Ezra Kucharz

One year after transitioning to the role of a special adviser for CBS executives, former president of CBS Local Digital Media Ezra Kucharz has announced he’s left the company.

Ezra Kucharz, a special adviser to CBS CEO Les Moonves on digital matters, spells out what his company is doing to succeed digitally. Among them are becoming adept at collecting and using data about media usage and hiring digital experts to run digital ventures, not legacy media experts.

CBS Local Digital Media’s digital outlets drew 57 million users in January, a record for the company, up 12% over the company’s previous high. mobile traffic hit a record 27.1 million users in January, up 24% from December 2013. “We are extremely gratified to see such tremendous growth in the popularity of our sites and apps,” said Ezra Kucharz, president of CBS Local Digital Media.

In the second part of his exclusive interview with NetNewsCheck, Ezra Kucharz, president of digital for CBS Local, says some of the channel conflict and ad networks pose the biggest threats to digital sales growth. Kucharz: “Ad networks are becoming an interesting problem. A lot of marketers are going to ad networks to create pressure on price.”

In part one of a two-part interview with NetNewsCheck, Ezra Kucharz, president of digital media at CBS Local, explains how the company takes a portfolio approach to its digital business, innovating only where it leverages the company’s strengths, and how a conservative by-the-numbers approach to digital trumps gut-driven, revolutionary thinking.

Ezra Kucharz, CBS Local Digital Media president, has been awarded Borrell Associates’ 2012 Award of Merit. The award was presented at a luncheon during the Borrell Local Online Advertising Conference.

Ezra Kucharz, president of CBS Local Digital Media, said during his keynote address at the Street Fight Summit that TV and radio aren’t going away, but that broadcasting will continue to integrate more with online and mobile. CBS has dramatically reshaped its local online properties to combine content across platforms, resulting in major traffic growth over the past year, he said.

CBS has been rapidly expanding its local online and mobile efforts by integrating the efforts of its O&Os and radio stations into 15 regional portals, says Ezra Kucharz, president of local digital media. He explains how mobile devices, tablets, check-in services and other developments are creating a robust local digital market.

Ezra Kucharz, president of CBS Local Digital Media, outlines the group’s new initiative that, starting next month, will offer a local “answers platform” featuring recommendations for restaurants and service providers as well as teaming with businesses to offer deals to consumers.