SeattleGriz wrote: ↑Sat Mar 14, 2026 1:15 pm
kalm wrote: ↑Sat Mar 14, 2026 11:02 am
So is removing Colbert censorship? How about attempting to do the same to Kimmel?
Trump removed Colbert and Kimmel?
I don't know about Kimmel, but Colbert was a money losing mofo. Colbert and Kimmel screwed themselves over by creating a brand that a very small portion of the country watched.
Key demographics don't lie.
Demographics is not the same thing as revenue. Much of cable TV is taking a hit. Some of it is evolving toward new revenue streams. The losing money thing is an unsubstantiated rumor. Thought you’d be smart enough to know this. Hey! I found a topic SG isn’t a world class expert in!
To know whether or not Paramount’s explanation is credible, we first need to know whether “The Late Show” really loses $40-50 million dollars a year. That turns out to be far more complicated than one would think. The “this show loses $40-50 million” claim was a “leak” from anonymous sources after the ruckus kicked up. No one can actually confirm it – which is itself somewhat suspicious in gossipy Hollywood. Skeptics of the “purely financial” explanation observe that “The Late Show” has all the hallmarks of a successful show. It’s at the top of the ratings in its time slot right now and routinely wins lots of industry awards. Suddenly it’s losing money!? How?
Believers in the $40 million number argue that late night TV generally has hit hard times. Ratings are half of what they used to be pre-pandemic, with an accompanying drop in advertising revenue for late night television – overall. Sure, goes the argument, Stephen Colbert was a big fish – but in an increasingly smaller pond that has shrunk to a mere puddle. Specifically, while late night television as a whole earned $439 million in advertising in 2018, late night television as a whole earned only $220 million in 2024. But while these numbers show a decline for late night television as a whole, they do not tell us anything specific about the Late Show itself. No one has an actual on the record source for the $40 million dollar number. Everyone citing this number takes it on faith from the two stories (one in Puck and one in the New York Post) which both cite to “anonymous sources.” (For what it’s worth, Colbert expressed some skepticism about the $40 million on The Late Show following the leak.)
These days, it is not at all simple. Most viewing takes place on streaming services or on social media via clips. (“The Late Show” streams on Hulu, for instance, and relies heavily on YouTube clips or clips on the network’s own website.) (CBS also streams full episodes of “The Late Show,” with ads, and streams as part of the “TV Everywhere” package with cable). The monetization of those delivery systems is very hard to figure out. Or, to use the industry term, the way in which networks monetize television shows is “in flux.” How long should you give a clip of Stephen Colbert to count towards the episode revenue on YouTube – a month? A week? The first 24 hours? What even is the financial arrangement between YouTube and CBS? Or Hulu and CBS? What about the revenue from watching the show on CBS.com?
What about the traffic bump to the network generally from clips? If you watch a Stephen Colbert clip, the recommendation software will then suggest other clips of “The Late Show” as well as other CBS programming. As this article notes, “The Daily Show” has had a big bounce from cross-promotion with John Stewart’s podcast. What is the revenue gained by these traffic bumps?
These are all things the industry is in the process of figuring out. As traditional revenue streams fade, other revenue streams emerge – but with even less standard accounting than usual for Hollywood.
https://publicknowledge.org/is-colbert- ... 0-million/