By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --CBS is launching an unprecedented campaign to publicize its prime-time successes weeks in advance of the year’s most important ad sales season, trying not to be dragged down by the economy and struggling rivals.
It includes a front-page ad Monday in The New York Times, a USA Today section front ad and commercials throughout CBS television, radio and the Internet.
The network is two weeks away from unveiling its fall schedule; NBC does so on Monday. Release of the broadcast schedules usually prompts a multi-billion dollar frenzy to lock up commercial space for next season, called the upfront.
All of the broadcasters are worried that the economy will continue to hurt ad sales, and that advertisers will migrate to the Internet or niche cable networks.
CBS has quietly had a strong season in prime-time, seeing its viewership jump 12 percent from the last, writers-strike affected season. CBS introduced the season’s only real new hit, “The Mentalist,” and has won more time slots than ABC, NBC and Fox combined.
“We had a good year and we’re well positioned for next year,” said George Schweitzer, president of CBS Marketing. “We don’t want that message to get lost.”
CBS hopes to reach beyond Madison Avenue to heads of companies that may advertise. It seems like a sound strategy, said Marc Berman, a TV analyst for Media Week Online.
“If they were struggling, I would say it’s very desperate,” Berman said. “They’re the No. 1 network. Why not be aggressive?”
Schweitzer said CBS isn’t worried that the network will be hurt by the struggles of other broadcasters.
“This is not a defensive position,” he said. “This is an offensive position.”
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More