A study by CBS finds that downloaders watch more TV.
Following on from the music industry’ discovery that music downloaders are mainly fans who can market their music for them (like, duh), CBS has become the latest TV network to realise that allowing people to download TV shows actually makes the content more sticky and compelling.
TV.com reports that a poll taken by CBS shows that over half of the users who have streamed CBS shows on the Web had never seen the shows before on TV. The network says that the new users then became fans of those shows.
CBS says this data will help it and the other networks in their efforts to monetize Web content. The more new people who watch shows at the network sites, the better ad rates the networks can command.
“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,” CBS Corp. research chief David Poltrack told reporters today.
The networks are also following the fans in using the web to provoke interest in cancelled shows. Clearly they’ve noticed all the fan lobbying trying to get such shows back on the air. Also witness HBO’s experiments with longtail program, The Wire, as a way to tickle interest in its forthcoming IPTV channel. As we’ve said before, go with this guys not against it (that means you Universal Music) — it’ll be much easier for everyone.
Story via Techdirt.
![[Image relating to the story 100proofTRUTH Issue 5]](http://www.bigshinything.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/picture-2.png)
![[Image relating to the story The Cross Bones Geese]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/2519066152_8a1f23a942.jpg)
![[Image relating to the story Big Shiny …er Sea Slugs]](http://www.bigshinything.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/picture-1.png)
![[Image relating to the story The Polaroid Kid]](http://www.bigshinything.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/adc202.jpg)
Add a Comment