This blog contains posts and comments written by students in Dr. Tufte's economics classes at Southern Utah University.
3/31/2006
CBS's Slam Dunk on the Web
This year is the first year that CBS offered a free webcast of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Last year they charged $20 for the webcast, but this year it was absolutely free. Over 200,000 people watched the webcast, which was twice what CBS expected. People seemed to enjoy the site, and the ability to rewind parts that they want. Advertisers seemed to appreciate the unexpected demand as well. A representative from Pontiac claims that the webcast, along with TV and other advertisement, contributed to a 10-15% increase in visits to their new site. Other advertisers haven't released a number on how they were affected, but believe that the increase helped them as well. CBS stated that they will work to improve the webcast and offer a whole line of sports events free to the public.
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3 comments:
Interesting. I have no idea whether or not this was cost-effective or not, but it seems to be one more item in the list of free things with money recouped through advertising.
Dr. Tufte said: “Interesting. I have no idea whether or not this was cost-effective or not, but it seems to be one more item in the list of free things with money recouped through advertising.”
While this may have been a great money maker for the advertisers and CBS, there are negative externalities. I recently read that many business owners and managers are complaining because less work was accomplished in March. Why? Because employees had the opportunity to sneak in watching all the games while they were at work. Now, this does not mean that employees aren't normally unproductive at times, with web-surfing or solitaire. But, the temptation was stronger to divert from work because the games were on-line.
Good call Matthew: CBS is cannibalizing the surplus of other businesses, so this falls under the broken window fallacy.
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