CBS Claims ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' Is Losing $40 Million a Year

CBS Claims ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ Is Losing $40 Million a Year | Cracked.com

And the rest of late night supposedly isn’t doing much better

cracked.com

CBS just pulled the plug on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, claiming it’s bleeding over $40 million a year even though it still tops late-night ratings with about 2.5 million viewers. Ad revenue for the whole genre has plunged from $439 million in 2018 to almost half that, and Colbert’s topical format isn’t raking in the social media numbers—his YouTube subs lag far behind Fallon’s and Kimmel’s—so the network says the numbers simply didn’t add up.

It’s not just Colbert feeling the squeeze: James Corden’s show lost cash too (even with lucrative Carpool Karaoke tie-ins), and CBS’s cheaper After Midnight got sidelined after one season. TBS has already ditched Conan and Samantha Bee, and insiders reckon ABC and NBC might follow suit now that CBS has bitten the bullet. Meanwhile Jimmy Kimmel’s been teasing retirement for years—maybe now ABC will finally take him up on it.