cbs on SWiK

CBS Interactive To Change Its Colors. And Cnet Tests A New Design With Blogs Top And Center.

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:05:29 -0700

It’s been just a little over a month since CBS completed its acquisition of Cnet and some of the first outward signs of the deal can be seen in a forthcoming logo for CBS Interactive that we obtained and a new design for Cnet’s Websites that it is testing in random batches. Judging purely by the design shifts, it appears that the cultures of the acquirer and the acquiree are moving towards each other. CBS Interactive is ditching its corporate black-and-blue logo for a friendlier orange and white one. (Assuming the version shown here is the one it ends up going with).

At the same time, Cnet is testing a new design in beta that is much sleeker, and replaces the familiar hippy-school-bus-yellow backdrop with a more serious CBS black. (I was randomly selected to see the sneak peek, which is how I found out about it). The new design is an improvement. The site is less cluttered, and on News.com blogs are featured prominently throughout.

The blog-centric approach is a direction News.com has been going in ever since it named blogging journo Dan Farber editor in chief last February. But now the navigational tabs on top all link directly to blogs such as Crave and Webware.

How do you like the new look? Check out the screen shots below. Here’s the old nav bar:

Update: And of course, CBSNews.com is already republishing stories from Cnet’s News.com. (Kind of makes you wonder whether those two brands will just merge at some point).

Here is the beta design:

And here is a Cnet story on CBSnews.com:

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Who Needs Music Labels? Last.fm Starts Paying Royalties To Unsigned Artists

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:46:00 -0700

Music-streaming service Last.fm is now paying unsigned artists royalties for every song played on its service. Since the company announced the program last January, ~~170,000~~ 70,000 artists and small music labels have signed up for it and uploaded 450,000 tracks.

What Last.fm is doing here is creating an alternative to the official royalty-collecting organization for musicians (i.e., SoundExchange). Last year, the royalty rates for music streamed over the Internet were raised, making it more difficult for ad-supported music startups to stay in business. Last.fm got bought by CBS, so it’s not in danger of going under. And for any song owned by a label or artist who participates in SoundExchange, Last.fm continues to pay the going Internet radio royalty rate. But it is beginning to bypass Sound Exchange by giving new, unsigned artists an alternative.

By cutting out the middlemen (labels, SoundExchange), Last.fm claims that artists that sign up for the program will receive more than twice the royalty rate they would see if the same song played on commercial radio. That’s because the money goes directly to the artist. (The total royalty, though, is less than what it pays SoundExchange). The royalty that Last.fm is paying unsigned artists is equivalent to 10 percent of the advertising revenues associated with their songs (update: in certain cases, see below). Musicians get a quarterly check, and can withdraw the money once it reaches $10.

We’re not talking a lot of money here, a few fractions of a penny per song. But as the online music industry grows, and along with it online advertising targeted at music listeners, these numbers in aggregate could start to become meaningful.

More importantly, it creates a direct economic link between Last.fm and up and coming artists that have not yet been discovered or signed by a label. The program is also appealing to tiny labels that don’t participate in SoundExchange because they are too small or it is too much of a hassle. (Anyone who already collects royalties through SoundExchange is not eligible for the program). Of the 170,000 signups so far, 30 percent are labels. And daily artist account creation in general is up 60 percent since the announcement in January.

Since it is Last.fm’s program, it controls the royalty rates it pays out, which it can adjust according to how much advertising revenues these songs generate. Now, does anyone actually want to listen to these songs and ill musicians shift over in massive numbers from the labels to this sort of direct arrangement? That is what will determine how disruptive this really is.

Update: Last.fm is offering tiered royalty rates. From the FAQs:

* If your track is played on our free radio service you will accrue a 10% of the Share of Last.fm’s Net Revenue (see the definition of “Share” and “Net Revenue” in the terms and conditions) from the free radio service.
* If your track is played on our personalised premium radio service, you will accrue the greater of either 10% of the Share of Last.fm’s Net Revenue from the personalised radio service, or US $0.0005 for each complete transmission on the personalised radio service.
* If your track is played on our free on-demand service, you will accrue 30% of the Share of Last.fm’s Net Revenue from the on-demand radio service.
* If your track is played on our premium on-demand service, you will accrue the greater of either 30% of the Share of Last.fm’s Net Revenue from the premium on-demand service, or US $0.005 for each complete transmission on the prepaid or subscription on-demand service.

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Google Tops Reputation Survey in U.S.; No. 2 Worldwide. Do You Agree? Vote In The TechCrunch Reputation Poll.

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:46:20 -0700

Which Companies Do You Trust Or Admire The Most?
( surveys)

Who do you trust more, Google or Toyota? The answer might depend on where you live. In its annual corporate reputation survey of 60,000 people worldwide, the Reputation Institute finds that Google scores highest in the U.S., but is No. 2 worldwide after Toyota. On the global list, Ikea is No. 3, Johnson & Johnson is No. 5, and Walt Disney is No. 12. Apple doesn’t even make it into the top 25 (see below).

Using the same data, Forbes breaks out the top 75 companies in the U.S. In the U.S. alone, Apple is No. 17, HP is No. 18, Intel is No. 19, Dell is No. 25, IBM is No. 35 and Microsoft comes in at No. 43. Bringing up the rear is Motorola at No. 50, Cisco at No. 55, CBS at No. 62, and American Express at No. 75. (See partial list below).

These rankings are based on an opinion poll, but they just don’t seem right to me. How can Dell be No. 25, with all of its customer service issues last year? And why is American Express, which regularly ranks as one of the most admired companies in the world and one of the top brands, dead last?

It is instructive to compare some of these rankings to the top 100 brands, as measured by an estimate of brand value. (See below). Google, again is No.1. Microsoft is No. 3, IBM is No. 6, Apple is No. 7, Toyota is No. 12, HP is No. 16, American Express is No. 20, Intel is No. 27, and Dell is No. 41. About the only company the two rankings agree on is HP. These brand rankings feel like a better measure of reputation to me than the Reputation Institute’s survey.

What do you think? Take our own poll. Vote for the companies you trust or admire the most. Multiple answers are allowed.

Editor’s note: I put in BMW twice by mistake in our poll, so please only vote once for BMW if you vote for it at all. I’m keeping the existing poll up rather than put up a new one and throwing away the votes that have already been cast.

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CBS Finishes Acquisition Of CNET; Leslie Moonves, Quincy Smith And Neil Ashe Address The Troops

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:57:15 -0700

CBS announced the closing of its acquisition of CNET today. The deal, first announced last month, will bring CNET under the control of Quincy Smith’s CBS Interactive division, “the premier online content network for information and entertainment.”

An email to all CNET employees from Smith and CNET CEO Neil Ashe (now CBS Interactive President) is below. It’s interesting that there’s no mention of Dan Farber, CNET News.com’s editor-in-chief, in the leadership section. Just an oversight, or is CBS just making it clear that they don’t think much of CNET’s newsroom?

Read the full email below.

Update: We’ve added a second email from CBS CEO Leslie Moonves to all CBS employees. He at least mentions that CNET is in the news business, listing “news” before business but after technology, entertainment and sports.

From: “Smith, Quincy”
Date: June 30, 2008 9:52:41 AM PDT
Cc: “Ashe, Neil” , “Moonves, Leslie”
Subject: A Message from Quincy and Neil

Hello Team:

Welcome to the new CBS Interactive: the premier online content network for information and entertainment.

As announced a few minutes ago, CBS is thrilled to welcome the employees of CNET Networks to CBS, and to introduce its new Interactive business to the world.

Together, CBS and CBS Interactive represent an unbeatable combination of premium content online, premium content on air, and premium audiences. As a leading online media network, CBS Interactive has an impressive portfolio of brands, including CNET, CBSSports.com, CBS.com, GameSpot, TV.com, BNET, and Last.fm, to name a few. Together, we cover just about every major category that advertisers care about: technology, entertainment, sports, news, and business, and we have the ability to offer advertisers access to active and engaged audiences, across all platforms – on air (radio and TV), online, mobile and outdoor.

Over the past several weeks, the integration team, which includes leaders from both organizations, has been working aggressively on the organizational structure and our go-to-market strategy. Now that we’re officially closed, we’re excited to tell you about some of the progress we’ve already made in the past 30 days. This progress is a direct tribute to the core team who has been working on integration, and also to the fact that we have two businesses that complement one another so well. We have a lot more work to do and will be making a lot more announcements over the coming weeks. But, to have the organizational structure, brand and mission established on Day 001 is unprecedented.

Branding
Starting today, we are all part of CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation. CBS Interactive is the premier online content network for information and entertainment.

Leadership
We are fortunate to have a group of world-class leaders that are familiar with both organizations. As a team, we are focused on one thing – growth. We will achieve this by combining the best of Interactive with the resources and relationships of CBS. We are also committed to the architecture in which dedicated sales management reports to the leaders of each business unit. Following is the CBS Interactive leadership team with a little background introducing each person for the benefit of those who don’t yet know each other but will be working together soon:

· Chief Financial Officer: Zander Lurie will take on the role of CFO for CBS Interactive. Zander joined CNET Networks in 2006 as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Development. In 2008, he took on the role of Chief Financial Officer, where he was responsible for planning and managing the company’s financial activities in order to help the company expand its business, including overseeing the pivotal advertising and content partnership with Yahoo!. Bryon Rubin will be instrumental in the vast amount of integration – financial and otherwise – that needs to be done in the coming weeks and months. After the lion’s share of the integration is complete, Bryon will return to head up CBS Corporate Development for Joe Ianniello.

· News & Technology: Joe Gillespie will be responsible for overseeing the news and technology brands, which include CNET.com, News.com, and CNET Download.com, as well as CBSNews.com. Tom Jones continues to report to him as head of sales. Together, these brands represent the leaders in both the technology and news categories. Joe joined CNET Networks in 2004, and brings more than 20 years of operations, sales, and marketing experience, spanning online, television, events, and print media. There is no one better suited to lead these important brands into the future.

· Entertainment: With sites spanning music, gaming, television, film, and lifestyle, the entertainment properties are divided between Stephen Colvin and Anthony Soohoo. Stephen and Anthony will work closely with Quincy to take advantage of the incredible opportunity this large category presents.

o Stephen Colvin is leading our games, music and lifestyle brands, including GameSpot.com, Last.fm, MP3.com, CHOW, UrbanBaby, and Metacritic. Jaci Hays will continue as head of Sales, with Amy Venier filling in during her maternity leave. Kevin Menard retains responsibility for sales at Last.fm. We’re particularly excited about the opportunity this presents for Last.fm, which will benefit from the cross promotional opportunities available with these other sites. Formerly president of Dennis Publishing, Stephen has a keen understanding of how to build brands that captivate people.

o Anthony Soohoo will run TV.com, the CBS Audience Network, its hub CBS.com, TheInsider.com and the Wallstrip team. Ken Lagana will continue as head of Sales. Anthony, who previously worked at Yahoo! and Inktomi, will also be responsible for existing CBS online content, cross platform content production, as well as original Web content in Entertainment.

· Sports: Jason Kint, who led this years’ record March Madness on Demand, will oversee our diversified sports portfolio, which includes top destinations like CBSSports.com, CBSCollegeSports.com, OAS Group, NCAA.com, MaxPreps.com, and the CBS Collegiate Sports Properties, and is a great example of how an interactive property can be complementary to its Network partner. Rich Calacci continues as head of Sales. Jason and the CBSSports.com team will still be based in Ft. Lauderdale.

· Business: Greg Mason, who joined CNET Networks in 2000, will oversee the Business portfolio, which includes BNET.com, the cornerstone of the business category, and leading sites like ZDNet and TechRepublic. Wayne Silverman continues to report to Greg as head of Sales. We are excited about the potential of BNET.com, which is the fastest growing business site and the go-to resource for managers who are looking for information that helps them succeed in their careers. We look forward to continued growth of these brands under the leadership of Greg and Wayne.

· International: Adam Power continues to lead our international operations, as he has for the past 12 years. This includes our very successful business in China, where we have dynamic and growing leadership positions online in technology, autos and women’s lifestyle. We will continue to look for ways in which we can scale this business more quickly.

Go-to-Market Strategy
As part of the integration process, our sales and marketing teams have been working on developing our go-to-market strategy and the branding of this new division. Jo Ann Ross will remain closely involved, working with Dave Morris initially on the integration of the CBS and CNET Networks Sales team. Jo Ann and Dave will also work to optimize the coordination between the powerful CBS Network Sales organization and our growing Interactive group in order to best meet the need of our customers. Morris, a 20 year veteran of Time, Inc. where he was publisher of Entertainment Weekly, EW.com and Sports Illustrated, will continue as Chief Client Officer at CBS Interactive, and will drive the revenue strategy for CBS Interactive, including management of partner accounts and advertising programs across CBS Interactive. Interactive Sales leaders will report directly to the heads of each business unit.

Patrick Keane and Mickey Wilson will work together on integrating marketing, focusing on strategy, processes and structure. Drawing on their experience in sales development, analytics, marketing and communications, Patrick and Mickey will inform our positioning, marketing programs, research, and ensure a smooth transition for both organizations.

Operations
In order to be successful, we need to take advantage of our combined scale and best in class systems across our business. We are fortunate to have the team of Sam Parker and Steve Snyder leading the integration effort and developing combined operations. We couldn’t ask for two better people to be leading this effort, as both of them have a keen understanding of how to scale our systems to achieve success.

CBS Mobile
Led by Jeff Sellinger, the Mobile team will work across all categories and online brands to support each business unit in developing their mobile strategy and business plan. This structure allows us to tap into this team’s expertise in developing content and advertising strategies for the mobile platform. Before joining CBS, Jeff was a founder of GoldPocket Wireless.

Corporate functions
Finally, each of the corporate functions will now have dual reporting into Neil as well as into CBS Corporate to make sure that the interests and strategies of CBS Interactive are aligned with the company as a whole. Mike Marquez, who previously worked at Yahoo in corporate development, will work closely with Quincy, Neil and Zander on Corporate and Business Development for CBS Interactive, as well as with Joe Ianniello for CBS Corporation; Andy Sherman, who joined CNET Networks in 2007 from Sybase, will lead legal, interfacing with Lou Briskman; Jose Martin, who joined CNET Networks in 2007 from Electronic Arts, will lead HR, working with Tony Ambrosio; and Sarah Cain will work with Gil Schwartz and Dana McClintock of CBS Corporate Communications.

We are very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for us. We’ve got an incredible group of people with unmatched experience, the best brands on the Internet, and the power of the entire CBS Corporation to propel these properties to new levels of success and awareness. With all of our efforts combined, and the commitment and support of the CBS leadership team, including Leslie, Fred Reynolds and Joe Ianniello, we will be bigger, bolder and better.

- Quincy Smith (-q)
Chief Executive Officer, CBS Interactive

- Neil Ashe (Best, NA)
President, CBS Interactive

To: All CBS Employees
From: Leslie Moonves
Date: June 30, 2008

Today we announced the completion of our acquisition of CNET Networks, Inc., which makes CBS the eighth largest web network worldwide in unique monthly users. I couldn’t be more pleased to have these incredible assets as part of our portfolio, which now rivals any of our peers competing in the digital space. And as we move to integrate these properties into the CBS framework, I am announcing the expansion of CBS Interactive, which will now incorporate all of the premium online brands of both CBS and CNET Networks into one business unit.

From entertainment, news and sports to technology, games and business, the combination of CBS and CNET Networks gives us the content and scale to be leaders on a platform that is gaining audience share faster than any other. In addition to greatly expanding our size, CBS Interactive is now a top five premium content ad supported network; the number one technology network, led by CNET.com; and the number two entertainment and sports network for men 18-34. Our unparalleled collection of sites will be an extremely powerful vehicle for advertisers to reach highly attractive demographics.

At the same time, CBS Interactive will extend and leverage the power of our traditional businesses, as well as serve as a platform to launch the next generation of leading interactive properties that will play a central role in CBS’s future. I couldn’t be happier to welcome all the people of CNET to the new CBS Interactive group. I know we’ll all do great things together.

As part of this merger, I am pleased to announce Quincy Smith will now be Chief Executive Officer, and Neil Ashe will be President of the newly expanded CBS Interactive. Quincy has headed our interactive businesses since joining CBS in November 2006, while Neil has headed CNET Networks since October of the same year.

Quincy’s unique understanding of the interactive space has pushed CBS to the forefront of new media. There are so many more promising market opportunities before us and I greatly look forward to his continued leadership as we evolve our company at this exciting time.

And Neil brings a broad range of experience to this important new role. His strong background as both a strategic executive and a results-oriented operator will add significant energy to this increasingly vital part of the CBS Corporation.

We have also identified five vertical categories to distinguish our interactive assets, which are designed to appeal to like-minded audiences and offer advertisers scale across targeted demographics. They are:

· Technology: CNET.com is the number one Web site in the computer and consumer electronics category, reaching more than 18 million people every month with daily offerings of premium content. From the latest product reviews to breaking news from the digital world, as well as video and program downloads, CNET.com has become the leading destination for people looking to navigate today’s digital world.
· Entertainment: Representing the third largest online entertainment group on the web, the collective reach of CBS Interactive’s entertainment portfolio will now exceed 24 million users each month, and include many of the leading brands on the web today, including: TV.com, CBS.com, The CBS Audience Network, theInsider.com, GameSpot.com, Last.fm, and CHOW.com, among others. These are among the most visited entertainment destinations on the web today, each with their own identity and audience profile, and they continue to grow in users and time spent visiting. This past year, for instance, CBS.com market share grew a category-leading 41 percent. Combined with the power of America’s most watched network — CBS Television — CBS Interactive offers unparalleled consumer reach online and offline.
· Sports: CBS Interactive is a leader in athletic coverage, from sites devoted to professional sports to the largest collection of collegiate brands. Among its top destinations are CBSSports.com, CBSCollegeSports.com, NCAA.com, and MaxPreps.com, representing one of the digital world’s largest sports footprints. Working with CBS’s leading broadcast and radio properties, CBS offers the unique opportunity to reach a wide group of people who are passionate about sports across the internet, television and radio.
· News: Two of the strongest news sites in their own right, CBSNews.com, a leader in world news, and CNET News.com, the leader in technology news, combine to create the sixth largest property in the Current Events/Global News category. From breaking news and international reports to coverage of business, politics and technology, the combination of these two destinations gives users a global perspective they cannot find anywhere else.
· Business: Eighteen million users each month have come to rely on CBS Interactive’s business properties, which include BNET.com, the cornerstone of the business category, and leading sites like ZDNet and TechRepublic. Collectively, these assets are among the fastest growing destinations in the expanding business category and offer users the latest and most insightful business coverage, with unique perspectives on management and technology.

Today marks Day One for the newly expanded CBS Interactive division. The combination of all these phenomenal properties elevates CBS Corporation among the best players in the digital space, and I’m confident under Quincy and Neil’s leadership our competitive position will only get better.

Please join me in congratulating Quincy and Neil on their new roles, and welcoming all the talented employees of CNET Networks, Inc. into the CBS Corporation family.

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CBS Relaunches Dotspotter As TheInsider.com

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:14:05 -0700

After paying a reported $10 million for celebrity gossip blog and news site DotSpotter in October 2007, CBS has relaunched it as TheInsider.com. The new site is tied into CBS celebrity gossip show of the same name, The Insider. Dotspotter was like a Digg for celebrity news, and that aspect is retained in the new site where stories can be voted up or down. They can also comment on stories and submit their own, which have chance to make it to homeage, alongside posts written by the site’s editorial staff.

The site is integrated with the TV show and presumably will be promoted on air. It is a place for the TV audience to hang out online, and also a platform for celebrity bloggers who want to reach a wider audience and maybe get on TV (if the show ends up pulling content from the site, as it should). Bloggers can submit their RSS feeds, and the site’s editors republish what they like. There is also a mobile version of the site.

TV drives a lot of traffic, and this could help TheInsider.com gain ground on other celebrity/entertainment sites such as PopSugar or even People.com. (Although, People.com, which just bought Celebrity Baby Blog, is in a class by itself and doesn’t really need TV).

This is really a cross-platform play for CBS (TV, online, and mobile) and hints at how it may approach other acquisitions, such as parts of CNET (which owns TV.com). Whether or not this strategy succeeds depends on whether or not a TV audience constitutes a genuine community. Does it?

People who watch the same TV shows certainly share the same interests, but those interests may be so broad that the communities that form around them end up being not that interesting.

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CBS And Yahoo To Announce Video Partnership Tomorrow Morning

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:32:02 -0700

Update 6/4/08: The deal has been announced, as reported below.

We’ve got confirmation that CBS is going to announce an important partnership with Yahoo tomorrow morning.

While we don’t yet know exactly what it will entail, we are confident that Yahoo will be joining the CBS Audience Network, which distributes CBS content to destinations such as YouTube, AOL, MSN, Joost, Veoh, Fancast, Bebo, and TVGuide. See a longer list of partners here.

The CBS Audience Network launched in August 2007 and streams 70,000+ videos to over 300 partners. More than 190 million streams have been delivered since launch, the most popular of which are highlighted on the network’s own destination site.

Videos are generally delivered with pre-roll advertisements, and revenue is split between CBS and the partner websites. In addition to syndicating to other sites (but, notably, not Hulu), CBS offers video content through its main site and iTunes. The company recently began testing high definition streaming as well.

Yahoo TV already provides content from NBC and FOX (via Hulu), making the addition of CBS a trio of sorts. We hear CBS will cite the inclusion of Yahoo in its network as providing it with an unprecedented 92% US online reach. It also appears that CBS’s collection will be the single largest content contribution to Yahoo TV.

While YouTube joined the CBS Audience Network quite a long time ago, it only offers short clips without any pre-roll advertising. Therefore, it lacks the full-length content found elsewhere in the network, and presumably starting on Yahoo tomorrow. With all the activity on the web surrounding the monetization of full-length content, and the recent departure of its head of monetization, one wonders whether YouTube should start taking long format, professional content more seriously. Or start to lose some of its luster to competitors like Yahoo.

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What’s Interesting: Pimping My Mac, Google Sports & More

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:48:09 -0700

In-flight broadband antenna maker AeroSat has raised $14 million for expansion. Their antenna is going to be installed in the planes of several major airlines starting this summer, further proof of the growing market for in-flight broadband.
Hallelujah…real-time stock quotes have arrived at Google Finance. One more reason to like the service.
What a hit…Google is offering baseball scores on mobile phones. Sweet. I hate the MLB.com’s wap page. This is better.
WiMAX will soon go mobile in Europe on 3.4-3.8 GHz bands, as per an EU decision.
First Solar’s CEO sold half of his company shares last month. What’s up?
CBS will launch a new video player. Excellent, Numb3rs just got better.
TruPhone Anywhere, for international calling…Pretty darn good.

And finally there is Tim Roberts, who sat next to the GigaOM team when we shared the True Ventures office space in San Francisco; his company, Infectious, was also funded by True. Infectious, which launched last week, combines graphic art and stickers to really pimp your ride. But since I don’t have a car, and prefer to ride the broadband highways instead of the tarmac, I got a sticker that perfectly encapsulates my love of music and pimped my Macbook Pro — simple, yet elegant.

GigaNET: Obama Girl, EQAL & TwitterFone

Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:26 -0700

NewTeeVee: The men behind Obama Girl are going to the movies.
NewTeeVee: Quincy Smith Q&A: CNET, EQAL and embeds.
WebWorkerDaily: Do apps like TwitterFone signal the future?
OStatic: How to download and save web videos, the Firefox way.
WebWorkerDaily: Putting VoIP to work.

CBS To Acquire CNET For $1.8 Billion

Thu, 15 May 2008 08:09:18 -0700

“The core businesses of CNET Networks and CBS Interactive represent near perfect category symmetry in premium online content,”
Quincy Smith, President, CBS Interactive.

And that symmetry is apparently worth about $1.8 billion, which is what CBS just agreed to pay for CNET. The deals values CNET at $11.50/share, and puts a 45% premium on stock from their closing price yesterday. CBS, which is worth a little over $16 billion, is down just over 3% on the news as of 7:45 am PST. Silicon Alley Insider was among the first to break the news.

The deal is about increasing CBS’s reach, as noted in the press release: The acquisition will make CBS one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million unique users per month, and approximately 200 million users worldwide.

The deal also likely ends the months-long fight between CNET and the activist investor group led by Jana Partners. Jana had accused CNET’s board and management of “presiding over massive value destruction” and were trying to oust much of the CNET board of directors.

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Why Buying CNet Makes Sense for CBS

Thu, 15 May 2008 08:09:06 -0700

What’s that saying? One man’s meat is another man’s poison? JANA Partners didn’t think highly of CNet’s scattershot approach to diversifying into non-tech segments (amongst many other issues). CBS, on the other hand, found the very same TV.com, Chowhound, GameSpot, UrbanBaby, MP3.com and other properties valuable enough to pony up $1.8 billion, a 45 percent premium to CNet’s closing price yesterday. That works out to about $11.50 a share. As you might remember, JANA Partners had acquired enough shares to launch a campaign to replace the management and the board. Now it might finally get its wish.

Nevertheless, no one saw this coming; Yahoo was thought to be a likely buyer. But we should have. Why? One man: Quincy Smith, CBS Interactive’s president. He used to be the banker who was quite intimate with CNet when he worked at Allen & Co., the New York boutique investment house. He understood their business, strategy and of course, their problems. He said as much today: “[I]t’s going to be great to work with Neil and his team, many of whom I have known for many years.”

What I think CBS needs to do is come to San Francisco with an industrial-sized equivalent of a corporate vacuum cleaner. First, it need to cut the sales and marketing head count by almost 15 percent. Second, it needs to cozy up to Google, Yahoo or Microsoft and get them to commit to an advertising deal. (The New York Times has one such deal with Yahoo, for instance.) And most importantly, it needs to clean up the site and make it SEO-friendly. I know Smith knows how to do this. And this might mean kicking out some of the people with which he has worked very closely.

This deal could go wrong quite quickly, due to the bureaucratic nature of the San Francisco shop. But still, I like the big, bold bet. Hell, with $405 million in sales and $176 million in profits, CNet seems a whole heck of a lot cheaper than Last.fm, which cost CBS $280 million. CBS’s current line-up of properties includes CBSSports.com, CBSCollegeSports.com, last.fm, Wallstrip and MobLogic, along with several other news-related properties.

Taken at face value, it might seem like a crazy deal, but in fact it’s a calculated, smart and well thought-out move.

Why this deal makes sense:

* CBS is buying media page views, not social networking page views, which are to tough to monetize, as indicated by recent research reports.
* CBS gets not just a footprint in technology — a growing mainstream opportunity — it also gets non-tech sites that can get some great push from CBS’s non-Internet properties.
* CBS is making a strong effort to give a proper facelift to all its operations and it needs a dot-com property with sizable traffic.
* Quincy Smith is a big believer in communities on the web, and one thing that CNet has not been able to do is build big communities, even despite sizable audiences. I expect this is going to be one of the top priorities for the newly combined company.
* CNet is easily fixable and had a great brand.
* Most importantly, this puts CBS ahead of NBC, ABC and others that have what I think are bumbling Internet/web strategies mired in legacy self-interests of individuals.

What its long-term implications are:

A combined CBS-CNet is basically going to push other networks and old media into action. Don’t be surprised if it sparks an irrational frenzy of buyouts. From Digg to Sugar Publishing, anything media could be in play soon enough.

Update: NewTeeVee’s take: CNET Won’t Be Net Media Kick in the Pants for CBS.

CBS Testing HD Streaming

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:46:04 -0700

CBS released a high definition player today in the labs area of their site, along with a few clips. They are currently streaming (not progressive download) in H.264/AVC format at 480p, with 720p and 1080p coming soon, they say.

Hulu and others are also beginning to test high definition streaming. Some shows on Hulu, for example, are optionally available in 480p format. They also have a few clips available in 720p.

Update: We’ve had a chance to speak with Eric Feng, the CTO of Hulu, about how this CBS announcement compares to the video quality provided by Hulu.

Hulu currently provides three levels of quality: 360p, 480p, and 720p. The first two levels are streamed whereas the third is progressively downloaded. Since CBS has yet to stream anything above 480p, these new tests are nothing extraordinary…yet. However, even if CBS begins to stream 720p or higher, consumers might not see much benefit. According to Feng, the median broadband download rate in the US is 1.9mb/sec and high definition video (ordinarily considered 720p or higher on the web) consumes 2.5mb/sec. So if CBS tries streaming 720p, they’d probably run into lots of buffering issues.

We should note that 480p and 720p are not available for all videos on Hulu. Only a certain selection of movies are available in 480p and only very few samples are available in 720p. Hulu doesn’t currently plan to deploy 1080p because it takes up too much bandwidth and processing power.

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Women’s Online Video Preferences Are Tamer Than Men’s

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:38:37 -0800

New figures from Nielsen’s new VideoCensus product reveal that women prefer mainstream media video content online, where as men prefer user generated content.

According to Ars Technica, the figures show women aged 18 to 34 were twice as likely as men of the same age group to watch network TV shows streamed from sites such as CBS.com or Hulu, where as men aged 18 to 34 were over twice as likely to check out user-generated video sites as women (YouTube and others.) The figures relate only to streamed content, and therefore excludes iTunes and downloaded content from P2P services such as BitTorrent.

Even if we discount the figures fully (Ars suggests men are more comfortable with BitTorrent therefore MSM content is not counted correctly) its a strange anomaly. Why would women prefer professional content and men preferred user content? and is it possible to obtain an answer without being completely sexist in a conclusion?

No doubt Nielsen and competing services will test the theory in the coming months. If it’s proven to be true, it may well affect the focus of sites in both spaces, and will most definitely affect the types of advertisers these sites attract.

(image credit: icanhascheezburger)

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Goodbye, 30-Second Song Clips. Last.fm Offers Limited Full-Track Streaming and Moves Towards Subscriptions

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:14:16 -0800

It is good to see some creative licensing finally taking hold in the music industry. Today, CBS-owned Last.fm announced that you can now stream the full track of any song up to three times for free, in addition to its regular music-discovery service which streams related songs you might like in a random order. This is also the first step towards a future subscription service, which will allow an unlimited number of plays. After the third time you listen to a song, listeners will see a promotion for the upcoming service.

Last.fm has signed deals with all four major record labels and most independents to stream their tracks in the U.S., UK, and Germany, with other countries coming soon. Instead of paying one-time fees per song that don’t make economic sense on the Web, artists and music labels will receive ongoing royalties based on how many times each song is listened to. The details of how much Last.fm is paying per song were not revealed, but moving towards a pay-for-performance model is good for both online music services and the music industry.

Music needs to be sampled before most people want to buy it. The current Web industry norm of the 30-second clip just won’t cut it anymore. Perhaps Last.fm will help to set a new precedent here with limited full-track streams. It might be difficult for iTunes or Amazon to abandon the 30-second preview, however, because neither one has an ongoing revenue stream from advertising or subscriptions with which to pay an ongoing royalty. At least, not yet.

Also see MOG’s recent integration of full-length tracks from Rhapsody.

Last.fm

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CBS - Copenhagen Business School | Lars Bo Jeppesen

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 03:00:49 -0800

NewTeeVee Live Video Clips Are Up

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 09:41:22 -0800

We have put most of the major panel and keynote clips on NewTeeVee. These include a chat with YouTube co-founder Steve Chen , CBS Interactive President Quincy Smith keynote, Mika Salmi, Search & Discovery Panel, Crossover Hits Panel, The Monetization Panel and our introduction. AT&T’s Ralph De La Vega keynote, Microsoft mini note, VC panel, The GameShow, The Platforms Panel and others panel will follow in a day or so.

Bebo’s Big Push Into Video

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:56:59 -0800

Bebo is taking on YouTube (and Hulu). Today, it opened up its social network to video partners who want access to its captive audience. Launch partners include CBS, MTV Networks, ESPN, the BBC, Channel Four, BSkyB—Bebo is very popular in the UK—Next New Networks, Crackle, Ustream, Last.fm and JibJab. The partners can keep all advertising dollars from the videos (and from music too). Bebo gets to keep its members on its site.

(Update: In an e-mail, Bebo CEO Michael Birch clarifies how the ad relationship with the media partners works and what he is trying to accomplish:

They control all advertising within the player itself, skins/pre-rolls/post-rolls/ads attached to the player in any way. There could be other advertising on the page controlled by us.

What we’re trying to do here is simplify the whole relationship between media companies and distribution platforms. There’s value for Bebo and our users by having great quality, legal content on Bebo. And there is clear value to the content owner in both controlling the content and advertising, and in keeping the subsequent revenue. We’ve removed the need for protracted negotiations with third parties by opening our doors in such a way that it is a no-brainer for any media content owner, large or small.

Also, in response to how Bebo positions itself versus YouTube or Hulu, he says:

YouTube and Hulu are different to Bebo in that Bebo is a fully featured social network with a viral platform for distributing great content, which may indeed come from YouTube or Hulu. YouTube and Hulu have community type features but are not at the core a social network. The social network is where people are checking in daily, communicating with friends, and in the process sharing and discovering new content. For example, most new TV programs I watch are due to friend recommendations. Bebo simplifies and automates that discovery process.)

Members will be able to create and share their own video and music playlists. And media companies will get their own profile pages. (Note that this announcement is separate from Bebo’s participation in Google’s OpenSocial platform).

There is no doubt that media needs to go wherever the audience happens to be hanging out, and if it is not going to cost the media companies anything, why not sign up with Bebo? As for Bebo, maybe the free vids will help keep its growth from slowing down. Or it may not. The video push was not enough to keep at least one key Bebo executive, who left the company this past weekend.

If you look at Bebo’s traffic, as of September (the last month for which worldwide figures are available), comScore showed it leveling off at about 20 million visitors a month. (Bebo claims 40 million members). Here is the Compete chart for U.S. traffic, which also shows a dip.

Bebo

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hulu

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YouTube

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Combating Piracy: Earth To Big TV

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 19:28:14 -0700

Big TV is close to clueless when it comes to combating piracy. There have been some steps in the right direction. Hulu looks like it might actually end up with some limited appeal, and CBS and ABC are heading in the right direction with their respective online offerings (HD shut down aside). However big TV still really doesn’t get it: BitTorrent continues to thrive like it never has before, dishing up the latest and greatest of American television to an ever increasing audience. Here’s a few tips the American television networks need to absorb

1: It’s all about choice

NBC and Fox, Hulu may have opened with reasonable reviews but it’s still a train wreck when it comes to combating piracy. Where do we start? No downloads for one. People want to take their media with them, and be able to play it on devices such as the iPod. Apple may not have been paying you what you wanted NBC, but its a lot more than the hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of folks downloading your shows off BitTorrent are paying you, some of who were previously paying iTunes customers. Big TV needs to provide their shows in a variety of formats to suit as many people as possible..which really isn’t that hard.

2. Imposed geographic restrictions no longer work

If Hulu is in part about combating privacy by providing a legal, ad supported alternative, why does it block anyone from outside of the United States (and possibly Canada) from playing the content? It’s all about international distribution deals, the crappy deals that mean that viewers in Europe and Australasia can sometimes wait 2-3 years to view content broadcast in the United States. This delay is the reason 59% of the French watch television on their computers. You want to dramatically reduce piracy? Then open up your content to the world. The international content partners will not be happy with this, but pay them a cut of the advertising, in the same way Fox is already doing with affiliate stations within the United States. Like NBC and iTunes, the opportunity cost of not providing this service is zero revenue in an international context with direct views, and declining revenue over the longer term as non-American audiences watch less and less American television via FTA or cable. Take what you can and provide a legal alternative to your international viewers. People are willing to deal with advertising for a legal alternative when the legal alternative is available and it is easy to access..particularly when it’s easier than illegal alternatives.

3. Always On, Always Available

New episodes on Hulu will be available to view for 5 weeks, and not a day more. WTF? What if a consumer hears positive word of mouth 6 weeks after a series has started and wants to watch from the beginning. In NBC’s case no iTunes, no Hulu but yes, it will be on BitTorrent. Memo to big TV: let your consumers decide how long TV shows should be available as opposed to imposing arbitrary restrictions. You’re selling advertising based on views, what difference does it make if the show is available for 6 months instead of 6 weeks, aside from your DVD DRM infested show season sales…which is really what this is about.

4. Stop treating your audience as if it were stupid

Your audience is increasingly turning to alternatives because of your restrictive practices, and because of the quality of what you are producing. What’s the latest shows in development: Law & Order Special Parking Infringement Unit and CSI: Timbuktu? People are downloading more and more international content because of the complete garbage you now make. If you seriously want to win the hearts and minds of the switched on generation, you need to follow the first three points above, then start producing some decent content as well.

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Why Did CBS Buy DotSpotter?

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:21:02 -0700

In these irrational times, let me attempt to offer a rational explanation for why CBS bought DotSpotter. Unlike Matthew Ingram, I have actually heard of DotSpotter, and wrote about them a while ago, so I know a couple of things about this company. First, they have an awesome team of developers, the kind CBS (CBS) badly needs. Second, if Last.fm was CBS’ Radio 2.0, then DotSpotter is their Water Cooler 2.0.

OK, as I said, this is just an attempt to explain why they bought this little-known company. My sources say the price is not, I repeat, not $10 million, but much lower. Of course, CBS doesn’t wanna talk about it!

Google: How High Can It Go?

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:44:53 -0700

Google (GOOG) crossed the $600-a-share threshold today, giving it a market capitalization of around $188.1 billion. The big questions is, how high can it go? $750, $1,000 or (shudder) $2,000 a share?

Here is what $188 billion buys you:

3,133 Gulfstream G550 jets a $60 million a pop. Basically one for anyone with the title “manager” who works for Google.
A whole lotta media companies: the New York Times Co. (NYT) ($2.86 billion), Reuters (RTRSY) ($16.5 billion), CBS (CBS) ($23 billion), Viacom (VIA) ($28 billion), News Corp. (NWS.A), ($71.5 billion) and Yahoo (YHOO) ($35 billion) — with money left over for buying Facebook at Zuckbuck-prices.
940K Virgin Galactic tickets.
Round-trip tickets to Mars for Larry and Sergey, inflation adjusted, of course.
The country of Ireland ($190 billion), to be renamed (B)Goog-org. Larry & Sergey can be the royal leprechauns.

CapROS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:33:11 -0700

CBS Acquires Europe’s Last.fm for $280 million

Wed, 30 May 2007 05:15:30 -0700

The quickly growing music social network Last.fm has been acquired by CBS for $280 million in an all-cash deal.

UK based Last.fm launched five years ago and has become a social networking favorite with 15 million active users. It has become a massive repository for music information (artist and song wikis, listening data from users, etc.). In the U.S., companies like Pandora, MOG and iLike all compete with some of Last.fm’s features, although none of those startups has built the basic social network/community of last.fm.

The deal sees Last.fm’s management team staying in place and the site maintaining a separate identity.

Last.fm has been an attractive takeover target for some time. CBS as a buyer though is surprising and is a sure sign that the media giant is getting serious about Web 2.0. CBS acquired video blog WallStrip for $5 million earlier this month, and has been on a bit of a buying spree lately after filling out the management team on the interactive side of the business last year.

Previous TechCrunch coverage here.

This certainly explains why Last.fm was a little slow to jump on the Facebook Applications bandwagon last week - they were understandably distracted.

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CBS does buy WallStrip

Tue, 22 May 2007 00:14:34 -0700

Now that’s one out of three rumored deals, but it does seem like a good start. CBS has indeed snapped up WallStrip, the iconic money show for single digit millions, reports Liz Gannes on NewTeeVee. Wallstrip star Lindsay Campbell, producers Adam Elend and Jeff Marks are now full-time employees of CBS, while founder Howard Lindzon, an investor by day, will continue to play a consulting role. (Read his side of the story.)

Both CBS and Wallstrip confirmed the deal, which was rumored last week, had been completed on Monday, though they said the reported price of $5 million was not correct…Wallstrip had raised $600,000 from a group of angel investors including venture capitalists Fred Wilson and Brad Feld, but still had much of that money in the bank, according to Lindzon. He said Campbell, Elend, and Marks all had equity stakes in the company.

Ironically, in our poll only 12% of 322 votes believed that CBS-Wallstrip deal was going to get done. In comparison, 41% think Google-Feedburner deal is going to get done. Nevertheless, the Wallstrip deal does put a price tag on these “talent” oriented buyouts.

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Bebo, Wall Strip, Feedburner - who is getting bought out?

Sun, 20 May 2007 23:13:23 -0700

Which of the three rumored deals - CBS-WallStrip, Bebo-Yahoo or Google-Feedburner - will come true? Take the poll. If you think two out of three are going to happen, let us know your pick (in comments of course.)

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CBS Acquires WallStrip for $5 million

Sun, 13 May 2007 19:41:09 -0700

Jossip is reporting that corporate focused video blog WallStrip has been acquired by CBS News for $5 million. The report states that an announcement is expected early this week and involves WallStrip host Lindsay Campbell being the next Amanda Congdon for CBS, fronting online shows.

I spoke to some one close to the deal who confirmed Jossip’s story. The deal is said to be focused on signing Lindsay Campbell. CBS was keen to have Campbell on board and a cast iron contract meant that acquiring WallStrip was the only way they could get to her.

WallStrip as a video blog/ show has previously met with mixed revues. The dry topics and patchy scripting being pulled off only by the shining talent of Campbell. As a deal it has a sense of “What The?” about it. My source says the company has zero revenue. Campbell has talent but if this was the driving reason behind the buy, they’d better hope she can tap dance as well.

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[from bushwald] EXCLUSIVE PICTURES: Babylon Fields, Upcoming CBS Zombie Series.

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:42:48 -0700

You realize of course that this would be, for me, like the best show ever?

Interview, Part 1: Quincy Smith, President, CBS Interactive: ‘Innertube Just Became OuterTubeS

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:51:13 -0700

The CBC Interactive Audience Network moved from idea to execution—at least, announcements—in the span of 8 days or so, according to Quincy Smith, president of CBS Interactive and the guy at the center of the storm. (No telling how long some of these deals have been in the works.) But, during an interview today, he admitted freely that the ground already was broken by the NBCU-News Corp. JV and that this couldn’t have happened as quickly without it: “Full tribute and credit to the JV for all of their good work in bushwhacking.” It blazed the way, he added: “It got out there and established economics that seemed appropriate for the content versus online distribution for now.” He also doesn’t claim to be doing anything new or original. In fact, Smith says he hopes every media company follows suit. What follows is part one of some edited excerpts: Why go this route?: “If you’re a content company the opportunity of online is to be closer than ever to your audience. You want to find as many leading distribution platforms as you can to get your content there. I don’t think the world needs another portal and clearly, all of the partners we’ve announced—and hopefully some soon to come—represent having done much better jobs than CBS at creating video delivery platforms.” What does this do to CBS broadband site Innertube?: Smith: “Innertube just became Outertube. It’s basically Innertube on steroids. Anything that’s available on Innertube now gets actually pushed to people with real eyeballs. The people that matter: audience and advertisers. Advertisers deserve mass out of CBS, the largest television network on the planet and we should second that with online mass.” He offered as a scenario taking a Monday night comedy, then creating an audience for it that’s bigger than the Super Bowl by Friday. Smith: “This is a real chance to make numbers matter and at CBS that is what moves needles.” Along those lines, CBS is working on ways to improve research and online metrics reporting. “It’s not only a luxury. It’s something we all have to understand because we’re not competing against each other. Don’t make this a JV versus us -- we’re competing with lonelygirl ... we’re also sharing with lonelygirl because that’s the webby thing to do.” More for the same audience or growing audience?: Smith: “As you do know, CBS’s traditional demographics remain and skew relatively older so any progress we make online is reasonably additive.” Also, CBS Corp. is 90 percent U.S. based; most of the partners are 70-plus percent international. “There’s a whole new world for CBS.” Rights: CBS owns most of the shows being licensed—“that’s the beauty of being a big, dumb media company”—but sports rights are a different matter. For instance, the NCAA mens basketball could be on air, online and on mobile but the Masters’ was only on air and online—and only part of it was online. As Smith points out, the NFL is guarding its online rights. “We hope by announcing distribution deals like this we can help to make sure that the leagues are exposed to the audience online if they choose to work it so the rights come with us they can piggyback all day long—or maybe it just incents them to go direct as well.” They’re working to clear additional rights to put more content in the rotation. Moving beyond experimental: CBS still makes some experimental deals—SecondLife and the like—but Smith says these aren’t among them. “This is more than just trying things ... this is about making a forward statement towards the audience as well as getting paid for that. .. We are definitely moving beyond the experiment. We need to be paid for our content and we need to have eyeballs watch it.” Autoplay: When I brought up autoplay as a way of piling up streams, Smith quickly replied: “That’s a cheap shot. We don’t do it. ... Half of that is the decision of the content provider. ... In my opinion, to open something and have it directly stream in your face and then count as a stream is a cheap shot.” Continue in Part Two.