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DIY PR and the Today Show Ratings Disaster

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If you are like me, you could care less about the Today Show, the legendary morning TV program that has run continuously on the NBC network since 1952. I watch scant television to begin with, and have viewed a morning show only twice in the past 20 years.

The Today Show has been co-hosted by the highest paid anchor on television, Matt Lauer, since 1997. Evidently, the ratings for the show have plunged ever since Lauer cut a new $25 million per year contract in 2012, which incidentally called for a four day work week for the pampered star (see: Matt Lauer Signs New 'Today' Contract, Will Remain Host In Multi-Year Deal).

More importantly, the show tanked after the network unceremoniously dumped Ann Curry, who served as the show’s co-host for one year after being its main news anchor since 1997 (see: Ann Curry 'tortured': Former NBC ‘Today’ show host undermined behind the scenes). The Today Show woes were blamed on Curry, since clearly the over-priced, lead anchor Lauer could not have been the source of the slide. At least that must be what NBC suits concluded.

Why so many factoids about a show I don’t watch and could care less about? PR and crisis communications, of course.

The New York Post ran a story that Matt Lauer has been pressing NBC, which is now owned by Comcast, to hire PR and crisis communications consultants to steer the program through this bad stretch and recover from the very bad PR they have endured for an entire year regarding Curry’s dismissal and the show’s subsequent plunge in ratings (see: Waking Up on the Wrong Side of a Ratings War and Ann Curry debacle still hurting 'Today,' NBC).

According to the Post,

Embattled “Today” host Matt Lauer urged NBC to bring in a crack crisis p.r. team to help stem seemingly unending bad press in the wake of Ann Curry’s dismissal…But sources say that the Comcast-owned network refused Lauer’s request. As a result, Lauer has been “taking matters into his own hands,” a source close to the show said, with a more active role in helping oversee p.r. plans…Another TV source said that “Today” was interviewing outside firms as far back as last fall, months after the Curry debacle sent ratings of the once-dominant show tumbling.

NY Post: Lauer wanted crisis experts

If we assume that the Post article is accurate, then what is intriguing about this story is not that Lauer saw the need for crisis PR. After all, his $25 million a year gig is on the line, especially since the new corporate parent will likely have little tolerance for a vaunted brand to be in the ratings tank. The interesting thing about it is the inability of the show’s leader to convince the corporate brass to invest in taking measures to protect and enhance the brand of the Today Show though PR.

Especially in these economic times, many business and organization leaders encounter similar challenges. They recognize the need and devise a strategy to improve the brand or the business, which will support bottom line success, but the corporate leadership will not make the make the necessary investments.

For many leaders, there comes a time when you reach a fork in the road in your career and you have to choose the direction you will take. For Matt Lauer, at least so far, he has chosen to stick with the platform that made his career what it is today and commit his own personal capital to resolve the huge problems of a loss in ratings that has driven away millions of dollars in ad revenues.

This is an instructive example of the command that leaders have to take in order to prompt organizational change. They have to either create the change in a more favorable environment and leave the organization, or they have to stick it out and effect change through their own resourcefulness when the resources are otherwise not available or not made available.

Ultimately, a saga such as that at NBC, driven by decisions that led to bad PR that resulted in major revenue losses, must find a resolution. Despite my lack of interest in the morning TV program itself, as a PR practitioner, it will be interesting to see if an elite TV star has what it takes to make a PR comeback without the professional help of a Cracker Jack PR and crisis communications team.

Photo credit: The New York Times


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