Jay Leno's ratings aren't any better than Conan's. Wonder who they'll replace him with.
Back when the Late Night Wars were all any of us could talk about, we expelled a lot of words here at the Comedy Examiner's Office mocking Jay Leno, NBC, and their decision to uproot Conan O'Brien, Andy Richter, and his entire staff from their rightful place on The Tonight Show. As a lifelong Conan fan, it was hard not to take it personally (which is immature, yes, but whatcanyado?). Ever since Conan left The Tonight Show, he's been touring the country and soaking up the love from all the fans that have come out to see his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television tour. Meanwhile, back at NBC, Jay Leno's been watching his ratings steadily drop to the same point that Conan's were when he was given the boot. Thanks to a new report from TV By The Numbers, we've got a good idea just how bad NBC's decision to boot Conan really was (as if we needed it). See it below, my gentle Examiner readers...
In the time since that terrible series of events took place, Conan more than landed on his feet: he grabbed a new show over on TBS (being sure to check to see if George Lopez-- who he'd be bumping back by an hour-- was cool with it, because that's what decent people do), he's been touring the country in a sold-out series of performances (the show is awesome; I've seen it), and he's found his fanbase grow even more rabid than they were when he was handed NBC's late night institution. He also walked away with over $30 million. The point is, Conan's done perfectly well for himself.
But over on NBC, things aren't looking very good-- moreso than usual. Leno's return to the Tonight Show desk prompted much rejoicing from fans of toothless, lame comedy (that "Headlines" bit is dynamite, Jay), but where have they all gone? A recent report from TV By The Numbers indicates that Leno's ratings are now equal or lesser than Conan's were at the same time last year-- and they've been that way for awhile. In other words, all those complaints about the ratings that got Conan canned? NBC will surely do the right thing and level them against Jay, as well, right? Because that'd only be fair, right? Probably not.
Here's what TV By The Numbers is saying:
For the first week since Jay Leno’s Tonight Show return, he was tied by David Letterman’s Late Show, as both shows averaged a 0.9 adults 18-49 rating for the week of June 7-11. Coming off a week of repeats for both shows, Leno fell a tenth of a point and Letterman gained two tenths. That put Leno’s Tonight Show two tenths of a ratings point below Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show ratings trend, comparing the ratings for each show’s fifteenth sequential week (note the first chart below).
It was 0.6 ratings points below the same calendar week of Conan’s Tonight Show ratings last summer (note the second chart below). Interestingly, Letterman’s Late Show had the same rating as it did for the week a year ago.
Now, last time we ran a report like this (and we've run a few), I was inundated with emails from angry Jay Leno fans who pointed out that I hadn't mentioned the demographic that the reports were focused on: the elusive, much-ballyhooed 18-49. The implication was that the ratings for people over 49 would tell a different story, but the people making this complaint are missing the bigger picture: 18-49 is the key demographic for television, the one that networks care about more than any other. You can show me a chart that'll say people over the age of 75 love them some Jay Leno, but that means absolutely nothing to the network, its advertisers, or anyone that cares about staying on the air. Here's what the ratings look like now:
According to that graph, Conan was actually beating Jay in the ratings at the same time last year. For awhile there, the numbers were pretty much the same (actually, if you look at the graph from the beginning, it's very, very similar), but now it appears that Leno's taken a further turn for the worse. What happened here? Wasn't Jay Leno the undisputed, reigning king of latenight? Wasn't Letterman constantly nipping at his heels, number two for so long that he had ads drawn up proudly (and winkingly) proclaiming as much? So, why does it appear that Letterman may be on track to be the new king of latenight?
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Quite simply, these numbers indicate that the public has a very sour taste lingering in their mouths following January's "Late Night Wars". Of course there will be people that disagree in the comments section and in poorly-written, even more poorly-spelled emails to the author, but I've yet to encounter anyone in conversation (in real life, that is, not on the ever-contrary-to-whatever-you-think internet) that doesn't feel like Conan got the raw deal and Leno's an epic d-bag. The focus of all that viewer anger doesn't seem to have been as directed at NBC as a network as it has been directed at Leno and his version of The Tonight Show. In short (too late), people seem turned off by Leno's involvement-- whatever extent it may have been-- with Conan's removal from The Tonight Show. Can you think of any other explanation?
UPDATED: It would appear that, as per usual, there's a bunch of hemming and hawwing about whether or not Leno's actually doing worse-- or as bad as-- Conan in the ratings on The Tonight Show. Make no mistake, folks: that's what's up. We can whine and shriek and pound our little fists all we want to, but the bottom line is that Leno's not doing any better than Conan did with the most popular demographic. I already predicted this in my original article, of course, but that hasn't stopped the whiny emails from flooding in. I don't make a habit of reading the comments section, either, but the number-- currently 14-- attached to this article makes me wonder if people aren't throwing a fit there, either. Let's see what Warming Glow has to say about all this:
In plain English, that means that no matter how you measure it, Jay Leno is performing worse as the host of “The Tonight Show” than Conan O’Brien did. And Leno doesn’t even have the disadvantage of having Leno as a lead-in. Although I wouldn’t put that idea past NBC.
That's funny. That sounds like what I said yesterday, too. Allowe me to reiterate something that TV By The Numbers said in their original post, and then that'll be the final word on the matter:
That put Leno’s Tonight Show two tenths of a ratings point below Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show ratings trend, comparing the ratings for each show’s fifteenth sequential week. It was 0.6 ratings points below the same calendar week of Conan’s Tonight Show ratings last summer. Interestingly, Letterman’s Late Show had the same rating as it did for the week a year ago
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That's all we've got for you for now, folks, but stay tuned for more as it becomes available. In the meantime, we've got all manner of funny videos, news, reviews, interviews, recaps, funny pictures, and more to keep you entertained all summer long, so hit the "Subscribe" button up top to get all of it delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge, the moment it's published. Why, if that wasn't enough, we've also got some other recent Comedy Examiner articles for you to look over while you're here:
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FUNNY VIDEO: OK GO'S DRUMMER HAS A STARING CONTEST WITH A MUPPET WHILE ZACH GALIFIANAKIS WATCHES (WITH VIDEO)-- in which everything you just read in that headline happens, and it's even weirder than it sounds.
IT'S OFFICIAL: JAY LENO ISN'T DOING ANY BETTER THAN CONAN O'BRIEN WAS DOING, RATINGS-WISE, ON "THE TONIGHT SHOW"-- in which we make fun of Jay Leno a little bit more as he fails to earn more ratings than Conan did while on "The Tonight Show". Wonder if NBC'll replace Jay Leno with someone even less funny?
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(photos: top--teamowens313.files.wordpress.com, next--boston.com, next--myspace.com, bottom--screencap)
Comments
This article is not correct! Jay Leno's rating are by far exceeds Canon. The data presented in this article in NOT true.
Fool.. evidence / proof or it didn't happen...
Can you not read graphs, Jerry? Do you think this is some massive conspiracy cooked up by the C.E. and TV by the Numbers? Sounds like another witless, senile Leno fan to me...
Not true!!! Jay is #1
Read below. This is Posted on 17 June 2010 by Robert Seidman
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – June 17, 2010 – NBC’s late-night lineup has delivered ratings wins for the week of June 7-11, with “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” out-delivering all cable and regular broadcast competition in the 11:35 p.m. ET hour in adult 18-49 viewers and total viewers. Jay generated bigger audiences than CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” in all key categories and topped ABC’s combination of “Nightline” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in most key measures: adults, men and women 18-49; adults, men and women 25-54; adults and women 18-34 and total viewers.
To date, Jay Leno has ranked #1 in adult 18-49 rating on 70 of 75 nights versus “Late Show” (including ties), since returning as host of “Tonight” on March 1. In total viewers, Jay has ranked #1 on 71 of 75 nights.For the week of June 7-11, Jay’s average 1.229 million adults 18-49 outscored Letterman’s 1.134 million; in total viewers, Jay
The Numbers Don't Lie,
Leno is failing and it is plain as the big fat nose on your biased faces that Conan is the Winner and Leno is Still a Failure.
Conan Wins By the Numbers, Trying to rewrite the facts just show your Biased and uneducated failings and blindly following NBC & Leno.
Leno is turning in worse ratings than Conan sequentially and now by calendar week. Therefore, if we believe the NBC line about the Coco Tonight Show losing money, it follows that Leno's new show is...Losing more money. So either NBC was lying (Hint: They were) or Leno should be getting fired. The way he SHOULD have been when the Affiliates (Rightly) demanded he get the hell out of Primetime.
I read that this was a recent one of Conan's tweets: “The past 2 months I’ve been on tour and haven’t followed the news. What’s with all the photos of chocolate pelicans?”
There are lots of components of the tragedy in the Gulf that deserve to be made fun of, but an oil-soaked bird dying an agonizing death? I don't think so.
As a professional media executive I can tell you there are lots of ways to spin ratings. What's presented hear is likely true enough on the surface. What is overlooked is that the above is Jay Leno positive piece is also true. Jay is beating Letterman, as he always has. Also prime time and local news are back to making money.
And when you look at total audience. Jay CRUSHES Letterman. You can't really say that adults 25-54 don't matter. Leno kills there especially.
The real question is what will happen when Conan the hypocrite who kicked Lopez into a later timeslot actually has to compete against both. If you believe Lopez really liked being demoted you've got a lot to learn about show biz.
Since Conan fans hate Leno they are more likely to weaken Letterman. Oops. Jay will pull further out front.
The real story here is that showbiz is a real dog eat dog world.
Oh. I'm sorry. That last post was spin and one sided. But I couldn't resist.
If the EXAMINER wanted to be fair, I'd like to know how 25-54 ratings equal 70 year olds? Would they post that graph?
Also would they link to this for more perspective:
Late shift good for Leno, NBC newscasts
By Johnny Diaz
Globe Staff / May 29, 2010
E-mail|Print|Reprints|Yahoo! Buzz|ShareThis Text size – +
Comedian Jay Leno’s return to late night in March has helped NBC and its affiliates recover some of their late news audiences after his short-lived prime-time variety show crippled ratings.
Discuss
COMMENTS (4)
Managers at NBC affiliates such as Boston’s WHDH-TV (Channel 7) and Providence’s WJAR-TV (Channel 10) said viewership for their late newscasts has steadily risen since NBC moved Jay Leno from prime-time back to late night. In March, Leno returned to “The Tonight Show".
Search the Boston Globe for "Leno" and you can read another viewpoint. Excerpt:
Since then, Leno has been back on top: averaging 4.45 million viewers compared with 3.44 million for “The Late Show with David Letterman,’’ according to Nielsen Co., the ratings service company. In Boston, Leno has beaten Letterman, averaging 98,800 viewers to Letterman’s 57,100 since March.
Muddyrivers, I don't understand why more people don't understand this as well as you do. Conan made a move on Leno and took him out. Leno fought back and took Conan out. Conan made a move to TBS and moved George Lopez out of the way. As the Page 6 piece indicated, Lopez wasn't thrilled but he had no choice. I could tell how he felt when he went overboard talking about it saying, ""I talked to Conan on Wednesday and I talked to him last night, and I said, 'I welcome you into my deep loving embrace.'" That's the sound of an employee keeping his job - and by the way, the article says Conan gets to replace Lopez with one of his shows, if George falters. Dog eat dog, baby.
Scott here at least has the class to admit he's totally in the tank for Conan, but when he uses phrases like Conan's "rightful place on the Tonight Show", he sounds ridiculous.
And when is Team Coco going to explain to me why the chocolate pelican joke is so funny? I thought it was plenty sick.
Ratings, ratings... I'm glad I'm not suffering from the same disease that makes y'all talk all day long about ratings. The truth is, Jay pulled the same crap on Conan that he pulled on David Letterman, and people can either reward him for that or punish him. Plenty of people will reward him, and plenty will punish him.
However, I would suggest a something different... watch both shows to see which one is better, and then watch the one that's better. Letterman and Leno will both stay on TV because they both make money for their networks. It's never going to be about anything else for the networks.
As for me... I'll watch Letterman... not because his ratings are higher or lower, but because the show is better.
Ratings, ratings... I'm glad I'm not suffering from the same disease that makes y'all talk all day long about ratings. The truth is, Jay pulled the same crap on Conan that he pulled on David Letterman, and people can either reward him for that or punish him. Plenty of people will reward him, and plenty will punish him.
However, I would suggest a something different... watch both shows to see which one is better, and then watch the one that's better. Letterman and Leno will both stay on TV because they both make money for their networks. It's never going to be about anything else for the networks.
As for me... I'll watch Letterman... not because his ratings are higher or lower, but because the show is better.
Does anyone here actually work in this industry? None of the controversy was a direct result of ratings...NBCU was fine with both Conan's ratings and Jay's ratings. The affiliates weren't pleased, so the game plan changed. Jay said that he still wanted to work, and keep his staff employed, and Conan said that he felt like quitting instead, and laying off his staff. There has been much made about Conan being "fired", but the truth was that he chose to stop stop working and to stop work for all of his "beloved" staff.
The author insults his readers. Very professional. Although your borrowed chart is a decent visual example, it fails to represent certain events such as the NBA Finals (last week).
I'll meet you for conversation, anytime of your choosing, Scott. I live in L.A. I promise you'll get the best defense for Jay you've ever heard. I have a degree, I'm 23 years old, and I lean liberal but prefer to be labelled as moderate. I mention this to give you a sense of where I personally fall in the demo. Shouldn't I be eating the orange pudding too?
Don't be so dismissive. There is objective truth in there somewhere, and if you have any integrity as a writer, you'll stop to seriously consider the opposing view. So how 'bout it Scott? Coffee on me?
Conan didn't want to put his people out of work...why do you think he negotiated to get them paid as well when they settled his contract? Because they all moved out there to work on the show, and then NBC left them high and dry.
Haha! Howard fans will LOVE this story!!!
Conan was getting killed by Letterman..i dont know what that chart says...but he never beat Dave. NBC just let him go for reasons we all know by now. Leno has gotten the latenight top spot again..dont know what kind of chart you got there but everyone knows he`s on top again....even Howard knows it. But i miss Conan....he was my fave.
Does anyone here actually work in this industry? None of the controversy was a direct result of ratings...NBCU was fine with both Conan's ratings and Jay's ratings. The affiliates weren't pleased, so the game plan changed. Jay said that he still wanted to work, and keep his staff employed, and Conan said that he felt like quitting instead, and laying off his staff. There has been much made about Conan being "fired", but the truth was that he chose to stop stop working and to stop work for all of his "beloved" staff.
What these stories neglect to report is that for both weeks since Kevin Eubanks' departure Leno has been below a 1.0 in the demo, THE ONLY RATING THAT MATTERS. He was never that low before, and indeed LENO'S RATINGS THE PAST 2 WEEKS HAVE BEEN LOWER THAN EVER. So, he's losing audience. And, a lot of the people who watched Leno did so because for some reason they were fans of Kevin. That show, already bad, has lost a key player. At the present trajactory soon Jay's ratings will be around .6 which is very, very very low, even for a backstabbing scumbag.
A
Letterman used to be funny, don't know when but he's totally lost any comedic edge and now he's just a celebrity interviewer. Jay Leno is also just a celebrity interviewer but he has never had a funny day in his life. I don't understand how you people can act like he's a comedian. Letterman and Leno may as well be on E! because they are worthless when it comes to funny.
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