JANUARY 12, 2009, 10:58 A.M. ET CBS's TV.com Boosts Offerings in Bid to Secure Foothold
By ELIZABETH HOLMES Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123172197839472431.html?mod=testMod Seeking a bigger slice of the online video space, CBS Corp.'s television site TV.com is bolstering its programming with more than a thousand full episodes of shows ranging from "Starsky & Hutch" to "Dexter." The site plans to announce Monday programming deals with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Sony Corp., PBS, Endemol USA and CBS's subscription cable channel Showtime. The new shows include a slew of classics, such as Sony's 1970s sitcom "The Partridge Family," along with several more recent titles such as PBS's "Wired Science" and Endemol's reality show "I Want to be a Hilton." Television networks have been racing to secure a foothold in online video, eager to capture viewers in the early stages of online viewing and fight off popular upstarts such as YouTube. TV.com is going head to head with sites such as Hulu, a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. (publisher of The Wall Street Journal), whose videos drew 22.5 million viewers in November, according to comScore Video Metrix. CBS acquired TV.com last year as part of its purchase of CNET Networks Inc. Launched in 2005, TV.com was originally conceived as an information hub for television fans, with episode guides and television discussion forums. In December, CBS redesigned the site to compete more directly in online video. The new shows will bolster TV.com's current video offerings, which come primarily from the CBS empire, as well as a programming deal it has with Hulu. Mike Vorhaus, president of consulting firm Frank N. Magid Associates, said first-run shows, rather than older shows, are key to drawing people to television video sites -- something that Hulu has benefited from. As content agreements among competitors become increasingly common, video sites are expected to offer more of the same content. For example, fans of NBC's comedy "30 Rock" can watch full episodes on Hulu, as well as on TV.com and Comcast's Fancast. CBS Interactive CEO Quincy Smith said TV.com will differentiate itself with its established online community from its early days as a fan site. Mr. Vorhaus said that pre-existing community will help in increasing page views and time spent watching video. Encouraging visitors to spend more time on the site is important for advertising revenue. Hulu users spent an average of two hours a month on the Hulu videos, as did YouTube video watchers -- compared to just three minutes on the TV.com video, according to comScore Video Metrix. The figure for TV.com includes only TV.com branded video, however, and not CBS video on the site. CBS says TV.com receives six "social contributions" per second -- meaning six users do something, such as leave a comment or rank a show, every second on the site. In November, TV.com had nearly 4.8 million unique visitors to its site, according to comScore Media Metrix. ================================================= George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923 Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927 Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-3011 *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
