CBS said it had lined up deals with such online distributors as AOL, Microsoft, CNet Networks, Comcast, Joost, Bebo and Brightcove. It's all about being on sites that are heavily trafficked by younger consumers.
"Over the past year, the world has learned that you don't win by telling everybody where they should go, you win by being where everyone else is," Smith said. "It's all about transitioning from being a content company to being an audience company."
During the last year, CBS has attracted an online audience for clips of its late-night stars, David Letterman and Craig Ferguson, and its original series from Showtime. Its stab at creating its own portal, called Innertube, hasn't worked as well, although it has attracted a small but loyal audience, Smith said.
"We've turned Innertube into Outertube," Smith said. "The whole job of Rolling Thunder is to get the content out to more than just the core audience of CBS."
Media analyst Vogel agreed.
"The audience is more fragmented than it has ever been," he said. "Their challenge is how do they get this programming that they have onto the new technologies -- the iPods, the YouTubes and cellphones?"
And all the while keeping its core businesses healthy.
meg.james@latimes.com
