'Leno' Woes: NBC Local TV Battered By 25% Audience Drop

by Wayne Friedman , January 13, 2010

Leno

Late NBC local TV newscasts airing after "The Jay Leno Show" have seen ratings declines by 25% among key viewers, which is costing NBC stations $22 million every three months.

Media agency Harmelin Media said local TV newscasts across 210 TV markets lost one-quarter of their respective adult 25-54 viewership, the main viewer group for TV news advertisers. The reason: NBC programming "The Jay Leno Show" in the 10 p.m. time period four months ago.

The analysis said some of NBC's biggest markets were hit hardest: In New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, there were ratings declines of 48%, 43% and 47%, respectively.

If NBC keeps "The Jay Leno Show" in prime time, the top 20 stations would continue to collectively lose about $10 million in revenue per quarter. Looking at all 210 TV markets, NBC affiliates would lose a massive $22 million every three months. Harmelin's data comes from TNS Media Intelligence market-specific cost-per-point data from SQAD.

While Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment, told TV critics earlier this week the network was profitable in the period, Harmelin says the situation is different when analyzing NBC's owned stations.

Estimates are that the 10 NBC owned stations are losing about $570,000 per week, or $7.4 million per quarter, according to Harmelin's analysis.

The analysis says the monetary losses do not take into account the additional revenue declines that NBC affiliates suffered directly in prime time and in late night, as a result of the "Leno" move.

Other analysis has pointed out that "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" ratings are also down, partly a result of a lower ratings lead-in from "The Jay Leno Show" and lower late-night news viewership from local NBC stations.

Bernie Shimkus, vice president of research for Harmelin, stated: "Even if 'The Jay Leno Show' was itself profitable from a production standpoint, as NBC executives continued to assert to the end, the overall revenue picture for the company was not moving in a positive direction. The situation has turned into a public relations disaster with affiliates."

media measurement, television

3 comments about "'Leno' Woes: NBC Local TV Battered By 25% Audience Drop".

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Mike Einstein from the Brothers Einstein, January 14, 2010 at 9:31 a.m.
This says more about what's wrong with late-newscasts than it says about what's wrong with Jay Leno. It tells me that, all of that worthless on-air promotion notwithstanding, the late-news crowd has no loyalty and could care less about where they get their last fix of the day.
Given the sad fact that local newscasts all look and sound the same, it's no wonder the late-nite crowd isn't compelled enough to push a button and change channels.
The only silver lining here is a chance to put to rest forever the anachronous notion that people watch stations, not programs.
Buck-up NBC. It's the poor craftsman who blames his tools.
Reply

George McLam, January 15, 2010 at 1:07 p.m.

Mike, I think you are right on. It is not just the late night newscasts, it is all of them. Has anyone added up the amount of time used DURING a newscast telling viewers "what is coming up next"? As soon as they stop telling stories and do that, I tune out.

Don't broadcast to the lowest common denominator in the public. Treat all viewers like they are college educated and can comprehend as quickly as you can deliver.

Jonathan Mirow from BroadbandVideo, Inc., January 18, 2010 at 12:42 p.m.

Well, yeah Mike - that and Conan hasn't been a hit since he was played by Arnold, and even then...