CBS says it Decision to finish Stephen Colbert’s late night comedy show Is financially, not political. But even with sufficient skepticism about this explanation, the economy did not work to Colbert’s favor.
President Donald Trump’s best -known television critic and the most popular entertainment program in his genre takes away the bombing of the network on Thursday that the “Late Show” will end next May.
The declining economic health of the television industry means that similar hard calls are already made with personalities and programs, with others being faced in the future. Unique factors must be taken into account for the late evening genre.
According to the guidelines of the advertising company, Broadcast networks took up an estimated $ 439 million advertising revenue for its late night programs. Last year, this number went back to 220 million US dollars.
Once a tie for young men, now they have turned away
Late-Night TV was a special concern for young men who were considered the most valuable population group for advertisers as the most valuable population. These spectators are increasingly turning to the streaming services to either observe something else or catch highlights of the late night shows that are more difficult for the networks to monetize.
In the broader sense, the multi-tried takeover of spectators is carried out by streaming services. The Nielsen Company reported that In the past two monthsFor the first time, more people consumed programs for services such as YouTube And Netflix than with ABC, CBS and NBC or a cable network.
Networks and Streamers spent around 70 billion US dollars for entertainment shows and $ 30 billion for sports rights last year, said Brian Wieser, CEO of Madison & Wall. Live Sports is the most reliable magnet for the audience, and the costs for his rights are expected to increase by 8% per year in the next decade. Since the television viewers generally decrease, it is clear where savings have to come from.
Wieser said he did not know whether Colbert’s show is profitable or not for CBS and parent company Paramount GlobalBut he knows the direction in which it goes. “The economy of television is weak,” he said.
In an explanation in which the cancellation was announced, George Cheeks, President and Chief Executive Officer from Paramount Global said that “this is a purely financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. In no way depends on the performance, content or other matters of the show that take place at Paramount.”
The problem of cheeks is that not everyone believes him.
Colbert is a relentless critic of Trump and early this week dotted criticized Paramount’s Decision to pay Trump’s lawsuit against CBS about a 60 -minute interview with Kamala Harris. He described Paramounts 16 million US dollar payment to Trump as a “big fat bribe” because the company applied for the approval of the administration for its merger with Skydance Media.
The authors on Friday guild Of America, an investigation by the New York General Prosecutor asked whether Colbert’s cancellation is a bribe.
The decision of CBS made this a decisive week for the future of the television and radio program. congress Striped federal financing For PBS and NPR that threaten the future of the shows in these sales outlets.
Journey Gundson, Managing Director of the National Comedy Center, described the decision to end Colbert’s show the end of an era.
“Late night television was in the past one of the most accessible platforms of the comedy-a place where the comment night after night hits the community,” said Gunderson. “This is not just the end of a show. It is the calm removal of one of the few remaining platforms for daily comedic comments.
Trump celebrates Colbert’s death
Trump, who has called CBS in the past to end Colbert’s contract, celebrated the upcoming death of the show. “I absolutely love that Colbert was fired,” wrote the president about the social truth. “His talent was even less than his reviews.”
Some experts wondered whether CBS could have examined other options to save Colbert money. NBC, for example, has reduced the costs by removing the band in Seth Meyers’ Late Night Show and restricting Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight” show to four nights a week.
CIS could have saved more money by cutting off the show instead of running it until next May, which sets an unpleasant “Lahme duck” Perät? On the other hand, Colbert will continue to work until his contract expires. CBS would have had to pay him anyway.
CBS recently canceled the “After Midnight” show that Colbert ran to Colbert. But the network had signaled at the beginning of this year that it was ready to continue this show until host Taylor Tomlinson decided that it wanted to go, Bill Carter, author of “The Speat Shift”.
“It is a very sad day for CBS that they come out of the late evening race,” said Andy Cohen, moderator of Bravo’s “Watch What Hasing Live”, “said the Associated Press.” I mean, they switch off the light according to the news. “
Colbert, if he wanted to continue next May, would probably be able to find a streaming service that is ready to pay him, said Wieser. But the future of the late night comedy in the entertainment networks is really at risk. In fact, Trump can survive his violent comic critics. Jon Stewart, once a week a week, works one night a week at “The Daily Show” for Paramounts Comedy Central, a network that rarely produces a lot of original programming.
Jimmy Kimmel from ABC, who was driven by Trump by Trump on social media on Friday – “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next” – has a contract that will also end next year. The 57-year-old Kimmel, the 57-year-old, wondered openly in a variety interview before signing his recent three-year contract extension how long he wanted to do. He has been organized by his show since 2003.
“I have moments when I go, I can’t do that anymore,” Kimmel told Variety in 2022. It’s a very complicated thing … I won’t do that forever. ”
Colbert, Kimmel and Stewart were nominated for Emmy Awards this week.
