CBS Radio launches WorldNow video
Michael Gay July 23rd, 2008
Today radio took a big step in the direction of local TV sites, with 140 CBS stations signing up for WorldNow’s video system. You can see the player now on the homepage of WCBS-AM. The press release contained a very telling quote:
“Rethinking and evolving our business had led us to this transformation and in the very near future every station will have a major video component transforming radio from a purely audio medium to a visual one as well,” said David Goodman, President, Digital Media and Integrated Marketing, CBS RADIO.
WorldNow has 452 total local media clients in broadcast TV, newspaper and now radio. So, your local competitors for video pre-roll ads are no longer limited to TV and some newspapers.
9 Comments Add your own
1. tdc | July 23rd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
and typical of the good folks at worldnow… no mention of it at worldnow.com .
last news item dated 4/12.
errr, the “live” web?
2. tdc | July 23rd, 2008 at 2:56 pm
and typical of the good folks at cbs… neither link in their press release works.
good grief!
3. tdc | July 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
that’s the links to cbsradio.com and worldnow.com…just for clarification.
4. news chief 22 | July 23rd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Now that the silly posts are done I wonder what this means for us in TV. Now there are going to more sites fighting us for the local video revenue. Imagine 2 KYW crews at a presser - one from TV and one from radio. Gonna make for some fun stories. But seriously - this is only good for electronic journalism - competition makes us all better and radio will have an easier time of it. They won’t be bound by the same broadcast quality standards as we are. Also, are CBS radio stations Newspath affiliates? Now we’ll see the same clips on both sites!
5. tdc | July 23rd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
yes, outbound links that don’t resolve in YOUR OWN press release are just “silly”.
it sounds like they need a few LESS chiefs and a few more indians
6. tdc | July 23rd, 2008 at 3:46 pm
oh, and since we’re talking “silly”…
ain’t it silly to think only “pre-rolls”?
i hardly (if ever) have my finger on the clicker just waiting for a clip to end. if i do i probably didn’t like the clip and clicked off long before it got that far.
why not sell some 5 second post rolls???
chief?
7. Rob | July 23rd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
WorldNow has a decent video platform. All CBS is doing is sub-contracting the technology instead of building their own, and they probably got a better deal with a group buy.
As for radio displaying video that’s not Earth-shattering. There are a number of radio sites that have been party to AP’s video player for a while now.
While there may be some competition eventually I think it’ll be a tougher sell for people selling video for a radio station website than a TV station website.
8. BJ | July 23rd, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Whoa… whoever designed that site must like CNN.com.
9. Rocker | July 24th, 2008 at 6:10 am
1/AP Video is everywhere. It’s like wallpaper.
2/A video player does not a video strategy make, unless there’s a strategy to produce and promote. Even then, one thing I’ve learned is it’s really tough to find an audience for material that doesn’t make contextual sense…radio station websites don’t draw big crowds, and it’s hard for me to see how adding video is going to change that unless it’s part of a much more comprehensive plan.
3/This is a big coup…and presumably significant revenue, for WorldNow, in a very competitive space. Kudos to them.
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