ABC - IS LENO HELPING OR HARMING NBC?

IS LENO HELPING OR HARMING NBC?

The continuously dwindling audience for the new Jay Leno Show appears to be having a domino effect on the rest of NBC's schedule, the ratings for the local newscasts that follow it, the Conan O'Brien-hosted Tonight show, and Jimmy Fallon's late-night talk show that follows Tonight , the New York Times reported today (Monday), citing a prominent advertising executive. Shari Anne Brill, the senior vice president and director of program analysis for the advertising agency Carat, told the newspaper that she had predicted the ratings dive after NBC decided to air Leno at 10 00 p.m. "It was never a ratings decision. It was a money decision," she said. But Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Entertainment, observed that ABC is doing worse than NBC in the 10 00 p.m. time period overall with shows that have budgets that are three times higher than Leno's. "Jay is doing fine," Gaspin told the Times. "Conan is doing what we expected him to do. ... We're going to look at our average over the full year."

12/10/2009