Sources inside CBS have suddenly become much more forthcoming about the sobering economics of late-night television in 2025—go figure— revealing that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has recently been running at an annual shortfall of $40 million.
If that sounds unthinkable for the #1 rated show at 11:35pm, consider this: as Matt Belloni reports today in Puck, back in 2018, all of late-night television combined generated $438 million in advertising revenue. By 2023, that number had been cut in half, and it has continued to fall.
Given that The Late Show—with its handsomely paid host and a staff of roughly 200 employees—reportedly costs CBS $100 million per year to produce, that $40 million figure becomes easier to understand.
Belloni also reports that CBS executives had been discussing the future of its Late Show franchise for months, and that Colbert’s team was informed around July Fourth that the show was in jeopardy.
As Colbert shared with viewers during Thursday’s cold open, he was informed of the network’s decision decision to cancel the show Wednesday night. According to reporting, CBS had not planned to go public just yet, but Colbert pushed to announce it to his staff Thursday and acknowledge it on air later that evening, rather than risk leaks.
While CBS insists the cancellation was strictly a financial decision—unrelated to Colbert’s antagonistic relationship with Trump, his recent on-air criticism of Paramount’s recent $16 million settlement with the president, and/or the company’s pending sale to Trump ally David Ellison’s Skydance Media—the timing has drawn scrutiny from viewers, the media, and even some lawmakers.
Colbert’s last episode of The Late Show will air in May 2026. An exact date has not yet been announced.
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I wonder about the finances and those that are real or reported… but one of the things that all of the entertainment world needs to look at.. the price they will pay.. I know what movies are out.. tv shows etc.. solely from latenight tv
Nobody is buying that number. CBS is cooking the books for this merger with MAGA SkyDance.
Colbert was #1 in Late Night. A normal company would have just streamlined the costs to produce, not cancel.
Anyone who can’t make money off The Late Show needs to get out of the money making business.
it is one of the best talk shows ever..
very sad to see that this is it’s last season 😔
The number one rated TV show in its time slot gets cancelled. Where millions of people still go for their news every night. This couldn’t possibly be political. Could it?
maybe Sorros will swoop in with a higher bid
Alexa – show me a prominent example of “Go Woke, Go Broke”
Woke means Kind, and Kind people will always be fundamentally better than you.
Except “Woke” people cancelled people for saying ‘men can’t get pregnant’ which is a scientific fact.
The show made $240 million a year and had expenses of $100 million. It made $140 million you absolute dipshits.
That $240 figure would be for all of late night dipshit. Can’t read or do maff, no wonder a Colbert fan!
Just bring him back after the merger goes through. Although Skydance is buddy buddy w tRump so they might nix that.
Skydance is not “buddy buddy” with trump, quite the opposite. Where do you get your delusional views?
Movies, television, sports, news all pay the “stars” WAY too much. its corporations own fault.
Best news ever. I want to waste of airspace.. providing
When this story first broke, and CBS was alleging it was “strictly for financial reasons,” I wondered why CBS didn’t reveal some financial information. Well, in the wake of all the flack they have received, now CBS is showing numbers. Not necessarily accurate ones, but numbers, nonetheless.
But you gotta wonder why the highly paid executives, didn’t go to the Colbert staff and ask them to reduce costs or face termination. Guess that would be reasonable, huh?
It will be interesting if CBS can agree the numbers.
2024 average ad revenue has been around 1.2 million per episode.
2024 cost has been just over 100 million
Given that there were around 140 episodes it has covered it costs.
I think the loss is not true loss but the decrease in ad revenue from 2023 to 2024 which is roughly 40 million
As a surgical trauma nurse who is definitely not a conservative, I so looked forward to the laughs and joy I experienced with the Colbert show. So sad and disappointed at its ending.
Laurel Patterson the “surgical trauma nurse” is a knucklehead and more than likely retarded.
I’ve sent Colbert a weekly email telling him I wished he was on the plane that crashed and killed his father when Stevie was a kid. I just liked reminding him of it.
And you people call others deranged. You’re a sick hypocrite just like your nasty p3do father who refuses to release the list because he’s on it
LOL….to lose $40 million dollars in 2024 when it was a Presidential election year.
All those Democrat politicians spending money during his show and it still lost $40 million.
Imagine the far more greater losses this year without any political advertising.
What are The Late Show’s biggest expenses? Can’t they produce the show with smaller staff?
Retribution lures and simple – there will be more.
pure and simple retribution
Conan was told by Steve Kroft in his 60 Minutes interview in 2010 that his “Tonight Show” was reportedly losing money. Conan’s response is the same then as mine is now.
“I honestly don’t see how that’s possible. It’s really not possible. It is impossible.”
Not that the show is losing any money in Colbert’s case, but that they would lose so much money for a show that’s relatively cheap to produce compared to more expensive sitcoms and drama series without some amount of prior streamlining from the network. Instead they decided to cancel a long-running late night talk show franchise.
I’d like to see how much money “NCIS: Santa Barbara” or “Middle-Aged Sheldon” or whatever is losing compared to “The Late Show”.
Almost EVERY show on Network TV is made at a loss. Over 90 percent of CBS’s profits comes entirely from broadcasting NFL football games. That’s their entire annual profit from a few days of the year of football games – 90 percent. EVERYTHING other than football on CBS is a loss leader, they use to promote other things..
CBS makes over 30 billion a year. Fuck them
The fact that CBS has been losing millions on this show for years just proves it was not a comedy show, it was pure propaganda!
Colbert was no longer funny, just obnoxious, only juveniles and adults who never grew up will miss him — it started before he became so overtly political, but that is definitely a big part of it: his rote politics became tiresome — e.g. here a total scumbag like Adam Schiff as a guest, who spent his last years in Congress pushing the absurd Russia collusion hoax — why give him a late nite platform? — who wants to see a guest like that? — it’s just ridiculous.
Good riddance.