Zucker (Once Again) Has to Clean-Up His Own Mess

After discovering that this post was showing up #1 for the Google Search, "Jeff Zucker Worst TV Executive," I felt compelled to write a brief post on the current Leno/Conan fiasco.

For those that don't know, Jeff Zucker (The Worst TV Executive in History) decided last season, to put Jay Leno on at 10pm, 5 nights a week, in the place or original dramatic programming. This boneheaded idea was that Jay Leno cost less than original, dramatic programming, which would save the network in costs. This was true. But what the boneheaded WTEiH forgot is that costs are only one side of the equation to making money: can't forget revenues!

Revenues in the TV universe are pretty simply: ratings x dollar per rating point (that the advertisers are willing to pay; aka a CPM). It's a symbiotic relationship. Higher rated shows command higher CPMs, thus driving revenues exponentially higher. Lower rated shows drive lower CPMs, thus Jeff Zucker is a moron. Not only was Leno bound to have lower ratings than "Insert Awful Drama with Lame Storyline that is Canceled at Mid-Season and Replaced with Equally Crappy Show," but advertisers would know it and demand to pay lower CPMs.

The beauty is, the 10 o'clock hour serves as a lead-in for the local news, one of the biggest drivers of advertising revenue for local affiliate stations. Crappy lead-in means crappy ratings for local news. Crappy ratings for local news crushes affiliate revenues. To pile on, NBC actually owns a number of its affilate stations (think WNBC in NYC), so not only has Zucker destroyed the value of his network by sinking its ratings, but he's also crushed the (already struggling) affiliates! Oh and I forgot, by crushing the 10 o'clock hour and local news, he's essentially sucked all the air out of "The Tonight Show" (local news serves as its lead-in). With one boneheaded move, Zucker destroyed 3 hrs of programming (5 nights a week!).

Now, his big plan is to put Leno back at 11:30pm and watch Conan O'Brien go to Fox/ABC and continue to eat away at The Tonight Show audience. Way to destroy a 50 year old franchise, Jeff! I'm especially going to enjoy seeing Conan on Letterman right before he launches his new show. I'm sure Jeff Immelt is sad he can promote Zucker for "accomplishing" all of this.