The Late Late Show with James Corden scored a major coup with its 'Carpool Karaoke' sketch by having Paul McCartney as a guest in his hometown of Liverpool. The YouTube video immediately attracted massive publicity, 10 million views in two days, showing that YouTube has become as important as actual TV viewers for late night talk shows.
This follows on the heels of Jimmy Fallon's Classroom Instruments version of the song Enter Sandman with Metallica that has garnered 10 million+ views. Another recent one with magician David Blaine also has 10 million+ views, helping Fallon's YouTube channel gain over 6 BILLION views so far!
With the fragmented nature of television viewing these days, it wouldn't be a surprise if NBC is nostalgic for the glory days of Johnny Carson when the network dominated late night television. Carson ruled the airwaves after 11:30 pm for decades and also gave a significant boost to David Letterman who followed him at 12:30.
This occurred back in the days when there were three major national networks along with the local affiliates. NBC had very few competitors and those that did compete such as ABC's Nightline or Fox's Arsenio Hall didn't make much of significant dent in NBC's ratings.
When Johnny Carson retired in 1992, there was a huge controversy over his succession involving David Letterman and Jay Leno. Letterman was the heir-apparent because he was already on NBC while Jay Leno was a frequent guest host on Carson's show as well as NBC's choice. Eventually. Jay Leno did win the Tonight Show while David Letterman went to CBS and hosted his own late night show at 11:30.
They both dominated the late night airwaves until just a couple of years ago when both men retired from last night TV, despite the fact that they were still at the top of their game. What happened?
Television and the Internet
The traditional notion of people watching shows in front of their TV when the network airs them has been severely disrupted. Viewers can PVR their favorite shows and watch them at a later date, fast-forwarding through the commercials. They can binge watch a series on Netflix or they can catch a show online on their laptop or smartphone while they're commuting.
Late night talk shows have been affected also. People don't watch an episode from 11:30 until 12:30 like they used to (let alone shows from 12:30 am onward). These days, people will want to catch the highlights, whether it's the best jokes from the monologue or the skits that take place before the first guest comes on. So, while viewers will watch entire episodes of a TV series, they might only watch bits and pieces of a late night talk show episode. This holds especially true for the all-important millennial viewing audience.
Unfortunately neither Letterman nor Leno were able to adapt to these new circumstances, as they themselves acknowledged. Like Carson with his skits such as the Carnac the Magnificient, Letterman also produced memorable routines such as Stupid Pet Tricks and Top 10 Lists which would have been viral online had the internet been prevalent in the 80's and 90's. Jay Leno relied on his famous joke-filled monologues for his laughs but that wasn't quite enough for NBC in the current digital age.
Enter Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon succeeded Jay Leno on the Tonight Show and brought his unique brand of comedy that went beyond the typical monologue and interview. His YouTube channel now has 10.5 million+ subscribers and almost 5 billion views. His most popular YouTube videos include his famous routines such as Lip Sync Battles and Wheel of Musical Impressions, skits that go instantly viral online as soon as they air.
Fallon dominates the late-night TV ratings over Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert and his YouTube channel also has the most viewers by far, leading Jimmy Kimmel who has 3 billion viewers and Conan O'Brien with 2.2 billion.
Enter James Corden
James Corden hosts the Late Late Show on CBS at 12:30 am and might have fremained very unknown if he hadn't have gone extremely viral with his popular sketch Carpool Karaoke. This basically consists of Corden driving around Los Angeles with musical guests such as Adele, Justin Bieber and One Direction.
It's a very simple concept and a very inspired idea. Everyone, or mostly everyone, loves to sing when they're driving alone in a car or with a group of friends joining in. Likewise, a celebrity guest who might not want to belt out a song when on the couch with a talk show host is a lot more willing when driving around in a car. Carpool Karaoke became so popular that CBS even gave him a prime-time special in March showcasing his best carpool karaoke moments.
What does this show? It shows the power of digital marketing and the huge influence of social media. There is a segment of the audience (usually older) that will watch late night talk shows at 11:30 pm but the younger viewers will pick and choose the parts of the show that they want to watch, especially when it's viral. YouTube has definitely become a major player in the late night television world, something Johnny Carson might never have envisioned in the good old days of watching TV in the bedroom!
A previous article dealt with the stories of how some companies such as Pez and Gillette had their origins. Here is the story of two more companies - Lamborghini, dealing with the world of exotic sports cars, and Federal Express, which pioneered overnight delivery.
Ferruccio Lamborghini had humble beginnings, being born to grape farmers in Italy in 1916. It was his passion for mechanics as opposed to farming that led to his eventual wealth and fame.
Lamborghini was more interested in machinery than grapes. He studied mechanics at a technical institute and served as a mechanic for the Italian army in Rhodes during the Second World War.
After the war, he became quite wealthy as a manufacturer of tractors thanks to his background in farming and mechanics.
Had the story ended there, it would have been a nice tale about how a man born to farmers became successful and wealthy selling tractors. However, only people who dealt with tractors would have known his name.
It so happened that Lamborghini had another passion. As a young man, tractors were fine to get the farming jobs done but they obviously weren't very exciting. He used his mechanical gifts to tinker with cars and turn them into roaring speedsters. He started with small Fiats and then turned to Mercedes-Benzes, Jaguars and Maseratis. It was much more fun to race speedsters than to drive a tractor across a field.
It was his Ferrari automobiles that sparked Lamborghini into starting up his own sports car brand. He always had problems with the clutch on his Ferraris when driving fast and the repairs done by Ferrari technicians never worked. He was so angry that he eventually complained to Enzo Ferrari himself, who retorted, 'Stick to your tractors and leave sports cars to the experts'.
The rest is history. Lamborghini went by the principle that if you want to do something right, you should do it yourself. He also knew that profits were much higher with exotic sports cars rather than tractors and the product was a lot more glamorous!
He combined his passion and his expertise to create the Lamborghini sports car and become a household name. Had Enzo Ferrari been more polite, Ferruccio Lamborghini may have never built sports cars but it sometimes takes conflict to spark the passion that leads to new ventures.
Who would have thought that a tractor company would eventually produce a sports car that would be enjoyed by the likes of Floyd Mayweather, George Clooney, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and Cristiano Ronaldo? It shows that anything can happen when your dreams are unlimited and you put in the work to match those dreams.
Fred Smith used his passion for flying as a basis for a start-up that became Federal Express. He attended Yale University in the early 1960's and wrote a paper for an economics class that touted the model of using specialized air transport to deliver packages. This flew in the face of the current system at the time which used trucks, rail or passenger airplanes. Fred Smith later said that his paper got a 'C' from the professor but he kept hold of the idea.
His goal was to start a company that used its own airplanes. These planes could deliver goods much more quickly than relying on airlines which put their own passengers first and has their own schedule. As the saying goes, "Time is money."
Using Fred Smith's system, his company combined both air and ground transport under its own umbrella. Packages and goods were picked up from the sender and transported to the recipient exclusively on Federal Express planes and vehicles . This was much more efficient than sending packages to a regular airport and waiting for the first plane that had room to take on such items. The old system meant that the courier had no control over the air transport. The new system put this into the hands of the company and increased both efficiency and reliability.
This led to the famous slogan:
Fred Smith was such a believer in Federal Express in the early days that he went to Las Vegas when the company was down to its last $5,000 and gambled it all at the blackjack tables. He won $27,000 and this kept the company afloat by paying its overdue fuel bill. This method of raising funds is definitely not recommended but it did allow the company to become what it is today.
Ferruccio Lamborghini had humble origins but used his knowledge and passions to create one of the most famous sports car brands in the world. Fred Smith used his passion and background in flying to start a company that revolutionized express delivery and became the largest such company in the world. It is through such efforts that many of today's corporations had their start. Make sure that you follow your passions and use your expertise since you never know where they can lead.
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