Conan Ratings Soar as O'Brien Drama with Jay Leno Continues

The ongoing NBC late-night drama between Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno has at least temporarily helped Conan's ratings. Viewers are now tuning in to catch The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien in numbers much larger than before the controversy began.

Conan ratings following release of Conan statement
On Tuesday, O'Brien released his much-praised public statement in which he declared he would not agree to host The Tonight Show in a 12:05 time slot following The Jay Leno Show. That night, Conan's ratings among the coveted 18-49 demographic soared from his usual 1.0 rating to a 1.7.

The next two nights, O'Brien's numbers in that demographic jumped to 1.8 and 1.9, as he used his monologue to bash Leno and NBC itself. Young viewers who may not have watched the program before are now apparently eager to see O'Brien's Tonight Show while they still can.

Conan ratings soar thanks to monologue bashing of Leno and NBC
The rise in Conan's ratings can be partly attributed to his repeated bashing of Jay Leno and NBC in his monologues over the past several days. On Wednesday, he joked, "I just want to say to the kids out there watching, You can do anything you want in life... unless Jay Leno wants to do it too."

O'Brien also presented a new nightly segment in which he looked back at "classic Tonight Show" moments from his tenure. Since O'Brien has only hosted the show since June, all of the "classic" clips are fairly recent. Wednesday's clip was from August 2009. "Let's all get in the time machine!" O'Brien mockingly exclaimed as he presented a clip from just five months ago as a classic Tonight Show moment.

On Friday, O'Brien continued bashing NBC in his monologue. After noting that NBC is expected to lose $200 million on its 2010 Winter Olympics coverage, O'Brien and his sidekick Andy Richter engaged in fake laughter for several seconds, deliberately (but comedically) thumbing their noses at the network.

Will Conan's ratings stay high?
Some industry folks believe that as the O'Brien-Leno drama dies down, Conan's ratings will drop as well. But that seems unlikely. If NBC sets a date for the final episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, viewers are likely to tune in to catch Conan's last shows.

Upcoming guests on The Tonight Show for the week of January 18 include Martin Scorsese and Tom Hanks, so that impressive lineup combined with the ongoing scandal should ensure that Conan's ratings remain high through the rest of his Tonight Show tenure, if indeed it is coming to an end.

Sources:
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
Breeanna Hare, NBC Finally Getting Late-Night Ratings Boost, cnn.com