Friday, September 11, 2009

Jay Leno, ad rates and Daily Finance


Jay Leno 1
Originally uploaded by sgtgary
Jay Leno, who starts his new show on Monday, Sept. 14, isn't getting the same ad rates as competing dramas on other networks, according to the Wall Street Journal. It's also the subject of my blog post today on Daily Finance, an AOL financial Website where I started writing this week.

It's not surprising that Leno can't get rates as high as dramas. The expectations from media and ad executives are that the show won't pull audiences as large as some competing dramas, such as "CSI: Miami," the WSJ notes. In a Variety story, an NBC executive says that they're encouraged by consumer "awareness" of the new show: 82% of consumers know about the program.

But still, that's almost 1/5 of consumers who know nothing about the show. That seems amazing to me given the media stories and advertising hoopla around Leno's move to prime time. These "unaware" people aren't as rare as one might think: a friend mentioned to me this morning that she had no idea Leno was moving to 10 pm. So despite NBC's efforts, the show might just not take prime time by storm.