Webcasts were a big hit, drawing five million visitors. CBS Sports estimated this week that it would sell $9 million to $10 million worth of ads for the Webcasts next month, compared with $4 million to $5 million in ad revenue last year.
If the fan campaign is deemed successful, Mr. Bedol said, it may return later this year, for the college football season.
The basketball video clips will be screened for language and appropriateness before going online, he added, but the goal will be to preserve their reality and spontaneity.
Awaiting the video clips is “like white-water rafting,” Mr. Bedol said, laughing. “I can’t wait to see the direction this goes.
“Part of it,” he added, “is, ‘Hold on tight.’ ”
