I theorized that the move to put Jay Leno at 10pm every weeknight indicated that NBC was giving up on competing in prime-time.
Now Jeff Zucker has confirmed it (via MediaPost):
"What does No. 1 in prime time mean anymore?" he asked, adding that the traditional measuring stick has lost relevance.
"I don't think we'll ever be able to say, 'NBC is No. 1 in prime time,'" Zucker said at an industry event.
He's falling back on his (and Ben Silverman's "aggregate viewing") canard. Problem is, today everything but traditional TV advertising is pennies, and it's not clear NBC will do any better than the competition in the years to come when it is significant.
DVRs, online video and other factors have moved the needle. A more appropriate metric is aggregate viewing across on-air, online, VOD, iTunes, etc.--a gauge where the NBC hit "The Office" performs well.
Still, he said the Leno move is not a white flag--just a reaction to new dynamics. "We're not proclaiming defeat," he said. "I don't think anyone thinks Fox is any less of a network because they program two hours in prime time."
Even so, he does admit the current position NBC is in.
"Sometimes, you see the world more clearly when you're flat on your back," he said.
Perhaps claiming that the entire broadcast TV business is in the tank makes your sad position in it more excusable.
But he said the broadcasting industry needs "to be honest" with itself about the hurdles it faces and not "wish it were 1987."
Lots more of the Zucker wisdom to be found at MediaPost
So yesterday Zucker was going on about how Hulu and online viewing is a failing business, but today he says that it really does make NBC a success?
As I have said before, and will say until I’m blue in the face, NBC could be #1 again, even with Leno (or despite him), but they never will be because they refuse to take risks. They have dug their own grave and are burying themselves.
Zucker is a tool. How he still has a job amazes me.
For me, NBC brought me ER, Friends, Will and Grace. When their top shows peaked, they became complacent They should have kept innovating, instead of now commissioning AI copycats
Could not agree with you more, Julia. NBC is a joke. Wonder what producers and studios with hot new shows are thinking now about whether or not to go to NBC?
“Hey, let’s go pitch this prospective hit show to that sucky network that just threw in the towel!!”
Man, Zucker is no better at his job than Sliverman is at his. Someone at NBCU need to start cleaning house. Because the last time NBC fell to the bottom of the barrell, a new guy came in and, what do you know, took them back up to #1 across the board.
Not being able to recognize the cyclical nature of the business, and not being about able to recognize how your execs failures have put you in this position, is pathetic. How did he ever rise to this position in the first place?
Oh, wait, I forgot, this is television.
Why don’t they just get rid of Zucker and Ben Silverman and bring in people who can bring to #1 or at least #2. Bonnie Hammer, the head of Universal Cable managed to turn around USA and make it #1 and has made Sci-Fi more mainstream so I think should be be a shoo in to replace Silverman or even Zucker.
“I don’t think we’ll ever be able to say, ‘NBC is No. 1 in prime time,’” Zucker said at an industry event.
As long as Zucker and Silverman are around, I’m sure this is true. But with some new leadership, they could be number 1 again. On top of all his other failures, Zucker’s defeatist attitude isn’t going to do NBC any favors in terms of revenue. Would *you* want to advertise with the network that has proclaimed themselves that they’ll never be #1 where it counts again?
@Nick C, “Zucker is a tool. How he still has a job amazes me.”
My theory is that GE/Immelt really doesn’t know what to do with/make of the entire television business. It doesn’t fit the rest of the company, so they just ignore it.
Bill, there are enough smart people at Universal to know that these guys are a joke. To think of everything Lew Wasserman did to help form TV into what it is…
They need to clean house. I feel for Angela, but she knew what she was getting into.
What is truly amazing is that NBC seems to be confusing “broadcast television viewing levels will never be the same again,” which is a true statement, with “we can never be #1 again,” which is a false statement that is more of a self-fufilling prophecy than any sort of intelligent comment on the state of their business.
Unless Zucker meant, “So long as I am in chage, we will never be #1 again.” Perhaps he was just trying to secure his retiement fund.
pathetic. as a company you dont announce something like this with that choice of words.
Why does Zucker still have a job? Who wants an executive who thinks that no matter what he does, the company isn’t going to do well?
I agree with Nick C, it is amazing that this idiot is still in charge, the man single-handedly destroyed NBC with catastrophic decisions.
My favourite part is the one where he compares FOX, that kicks even CBSs ass, to that now patetic (because of him) excuse for a network.
I should add that BS did a good job with what he was good for. He has helped make NBC run a much tighter ship and make more money from things they weren’t taking advantage of.
Still he and Zucker can’t do anything more for NBC. It would be smart for NBC to kick them and bring in some people with the right craziness to take NBC back to the top with the new tightened up network.
Surely claiming that the network you run is never going to be number 1 again is the kind of comment that should put your job in jeopardy? I get that he wants to emphasis that network television needs a new more inclusive way of factoring in the ways audiences can now watch but seriously telling people that your network is unlikely to ever be number one again is just insanity.
Seriously…”what does being #1 in primetime mean?” It means bringing in more money in ad revenue than your competetors, you moron. What kind of stupid question is that? He’s looking for excuses to justify why NBC gets its rear handed to it by the three other networks. Who’d ever want to beat their competetors and make money? But by all means, throw in the towel now, because you’ve driven NBC into a black hole that it will not escape from until you and Silverman are long gone. I think a monkey would be more successful than these two clowns.
“My favourite part is the one where he compares FOX, that kicks even CBSs ass, to that now patetic (because of him) excuse for a network.”
To an extent I think the Fox comparison is a fair one – in terms of batting away criticism of moving Leno to 10 its absolutely perfect. Fox only programmes two hours or primetime a night but nobody considers them less of a network anymore and they are in fact the most successful network where it matters.
Ben Silverman did a good job at Reveille and did takes risks with shows like The Office, Ugly Betty and The Tudors but he just didn’t cut it at NBC. My guess would be when he does get the boot from NBC, he will get a role with The Shine Group and produce TV shows whih is where his strenghs lies.
Alex, I agree. Zucker deflects with the “Fox only programs 2 hours” when the real issue is “Fox kicks our ass”.
The problem with the FOX comparison is that FOX’s 10pm hour is not counting in the network averages. NBC’s still will be.
It’s really kind of sad how quickly they’ve run this network in to the ground. There was a time years ago when I pretty much watched nothing but NBC. I didn’t need to; they had all the good shows. I didn’t watch anything on ABC or CBS, and I only watched one show on FOX and CW/WB. If you had told me then that one of my favorite shows was going to be airing on CBS, I would have laughed at you. I’d never in my life watched CBS, and I hadn’t watched ABC since the mid-90s. Almost everything I wanted was on NBC. Today, my viewing is much more evenly spread among the networks. Even without Zucker, they wouldn’t have been able to keep their #1 status going forever, but such a rapid decline is just pathetic.