Leno show not living up to lead-in hype
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
e-mail this
share thisJay Leno's 10 p.m. show hasn't followed the script prescribed by NBC affiliates who had hoped it would be the ideal lead-in for 11 p.m. newscasts.
Mr. Leno's show was especially important to WBRE-TV, which is the perennial runner-up to WNEP-TV in the local Nielsen's ratings race.
While WBRE no longer subscribes to Nielsen, advertisers continue to use those numbers to set rates and Mr. Leno's transition to 10 p.m. was seen by many as an opportunity for WBRE to attract new viewers to its 11 p.m. newscast.
"Nationally, in the top metered markets, Jay Leno's ratings are down 25 percent over NBC's previous 10 p.m. lineup," said Phil Condron, president of Scranton-based advertising firm Condron & Company, which tracks ratings.
Bad sign
"The Leno show's erosion is detrimental to the affiliates' 11 p.m. local news as they desire a strong lead-in to attract viewers to the news," Mr. Condron said. "In our market, if the national trend holds, WBRE is at an additional disadvantage in trying to convert the significant WNEP news viewers."
Locally, advertisers are buying spots during Mr. Leno's program, said Lou Abitabilo, general manager and vice president of WBRE. "This is what the network gave us to sell and that's what we're selling. I think there is a lot of positive interest," he said.
Local news, particularly the 6 and 11 p.m. broadcasts, are a key component in gaining advertising and revenue for a network because local stations make up about one third of a network's revenue.
In the most recent 11 p.m. ratings released in July and before Mr. Leno's debut, WNEP registered a 12.6 rating and a 39 percent share of the audience while WBRE had a 4.0/12.
Not much is expected to change based on preliminary numbers already coming in from around the country and since Mr. Leno's Sept. 14 debut.
Nationally, ratings for late newscasts at NBC affiliates in 44 of the top 56 metered markets are down this year, falling an average of 13 percent in the first four weeks of the season compared with a year ago, according to Nielsen.
Not happy
"I'm not pleased with what Leno is doing. I don't think anybody is," Craig Allison, vice president and general manager of KSHB-TV in Kansas City, told the Los Angeles Times.
"I don't think any NBC affiliate wanted to wake up in the fall with a weaker lead-in to their late news," Mr. Allison said. The ratings for the late news in St. Paul and Minneapolis have been "nothing to write home about," said John Remes, president and general manager of KARE-TV, the Twin Cities' NBC affiliate.
NBC's Boston affiliate initially declined to air Mr. Leno's show but gave in after the peacock network threatened to pull its affiliation.
Critics have been equally as harsh.
Advertising Age columnist Simon Dumenco wrote a scathing piece last week saying NBC is committing brand suicide with the show. A Los Angeles Times headline read: "Leno's New Time Slot Wreaks Havoc for Local Affiliates."
A Boston Globe story said: It's time to pull the plug on an experiment gone wrong."
Contact the writer: sbrown@timesshamrock.com
2 posted comments