Gray To Provide Research And Consulting Services To CBS O&Os

CBS retained Gray Television’s in-house news research and consulting group, Strategic Insights & Activation Team (Strat Team), as a provider of market research and news consulting services to all 14 CBS owned and operated television stations. The first-of-its-kind partnership began on April 1.

Gray created the Strat Team in January 2023 “to provide an in-house, customized, and action-oriented news consulting team for all Gray markets.” After nearly 15 months and almost 100 research projects exclusively for Gray’s local newsrooms, the Strat Team has expanded its bandwidth to support several large-market television stations. The Strat Team’s leadership previously consulted for CBS’s O&Os (among other clients) prior to joining Gray.

“We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with CBS by providing their owned and operated stations with first-class news research and consulting,” Gray’s COO Sandy Breland said. “The Strat Team has exceeded every expectation for our content and marketing teams, and their expertise will be an impactful resource for CBS.”

Adrienne Roark, president of content development and integration for CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures, said: “Partnering with Gray’s Strategic Insights & Activation Team supports our mission further to enhance our market insights and our overall strategic planning efforts across the company.”

Jennifer Mitchell, president of CBS Stations, added: “Their expertise will undoubtedly contribute to our continued success across our 14 CBS-owned stations in delivering high-quality news and content to match our audiences’ evolving viewing needs.”

Chris Archer, Gray’s VP of research and consulting and Tony Calfo, Gray’s director of research, lead the Strat Team. The team’s consultants and analysts come from a diverse set of backgrounds, combining recent newsroom leadership and extensive experience in data-driven storytelling, digital and marketing strategies.