CBS Interactive

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CBS Interactive
Type Subsidiary
Industry Online Media
Headquarters 235 Second Street, San Francisco, California, United States
Key people Jim Lanzone, president
Revenue US$602 million (CBS, 2009)
Employees 2,080 (CNET, 2006)
Parent CBS Corporation
Website CBSInteractive.com

CBS Interactive (formerly CBS Digital Media Group) is an American company and is a division of the CBS Corporation. It is an online content network for information and entertainment. Its websites cover news, sports, entertainment, technology and business.[1] It is headed by Jim Lanzone.[2]

CBS Interactive coordinates with CBS Network Sales to bring together ad sales operations, as well as the Corporation's television, sports, and news groups, who will continue to be involved in program development.

History

On May 30, 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for £140m (US$280m).[3]

On June 30, 2008, CNET Networks was acquired by CBS and the assets were merged into CBS Interactive, including Metacritic, GameSpot, TV.com, and Movietome.[4]

On March 15, 2012, it was announced that CBS Interactive acquired video game-based website Giant Bomb and comic book-based website Comic Vine from Whiskey Media, who sold off their other remaining websites to BermanBraun. This occasion marked the return of video game journalist Jeff Gerstmann to the CBS Interactive division of video game websites, which includes GameSpot and GameFAQs, and has Gerstmann once again working directly with his some of his former peers at GameSpot under the same building at the CBS Interactive headquarters.[5][6]

On April 17, 2012, it was announced that Major League Gaming and CBS Interactive would be entering a partnership alongside TwitchTV to be the only exclusive online broadcaster of their Pro Circuit competitions, as well as for advertising representation.[7][8]

Websites

CNET

Main article: CNET
Logo of CNET.

CNET is CNET Networks' online portal, providing access to reviews, news, downloads, price comparisons and CNET TV as well as web search powered by CBS's third-tier search engine search.com. CNET is divided into five major sections: reviews, news and blogs (News.com), downloads, and How To.

CNET Shopper

CNET Shopper.com is a site claiming to find the lowest prices on items from online retailers. While generally reliable, there have been notable errors in pricing information on occasion including a camera worth over a thousand dollars being advertised for only a few dollars.

CNET UK and other regional websites

Logo of CNET UK.

In addition to the CNET site which is aimed at North American audiences, there are regional CNET sites including CNET Australia (for Australia), CNET UK (for the United Kingdom) and CNET Asia (for Asia). Content on regional sites is a mix of mostly locally produced content from regional offices of CNET, with certain content – mostly news – from the US CNET site. In addition, content is sometimes sourced from ZDNet.

In 2005, CNET launched CNET UK.[9] This UK arm of CNET Networks covers similar areas to the main CNET, but specifically for UK consumers. As of January 2008, an independent audit certified CNET UK was the largest consumer electronics website in the UK, with 2.5 million unique visitors.[10] The site is mainly focused on reviews, news, a gadget blog ('Crave', a name which the main CNET eventually adopted for its own blog) and editorial content from a team of editors, covering consumer electronics and car tech. CNET UK is managed and overseen by site editor Jason Jenkins (formerly of T3 Magazine). The CNET UK editorial team consists of Jason Jenkins (Editor), Nike Hide (Chief sub-editor), Charles Kloet (Sub-Editor), Rory Reid (Editor, Cars and Computing), Ian Morris (Editor, Home Cinema and Community), Flora Graham (Editor, Mobile Phones), Richard Trenholm (Editor, News and Features) and Luke Westaway (Staff Writer). CNET UK also releases a weekly podcast called the 'CNET UK Podcast'.

CNET Networks UK also comprises a number of other online-only publications, including GameSpot UK, Silicon.com, ZDNet.co.uk, and SmartPlanet.com (now defunct), each of which produce both editorial and audio-video productions, including GameSpot's video show 'Start/Select', and ZDNet's popular 'Dialogue Box' show. Collectively, the publications of CNET Networks UK generate 132 million monthly page views from 9.8 million unique visitors.[11]

On November 19, 2007, CNET UK launched the UK version of CNET TV, CNETTV.co.uk, which ceased production on May 2, 2008.

BNET

Main article: BNET

BNET, a portal designed similarly to CNET, was created for the businessman or woman, specifically those in the management field. It provides tools and information in an organized format, while also providing professional insight on emerging news and strategies affecting a range industries, many not specifically related to the technology industry.

Other websites

Other CBS Interactive websites include GameSpot, Giant Bomb, GameFAQs, Metacritic, MP3.com, onGamers, TV.com, Comic Vine and Movie Tome, which operate under the "CNET Networks Entertainment" brand name; Chow, Chowhound, UrbanBaby and Consumating; Webware, a blog launched in November 2006 dedicated to web applications.[12]

CBS Interactive International Media

CBS Interactive has foreign branches in Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Turkey.

CBS Interactive China maintains over 10 local sites including Zol (中关村在线), Xcar (爱卡), Onlylady and 55BBS as well as Chinese versions of CNET, ZDNet and BNET.[13]

Business units

Tech and News: CBS News.com, CNET.com, News.com (redirects to CNET News), VersionTracker.com (redirects to CNET Software), CNETContentSolutions.com

Business: BNET (redirects to CBS Money Watch), CBS MoneyWatch

Business Technology: ZDNet, TechRepublic, SmartPlanet, CNet Content Solutions

Entertainment and Lifestyle: CBS.com, TV.com, TheInsider.com, Chow.com, UrbanBaby.com, CBS Audience Network, MovieTome (redirects to Metacritic's movie section), Clicker.com (redirects to TV.com), Comic Vine

Games and Music: CBS Radio.com, GameFaqs, gamerankings.com, Giant Bomb, GameSpot, Last.fm, MetroLyrics, metacritic.com, onGamers, Search.com

Sports: CBSSports.com, MaxPreps.com.

See also

References

  1. ↑ All Brands | CBS Interactive
  2. ↑ CBS Acquires TV Guide For Online Video Clicker, Jim Lanzone Named President Of CBS Interactive | TechCrunch
  3. ↑ "Music site Last.fm bought by CBS". BBC News. May 30, 2007. Retrieved April 28, 2010. 
  4. ↑ "CBS CORPORATION COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF CNET NETWORKS; MERGES OPERATIONS INTO NEW, EXPANDED CBS INTERACTIVE BUSINESS UNIT". CBS Corporation. 2008-06-30. Retrieved 2008-06-30. 
  5. ↑ Giant Bomb, Comic Vine join CBS Interactive - GameSpot.com
  6. ↑ BermanBraun Buys Most of Shelby Bonnie's Whiskey Media - Kara Swisher - Media - AllThingsD
  7. ↑ CBS INTERACTIVE EXPANDS INTO ESPORTS CATEGORY WITH EXCLUSIVE LIVE GAMING VIDEO AND LEAGUE PARTNERSHIPS
  8. ↑ CBS Interactive partners with Twitch.TV and Major League Gaming to form esports behemoth
  9. ↑ CBS Interactive
  10. ↑ "CNET Jan '08 audit figures" (PDF). ABCE. January 15, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 
  11. ↑ "CNET audit figures". CNET Networks UK. February 4, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-04. 
  12. ↑ Needleman, Rafe (2006-11-29). "Webware.com is live!". Rafe's Blog. Retrieved 2007-09-21. 
  13. ↑ "CBS Interactive China Homepage". Retrieved 2012-02-01. 

External links

Brands
Related websites
Shows
Staff, current
Staff, former
Contributors, current
Contributors, former
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