CBS to have video content streamed online via a third party for a younger audience

CBS website CBSNews.com has already been offering similar content for some time, but by joining forces with other online content distributers, the network hopes to be able to raise its profile by expanding its presence on the Web.

Along with newspapers, broadcasters have also been hit by the economic downturn, the subsequent fall in advertising revenue and the emergence and dominance of Internet-based platforms, including online news aggregators, blogs and social networking sites.

One way the news industry - both print and broadcasting - is hoping to claw back losses is by targeting and engaging with a younger demographic. The Scottish government, for instance, is currently looking into the possibility of offering a free newspaper subscription to evey 17-year old in the country. Until recently, not enough had been done to try and meet the needs of this key audience, which has been increasingly abandoning traditional media in favour of the Internet.

Given today's young will become the main news consumers of tomorrow, concerted efforts on behalf of the press to carve out a relevant role for itself in the face of a dramatically changing audience with shifting tastes and habits to suit are taking place - albeit late -across the industry.

The corporation is hoping to capitalise on the popularity of Katie Couric who has found  success on the Web (pictured right), mainly thanks to a Twitter account and her own YouTube channel. One of her most famous interviews is largely said to have ended America's love affair with Sarah Palin, the Republican vice president running alongside presidential candidate John McCain, last year. Although, at 52, Couric may arguably be deemed too old by the younger audience the CBS is hoping to entice and the network therefore stands to alienate rather than connect with these viewers.

Content will be made interactive, with viewers invited to comment next to the live commentary as it runs. Sean McManus, president of CBS News said: "What we've realized is that, as opposed to just keeping all your content on your own Web site in a proprietary manner, we are better off pushing our own news content to as many sources as we can."

As for revenue, CBS will be selling ads on Ustream, reports the NY Times, which notes that "Media companies are increasingly willing to spread their video far and wide, but usually only if advertisements are attached."

In April 2009, CBSNews.com's ratings was up by 9 per cent on the same period last year, registering 10.8 million viewers. However, compared to other online news broadcasters, including MSNBC, Yahoo and CNN, CBS trails significantly behind the 35-40 million visitors its competitors attracts each month.

While making use of third-parties to raise its own profile by ensuring it is able to reach as wide and diverse an audience as possible, is ultimately a good thing, will it be enough to use regular content for a not-so regular audience? CBS will learn the answer to this nagging question in due course, but rather than sit on its laurels - which we're sure it is not - it may want to look into producing content specifically for the audience it is trying to reengage with.  


Sources: New York Times.com , YouTube