The Stackpile

Ratings are rapidly declining for the former number one talk show host who was going to change the face of television.  The first few weeks Leno’s show was pulling in 6.2 million viewers, today he averages 1.4 million.  Not the ratings hero NBC projected him to be.

Arguably, the powers that be say the savings generated by not having to produce a scripted program compensate for low ratings. But does Leno deliver the viewers its expensive scripted drama predecessor delivered?  And did moving the talk show king to the 10 pm time slot generate more revenue for local affiliates than late-night newscasts?

Slowly but surely local network affiliates are seeing a decline in viewer ship, a drop in ratings and are growing very impatient.  Late-night newscasts were a crucial source of revenue for networks.  Without strong ratings local networks can’t demand top dollar for advertising.  How long can they sustain losing revenue hand over fist in an economy already hit with a recession?

I suspect the powers that be, which are maintaining that Leno’s show will deliver long term, will rethink their strategy in some markets and go back to late-night newscasts.

Posted by Trudy on November 4th, 2009
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