The Power of Online Conversations: Are You On Team COCO?

Lauren Maynard — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:28:04 -0500

Here's a look at a noteworthy online conversation that's been everywhere this week. By now we all know about NBC's very public fumble with their weeknight talk show hosts. I'll admit that I don't actually watch The Jay Leno Show or The Tonight Show (this of course is the exact reason that NBC is having issues in the first place). I have, however, been fascinated by the way this has spread online.

Supporters of Conan O'Brien have joined forces to (loosely) create Team COCO. This team has some major traction, and it's all because Conan O'Brien's core audience is a group of Facebooking, Youtubing, non-traditional TV watching 20-somethings like myself. What I find most interesting is that the online conversation, one large enough to effect a sea-change in the world of late-night, is being held almost entirely outside of the reach of Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno and NBC.

What has Conan done?

So far, Conan has made a public statement about the current situation, as has his sidekick Andy Richter. His NBC twitter account has remained neutral, and no one is currently responding to comments on the NBC blog. There is, however, a Craigslist ad, purportedly from Conan and the Late Show, offering the show for money or some Coldplay tickets.

What has everyone else done?

Take a look at the I'm with COCO fan page on Facebook which currently boasts:

over 161,000 fans (that's roughly 8% of his Q409 average viewers)
2,516 links
648 fan photos
38 active discussion
3 rallies

Yes. People are gathering at rallies in support of Conan O'Brien.

There's also an online store where you can buy a tshirt and print of this now well-known image. In case you're too broke and/or busy to buy a t-shirt and attend a rally, you can simply download and print out an image of Conan's hair and either wear or display it. He's also had tremendous celebrity support (catch this great video of Jimmy Kimmel on Leno).

Even google search appears to be on Team COCO.

So what?

Conan's ratings, which have consistently been lower than his CBS counterpart David Letterman, have been up dramatically this week. Last night he beat out Letterman's 1.0 rating with a 1.9, a number which represented Conan O'Brien's all-time high. And, regardless of all the negative press, NBC has enjoyed a huge increase in viewership for The Late Show with Conan O'Brien.

Does this mean NBC will reverse its decision? No. The timing and fate of both NBC shows remains undecided. But it is without a doubt that NBC, any other network shopping a Conan show, and Conan O'Brien himself will take this extremely vocal audience into account as they move forward with decisions. It's a tough debate with this group; you've got an audience who doesn't affect a traditional metric (live viewership) but still will take the time to speak in a collective voice loud enough to make headlines.

So if you've got a group who is going to talk, it's important prepare for their reaction. I'd venture to guess NBC had no clue the effect of their conversations regarding late night. It looks like it's had both positive and negative effect thus far. I'm interested in the outcome.

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The Power of Online Conversations: Are You On Team COCO?