Late Night TV Faces Downsizing As ‘The Tonight Show’ Cuts Back

In a move signaling the challenges facing late-night television, NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon announced a shift to a four-day schedule, replacing its Friday episode with reruns. This follows earlier budget cuts, including the dismissal of the house band on Late Night with Seth Meyers and CBS ending The Late Late Show after James Corden’s departure, opting for a cheaper replacement.

Once a cultural cornerstone with younger viewers and relatively inexpensive production, late-night shows have struggled to adapt in the streaming era. Today, much of the genre’s viewership has migrated to platforms like YouTube and TikTok, where shows post short clips. While successful online, the revenue from these platforms doesn’t compare to the lucrative ads during live broadcasts. Younger viewers, the target demographic, are no longer watching the shows live, instead consuming snippets the next day.

Declining Viewership

Viewership numbers paint a stark picture. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which led late night with 3.81 million viewers in 2018-19, has seen a 32 percent drop, now averaging 2.6 million viewers. Similarly, The Tonight Show dropped 41 percent, pulling in just 1.43 million, while Jimmy Kimmel Live! lost 11 percent, down to 1.82 million. Late-night shows in the 12:35 a.m. slot, including Late Night with Seth Meyers, saw similar declines.

CBS’ The Late Late Show reportedly lost $15 million to $20 million annually, which contributed to the decision to end the show. Reggie Watts, former bandleader for The Late Late Show, noted that budget cuts meant laying off long-time crew members, further driving the decision to pull the plug.

A Changing Landscape

While late-night TV is shrinking, networks are looking for ways to make up for lost revenue. Many late-night hosts, including Fallon, Colbert, and Kimmel, have expanded their presence, producing other shows or hosting events like the Emmys or upfronts. Fallon, for example, is involved in NBCUniversal’s haunted house attraction, Jimmy Fallon’s Tonightmares, in New York’s Rockefeller Plaza.

Streaming platforms like Netflix and Peacock have yet to find a successful late-night formula, despite experiments with hosts like John Mulaney and Amber Ruffin. As the traditional late-night format struggles, industry insiders acknowledge that change is happening rapidly.

As Seth Meyers quipped at NBCUniversal’s upfronts, “It’s a tricky time for TV, but it could be worse. We could be in radio.”

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Source: Hollywood Reporter

Photo Credit: NBC/CBS/ABC