David Hauser

In case you’ve been living under a rock, there has been a lot of talk recently about Conan O’Brien and the fate of The Tonight Show, which he began hosting in May of 2009, just 8 months ago, and was abruptly pulled from by NBC due to supposed loss of viewership last week. Conan delivered his final show on Friday, January 22nd, and in the wake of his departure, many wondered whether NBC was right to pull the rug out from under Conan and throw Jay Leno back into his old time slot. After all, both Jay Leno and his predecessor, Johnny Carson, had been given the opportunity to develop their viewership over more than eight months, and managed to build large and loyal followings as time wore on. Many asked, Why wasn’t Conan given the same chance to build a larger group of followers? The simple answer is “money.”

Although what NBC did was ill-conceived at best, I can honestly say that I am relieved that he’s no longer the host of The Tonight Show. Why? Because, at the end of the day, I do not care what network he is on and while I would prefer he were on earlier, late is fine, too. Now, I know at this point, he’s not going to be on earlier or later (his contract with NBC doesn’t permit him to host a new show until September 2010), but this gives him some time to think about his next move. Personally, what I would like is to be able to watch the funny Conan (not the white-washed, diluted Conan they created for mass appeal) as well as Triumph the Insult Dog, the “TwitterTracker” skit, or any of his other skits, anytime I want.

Do I think NBC did the right thing? It depends on their goals. Clearly if they need ratings and advertising dollars today, Leno had a larger audience, however, if they want a long term player that would draw more and more of a younger audience (as their mainstay, older audience goes to bed earlier and earlier), Conan is the clear winner. With my limited knowledge or experience about television I would have gone for the longer term play with Conan and a dedicated, growing and younger fan base (increasingly hard to target, but they spend a lot, which means advertising dollars in the end) compared with Leno, the figurehead for what I consider an aging audience that were not all that outspoken when he left, either.

The better question is what should Conan do with the $33M+ payoff he got to leave NBC?

My answer? Conan should sign with an online only network, start an online only network, or syndicate his show via one of the available online distribution channels.

It is clear that Conan has a vocal and committed fan base that is online, as demonstrated by Facebook campaigns like “I’m with COCO” as well as monopolizing Twitter with mentions and appearing as one of the top trending topics for days on end. He should capitalize on this online-savvy segment and provide content in the way they want to consume it, with iTunes downloads, Hulu and Boxee viewing.

With the $33M+ that Conan has, he could also create his own online network. He would have a long runway as the audience ramped up, but even if he did not want to create his own network, he could take advantage of Revision3’s offer to have his show and monetize it, or the infrastructure that Boxee recently announced that allows content owners to collect payments.

Either way, as a Conan fan, I am here to say, “I’m with Coco” and I want to see him again, wherever he appears. It would be an added bonus to see him embrace the new content delivery mechanisms ahead of the curve (something that NBC is still unable to wrap its collective head around), which will only become more popular as time progresses.

Team Coco.