• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, January 5, 2007

CBS has a somewhat radical point of view concerning the new digital age: The more you connect with shows digitially, the more you'll watch traditional prime-time TV.

A new study from the network says that because viewers want to connect more with their favorite TV shows, using Web sites, podcasts, and ringtones of specific programs drive ups prime-time TV viewership.

So, for the moment as least, jettison this long-held theory: The Internet is taking viewers away from TV.

In the past when there was network erosion people pointed their fingers at cable television. But for the past three years, network audience erosion has virtually stopped, with viewership even year-to-year--while at the same time, Internet use has climbed.

What does that say? Probably not a lot--there are other factors going on, such as TV's strength of content in certain areas.

The rub comes down to this:  Where are you placing your entertainment market efforts?  Sure, users might watch a video on YouTube or spend some moments on Facebook or MySpace, but more often than not people are going to go to the brand names they know best-- "CSI," "American Idol," "24," or "Ugly Betty."

As long as advertising and marketing dollars are behind those shows, most mainstream entertainment consumers will default to those brands while on the Web.

People have talked about original TV series on the Internet. But will there be marketing dollars behind these efforts? Mark Burnett has been running a game show called "Gold Rush" on AOL. But without some marketing and advertising help on CBS, a marketing partner on the show, that Internet-only program wouldn't have gotten even the small audiences that it did.

CBS' research only proves the point that networks will continually use the Internet as their marketing partner--a supplemental partner to their own airwaves--to help draw viewers back to see the likes of "The Office" or "Amazing Race." Of course, it doesn't hurt that networks offer up free episodes of their own prime-time programming, all to drive viewers back to their traditional big TV/video screens.

One wonders whether TV can keep up the pace or whether conditions will switch entirely. Maybe five years from now CBS will issue another press release saying that the more you watch prime-time TV, the more you'll be using the Internet.

That won't be a negative for networks. Just as with cable TV, it won't end up being an "us versus them" scenario, especially if mainstream media companies continue to become bigger digital players.