Modern-day Magellans and the quest for entertainment
Finding out about shows and figuring out how to view them can be an adventure. Viewers are learning to navigate to the new offerings, and marketers like CBS are adapting our marketing strategies to keep pace with their behavior and preferences. There are essentially three areas where we focus our attention:1)Navigation2)Search3)Discovery Navigation is the traditional world of marketing and advertising. It's going to where the viewers are and showing them the product. In all of our on-air ads (promos), we make it clear to viewers how, when, and where to find our shows. Search is now an ingrained part of consumers' expectations. On a laptop, you can type in a few words and find just about anything in seconds. Not so with television--electronic program guides on TV sets have historically been very clunky and "user-unfriendly." But that's beginning to change. We are working with tech partners and distributors to better showcase their content offerings and enhance video search on television. CBSDiscovery is the act of stumbling upon something new. It's what Magellan did when he discovered a passageway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, while in search of the Spice Islands. It's those acts of serendipity that deliver us to new people, places, perspectives, and shows. Given the nature of discovery, it is hard to control. But as marketers we can seek out selected opportunities to spark "off the grid" excitement and empower brand evangelists to spread the word virally. We do this by making sure our shows have a strong presence on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, by rewarding fans of our shows, and by interacting with social influencers on a regular basis. Regardless of what, where, or how you want to watch, our job is to make it as simple and enjoyable for viewers to learn about, find, and watch our shows. And in a few short months we will have some new ones to introduce. So get ready for a new adventure...and stay tuned!!
