3 Reasons Why Late Night TV Shows Are Getting Canceled

With CBS and Stephen Colbert announcing The Late Show will end in 2026, late night TV is becoming more of a graveyard shift. But the writing has been on the wall (and the internet) for a while now.

The news of the Late Show cancellation comes amid online speculation over hidden political motivations. After all, the show’s end comes as Paramount awaits FCC approval for its multibillion-dollar merger with Skydance Media and only days after Colbert criticized Paramount for paying $16 million—what he called a “big fat bribe”—to settle President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CBS over a 60 Minutes segment.

However, while that reasoning remains speculation, several other factors are also playing into the demise of late night TV.

Decline of linear

Viewership on traditional linear networks, the home of most late night shows, has been declining for years while streaming continues to reach new milestones. In May, streaming officially passed the combination of cable and broadcast for the first time, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge data. Then, in June, streamers widened the gap, with streaming accounting for 46% of viewership while broadcast and cable combined for 41.9%.

Showing the dip, in 2015, when Colbert first took over The Late Show, The Tonight Show topped late night TV by averaging close to 4 million viewers a night. For the latest 2024-2025 TV season, Colbert’s Late Show came out ahead of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live, averaging a much lower 2.5 million viewers per night.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one ad buyer told ADWEEK that marketplace ad supply losses from The Late Show would be minimal due to prolonged rating erosion.

And while ratings and ad dollars have gone down, costs have gone up.

Decline of ad dollars

According to The Measure, citing data from iSpot and Tubular Labs, Colbert’s Late Show has had the most ad reach of any broadcast program in the late night window of 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., and across all dayparts. Additionally, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert ranks No. 5 for ad reach on CBS for linear.

However, CBS called The Late Show cancellation a “financial decision,” and there is evidence to back that up.

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.

If evolution is on the table instead of extinction, it may not be too late for late night.