Moonves Calls Young Demos "Bull***" & "Old Wives' Tale"

From www.variety.com

CBS wants more international biz
Moonves slams industry for courting kids
By JILL GOLDSMITH

CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves wants to double the volume of the
company's international biz, while on the home front he applauded the
down-and-dirty presidential race for generating a bonanza of political
advertising for CBS TV and radio stations. Moonves even implied he may
enter politics himself when his boardroom days are done.

Playing to the pinstriped crowd during a wide-ranging Thursday sesh at
the McGraw Hill media conference in Gotham, Moonves criticized the TV
biz's incessant focus on courting younger viewers.

"The only upscale 18-year-olds I know are my children, and they have
to come to me if they want to buy a car. It's a bull*** demographic,
forgive me," he said, "that they're the ones with the discretionary
income, and the 50-year-old is thrown in the garbage. It's one of the
great old wives' tales."

In chaotic times like these, with psychotic financial markets and new
media on the move, Wall Street needs lots of soothing. Moonves
reassured investors that CBS is up to digital speed, with a host of
deals under its belt or in the works.

The Eye's online ad revenue is north of $200 million and growing
30%-40% a year.

A big piece of that comes from CBS' streaming of the NCAA men's
basketball championships -- March Madness -- on the Web. Year one of
the 3-year-old venture pulled in revenue of $250,000, Moonves said.

"The next year, $4 million, then $10 million. This year will have
about $23 million in advertising. And it's new revenue from content
that we already have. It drops right to the bottom line."

CBS has several billion dollars in cash in its war chest and is
prowling for acquisitions. Moonves called the Weather Channel, which
is for sale, "an interesting property." But he said absurdly high
prices have kept the Eye on the sidelines for the really big deals --
like the one for Univision. "We would have liked to buy that very
much. It fit with what we do. (But) there will be other
opportunities."

He said CBS is eyeing content, broadcasting and new media. Asked about
Facebook, he said, "Not for $15 billion."

At present CBS digital strategy is heavily focused on syndicating its
content through some 200 websites that it aggregates for advertisers,
who pay for embedded blurbs in clips and full-length segs of CBS and
Showtime programming. Asked about the newly launched Hulu, the joint
Internet vid venture of NBC Universal and News Corp., Moonves said CBS
had an opportunity to join Hulu initially, and he didn't rule out
signing on in the future. Outdoor advertising, which accounts for
about 20% of CBS' total sales, is booming. Digital billboards are
increasingly sophisticated, able to target, say, commuters in the ayem
and soccer moms in the afternoon with the flick of a switch, Moonves
said.

"I'm a TV guy," said Moonves. When CBS split 2½ years ago and he got
billboards, "I said what is this? What's the future? Now it's our
fastest growing business.

"I love it," Moonves enthused, noting that outdoor advertising is one
of the oldest and sturdiest forms of commerce.

"It started with some guy drawing something on a wall, and he was
selling meat," Moonves quipped.

Moonves defended the company's plan to launch its own film studio,
pointing out that he's been involved in many hit TV shows; that the
work being done in television is, in many cases, on par with feature
films these days ("It's about writing, acting, scripts and stories").
Moreover, with CBS' radio, television and billboard assets, "I can
offer my film company $25 million of P&A for $10 million."

Looking down the road at his own future, Moonves, whose contract with
CBS runs through 2011, emphasized that he's "having a great time"
leading the company and is being paid handsomely. But he indicated
that his interest in politics may extend to his post-CBS life.

"One of the tragedies of Washington is that we haven't attracted the
best and the brightest. I would like to give something back to
society. That might be a way."
.

Loading