When it comes to The Tonight Show’s five-night-a-week schedule, NBCUniversal is saying, “Go on, git!”

Top Line

ADWEEK has confirmed that NBCUniversal is cutting back on The Tonight Show, making it four nights per week instead of five. The move is reportedly an economic decision as well as a response to host Jimmy Fallon’s growing commitments outside the late-night TV staple.

Between the lines

With the news, which was first reported by Late Nighter, The Tonight Show joins the likes of other late-night series—Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and Late Night With Seth Meyers among them—in moving to a four-day schedule.

For its new schedule in the fall, The Tonight Show will continue taping four days a week as it has throughout the summer. Meanwhile, Fridays will reportedly showcase repeats.

Despite the news, earlier this year, Fallon renewed his deal to stay as The Tonight Show host through 2028.

In addition to The Tonight Show, Fallon is behind several other projects for NBCU, including That’s My Jam and Password. He’s also in the midst of staging a haunted maze at 30 Rock dubbed Tonightmares.

Bottom line

NBC’s cost-saving move with The Tonight Show reflects the ongoing shift away from legacy linear television, especially as ratings continue to decline across the industry.

For The Tonight Show specifically, Late Nighter reports that it was second in the 18-49 demo, averaging 229,000 viewers, and third among late-night shows in total viewers, averaging 1,431,000, for Nielsen’s Q1 2024 ratings for late-night shows.

Buyers recently told ADWEEK that the TV upfront brought additional rollbacks to linear entertainment, with streaming increasingly becoming a bigger priority for advertisers.