Why Conan O'Brien has to GO and NOT.

Recently NBC announced that the Tonight Show will be returned to Jay Leno at an unspecified date. This has led to backlash by many loyal Conan O'Brien viewers. The I'm with CoCo campaign began through the popular social networking site Facebook. But not to be outdone Jay Leno supporters have begun their own campaign. However the Leno followers are far outnumbered by the CoCo followers. The reason for Conan's departure is due to ratings failure at the 11:35 time slot. Originally during the Leno reign, Leno averaged 5.0 million viewers a week. Currently O'Brien gets 2.5 million average per week. Also, Jay Leno has been able to keep the same number of viewers for his current 10pm show. Obrien has increased his average viewership from his late night gig of 1.9 million to 2.5 million. Conan started his reign at the tonight show very well. His first show averaged 7 million but quickly dropped to 6 million then 4 million then 2 million. Then he began losing to Letterman. Conan would have survived if younger viewers had only watched the program. Young viewers from 18-34 are the most desirable viewers for advertisers. If only they had watched O'Brien consistently, maybe today it would be Leno who would have been shown the door. But it never happened. When Leno was the host, he constantly beat Letterman in young viewers and total viewers. Now Conan, SOMETIMES beat Letterman in young viewers but only by 0.1 and has lost to Letterman in total views a majority of the time he was the Tonight Show host. Also, NBC local affiliates were losing viewers, one station lost 30% of its viewers since the Conan reign. That means a loss in revenue and angry station managers. So the decision to put Leno back at 11:35 makes a lot of sense.

Pros VS. Cons

>>>>>Conan O'Brien

PRO: he can attract more young viewers then letterman. He is young and has time to improve
CON: Youth viewers vary and don't usually watch Conan on TV, but through other means like HULU which does not get ratings

>>>>> Jay Leno
PRO: more happier affiliates. The Tonight Show can be #1 again (maybe)
CON: His image as a nice guy has suffered and his creditability damaged.

NOW who is likely to be happy?

NBC will be extremely happy and will make money
Jimmy Fallon will be happy because when Leno was his lead in Fallon averaged 2.25 million viewers a week. BUT with Conan as his lead in, Fallon has only been able to average 1.3 million viewers.

NOW who is to be blamed?

Jeff Zucker, the man who underestimated the situation
Conan O'Brien viewers because they did not tune in to his show consistently. If Conan had only won the 18-34 demo by a LARGER margin he would still be on the air today. Right now that is happening. Since the debacle began O'Brien has been getting a 1.9 in the demo vs the 1.0 he originally gets. If only o'brien gotten a 1.9 a MAJORITY of his tenure as the Tonight Show host he would still be the host. But it's too late! Right now Leno gets between a 1.3-2.2 in the same demo depending on the night.

But fear not COCO fans, O'brien will be fine with the suitcases of money he will take from NBC

POSSIBLE PLACES for CONAN:
Fox
FX
Comedy Central
HBO
Showtime
the internet.