Chelsea Handler's ratings topping Conan

I don't regularly catch Handler, but I do find some of her bits interesting and raunchy. It's either amusing or I roll my eyes to it. As suprising as it is for myself to admit, I've cooled off on Conan. Nothing against him, if I do watch, it's still good.

I was a Letterman/Conan guy. Before that I was a Carson fan. Today, Ferguson and Fallon are the only guys I will watch and enjoy. I'm surprised that I might be the only one to mention Craig Ferguson on this thread. I could be wrong.

 

I'm more likely to watch commercials on DVR than I am live. Live TV, I'm usually paying attention, so I'm flipping on commercials. DVR generally plays in the background while I'm online or whatever, and I hear the commercials, but don't care enough to FF through them.

 

I'm pissed if I catch myself actually watching the commercials when I'm watching something I recorded.

 

Actually, there is considerable research (as you can guess, it's an important topic to broadcasters and ad agencies) suggesting that a considerable percentage of DVR users DO watch the commercials. I know it appears like insane behavior, no, make that IS insane behavior, but that's what the surveys say.

 

Most shows charge more to be the first and the last commercials of the break, so the chances that their commercial is seen before or after the channel flipping or DVR fastforwarding.

 

I cant believe people actually watch that TMZ crap, but it must pay the lightbills.

 

It does, but the bigger issue is that all of the ad revenue from TMZ (or whatever goes in that place) goes to the station. In network programming, the vast majority of the commercial revenue goes to the network. Even if a network talk show tripled the ratings of TMZ, the local affiliate would make more money on TMZ.

 

Survey SAYS ...

 

I like both Handler and Conan, more so Conan than Handler. But I found him a lot more entertaining and consistent at NBC than TBS.

 

But what about when Arsenio Hall was hot? A lot of FOX stations were giving up that local revenue then...

 

Nope. "The Arsenio Hall Show" was syndicated. It was not a FOX network show.

There was a FOX late night show before that hosted by Joan Rivers, and after she left Arsenio spent a few weeks as a guest host. He left and did the syndicated show with Paramount, and the FOX show was canceled a short time later.

Even the Joan Rivers show was a totally different circumstance. The FOX network didn't have any other weekday programming back then. The affiliates lost that hour of Joan Rivers time, but they still had all of prime time to themselves. FOX didn't program during the week until years after that show was canceled.

 

Thats right, I must have been thinking about the $3 million Chevy Chase got from FOX about the same time.