Another day, another dog of old media complaining about the new age.
I’m sure that most people are already aware that “Late Night” television these days tends to be jesting at itself over NBC’s decision to move Jay Leno’s Show to the 11:35 slot currently occupied by “The Tonight Show” and hosted by Conan O’Brian.
This whole incident has ruffled quite a few feathers and many people, especially online, feel that NBC is appeasing Leno at Conan’s expense. Which, for full disclosure, seems like a valid point to me. Contracting a job to an individual just to remove the aspects that make that job valuable is a bit of a sham.
This opinion is of course completely worthless I’m sure, because it is posted online, or something.
In this National Post article the point is made that The Tonight Show is suffering in ratings because as they put it:
Those behind the groundswell of online support for O’Brien may in fact love the new Tonight Show, but then they may love watching it on Hulu or YouTube the next morning. Ironically, it may be his fans’ viewing habits that lead to his eventual demise.
Of course two points here. Have you actually seen what people are doing? They are staging actual physical protests. In today’s world of supposed apathy, that stands for quite a bit. Two, why should online viewing “count” for less?
Blah, blah, advertising dollars… whatever. The model is done, get over it, move on. I, personally, am sick and tired of technology constantly being held back by the old fogies* of the world. Whether it is television or music or other forms of entertainment the resistance to modernization is what is killing quality, not the fact that the viewership happens to keep themselves updated.
The biggest pet peeve is that they should have seen this coming. VCRs have been around for decades. DVRs (PVRs) have been available to the public at large for nearly eleven years. YouTube has had a presence on the web since 2005. The evolution of tv and video programming has been consistently moving toward consumer convenience; towards an on demand experience. The consumer simply does not want to schedule around the tube anymore, we are too busy in our general lives and there is too much competition for for our entertainment time.
The television industry needs to come to terms with this, or they will find that they will eventually be unable to monetize their programming.
*Old fogies are not those that are not necessarily physically old but those who think old and are stuck in the rut of ways past.
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