this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2025
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Television
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It’s almost as though the stated reason for canceling the show (losing money) is bullshit.
The show was losing around $40m a year, and its audience was down over 30% over 5 years. In recent years late-night’s profits have “shrunk toward non-existent” [Bill Carter, author of The War for Late Night].
It used to be that they were a cheap but profitable way to keep viewers watching the local news. As news access has shifted online and real-time, the business case for late night has become more shaky. Even the brief respite of a decade ago with vitalised YouTube clips has gone, with Google reducing the amount paid for views far below the rates for broadcast. Guests, too, now prefer the more relaxed and convenient podcast appearance.
So NBC has cut output from 5 nights to 4, and got rid of Seth Meyers’ house band. CBS scrapped the post-Colbert slot entirely earlier this season. There may be strong political conveniences at play, but the business case is also valid.
"There may be strong political conveniences at play,"
Not may... there are and they exist.
"but the business case is also valid."
No it isn't. Those statistics intentionally include the Covid pandemic era numbers to skew the data.
Colbert lost 10% of its viewers in the first few months of 2024. It’s not covid.