How do planned promotions and juicy scandals affect search interest? And what’s the correlation between searchers and viewers?

There are rivalries and then there are rivalries. Jay Leno and David Letterman have been duking it out on the late-night stage for the better part of two decades – and while NBC’s Leno might have been the ratings leader, it was hard to discuss his success without mentioning his equally comedic counterpart at CBS. Leno and Letterman no longer compete in the same time slot, yet public interest and controversy around the two hosts is seemingly stronger than ever.

As marketers, we were curious to see if a relationship exists between online interest, as measured by search volume, and viewership for the late night TV warriors. With all the Leno and Letterman news events in the past month – premieres, celebrity apologies, presidential visits, sex scandals – what were the top drivers of search queries? And did ratings follow suit?

We’ve provided a full report after the jump. Here are the key takeaways from our research:

• Fluctuations in ratings (sales, engagement, etc.) do not always mirror search trends.
• Breaking news events such as a sex scandals trump scheduled Presidential visits when it comes to generating interest.
• Which types of events generate ratings? Marketing supported season premieres win over the scandals.
• Brands should be cognizant of online interest; Search InformedSM Research and conversation monitoring can help shape smarter marketing decisions.

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