CBS Has Been Losing $40 Million a Year on Colbert

Sunday, 20 July 2025, 9:57 Dr. Tar Uncategorized 18

Latenighter

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. More

18 Comments on CBS Has Been Losing $40 Million a Year on Colbert

  1. Colbert has the most punchable face on the planet bar none. Every time I unfortunately see a photo of his grill, I imagine a massive fist slamming into his commie pie hole.

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  6. It’s likely the same story with Fallon and Kimmel. Those worthless assholes have failed in their assignments to brainwash the public into being rabid democrats; so there is no reason to keep them around any longer because they are big time ad revenue losers for their respective networks as well. Only Gutfeld is in the black ad revenue wise, because Gutfeld is actually funny and punches up; not down.

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  7. Just the cost of doing the business of Uncle Xi approved Propaganda.
    Someone should axe Colbert and his ilk how they feel about themselves being used as a Communist Tool as part of the Bought & Paid For, Knee-Pad Media. I’m sure they’re very comfortable with it as it pays well, but when you chose money over Patriotism and consider Greed to be good, you’ve lost your focus and worth as a human being. You are a spineless worm deserving nothing but the profoundest contempt, meaningful to nobody and ultimately abandoned by the puke-drooling, giggling useful idiots who thought you were funny.
    For the record I never thought you were funny or even entertaining.

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  10. @Tyson

    “I’ve sent Colbert a number of emails over the years telling him that I wished he was in the plane crash that killed his father and brother.”

    After losing his show and income, Colbert may be wishing he was on that plane. But there is always jumping off a tall building, like some ultra rich people did after the 1929 Wall Street crash. That cement-head would make a big hole in the sidewalk.

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  11. Does CBS need a reason to cancel The Late Show? I’ve worked with and for successful people for a long time, and sometimes they close (i.e cancel) some operations for a myriad of reasons, or sometimes because they are tired of continuing that particular line of work. It happens.

    CBS is very likely losing money on The Late Show – the articles bemoaning the upcoming cancellation of Colbert’s propaganda platform set out a number of other theories for this (usually revolving around Trump), but really don’t address the financial aspect of the show. Bone of them come out and say “CBS is not losing money and here’s why.” These supporters frequently say that The Late Show is number 1 in late night television shows, but you don’t hear me bragging about how my cable access show “Bunions – Good Thing or Bad Thing” – is number one in its 3:00 a.m. time slot among all other foot-related cable access shows.

    Viewers, and particularly the younger, more valuable viewers are abandoning late night talk shows for other entertainment platforms. Colbert may have had more viewers than Kimmel or Fallon, but overall the data shows that network late night viewership – and ad revenue – has been falling. Instead of replacing Colbert with someone else, it is also likely that CBS is planning a pivot towards something different in order to entice viewers back to its network.

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  15. “I said, ‘Donald, this is supposed to be a party with V.I.P.s,’” Houraney said. “‘You’re telling me it’s you and Epstein?’”

    Jill Harth, Houraney’s then-girlfriend, later accused Trump of forcibly kissing her and fondling her, and keeping her from leaving the same night of the party. 

    The report comes as the president is facing mounting pressure to release all files related to the Epstein case, something he has called the “Jeffrey Epstein hoax.”

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