File this under Things Network Executives Just Discovered That Everyone Else Knew Like, Forever: CBS has recently found via poll that the more people download their shows on CBS.com the more likely they are to not only watch them, but become fans. The poll also revealed that half of the people who streamed a CBS show on their computers had never seen the show before, which led to them watching it on TV.
What does this mean for CBS? Bookoo bucks in the online ad department, baby. The more people CBS has taking up their bandwidth the more they can charge their advertisers. However, this poll also has another important implication as well.
CBS Corp. research chief David Poltrack says, "We're looking at this as a key change in direction for us now and looking at our programming as dual distribution programming--over the air and on the Internet."
Poltracks comments jive with ABC’s findings over last summer concerning the impressions online ads made on web surfers. The Alphabet’s findings concluded that 87 percent of ABC.com viewers recalled which advertisers appeared during their show downloads. Makes sense, as you’re staring at your computer screen for possibly as long as forty minutes during a show.
So in essence, the web has been mainstream for about a dozen years, with broadband capabilities widely available for around six years give or take, and just now the big three networks are catching onto the idea that TV and the web can be used as lucrative media sources together. Not only that, but the more eyeballs you’ve got pinned to your site the more you can charge for ads. Imagine!
For more feedback on the “duh” factor concerning CBS’s revolutionary epiphany, check out the comments section below the TV.com article article.
Lately, all three of the big networks have begun putting more content on the web, even that of failed sitcoms. CBS currently streams the cancelled but never aired episodes of ‘Smith’ (starring Ray Liotta of Goodfellas fame). Meanwhile, ABC is running ‘Vanished’ (which did just that after its November 10 episode) online, as NBC holds ‘Kidnapped’ for ratings ransom on its website as well.
