CBS Pushes Web Worth With Election Night Webcast

Emboldened by soaring interesting in its online presidential campaign coverage, CBSNews.com today outlined plans for a live, election night Webcast hosted by Katie Couric.

CBS, a pioneer in live streaming for the March Madness men’s college basketball tournament, has reaped the rewards in terms of portal traffic and has greatly expanded its efforts. Augmenting its broadcast coverage with Webcasts has provided an even larger boost to it website traffic.

CBS News says it has experienced a 38 percent month-over-month increase in unique visitors and a 57 percent month-over-month increase in visits, according to the September report from Nielsen NetRatings. Also, CBSNews.com saw a significant 129 percent year-over-year increase in visits to the site, and a 57 percent year-over-year increase in unique visitors, along with a 96 percent year-over-year increase in page views.

Couric will anchor a live Webcast on election night, Nov. 4th, which will start right after CBS News’ live telecase of the election results and incorporate questions from the online audience received before and during the Webcast, according to CBS.

Over the past month and half, CBSNews.com has produced a total of 11 live webcasts, including following primetime coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, the vice presidential debate, and the three presidential debates.

Anchored by Couric, the Webcasts begin online on CBSNews.com and CNET.com immediately after the CBS News broadcast coverage ends. The Webcasts last approximately 30-45 minutes and feature interviews, special guests, real-time reaction from uncommitted voters, and extended analysis from the CBS News political team, which also responds to viewer questions submitted online before and during the Webcast.

CBS says the Webcasts will also be fed to and promoted by CBS television stations, and fed to CBS Radio News affiliates for insertion into their own programming or for podcasting.

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