Forum Moderators: rogerd
CBS's CEO Leslie Moonves told reporters on a conference call that acquiring access to CNet's large online audience in order to distribute media content from CBS was "a large part" of CBS' motivation in going after the San Francisco-based online company."Our idea is to have our content wherever, whenever you can get it, and adding CNet just makes that happen faster," Moonves said.
Is this the smartest "old media" move of the year?
Is see this as the "buying mind share and audience" move of the year.
Some nice brands in there too, such as News.com.
CBS just made a massive move into the era of the engaged audience.
What or who next?
I'm posting this in Community Building & Social Networks because I see the decision and action - whether plainly stated by the execs or not - as a decision driven by "media shift", which encompasses all the elements of how news, as "media", is evolving. News is no longer a "top down" media, nor a "centralized media". When bloggers and twitterers and all other folk can "scoop the news" - with images and all - where was "CBS News" heading?
[edited by: Webwork at 2:39 pm (utc) on May 15, 2008]
FYI [webmasterworld.com...]
So, CBS - whose pride, joy and reputation - was once rooted in its news division was likely seeing the slow loss of profits and loss of "exclusive leadership" in news.
In an age where anyone with a cellphone can "scoop the news" and become the new "action news" - who wins in the "breaking news" war?
Was Google's acquisition of YouTube prescient? Something more than just home videos online? Can Google position YouTube as the defacto "breaking news" news source?
Will CBS have a new, larger "citizen news" presence, with commentary by the new generation of reporters and editors and "new authorities"?
Is CBS looking for ways to trump YouTube for "news video"? How?
Entertainment has devolved to "reality TV". Value added video productions get TIVO'ed or ripped off and redistributed ASAP. News is loosing it's edge as "access to the news" is being reshaped by the WWW.
What's an old guard media company to do? Buy a newer version of media for $1.8 billion? But . . is that a "solution" to an evolving news and entertainment landscape? Methinks not. Methinks the future of almost everything will be "platform, not product". Platforms for generating news and entertainment AND, in so doing, sharing in an advertising revenue.
And, yes, even the "news pros" and "video production pros" can play.
TV is a medium for selling advertising. News simply held out as long as it could as a loss leader. But the days of News not making money ended with the "Happy News" phenomenon of the late 1970's, when consultants were brought into newsrooms across America to improve ratings. Now it's all bright smiles and banter. Nobody really wants to see the pic's of starving kids in war torn nations anyway.
Frankly I think CBS's purchase of c¦net is a bad thing, but not surprising for those who've been paying attention to the saga.
An investor group led by some very smart people including Paul Gardi has been trying for some time to bring c¦net's management team to their senses. The c¦net site itself is poorly organized and nearly impossible to navigate. Their rankings are terrible relative to potential. They use their own ad management program to monetize the site. Blech.
Did you also know they own: News.com (what a waste of a domain), TV.com (ever go there?), Search.com (ever heard of it?), ZDNet (well at least I used to go there), mp3.com (ever been there?). Point being, their ability to see the current and future landscape and make the most of what they had was, erm, lacking.
I am NOT a fan of hostile takeovers generally, as the Gardi group was doing. But at least that team would have known what to do with these properties: Increase efficiency, improve usability, improve Web marketing and organic rankings, and build real brands out of great domains that few know about today.
What will CBS do with it? Gulp. Moonves says he wants the distribution/reach "...in order to distribute media content from CBS...". Reminds of TimeWarner's justification for buying AOL. I suppose there's a chance that CBS will figure out what to do with the c¦net empire. But knowing you need to get somewhere is not the same as knowing how to get there.
News simply held out as long as it could as a loss leader
My memory of the setting of the interview and the clothing worn suggests that the interview was from the 50s or 60s. ;)
