From the outside, the idea made no sense at all. Why would a broadcast network cancel one of its best-known shows that ranks number one in its time slot?
But on the inside, at CBS, there were several plausible answers to that question. While “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert was on his usual mid-summer vacation earlier this month, CBS executives weighed the pros and cons of canceling the unique but unfortunately unprofitable show.
The “cons” were obvious, as evidenced by the studio audience’s boos when Colbert announced the cancellation on Thursday night.
However, the “pros” ultimately won out because, according to sources close to the network, “The Late Show” was losing money and there was no apparent path to turning around its financial position.
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It was an “agonizing decision,” as the executives admitted in a statement.
But CBS insiders insist, even when speaking frankly on condition of anonymity, that the move was financially driven, not politically motivated.
Many observers have huge doubts about that, given that Colbert has been an outspoken critic of President Trump. So here’s what the data indicates.
Late-night TV’s unfortunate reality
The bottom has indeed been falling out of the late-night TV business model for several years now. Audience fragmentation and digital competition have led to a decline in ad revenue across the board. One insider described it as “cratering” at CBS.
That’s because, even though Colbert outrated his competition at 11:35 p.m., the overall audience for late-night has been shrinking.
“Ad dollars and audiences are moving away from late night shows,” Variety reported — and that was back in 2023.
The financial picture has only gotten gloomier since then. Guideline, an ad data firm, estimates that the networks’ late-night shows earned $439 million in ad revenue in 2018 and only $220 million in 2024 — a decline of 50 percent.
The shows hosted by Colbert and his rivals, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, are inherently expensive to produce, with hundreds of staffers and elaborate studio productions.
But couldn’t CBS have explored changes to the cost structure? That’s what the network did later in the evening, in its 12:35 a.m. time slot, in 2023. “The Late Late Show with James Corden” ended, partly due to the fact that it was no longer making money for CBS, and a cheaper show called “After Midnight” was launched in its place.
Colbert was an executive producer on both “After Midnight” and “The Late Show,” so he had some visibility into the financial circumstances.
But the swiftness of the network’s decision suggests that he wasn’t given much time to suggest cost savings or other alternatives.
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