Media buyers fairly frosty on prospects for prime-time Leno; CBS, ABC expected to top him in ratings even with untested shows.(CBS Broadcasting Inc.)(American Broadcasting Companies Inc. ABC Broadcast Group)

Advertising Age, June, 2009 by Steinberg, Brian

Byline: BRIAN STEINBERG

NBC is touting Jay Leno's new prime-time program, which will make its debut Sept. 14, as an innovative, DVR-proof move, but buyers say the new talk show will draw fewer viewers than ABC and CBS on any given night, and are balking at paying prime-time prices for what they view as late-night ratings.

"He will guarantee NBC a third-place finish [behind ABC and CBS] in whatever hour he's in,'' said Shari Ann Brill, senior VP-director of strategic audience analysis for Aegis Group's Carat. "He will do on par with what he did in late night.''

The projections come from media-buyer estimates of ratings for the 2009-2010 TV season compiled by Advertising Age.

Indeed, media buyers expect the new Leno program to...

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