The state of late-night TV is keeping media executives from sleeping well.
CBS’ decision to cut ties with Stephen Colbert and its decades-old “Late Show” franchise come next May will leave a major hole in the format — but one that has been widening. TV networks have been cutting costs at their late-night mainstays for the past few years. NBC in 2021 cut ties with Lilly Singh, a young comic who was the latest personality to host an original hour of comedy and talk at 1:30 a.m., and then decided to stop producing new content for the time slot. The network also took the live band from Seth Meyers “Late Night” and recently cut Friday broadcasts from Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show.” CBS is replacing a nascent 12:30 a.m. program, “After Midnight” with old repeats of the syndicated “Comics Unleashed.” And Comedy Central’s current version of “The Daily Show” features its main host, Jon Stewart, just once a week.
CBS has been worried about these dynamics for months, even the last few years, according to two people familiar with the matter. While Colbert was informed officially Wednesday night of the network’s decision to end “The Late Show,” executives have expressed concerns about the show’s costs for the past several weeks, according to two people familiar with the matter, holding off on a final judgement to allow the host to relax while “Late Show” and other late-night programs were on a production hiatus tied to the July 4 holiday. One of these people says executives didn’t want to force a pay cut or call for trims among the show’s staff, and could not look away from declines in ad support for the entire format.
There have been reasons for worry. Advertisers committed around $439 million to five late night shows on broadcast TV — “Late Show” and “Late Late Show” on CBS; “Tonight” and “Late Night” on NBC; and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC — according to Guideline, a tracker of ad spending. By 2024, those dollars slumped 49.8% to $220.6 million. The coronavirus pandemic and a Hollywood labor strike, both of which forced the programs to cut production, and the replacement of “Late Late Show” with “After Midnight,” a less-costly substitute, contributed to the ad shortfalls.
But so too did the exodus of young people from linear TV. Late-night has long commanded ad dollars and top premiums from advertisers eager to reach people between the ages of 18 and 34. Now that cohort is more accustomed to watching and passing along clips from the programs the morning after they air. That makes the shows increasingly difficult to monetize.
CBS’ relationship with Colbert has remained strong, according to the two people familiar with the situation. Network executives had a lot of regard for his ability to move past a rocky “Late Show” start and focus on discussing the news of the day, booking personalities in the news as well as the usual coterie of TV and movie stars — and riding the concept to becoming the most-watched late-night program on broadcast TV. “Late Show” hadn’t triumphed over “NBC’s” “Tonight” in that area since David Letterman launched the CBS program in 1993.
As a result, CBS treated Colbert a lot like his predecessor. Letterman wasn’t always eager to take on product-placement projects or produce sitcoms or game shows, and CBS respected the decision because of his standing. They felt the same way about Colbert. And yet, rivals were picking up many more of these projects, like a bar sponsored by Anheuser-Busch and Heineken that had a prominent place on James Corden’s “Late Late Show.” Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel host programs like NBC’s “Password” or ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” Kimmel has long embraced doing commercials in show and Fallon takes part in an ad deal with Ford Motor Co. These “extras” help the network and make the host more of a full-time “ambassador,” according to one person familiar with the mechanics of late-night television.
To be sure, two people familiar with the matter say the Colbert-CBS relationship was never a tense one, and note Colbert eagerly took on whatever extra duties the network suggested. He helped launch a comedic-sports special built around pickleball, took a hand in producing “After Midnight,” and promoting its young host, Taylor Tomlinson. And Colbert and others launched programs like “Our Cartoon President,” an animated program for adults that ran on CBS sibling Showtime. Colbert’s Spartina production outlet struck a three-year first-look deal with CBS in 2021.
Much has been made about potential concerns tied to Colbert’s humor, which has often skewered President Donald Trump and Republicans. Paramount has appeared extremely sensitive to such stuff in recent weeks, thanks to its recent decision to pay $16 million to settle what many legal experts said was a flimsy legal case filed by Trump over the way an interview was edited by CBS News’ “60 Minutes.” Colbert called the payment a “big fat bribe” on his Monday “Late Show” broadcast. There are also worries internally that Skydance Media, which is expected to acquire Paramount in weeks to come, tilts more conservative in its political views.
CBS’ timing created tough optics. The Writers Guild of America on Friday called for the New York State Attorney General to “launch an investigation into potential wrongdoing at Paramount,” citing “significant concerns that ‘The Late Show’’s cancelation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration as the company looks for merger approval.”
And while the decision may look like blowback for Colbert’s commentary, executives weren’t prepared to make a move in May when they could have used it to win extra ad support in the industry’s annual “upfront” ad sales market, according to two people familiar with the matter, and they didn’t want to make it without speaking to Colbert directly — something they didn’t want to do while he was on vacation.
But they couldn’t wait until, say, the start of the next TV season. Late-night writers and producers typically sign one-year deals that keep them in place on a show from August to August. When contracts tied to the 2025-2026 programming cycle went out to agents at around this time, they would only keep people employed through May. CBS executives knew the news of the decision would leak — and quickly. So they had to move this week.
In a sign that the two sides still get along, Colbert isn’t being pulled off the air, as a host might if they tripped network sensibilities, two people familiar with the relationship point out. Colbert and staff get another ten months on air, likely free to go out on under their own steam and burnishing the humor audiences have come to expect.
The network will sacrifice a lot when it drops “Late Show.” It has been a signature program that drives regular network viewership, and it captured 29% of all ad dollars spent on broadcast TV’s late-night shows in 2024, according to Guideline. “Late Show” is also one of CBS’ best programs for ad reach, according to ad-measurement company iSpot, behind Sunday NFL broadcasts, “The Price is Right,” “The Young & the Restless” and “Let’s Make a Deal.”
Still, NBC continues to capture the majority of late-night ad dollars, with Fallon luring 33%, or $79 million, and Meyers winning 11%, or $26.2 million, according to Guideline. “Late Show’s” ad take in 2024 was $70.2 million — more than Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC program, but less than Fallon’s. There is a feeling that some of Colbert’s commentary makes “Late Show” something some advertisers prefer to avoid — much like some do when it comes to news programs as well.
All this math wasn’t adding up for CBS. And Colbert’s exit will put more pressure on other hosts and others to pick up more support from Madison Avenue. Jon Stewart, who holds forth on CBS’ Paramount sibling Comedy Central, is on a year to year contact, according to people familiar with the matter, and it may be left to Skydance to decide what to do with “Daily Show.” Fallon and Meyers have deals that keep them at NBC through 2028. Kimmel has a deal that keeps him at ABC through 2026, and one person familiar with his thinking says the host is closer to the end of his late-night tenure than the beginning after doing the job since 2003.
Wee-hours talk shows have for decades operated on the premise that the hosts served as gentle entertainers who could help audiences go off to sleep after some light banter, witty conversation and a few celebrity encounters. In the current era, however, the comedians at the shows’ center are more frenzied than ever. They do social-media hits, outside programs, promotional deals. And they poke fun at an increasingly worrisome news cycle tied to fierce politics.
With all that happening, the nation may have to grapple with more insomnia.