When it comes to Web video, CBS has been one of the most promiscuous media companies out there. And no, I am not talking about its $1.8 billion acquisition of CNET (which does have some video assets). Rather, CBS has taken a strategy of superdistribution when it comes to spreading its videos across the Web. It wants its videos everywhere. Thus CBS has struck distribution deals with more than 300 sites—including YouTube, AOL, MSN, Joost, Veoh, Bebo,and TVGuide.com. These are collectively lumped together into the CBS Audience Network, against which CBS sells its own ads.
Now the CBS Audience Network also has its own site, where it highlights its top partners and the most popular CBS videos on each of them. You can see how many times each video has been watched and the number of comments for each one. (An iPhone demo and a Borat interview on Letterman are the two most popular, with 8.9 million and 5.7 million views, respectively). Right now, though, only the top videos from YouTube are visible. But it looks like AOL, Bebo, MSN, TV.com, and Joost will be coming soon.
It is not clear how appealing a destination the site will become for consumers, although you can watch the videos without leaving. It feels to me more like a site that CBS is putting up for the benefit of advertisers, almost as brochureware so that they can easily see at a glance CBS’s video reach across the Web. Superdistribution (which basically means putting your content everywhere) sounds good in theory, but perhaps it is not such an easy sell to advertisers who like to see exactly what they are buying.
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Actually this is a pretty good idea - Keep everything ’super distributed’ but aggregate it back in for advertisers and ‘fans’ to keep track of.
Good work CBS
It’s actually helpful to both parties. The distributor and the advertisers. Now there’s more ground exposer for the videos, so as for the advertisers.
Centralized Browsing Strategy…
CBS seems to have the best strategy for online video, if you are everywhere you don’t have to worry about people having trouble finding you. NBC may have the worst strategy, keeping there content in places where they have the most control. I’ll admit that I’ve watched my fair share of video on Hulu but I’m not sure if the average joe wants to air infring of his computer for 45 minutes to watch the finale of the Office in terrible quality. People want high quality video wherever they want it, not where the content providers tell them they are allowed to have it.
It’s easy to use, and look clean. The simple consumer will definitely click around here.
Kind of like Hulu by Fox. It’s pretty smart in terms of distribution and advertising techniques. Hulu is a little less user friendly in some ways and I believe that CBS has a bit more knowledge in certain areas.
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Looks like CBS are way behind.
check these guys out http://www.hiro-media.com
Hiro’s free ad-supported video downloads solution, based on the revolutionary Positive DRM™ technology, increases the ad-revenues and CPM while reducing distribution costs for content owners.
The Hiro ad-insertion technology creates highly personalized, up-to-date, mid-roll ads for video downloads, which generates revenue for the content owners with each and every viewing session.
Hiro’s Positive DRM™ enables Video downloaders to share and distribute video content freely and legally, via websites, P2P and social networks.
What an excellent strategy. Instead of trying to aquire the content sites of Youtube, Joost, Bebo, etc. They simply partner with the sites and become a central location for all of the videos on those sites. Eventually viewers will choose the central location to find a particular video. Look at Plaxo and how other companies have been built on just becoming a centralized source of various sites.
OK, GREAT STRATEGY! BUT HOW COME THE PRESS NEVER COVERS CONTET SITES THAT HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTING THIS DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY WITH VIDEO FOR YEARS. HTTP://ABSTRACT10.COM , WE HAVE BEEN PLACING ORIGINAL CONTENT INTO ONLINE DISTRIBUTION FOR YEARS, BUT NOW CBS DOES IT AND ITS LIKE , WOW!!!! CBS WILL STILL FALL SHORT IN THE ONLINE DISTRIBUTION CATEGORY BECAUSE THEY DONT HAVE THE BALLS TO DISTRIBUTE THEIR CONTENT OVER UNDERGROUND P2P NETWORKS. IN ORDER TO GAIN A FULL ONLINE DISTRIBUTION PRESENCE, CBS WILL HAVE TO ACQUIRE A CONTENT COMPANY THAT HAS CONTENT AND A COMPLETE ONLINE DISTRIBUTION MODEL. UNTIL THEN THEY WILL JUST GET LOST IN THE MILLIONS OF VIDEO FILES ALREADY FILLING ONLINE PIPELINES.
FYI START UPS, DO NOT LET THESE LARGE MEDIA COMPANIES TURN THE NET INTO HOLLYWOOD!!! IF THEY DO, THERE WILL 5 SITES CONTROLLING ALL VIDEO CONTENT WITH EVERYONE ELSE KISSING AZZ TO GET AN “ONLINE DISTRIBUTION DEAL” WITH ALL THE TERMS SLANTED IN THE CORP. FAVOR. THE NET MUST SUPPORT INDY CONTENT CREATION!!!
i thought viacom sued youtube to prevent colbert show clips from showing. Anyways, its good when a company embraces online distribution. The cbs.com video site is very good now.
Sorry all-caps-lock guy, content creators bring more power, influence, money, and content than nearly all startups. Wah wah for you. Not to mention, most startups lack all knowledge of the severe rights issues as they relate to Hollywood created content.
Hiro - NBC Direct and BBC’s iPlayer seem a-okay as is. Tough market isn’t it? As content continues to saturate channels, the need for DRM will ultimately diminish.
HMM ….U HAVE NO CLUE! THE CAPS LOCK IS JUS 4 YOU!
I think this is smart move by CBS. Any idea how CNET will fit into all of this?
This may be a good idea for CBS in terms of their advertising. But there has been no forward thinking, this in no way even strives to solve the problem of online sharing on illegal P2P sites. Sure you can view the videos but you can’t really share them .. which is ultimately what we as viewers.
Check these guys out: http://www.catchuptvonline.com
Not only is this site free and legal, but advertisers are also benefiting from it - so both parties win! This technology allows viewers to watch the shows on their own computers when they feel like it and without having to pay.
So I’d say rather go legal and convenient instead!