On Mon, May 31, 2010 at 11:40 AM, Brad Beam <[email protected]> wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- From: Steve Timko > > Smacks of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanitc. >> Anyone know Leno's numbers? >> > > According to the article linked below, on average Leno has been beating > Letterman by 1.1 million a night (March-May). > > http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2010/05/29/late_shift_good_for_leno_nbc_newscasts/ > The Boston Globe piece is putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable. First, it seems to imply that the local news ratings have improved because Leno is back at the Tonight Show, when the reason they have improved is because Leno's failed 10:00 pm show got canceled and replaced with more typical programming. Second, while Leno is beating Dave by 1M per night since his return, Dave is doing significant better vs Leno since March than he did in the same period vs Leno last year, and is also doing better vs Leno than he did vs Conan, measured by number of weeks since each show started. Looking at the demo, in Conan's 12th week he was beating Dave by .5M viewers, while in Leno's 12th week back (I think last week) he was only beating Dave by .2M. Dave's ratings are 27% higher in the demo vs Leno now than they were at a similar point in the course of his competition with Conan. (see http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/05/27/leno-falls-below-conans-tonight-show-ratings-trend-beats-letterman/52607#more-52607 ) CBS must be smiling all the way to the bank over how things have turned out. They were making money even before NBC self-destructed by moving Leno from the Tonight Show to 10:00 pm, were probably worried about the long term prospects vs the younger skewing Conan, and now are making even more money than they were vs Leno back at the Tonight Show. Still, the Tonight Show is the highest rated late night show, and NBC should be happy too - except that they are on record as saying that Conan was a failure hosting the show when he was getting better ratings than Leno is now. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
