CBS Getting Mileage Out Of YouTube
CBS issued a press release, boasting how the content it uploaded to YouTube has been very popular. Since they announced a partnership with the video sharing site on October 18, CBS videos have been viewed 29.2 million times. CBS is happy that, not only are the videos being viewed a lot, increasing exposure for various series, but those series are showing some gains in viewership on RegularTube.
Ratings for the network’s late night programs, in particular, have shown notable increases. CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” has added 200,000 (+5%) new viewers while “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” is up 100,000 viewers (+7%) since the YouTube postings started. Although the success of these shows on YouTube is not the sole cause of the rise in television ratings, both companies believe that YouTube has brought a significant new audience of viewers to each broadcast.
CBS seems to be the first company to realize that having a ton of stuff on YouTube is great for business. Hopefully they’ll start putting up content from their many other properties as well. I can’t say I like how they insist on controlling everything (they take down clips by other users, sometimes replacing them with their own), but it does result in a lot of great stuff on YouTube, and all of it is legal. Keep it up!
Coverage:
TechCrunch
Reuters
agreed. I’ve watched several Craig Furgeson clips and enjoyed them immensely. Although I haven’t started watching the show yet (on too late….) i might start DVRing it.
Comment by joe | November 23, 2006
Correlation != causation.
Would need to look at other shows’ viewships during the same period. Other networks. See if the same phenomenon occured last year (perhaps a seasonal effect). Etc, etc.
Comment by Michael Zimmer | November 23, 2006
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