Data from Guideline shared with ADWEEK noted that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! combined for around $404 million in linear TV ad revenue in 2018. That dropped by half to around $200 million in 2024. Meanwhile, The Late Show had around $121 million in linear TV ad spend in 2018; however, it had around only $70 million total in 2024, a decline of 42% per the data.
The Measure noted that, so far this year, brands have spent an estimated $32.2 million in advertising on The Late Show. Meanwhile, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon are higher, taking in over $50 million each. Some of that comes down to Kimmel having more commercials overall, with The Late Show featuring more network promos.
The shows also come at a steep cost. Hosts like Colbert and Fallon reportedly make more than $10 million per year, and Puck reported today that The Late Show was losing $40 million per year. In its own cost-cutting move in 2024, NBCUniversal reduced The Tonight Show from five days per week to four.
Notably, the cancellation of The Late Show essentially takes CBS out of the costly late night TV game. Following James Corden’s departure from The Late Late Show in 2023, the network replaced the program with the Taylor Tomlinson-hosted After Midnight. However, that show is going away too, with Tomlinson walking away after two seasons.
Evolving landscape
Late night TV’s resistance to adaptation is evident. After all, former Tonight Show host Steve Allen first introduced the talk show desk format in the 1950s; around 75 years later, the aesthetic largely remains unchanged.
However, viewing habits didn’t get the memo.
Today, YouTube consistently commands the largest portion of TV and streaming usage, according to Nielsen, accounting for 12.8% of all streaming and TV usage in June. In addition, other social media, including TikTok, bring viewers a constant stream of news stories, sketches, memes, and celebrity news—the kind of content viewers used to gather around the TV to get from a late night host.
Of course, late night shows aren’t stagnant. They’ve learned to blow by their linear ratings to enjoy millions more views via next-day social viewing. The Measure notes that broadcast late night shows earn more than 100 million minutes watched per month among U.S. YouTube viewers, and The Wrap reported that The Tonight Show recently reached 55% growth in social media views year over year.
But in adapting to a social media world, late night shows are no longer appointment TV. After all, as one media buyer told ADWEEK, the explosion of show clips reduces the need to watch the whole program, and The Late Show cancellation could “open the floodgates” for networks like ABC and NBC to make similar moves.
However, there’s still more to say about the future of talk shows. For instance, podcasts and social-forward talk shows like Hot Ones continue to thrive, with the latter even reportedly being in talks with Netflix to bring the show to the streamer.