On the Today Show, Does More Mean Less?

For quite some time Matt Lauer and the rest of the Today Show team have discussed how the show is taking over much of NBC's broadcast day. In fact, some were beginning to call it the "All Day Show", beginning at 7 and ending at 11 AM. However, recent broadcasts are having me wonder if the Today Show is beginning to look like the "Recycling Show."

I say that, not because the show is only about environmental issues (it isn't), but because they show the same material over and over again. You get the impression that each hour is different, because they have several different hosts through out the day. Ann Curry is one of the few constants through out the show. But these hosts are reintroducing much of the same content through out the broadcast.

On today's program, Matt Lauer interviewed two families that were involved in a terrible car accident and the hospitals confused the child that lived with one of the children that died. A fascinating and heart wrenching story indeed. It was one of the longest interviews of the show (two or three segments) and they played it at least twice.

This is happening on Today for several reasons. It cost a great deal of time and money to put together programming such as this. It makes sense to extend the day because the show is the highest rated in the morning. There is a theory (and a sensible one, at that), that the viewers change often between 7-11. I'm sure it is true, since most people have a life beyond TV. However, the sheer volume of reused content might be chasing the viewers away.

Back when the show ended at 10 AM, there was very little reused content. In fact, I would argue that the show had more original content back in those good old days. Because of this, those rare days that allowed me to stay from beginning to end, I typically stayed. Now, I often leave around nine because of my concern of reruns. I don't think the network intended for this when they expanded their broadcast day.

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Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.