this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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That's certainly possible, plausible even. But it's far from certain.
Broadcast TV has been bleeding viewers for nearly two decades now. The same article this one cites to say Colbert was #1 in its time slot also says, in the last quarter all the late night shows lost 7-8% of their audience. Colbert lost 17% among younger viewers. That's just the last quarter alone. That's a crazy drop.
And remember they aren't just canceling Colbert, but the entire The Late Show altogether. One of their cornerstone programs for I don't even know how many decades.
Also, If they were canceling The Late Show just because Rump wanted them to, he wouldn't accept having to wait a whole year for it. He'd want it now.
So I actually do believe it was a purely financial decision. Colbert's contract probably ends with the the next season, and rather than giving him another raise for a show that's bleeding viewers, it makes sense to just let it all end.
....and the late show was the only one getting larger and larger viewership.
Financially, the cancelation makes no sense.
Edit: Just to provide some reference to the viewership
Relative viewer counts aren't the whole story. It also matters how much they cost, and how much they revenue they bring in. Late night TV has been doing terribly overall. The Late Show specifically is apparently losing $40M this year.
The practice named "Hollywood accounting" is infamous for claiming losses.
Right, but this isn't Hollywood. The specifics of Hollywood accounting don't really work for ongoing television programs. It requires the short term nature of movie production.