There are a lot of questions floating around about the overall effects of putting Jay Leno on NBC five nights a week in late primetime. But the existence of large audience potential is not one of them. According to pollster Rasmussen, 42% of respondents say they are at least somewhat likely to check out such a program. Among African Americans, that number increases to 60%. Unfortunately, over half of the respondents respondents – 53% — said they would be unlikely to tune in five nights a week. Other questions abound, mainly concerning the shows lead-in ability for local news programming and possible Talk burnout dimming the prospects for 11:30 and 12:30 programs.
Rasmussen found that 92% of Americans know enough about Leno to have an opinion on him, and for 70%, that opinion is favorable (23% do not like him).
The potential audience for Leno will increase drastically. Rasmussen found that 44% of adults rarely or never watch late-night programming. That’s 44% that Leno will pretty much be getting his first crack at winning over.
