Business

CBS CEO: Network TV’s ‘Never Been Stronger’

The supposed death of broadcast TV was premature and network TV has “never been stronger,” CBS CEO Les Moonves told the Needham Emerging Technology Conference in New York on May 19.

That “great, shiny new object of digital has not proven to be the great advertising boon that people thought it was,” Moonves said. People have come to realize that the return on investment is “not nearly as good” with digital as it is with linear broadcast TV and also that there are “a lot of numbers that were being counted that were inaccurate numbers,” he said. YouTube, for example, had said it was getting a lot of 18- to 49-year-olds to stream its content in “three-second increments,” he said, adding “that’s not good measurement and that’s not good value for your advertising.”

Broadcast network TV is also “performing much better than basic cable,” he said. “Our reach is better. Our ratings are better,” he said, pointing to declines seen in basic cable ratings.

At the same time, he said, the scattered advertising market has been “phenomenally strong” this year compared to “what was a semi-weak upfront market a year ago.” CBS held its upfront presentation a day earlier, during which it spotlighted its new TV shows to advertisers and reporters. The upfronts held by it and other networks marked the start of a new ad sales period during which advertisers can pay for spots to air during programs they are interested in for the upcoming TV season. Scatter advertising is sold much closer to the air dates of TV shows and is usually cheaper than ads sold during the upfront period.

CBS is heading into the upfront marketplace with “strong scatter” and a strong schedule of TV programs, Moonves said, adding: “We’re anticipating a really phenomenal year.” New CBS shows that it touted at the upfront included “Kevin Can Wait,” a comedy starring Kevin James, who previously starred on the network’s hit sitcom “The King of Queens.”

The network is also doubling down on CBS All Access with two original shows that will be exclusive to that pay streaming service: a new “Star Trek” series that will premiere in January on its linear CBS network and then move to All Access only, as well as a spinoff of “Good Wife,” which just ended its run. The announcement of that spinoff, coming on the heels of the “Star Trek” announcement, is “boding well for strengthening the original programming line-up” on All Access, Stifel analyst Benjamin Mogil said in a research note May 18.

Moonves also stressed at the conference that CBS gives preferential treatment to TV shows that it owns, largely due to the syndication market exploding thanks to the huge growth being seen in domestic and international subscription VOD.

“There’s so many places to sell your shows that didn’t exist before,” including Hulu and Netflix, he said. As an example of CBS’s strategy, he pointed to the network’s decision to renew the drama “Elementary” — which it owns 100% of and made about an $80 million profit on last year — for another season, but not “Person of Interest,” a Warner-owned show that CBS only “broke even” on.