New Media 2
According to an article, written for The Washington Post, NBC has taken on a new strategy for their programming this year. Its considered to be the "Low-Cost Leno" strategy. Instead of airing the show at its original time slot, NBC has decided to air the show five nights a week. Stated in this article, Leno bragged about his show costing a lot less than a single episode for shows like, "Law and Order: SUV", and "ER". Leno now will be hosting news shows, five days a week, for 46 weeks. With this strategy, Leno's show is providing NBC with more shows than their original programs.
The predicted downfall with the strategy, is that Leno's audience is much smaller than the original program's audience, can hurt stations owned by NBC.
As stated in this article, Michael Jack, WRC's president and general manager, says he's "cautiously optimistic" about Leno's prospects. Leno, he points out, will offer a clear alternative to other network shows at 10 p.m.; while the other guys are showing reality shows or crime-procedural dramas (or reruns of them), Leno will be doing fresh, topical comedy. Further, says Jack, Leno appeals to an audience that tends to watch the late news, providing a natural bridge between network and local programs.
NBC is trying to accommodate the affiliates by structuring Leno's Show in an affiliate-friendly way. NBC will air the usual commercial break and stream right into the news in hopes to keep the viewers watching. Among all affiliates of NBC, their channel's local nightly news is very important to their viewers.
Already showing spots of weakness in their low-cost strategy, NBC had a hard time with advertisers. NBC ending up getting advertisers on the lower side for costs. Mostly, as low as commercials aired during Dateline NBC or other similar shows.
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For Group 5, we will be covering a section on programming strategies. This article is a great example of a kind of strategy that is used by a popular network we all know and watch. We also get an inside look at how effective this strategy really is. Where are the ups and the downs, and how is it effecting NBC. We see that this is not working out for NBC. According to the Nielsen Ratings, NBC has dropped tremendously.
Now NBC needs to do damage control and rebuild their prime-time. As stated in another article, written for The Wall Street Journal, NBC has mopped up its late-night mess. The network now faces a more challenging task: rebuilding its evening hours after years of cost cuts and creative missteps.
Also stated in the article, NBC's Chief Executive Tucker claims that the prime-time has been unsuccessful for the past five years, it has been a problem for NBC, and very disappointing as well. Tucker also quoted, "We shouldn't say anything other than all we're looking for is better programming."
This example, in relation to the Leno Strategy article, shows us how NBC is trying to bounce back from a bad decision in their programming strategies.
Take a look at what happened to Conan O'Brien in all of this. In this video he took a stab against NBC and Jay Leno. Conan O'Brien is not very happy with this strategy.
According to Ferguson and Eastman's Media Programming, it states that ongoing production costs make it a perfect format for the low-budget realms of both daytime and late-night television. (page 184) This would explain why NBC went down the road they did to try re-constructing their schedule with The Jay Leno Show. NBC's goal is to reach more young adults by grabbing their attention with unique programming. (page 185)For more information...
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