In Reply to: Colbert is the most watched show in late night. posted by BluBlood on February 17, 2026 at 22:11:51
Legacy late-night shows are in structural decline, driven largely by enormous host salaries and a collapse in traditional viewership.
2025–2026 average first-run viewership:
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS): ~2.34–2.8 million
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC): ~1.77–2.8 million
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC): ~1.19–1.33 million
Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC): ~900,000–967,000
By comparison, Johnny Carson routinely drew 11–17 million viewers, and David Letterman often averaged around 7.5 million.
Analysts now report that classic 11:30 PM network talk shows collectively became unprofitable around 2023, with projected annual losses potentially exceeding $70 million by 2030 if current trends continue.
The economics have fundamentally changed. Audiences no longer watch full episodes live; most consume short segments on YouTube and social media. Those clips generate far less advertising revenue than traditional broadcast commercials, while production costs, including multimillion-dollar host salaries and large union crews, remain high.
As a result, what were once highly profitable, low-cost network staples have increasingly become financial liabilities.
I linked a conversation between Sandra Bee and Tom Papa discussing this broader industry problem.
No one wants to run a legacy late night show but to cancel one because it creates terrible PR.