Social Media, Leno, and Late Night

NBC has created quite a stir with their announcement that they convinced Jay Leno to stay by giving him their entire 10pm slot. There is a lot that's been said about this so I'm not going to dwell on it too much. Alan Sepinwall of New Jersey's The Star-Ledger had a good analysis in his Tuesday column.

I agree with what he has to say. This is a short term solution to a long term problem for NBC. How long can it work? In everything I have read there has been no mention of how long Leno has signed on with the network. I give it maybe 2 years at most. It was only two years ago that Deal or no Deal was on four nights a week. That got old real fast. Now is it even on NBC anymore? This is a desperate financial decision that NBC is spinning as an entertaining gift to us all. What do you think of NBC's decision?

Anyway, what I really wanna talk about is the other big news in NBC's Late Night schedule: the official launch of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. You won't find it on TV. NBC has launched a vlog at latenightwithjimmyfallon.com. Starting this past Monday night and continuing every night until the show airs in the spring, NBC will post daily videos of Jimmy Fallon bringing us behind the scenes of his new show and making a few jokes.

This is a (surprisingly) smart move by NBC. In 1993 when Conan O'Brien took over for David Letterman no one knew who he was, and Conan had no idea how to host a talk show. It made for an awkward year or two which brought the show to the verge of cancellation. With the web component of Fallon's show, NBC can slowly introduce the Jimmy Fallon brand to viewers and Jimmy can get comfortable just talking to a camera on a daily basis.

Fallon may not be the perfect choice for a late night talk show (neither was Conan at the time), but he is the perfect choice to host a late night show in the age of social media. Fallon has always had an interesting appeal. He spent several good years on SNL, but he is not in the same stand-up division as the rest of his comedy competition. He has always seemed like a regular guy who won a reality show contest to appear on TV. If he wasn't on TV he could be comfortable sitting with you on the couch making snarky remarks. That is the appeal of the Jimmy Fallon brand: not everything he does is hilarious, but you have a good time hanging out.

Take a look at Tuesday's video segment:




From the very start this feels less like Fallon putting on a show for us, but rather anyone and everyone putting on a show together. If you go to the show's website you will find the links he mentions in the video, including Facebook, Twitter (@jimmyfallon & it appears to actually be him), MySpace, Flickr, Friendfeed, Ning, YouTube and many other social media sites. It will be interesting to see how these different elements are used as the show makes the transition to television. His mention of having a laptop by his desk and TVs available for Skype make it seem like he plans on talking with his viewers during the show itself.

Although the Leno decision seems like one step backwards for NBC, Jimmy Fallon may be a positive step forward. In order for a late night show to be successful, it needs to have an interactive online element; the more interactive the better. By using social media Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will be able to make up for Fallon's lack of comic timing by establishing him as the talk show host who interacts with his audience and values their insight and talents. There is no better way to establish brand loyalty than to give the consumer a sense of ownership in the brand; a late night show starring Jimmy Fallon and YOU!! Does this make you more or less likely to watch Fallon's new show in the spring?

Finally, on Wed night's show Conan announced NBC's talk-heavy 2009 fall schedule: