Report: CBS Reports Higher Ad Prices For News On Digital Platforms

CBS News is getting higher prices for advertising opportunities on its digital offerings than it gets for broadcast news content, CBS News President David Rhodes said Monday at TVNewsCheck’s annual NewsTECHForum in New York.

David Rhodes

“The pricing that we’re receiving for the advertising we’re selling on [CBS News’ digital] platforms, because they are to this point ad-supported, is very strong and, in fact, is more than two [times] what we’re receiving for our overall average broadcast news offering,” Rhodes told TVNewsCheck Editor Harry Jessell, who interviewed Rhodes in a keynote session that opened the two-day conference.

The digital platform the two focused on mostly was CBSN, the 24-hour live-streaming Internet news channel CBS launched in November 2014. Noting that CBS O&Os are contributing video packages to the service, Jessell asked Rhodes if non-CBS-owned affiliates would have the same opportunity. Rhodes’ answer indicated the network is aware of affiliate interest, but is undecided on the question of whether more local content, from non-CBS-owned stations, is the right direction for the service to go in.

Not surprisingly, Rhodes is just as bullish on traditional broadcast news as he is on his news division’s forays into digital. He noted that The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley had its largest November audience in nine years last month. And Rhodes also expressed satisfaction in the steady audience growth of CBS This Morning in recent years too.

“We’re finding it’s a very strong business to be in right now,” Rhodes said of morning TV.

Asked about the continuing challenge facing traditional evening newscasts to attract younger viewers, Rhodes said it’s not as important as people think. To survive and be successful, network newscasts don’t necessarily have to attract young people, and they never really have, he pointed out.