- Shahnaz Mahmud

NEW YORK CBS-owned and operated television stations have launched a revenue-sharing ad network that targets social media Web sites and blogs on a local basis. The move marks a first for CBS Television Stations in creating partnerships to deliver local news on a revenue-sharing basis through new technology.

CBS has deployed widgets to numerous sites that feature local headlines and images with links to the video and text stories on the CBS stations' site. The content is delivered in real time and updated accordingly. A banner ad is contained in the widget.

"This initiative is kind of an advertising syndication play where it's focused on the local markets," said Jonathan Leess, president and general manager of the CBS TV Stations Digital Media Group.

The initiative has begun to roll out in several cities, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco. Others that will join over the next several weeks include Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Philadelphia.

Owners of the sites that are publishing the CBS local news widgets receive a slice of the advertising revenue generated by the local CBS affiliate stations.

Aaron Radin, svp, advertising sales and business development, CBS TV Stations Digital Media Group, said the effort has generated a lot of advertiser interest because of its ability to aggregate a number of sites.

Advertisers that have entered into the partnership agreement include AT&T, North Texas Honda Dealers and Liberty Mutual Insurance. The affiliate stations in these deals are cbs2chicago.com, cbs2.com and kcal9.com, cbs11tv.com and wbztv.com.

SyndiGo, a division of Seevast Corp. -- a provider of advertising networks and network enabling services -- is responsible for creating and managing the relationships CBS will have with the local blogging and social media sites.

This story update and corrects an earlier item, noting that only CBS owned and operated stations are participating.