• by July 22, 2005

As we write this, there is breaking news of evacuations at three Tube stations in London and the world is on edge, again.

While news of this nature is always bad, it's good for Web video news operations which get to test their chops and flex their muscles. Most of all, they get to reel in viewers who are at work and want to process what's happening on the other side of the pond. Eyeballs and engagement -- clicking on video, companion stories, sidebars, and the like, matter -- in this medium.

There's big news going on in Web video these days as all the major media companies including Disney's ABC, Viacom's CBS, and News Corp.'s Fox ratchet up their digital/online news operations. When the big boys get on the bandwagon, you know something's up. Meanwhile, NBC, no matter what it says about its relationship with Microsoft Corp., MSNBC.com on MSN kicks butt vis-à-vis on-demand news/feature video.

But what about the big news at CBS Digital Media? The Tiffany network's digital media operation, run by online vet Larry Kramer and CBS News, last week announced an expansion of CBSNews.com to form a 24/7 multi-platform digital news network. What it means is CBS News - now on broadcast TV and radio - will become a 24/7 on-demand news operation. Sound good?

Scot McLernon thinks so. McLernon, senior vice president, advertising, for CBS Digital Media, and former head of sales at MarketWatch.com, is devising the ad sales strategy for the newly buffed operation. Having segued from MarketWatch slightly more than 60 days ago, he is finding himself in the catbird seat and loving it.

"The real surprise is defining just what was happening inside of CBS.com," McLernon says, who now helms a large sales team of 60 people who sell SportsLine, CBS.com, and CBSNews.com. "I am finding out a lot about content inside CBS.com," he says, adding that he used to think all the network sites, including CBS' were merely "brochureware" for primetime programming.

What's happening now, McLernon says, is that CBS is leveraging its reality TV franchises and "CSI" in hopes of getting more mileage from them on the Web. Dubbed the "Big Four," "Survivor," "Big Brother," "The Amazing Race," and "CSI" are getting star billing on CBS.com. Driving viewers from the tube to the Web for online voting, to access additional content, exclusive video clips, on-demand video, blogs, enter sweepstakes, and much more, is a major focus for CBS and other networks. Stickiness and engagement is what they're all after. But in order to get those tube-ish folks to the Web, you have to give them something good, something more -- maybe even something exclusive.

The online extensions started with "Survivor" nearly two years ago when CBS began bulking up on content for the franchise online. It found interest among sponsors, and experimented with new media technology trials and continues to do so. During the finale this past season of "CSI," McLernon points out that while 30 million people watched the show, CBS drove as many of them as it could online to access an exclusive interview with the director of the episode -- indie boy Quentin Tarantino. "It's a very engaged audience," he says. McLernon's conclusion: "The show doesn't end on Thursday at 10 p.m."

To be sure. For McLernon and all the other people placing their bets online and with on-demand video, the action continues online.

Certainly, MSN is hoping that for its go-round with "Rock Star: INXS." CBS, the network on which the show airs, is also hoping that people flock to CBS.com to rock out a bit more. Still, during the summer, traffic is light. Not surprising. According to Nielsen//NetRatings, for the week ending July 10, CBS News had 1.7 million unique visitors who spent an average of 6 minutes and 56 seconds per person; CBS TV had 1.2 million with 7 minutes and 39 seconds, and SportsLine had 1.9 million but lured those individuals for nearly 30 minutes apiece. It's worth noting that "Rock Star" didn't debut until July 11 and it's likely to take some time for online audiences to build.

McLernon acknowledges there are inherent challenges to being inside a very large company that has been selling TV "for a very long time." But, he notes that execs including Jo Ann Ross, president-CBS Sales, and Sean McManus, president of SportsLine, are receptive. McLernon's team is tweaking a calendar of events that extends for 90 days, letting advertisers know exactly what the opportunities are at CBS Digital Media. "They can go across all the events and build an RFP [request for proposal] off of multiple properties on all the sites. At MarketWatch we didn't have any events! [CBS] is so event-driven, we know when all these things are going to occur," he enthuses.