CBS canceling Colbert raises questions about late night

Apart from the Ed Sullivan Theater, where Colbert’s show was produced in New York on July 18, 2025, an election framework with “Stephen Colbert with Stephen Colbert”.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
There are two schools of thought about the decision of CBS to end the “late demonstration with Stephen Colbert”.
First, he says that the cancellation is a one-time exit from the storey time interval. Very big Finally, he was trying to force the bureaucracy to unite with Skydance Media, an agreement approved by the Federal Communication Commission on Thursday after a year in Limbo.
The other says he points to the beginning of the end of the TV late at night.
The entertainment industry will have a better understanding of where the truth is next year. Disney Jimmy Kimmel decides the fate of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” late at night.
NBC recently expanded the contracts of the host Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers to 2028, while Kimmel’s contract will pass in 2026.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” has been a staple since 2003, not only as a typical talc show in the circuit, but Disney’s theater and television content is a valuable marketing center for Arduvaz. In addition to traditional interviews, Kimmel will often host a few stars from the same project, usually Marvel, Star Wars and the company’s animated franchisees.
Clips from these conversations Kimmel’s Youtube Channel, which has more than 20 million subscribers and on social media, helps to produce buzzing for upcoming Disney projects.
For comparison, Fallon’s demonstration account has about 32 million subscribers, Colbert is 10 million and Meyers is more than 5 million.
Kimmel is also a frequent server of the Academy Awards published in Disney’s ABC and is currently the host of ABC famous pressure “He wants to be a millionaire.” This annual work, which closes the preliminary presentation of Disney’s preliminary presentation for advertisers, can make Kimmel more important for Colbert’s paramount or CBS for the long -term future.
Nevertheless, although the next test of the media’s commitment to late at night is closed for months, the end of the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” draws attention to the assembly prints on traditional TV and asks questions about whether the time period can survive in the developing view view.
Focus finance
Thursday on July 17, 2025 show with Stephen Colbert.
Scott Kowalchyk | CBS | Getty Images
As the media industry is increased by flowing and changing consumer habits, the cost of producing programs in late night has increased. Traditional Pay TV Package has lost millions of customers in recent years and has advertising dollars as you disappear.
The changing equation forced the media companies to re -balance.
On a large scale, companies Comcast’s Nbcuniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery He chose to devote cable TV networks to separate company organizations.
At the programming level, large shows are increasingly green to be released in flow services rather than traditional networks. Salaries of high paid news anchors moderateSome of them are completely away from traditional networks and starting their own initiatives. And most of the money spent to collect both linear TV networks and flow services are allocated for live sports.
This leaves familiar titles in the flow.
“Late with Stephen Colbert”, according to a person who knows the issue that refused to talk about the issues that are not public, employed about 200 people and noted an annual $ 40 million loss. “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, according to a person familiar with the finance of this show, employs about 250 people and is roughly losing the same amount.
The Pay-TV package is still in the highest profit share for old media companies-while most of the buns are caused by the wages they deliver to the networks to include Pay-TV distributors in the package.
Linear TV advertising revenue has also been in a fixed downward slope. Industrial analysts and experts waited for the advertising market to stabilize in 2025 after turbulent flow -centered years, but macroeconomic uncertainty prevented healing.
In the three -month earnings reported in May, Very bigEach year of NBCuniversal and Disney reported lower advertising sales from year to year.
In May, Paramount said the first quarter TV advertising revenue fell 21% due to comparisons compared to the company’s previous year’s previous year. This championship calls the most advertising dollar of any live event on TV. The company said that advertising revenue would be fixed without Super Bowl. The overall revenue for Paramount’s TV segment fell by 13%.
The biggest share of the remaining traditional TV advertising expenditures was taken for live sports, Draw the biggest viewers. Nbcuniversal Recently Touted NBA, Super Bowl, Winter Olympics and other sports due to an arduva of record advertising sales volume during the latest preliminary cycle.
In May, Disney reported that the three -month income for local linear networks decreased by 3%, which reduced the decline to advertising revenue. Nevertheless, Disney said that advertising revenue for ESPN and Sports is an increase in advertising revenue in general.
Late at night
On Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at North Javits in New York, an incredible staff of All-Star capabilities will establish the storytelling, Disney and each other while exhibiting the latest projects for the next year.
Michael Le Brecht | Disney General Entertainment Content | Getty Images
These winds helped justify Paramount’s decision to cancel the “late demonstration with Stephen Colbert”, but the timing of the end of the program increased suspicions.
The announcement that Colbert’s show will receive the last publication in May 2026, the host, former vice president Kamala Harris “60 minutes” interview with the interview with President Donald Trump for a $ 16 million agreement with the public called to the public.
During one of the show opening monologues, Colbert described the settlement as a “large oil bribe” and referred to the ongoing unification between Paramount and Skydance Media, which required the Trump administration to be approved.
Paramount and CBS executives made a statement last week that the cancellation was “a financial decision against the challenging ground late at night”.
“The performance, content of the show, or other issues in Paramount is not concerned in any way.”
According to Nielsen, although the ratings for Colbert’s show have been reduced in the last decade, the program reached the highest views of any show at 11:35 hours and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and NBC’s “The Tonight Show Jimmy Fallon”.
Nevertheless, Colbert’s ratings are decreasing every season. According to Nielsen, a data point on the status of TV viewers, Colbert had an average of 1.9 million viewers in the latest September-May period.
According to Nielsen, Kimmel’s audience draws a similar painting, and the audience falls from the last September-May period of 2019-2020 to 2024-2025.
When Paramount lists the list of high -grade TV shows during their latest earnings reportThe “Tracker” listed Colbert’s “Late Show” as the highest -grade broadcast late at night, including the best -ranking series and the highest -grade new series “Matlock”. “The Daily Show from Paramount” was the best night show on cable TV.
Some industrial experts questioned whether the CBS can cancel the “late show”, as well as discovering other ways to save money or to be late at night. The NBC reduced costs by eliminating Meyers’ late at night and shifting Fallon to four nights a week instead of five.
CBS tried to bring a younger demographic for the clock after the “midnight”, which was a show late at night after Colbert. The show was organized by comedian Taylor Tomlinson and focused on viral internet phenomena.
Although the CBS renewed the show after the first two seasons, Tomlinson decided not to extend his contract and the demonstration was canceled.
Description: Comcast is the owner of NBCuniversal, the main company of CNBC.