Filed under: Marketing and advertising, CBS Corp ‘B’ (CBS)
Broadcast television is all about viewers these days. From Brian Williams to Katie Couric, the format, delivery and audience are all about moving targets and semi-celebrity more than content in many cases. Why? Because a whole new generation of news seekers can get their fixes on cellphones and laptops — live — 24 hours per day. Why wait until the next morning or the next evening to get your news?
In particular, Couric’s personality — which was marketed as bright and perky — was intended to attract an audience who CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) execs thought would actually care. Turns out, they didn’t. Now the re-branding of Couric with CBS’s Evening News uses words like “impressive” and “poignant” to describe the peppy news host. Is anyone listening? Certainly not the younger and women viewers who CBS was trying to recruit with its previous Couric spunk.
CBS Corp. CEO Les Moovness said “I wish younger people would watch the news. It does not look like that is going to happen.” Good call there, Les. Broadcast television news is part of the old media guard, not the new media instant fix. It’s hard to think any younger viewers will plop down to waste 30 minutes of their time (with untargeted advertisements, no less) when all the news is available for free anytime. Question is: what is CBS going to do when the core audience starts turning off the tube? Re-market Couric yet again?
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