For all the drama surrounding late-night TV, you’d think a battle was being waged for a red-hot daypart filled with lots of viewers and massive promises.
Hardly.
While not as challenged as daytime, and not as volatile as primetime, ratings for late night have eroded mightily in the past five years — particularly among the adults 18-49 demo so often cited by networks as key to advertisers.
Indeed, despite supposedly weakened competition and the media attention focused on his sextortion scandal, David Letterman’s CBS "Late Show" is actually down 10 percent this season vs. a year ago.
And while there’s no denying that Conan O’Brien’s brief reign as host of "The Tonight Show" has resulted in significant Nielsen declines, Jay Leno’s last five years atop the throne were anything but stable, either.