« Time Travel: the Killer App | Main | Digital Convergence: TV- or PC-Based? »
July 13, 2005
The Eye on America now eyes Internet VOD
 |
Yawn. Another broadcast news group is going to offer up free video clips on the Internet? This time it is CBS News. They, like other traditional media companies, want to capture TV viewers who are flocking to the Internet. OK, really they want to capture advertisers who are noticing that viewers are flocking to the Internet.
This news story in the WSJ comes on the heels of Nickelodeon 's beta test of TurboNick, which will offer both repurposed television show and original content as VOD.
 |
TurboNick: Cartoons on Demand |
CBS says CBSNews.com will offer more frequent updates, with more videos available than on competing sites.
"The video will be much more timely; we may update stories six or seven times during the day," said Larry Kramer, president of CBS Digital Media. [quote appeared in the WSJ]
By allowing Web surfers to call up videos on demand, CBSNews.com will do more than cable networks, Mr. Kramer said. He added that the cable-news business is "a burden" and not one he'd want to venture into these days.
That last quote must be why I am making a note of this story to you. Fox News, ABC, and NBC started offering news video content on the Internet a while ago, so adding CBS news is nothing earthshaking. But I think that Mr. Kramer may be right: leapfrogging directly to Internet-based VOD seems like a smarter move than starting another cable network.
UPDATE:
The changes mentioned above come as CBSNews.com lags behind rival news sites. For the month of June the Web site had an audience of 5.8 million unique users, making it 17th out of the top 20 online news providers. The list is topped by Yahoo News, with 24.9 million unique users.
Plans call for the network's general news staff to begin producing video content for round-the-clock broadband play. New online offerings will include on-demand versions of 60 Minutes, The CBS Evening News and what network executives said would be a blog-like feature incorporating video from daily staff editorial meetings.
|
For premier content airing on cable, CBS would take $1 per VOD view?. |
Aug 17, 2005
Bill Martens was named director of business development for CBSNews.com. He joins CBS from Reuters, where he was responsible for global newswire strategy in the agency’s media group. He also worked as a journalist in Asia.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.reinventtv.com/cgi-bin/mt/mtb.cgi/141
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Eye on America now eyes Internet VOD:
» Now, let's turn to Ed for comment from his couch from The Digital TV Weblog
Beginning today, CBS SportsLine will feature on its front page what it calls "TheEyebox," a video window that plays on-demand clips. The added online video content gives CBS more opportunities to sell 15-second, pre-roll video ads, which advertisers h... [Read More]
Tracked on September 9, 2005 12:28 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
