As we go to press with this issue, NBC is in the middle of a polarizing cockfight between its two late-night main men, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. Disappointing ratings, irate affiliates and poor management led to the decision by network execs to shuffle its ailing lineup; retreat, retreat… a prime-time talk show is not such a good idea after all! Problem is, the genie’s out and NBC’s attempts to wedge Leno back into his old time slot and bump Conan down the ladder (which he’s publicly refused to do) has left the egos and their fans squawking.

While each host has amusingly used their respective TV soapboxes to paint their versions of the story, the people are running online to have their say in the matter.  And the people have spoken.

O’Brien is clearly the winner of the Leno v. Conan royal rumble. The groundswell of support via online and social networks has been formidable. Facebook groups I’m with Coco and Team Conan have almost 700,000 combined members, and pro-Conan rallies have formed across the country. Meanwhile Leno’s fans have failed to make an impact.

This outpouring demonstrates the power of the people. And it’s exactly this spontaneous, instantaneous collective zeitgeist that proponents of crowdsourcing aim to harness. As Jeff Howe, author of Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business, states in our story on the subject (see So Saith the Crowd, pg. 14), “Crowdsourcing recognizes that the consumer has always had a very powerful role to play in that process... and gives them part of that power to create the message.”

Getting back to O’Brien and his crowd. One of the galvanizing events of this story came when NBC chief Jeff Zucker threatened to ice O’Brien, keeping him contractually bound and off the air for three and a half years, if he didn’t comply. That led devotees to pledge unwavering allegiance to him.

“We are above all fans of Conan O’Brien and will watch him on any network, even if it’s that Oxygen channel at 3:00 am,” said one, as if the idea was analogous to sticking pins in the eyeballs.

Forget Oxygen. Should Conan be so forward thinking, he has the opportunity to create a viable entertainment property – and revenue model – online. While there are innumerable web personalities trying to make a mark and build a following, Conan, with his established persona and a younger, more media savvy following (the mean age of The Tonight Show’s viewership dropped 10 years under Conan’s watch), could potentially bridge the gap between screens, creating an understandable path for advertisers.

In fact online television network Revision3 (revision3.com), which boasts a “35% average increase in advertising spending in 2009”, has already posted an open letter to Coco offering him the “keys to the kingdom”, free of censors, fickle network bosses and rival egos.

Or he could just go to Fox. Which at press time seems likely. It’s not a bad move, it’s just not that innovative (ooooh, a network switch!). And of course, the success of which depends on that all powerful crowd. 

Cheers,
Rae Ann Fera
Editor

And… in the spirit of crowdsourcing, we invite you to give us a piece of your mind. We want to know what you’d like to see at Boards Summit Europe, which takes place March 24-25 in Amsterdam. Share your thoughts here.