CBS canceling Colbert raises questions on late evening

There are two faculties of thought round CBS’ resolution to finish “The Late Present with Stephen Colbert.”

The primary says the cancellation is a one-off exit from the storied time slot — that Paramount was attempting to push via the purple tape to lastly merge with Skydance Media, a deal that was accepted by the Federal Communications Fee Thursday after greater than a yr in limbo.

The opposite says it alerts the start of the top of late evening TV.

The leisure business may have a greater sense of the place the reality lies subsequent yr when Disney decides the destiny of Jimmy Kimmel’s late evening present, “Jimmy Kimmel Dwell.”

Whereas NBC just lately prolonged the contracts of its two late evening hosts, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, into 2028, Kimmel’s contract is ready to lapse in 2026.

“Jimmy Kimmel Dwell” has been a late evening staple since 2003, appearing not solely as a typical discuss present on the circuit, however as a priceless advertising hub for Disney’s slate of theatrical and tv content material. Along with conventional one-on-one interviews, Kimmel can even incessantly host a number of stars from the identical undertaking, usually for blockbuster titles from Marvel, Star Wars and the corporate’s animated franchises.

Clips from these chats are fed onto Kimmel’s YouTube channel, which has greater than 20 million subscribers, and throughout social media, serving to to generate buzz for upcoming Disney tasks.

For comparability, Fallon’s present account has round 32 million subscribers, whereas Colbert’s stands at 10 million and Meyers’ at simply over 5 million.

Kimmel can also be a frequent host of the Academy Awards, which airs on Disney’s ABC, and is at the moment the host of ABC’s movie star version of “Who Needs to Be a Millionaire.” These ancillary assignments, in addition to his annual job closing out Disney’s Upfronts presentation for advertisers, might make Kimmel extra necessary to Disney’s long-term future than Colbert was for Paramount or CBS.

Nonetheless, whereas the following take a look at of media’s dedication to late evening is months off, the top of “The Late Present with Stephen Colbert” is asking consideration to the mounting pressures on conventional TV and elevating questions concerning the whether or not the time slot can survive the evolving viewing panorama.

At a big scale, corporations like Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery have opted to separate off their cable TV networks into separate company entities.

On the programming degree, large exhibits are more and more greenlit for launch on streaming providers quite than conventional networks. Salaries of extremely paid information anchors have moderated, with some stepping away from conventional networks fully and beginning out their very own ventures. And far of the cash spent on bulking up each linear TV networks and streaming providers is earmarked for reside sports activities.

That leaves acquainted titles in flux.

“The Late Present with Stephen Colbert” employed round 200 individuals and recorded annual losses of round $40 million, in line with an individual aware of the matter, who declined to be named talking about nonpublic issues. “Jimmy Kimmel Dwell” employs round 250 individuals and loses roughly the identical quantity, in line with an individual aware of that present’s funds.

Whereas the pay-TV bundle nonetheless rakes within the highest share of earnings for legacy media corporations – a lot of which stems from the charges that pay-TV distributors hand over to the networks to be included within the bundle – that determine is in decline.

Linear TV promoting income has additionally been on a gradual downward slope. Trade analysts and consultants anticipated the advert market to stabilize in 2025 after tumultuous streaming-centric years, however macroeconomic uncertainty has hampered the restoration.

In quarterly earnings that have been reported in Might, Paramount, NBCUniversal and Disney every reported decrease advert gross sales on a year-over-year foundation.

Paramount reported in Might that its first-quarter TV promoting income was down 21% to $2.04 billion, primarily attributable to comparisons to the prior-year interval when the corporate had the Tremendous Bowl. That championship beckons essentially the most advert {dollars} of any reside occasion on TV. With out the Tremendous Bowl, advert income would have been flat, the corporate stated. Total income for Paramount’s TV section was down 13%.

Of the normal TV advert spend that does stay, the most important share has gravitated to reside sports activities, which draw the most important audiences. NBCUniversal just lately touted its file advert gross sales quantity throughout the latest Upfront cycle attributable to an upcoming slate of NBA, the Tremendous Bowl, Winter Olympics and different sports activities.

Disney reported in Might that quarterly income for its home linear networks was down 3% to $2.2 billion, attributing the decline to decrease advert income. Nonetheless, Disney famous advert income for ESPN and sports activities basically noticed a rise in advert income.

When Paramount listed its slate of extremely rated TV exhibits throughout its final earnings report, together with “Tracker,” the highest rated collection and “Matlock,” the very best rated new collection, it additionally listed Colbert’s “The Late Present” as the very best rated broadcast late evening present. “The Every day Present,” additionally from Paramount, was the highest late evening present on cable TV.

Some business consultants have questioned whether or not CBS might have explored different methods to economize — or save late evening — in addition to outright canceling “The Late Present.” NBC lower prices by eliminating the band on Meyers’ late evening present and shifting Fallon to 4 nights every week as a substitute of 5.

CBS tried to carry a youthful demographic into the hour with “After Midnight,” a late evening present that ran after Colbert. The present was hosted by comic Taylor Tomlinson and was centered on viral web phenomena.

Although CBS meant to resume the present after its first two seasons, Tomlinson determined to not prolong her contract, and the present was canceled.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the dad or mum firm of CNBC.