Nearly everyone in the media industry let out an audible gasp when they found out The Late Show got axed. This isn’t a Stephen Colbert thing, or even, a Late Show thing. It’s a linear broadcast thing, and it’s a harbinger of much bigger changes afoot.
People have pointed to the cost of dealing with lawsuits, political polarization, and changing audience tastes, but the real reason is structural. All of the late night shows need to think about their future now. In fact, a lot of programming on broadcast is on shaky growth if it was originally created when there was content scarcity.Â
Linear media companies need to rethink both their content lineup and their ad sales strategy, or audiences and advertisers will abandon them for streamers.Â
Consider The Daily Show
Colbert made huge money by moving to The Late Show, but The Daily Show has had the last laugh. With just over 2.4 million people watching the 11:35 slot, The Late Show is the highest rated late night talk show, more than twice the audience of the 11pm The Daily Show on Comedy Central. But The Daily Show is a multichannel powerhouse, with a format that is better designed for sharing and bingeing. In fact, The Daily Show just hit a 10-year ratings high—with young audiences pushing it forward and racking up billions of social views.Â
Linear broadcast has been operating in the context of scarcity for decades. The Late Show was created at a time when other channels didn’t broadcast anything at all—it was literally the only thing on TV. With streaming and social media, today’s viewer has an infinite number of on-demand content choices, and The Late Show is not the most appealing option.Â
Linear broadcast has a difficult problem ahead: Will the “agonizing” decision to cut The Late Show mean this is going to happen a lot more—including nightly news, morning shows, and soap operas?