Colbert's axing signals TV's plummeting popularity
The announced end of one of the most popular broadcast late-night shows, days after host Colbert accused the network owner of bribing President Donald Trump to approve a merger, drew cries of political foul play from liberal politicians, artists and entertainers.
"Stephen Colbert, an extraordinary talent and the most popular late-night host, slams the deal. Days later, he's fired. Do I think this is a coincidence? NO," Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent, wrote on X.
CBS executives said in a statement that dropping the show was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."
Whether or not politics were at play, the late-night format has been struggling for years, as viewers increasingly cut the cable TV cord and migrate to streaming. Younger viewers, in particular, are more apt to find amusement on YouTube or TikTok, leaving smaller, ageing TV audiences and declining ad revenues.
Advertising revenue for Colbert's show has dropped 40 per cent since 2018 - the financial reality that CBS said prompted the decision to end The Late Show in May 2026.
One former TV network executive said the program was a casualty of the fading economics of broadcast television.
Fifteen years ago, a popular late-night show like The Tonight Show could earn $100 million a year, the executive said. Recently, though, The Late Show has been losing $40 million a year, said a person briefed on the matter.
The show's ad revenue plummeted to $70.2 million last year from $121.1 million in 2018, according to ad tracking firm Guideline. Ratings for Colbert's show peaked at 3.1 million viewers on average during the 2017-18 season, according to Nielsen data. For the season that ended in May, the show's audience averaged 1.9 million.
Comedians like Colbert followed their younger audiences online, with the network releasing clips to YouTube or TikTok. But digital advertising did not make up for the lost TV ad revenue, the source with knowledge of the matter said.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is just the latest casualty of the collapse of one of television's most durable formats. When The Late Late Show host James Corden left in 2023, CBS opted not to hire a replacement.
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