Time Management: 'Leno' Delivers For NBC

NBC's The Jay Leno Show

NBC is getting what it wants from "The Jay Leno Show" and those 10 p.m. viewers who use DVRs: less time-shifting.

After the first two weeks of the "Leno" show, TiVo's Stop||Watch service, a survey of its DVR users, says that 46% of "Leno" viewers time-shift the 10 p.m. show. This is versus 70% of NBC's viewers who time-shifted its 10 p.m. dramas a year ago.

NBC had positioned the Monday through Friday "Leno" show as a way to lessen time-shifting -- something important to TV advertisers, especially time-sensitive marketers, such as movie companies and retailers.

But there is a downside.

TiVo notes that those 10 p.m. NBC viewers are playing back those time-shifted "Leno" episodes within the hour of its broadcast. That number is 20% versus the 13% of a year ago with NBC's dramas. This new activity cuts more into local TV stations' half-hour newscasts and NBC's own "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien," which starts at around 11:30 p.m. EST/PST.

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In a release, Todd Juenger, vice president and general manager of TiVo Audience research and measurement, said: "Depending on who you ask, NBC's glass is either half full or half empty."

Currently, ABC's programming during the 10 p.m. hour is being time-shifted 63% in TiVo homes, with 18% being played back within the hour. CBS is at 65% time-shifting for 10 p.m., with 16% being played back within the hour.

Last year, over the same time period, ABC was at 62% time-shifting for 10 p.m. and 15% playback within the hour. CBS was at 65% time-shifting and 16% playback within the hour.

TiVo Stop||Watch ratings service comes from a random sample of 250,000 TiVo subscribers, derived from second-by-second viewership.

3 comments about "Time Management: 'Leno' Delivers For NBC ".
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  1. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, October 1, 2009 at 1:02 p.m.

    More live viewing (i.e., less shifting) is good for advertisers who buy Leno. If the late local news is so lame that viewers choose fresh Leno over fresh local news, then that's hardly NBC's problem! (Except for its O&O stations, maybe).

  2. John Grono from GAP Research, October 2, 2009 at 9:35 a.m.

    Paula, I'm not sure what the 36% you refer to is, can you please elucidate?

    What it means is that last year for the 10pm NBC dramas 70% of the viewing was time-shifted. Now with Leno, 10pm time-shifting has dropped to 46%. This is only to be expected as dramas tend to be shifted more often and for longer periods while live shows tend to be shifted less, and for less time (time-slipped often). Sport and news tend to be the least time-shifted because of their immediacy.

  3. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, October 2, 2009 at 6:04 p.m.

    Sorry John. I missed something when I read it the first time. Good thing it was posed as a question.;) Thank you for clearing it up.

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