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Future of TV OTT Sumner Redstone

An inside look at CBS All Access and the network's efforts to reach 'cord-nevers'

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By Natan Edelsburg | SVP

May 27, 2015 | 6 min read

CBS All Access, the network's OTT platform that costs $5.99 per month launched last October. The past year has been a major turning point in the industry as media companies that had previously been terrified of offering services that might compete with their cable deals have realized what they need to do to reach yonger generations.

CBS All Access

In their Q1 earning report earlier this month President and CEO Les Moonves said that All Access is "exceeding expectations" and that "we have already expanded CBS All Access to more than half of the country, and we expect it to be offered to 75% of all households by year's end." Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone (who turns 92 today), added that he is, "cconfident they have the strategy to keep CBS at the top of its game for many years to come," referring to Moonves and the company.

We interviewed Marc DeBevoise, EVP and GM of CBS Digital Media at CBS Interactive about the importance of the platform, the technology they used to build it and how All Access is for their superfans and the "cord-nevers" out there (consumers who have never had a cable subscription).

Found Remote: Who built CBS All Access and how's it been going?

Marc DeBevoise: CBS Interactive developed the All Access product over the course of 2014, from the core video and subscription products we’ve developed in the past. We also incorporated a technology partner, Syncback – whom we invested in a few years back – to enable live streaming of the local feed out of each station into our product. Obviously our solution is not completely internal but also incorporates partners for various parts of subscription management, video and ad delivery. Some of those partners include Akamai, DoubleClick, thePlatform, Recurly, etc.

We're very happy with the early success of CBS All Access and we've been continuing to expand it to new platforms and bring more affiliate station partners on board. We recently announced Roku and Chromecast device launches, as well as the addition of more markets, which will bring the live portion of the service to nearly 100 markets and 64% of the U.S.

FR: Why is an OTT platform important to CBS?

MD: At a high level, our strategy in launching CBS All Access was two-fold. First, to delivery our best fans access to the most CBS content we could on any device at any time – really delivering a service for our “superfans”. Additionally this service enables us to reach “cord-nevers” that want to watch CBS content but don’t have a traditional cable package –a significant audience, with industry estimates ranging from 6.5 to 16M households.

FR: How has it been promoted on social?

MD: We’ve tapped into the huge social audience of 250M+ followers CBS has collectively, including over 60 show fan pages on Facebook to promote CBS All Access. We’ve done a lot of organic promotion through show-by-show messaging timed with user tune in behavior and supported it with paid amplification.

FR: What platforms is All Access on? Which platform is most popular?

MD: CBS All Access is available online at CBS.com, on smartphones and tablets through the CBS App for iOS and Android and we recently launched on Roku and Chromecast.

We’ve seen great usage across all platforms. In fact, subscribers are watching 2X the amount of content compared to regular CBS.com/CBS App users.

FR: What has CBS learned about non-linear since launching?

MD: We’ve learned a lot about both linear and non-linear, since both are included in our service. Most importantly though that the evolution of TV can and will involve all screens. If it can be viewed, measured and monetized CBS is committed to being there. Consumer behavior shows that television is still the first-screen and online and mobile continue to grow as alternative viewing methods, especially serving the purpose of catch-up viewing. However, more than 70% of TV viewing is still live, and we’re committed to that window across platforms, especially for event-style content, which is why we included live linear TV in CBS All Access.

FR: Do you think one day CBS will make more $$ from OTT instead of linear?

MD: We don’t view this service as a replacement for linear TV or a cable package. It’s just a way for us to give our fans more CBS and those that don’t get us a way to get us. We expect that CBS All Access will be additive to CBS’s overall business and TV ratings.

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