CBS Unveils Marketing Plan To Push ‘All-Access’ Subscription Sign-Ups

Last month, CBS announced its All-Access subscription service, created for its most devoted followers. Now, the TV network will implement a big marketing push to get the service in front of as many of those fans’ eyes as possible.

CBS’s All-Access marketing plan has several different stages. The first resembles what many already-established video subscription services like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon have done in the past. Put ads on TV to encourage viewers to watch their favorite shows through streaming methods. CBS’s TV promos for All-Access will start playing the week after Thanksgiving.

“December is a key month for our push,” said Marc DeBevoise, executive vice president of entertainment, sports and news, at CBS Interactive, to Variety. “It’s the time when the network has ended the first half of the season and goes into repeats and Christmas specials for a few weeks, then comes back in early January. It’s a unique time period and we are going to present something that’s very timely around catching up on the first half of the season.”

CBS will start advertising on its own network before moving to others. Most of the TV ads will run before and after select shows, with the intention of making viewers want to experience more of the show via the All-Access streaming service. DeBevoise said ideas like “Watch live. Watch later” and “Binge away” will be pushed.

In the second stage of its marketing plan, CBS will run ads on multiple digital platforms. Unlike the TV ads, the digital initiatives will focus on one specific program (like Star Trek or Cheers) or behavior (mobile streaming) a viewer may want more of.

And in the last stage, CBS will wrap up its promotion of All-Access by directly involving those dedicated fans at which the streaming service is aimed. For example, DeBevoise noted CBS could look at offering perks or rewards to “influencers” who manage to get their friends or followers to join the service. Additionally, the executive also hinted that CBS may offer “a bounty, or some fee” to people who are running fan websites based on the network’s intellectual properties, likely in the form of a free trial of All-Access or a referral bonus.

CBS hasn’t revealed how many people have already signed up for All-Access, which Variety noted has been available since October 16. But the network’s leaders are determined to “make sure we are there for our audience on all of the places” they’ll be as the landscape of TV consumption habits continues to develop and change.