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Survey Says: Ad Execs Think NBC Should Not Have Let Conan Go

Jan 29, 2010  •  Post A Comment

According to a survey of 129 advertising and marketing executives conducted by Round2 Communications, 44% of respondents said they believe the Jay Leno-Conan O’Brien "Tonight Show" controversy will hurt NBC’s late-night advertising, MediaPost reports.

The survey said 37% believed it would have no effect on that advertising, while 19 percent said they thought the controversy would actually help, as in "any publicity is good publicity." 

A full 47% of the respondents said they would have kept Conan O’Brien compared to only 41% who agreed with NBC’s choice of holding onto Jay Leno. The remaining 12% would have hung on to both comics.

— Allison J. Waldman

One Comment

  1. But would those same ad execs pay the same CPM for Conan that they previously paid for Leno, before the audience dropped? No. Let’s see what happens when Jay returns and the embargo on guests for his formerly-primetime show is lifted. Leno has a strong track record; O’Brien did not. The issue will not be decided by polls, but by the older viewers that comprise the 11:30-11:59pm audience. They’ve been preferring Leno to Letterman for over a decade, and rejecting Conan for 7 months, so the smart money is on Leno recapturing the larger audience (those who don’t tweet or respond to blogs so much). It’s the ratings, stupid.

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