CBS last week terminated The Late Show with Stephen Colbert due to annual losses of $40–50 million, sources told The NY Post, emphasizing that the decision was purely financial and not driven by politics.
The cancellation follows a recent jab by the 61-year-old host at CBS over its $16 million settlement with Donald Trump regarding a controversial 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, as Paramount, CBS’s parent, navigates regulatory approval for its $8 billion sale to Skydance.
However, insiders say the comedian’s sharp remarks were not the issue.
Despite Colbert’s No. 1 ratings in the 11:35 PM slot, the show struggled with a severe advertiser drought, a broader challenge for late-night TV. “Colbert might be No. 1, but who watches late-night TV anymore?” said a source with direct knowledge of CBS’s decision, noting the show’s financial unviability.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha at The Washington Examiner crunched the numbers:
- More than 100: The number of staffers working on Colbert’s program, including a band and an army of writers, producers, directors, and bookers.
- $2.5 million: The amount each episode costs to produce the show nightly.
- $130 million: The amount it costs annually to produce the show.
- $20 million: Colbert’s reported annual salary.
- 2.4 million: The number of viewers watching Colbert’s show on average.
- 3.3 million: The number of viewers watching Gutfeld! hosted by Greg Gutfeld on Fox News, which has a fraction of the staff and resources Colbert has.
- $40 million: The amount Colbert’s program has been losing annually.
The last number is key. Colbert’s show is, by far, the most expensive to produce at CBS. The network overall is struggling in a big way, with its evening newscast a distant third, along with its morning show. Additionally, CBS finished the 2024-2025 season with just two prime time shows in the Top 15 (Netflix, in contrast, had eight).
In contrast, a source familiar with the matter revealed that “The Late Show” has recently been operating at a $40 million annual loss.
According to Guideline, an ad tracking firm, the show’s advertising revenue dropped significantly to $70.2 million last year, down from $121.1 million in 2018. Nielsen data shows that viewership for Stephen Colbert’s program peaked at an average of 3.1 million viewers during the 2017-18 season. However, for the season ending in May 2025, the show’s audience fell to an average of 1.9 million viewers, reflecting the broader challenges facing late-night television in an evolving media landscape.
Simply put, ad revenue isn’t just drying up for Colbert but across the late-night spectrum. Ad data firm Guideline estimates that late-night shows on ABC, NBC, and CBS earned $439 million in ad revenue in 2018 combined, but just $220 million in 2024. That’s a 50% decline in less than seven years. Unsustainable.
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| George Cheeks |
The genre, once a magnet for young male viewers—a key demographic for advertisers—has lost ground to streaming platforms like YouTube and Netflix, which now outpace traditional broadcast and cable in viewership, according to Nielsen. Clips of late-night shows on streaming are harder to monetize, exacerbating financial woes.
The broader entertainment landscape is shifting, with networks and streamers spending $70 billion on entertainment and $30 billion on sports rights in 2024, per Madison & Wall CEO Brian Wieser.
Live sports, with viewership growing and rights costs rising 8% annually, remain a reliable draw, squeezing budgets for shows like The Late Show.
In a statement, Cheeks said, “This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related to the show’s performance, content, or other matters at Paramount.”
The cancellation marks the end of a 30-year legacy for The Late Show, which, like other late-night programs, could not overcome the industry’s streaming-driven transformation.