Behind a paywall therefore no link, but here are particulars:
Is There a Future for Late-Night Talk Shows?
Big changes are coming to the longtime staple of television programming, as the genre struggles to make the leap to the streaming world.
Trevor Noah is leaving “The Daily Show” next year. James Corden, the host of CBS’s “The Late Late Show,” will depart his show then as well. TBS canceled “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” this year.
And at NBC, executives are mulling giving up the 10 p.m. hour to local stations. If they make that move, “The Tonight Show,” for the first time in its seven-decade run, could begin as early as 10:30 p.m.
All of this has unleashed a big question inside the television industry: What is the future of the late-night talk show?
For decades, late-night shows have been an enormously successful franchise for network television. The costs of the shows were relatively low, and the number of programming hours they offered, as well as the profits they kicked off, was enormous.
But as streaming has ascended, and network TV audiences and advertising revenue has dwindled, worries that late-night shows could be the latest genre affected by sweeping change are hitting virtually every corner of the entertainment world.
Streaming services like Netflix and Hulu have taken a crack at talk shows, but with little success. The shows — whether through an opening monologue or an interview with a celebrity who has a movie premiering soon — depend on topicality, something that has not quite translated to streaming.
“It’s a weird transition time,” said Gavin Purcell, a former showrunner of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” “There’s nothing about this that feels normal for the late-night world.”
Viewers used to have a “deep bond” with late-night hosts, said Rob Burnett, the former executive producer for “The Late Show With David Letterman,” in part because there was little else to watch at that hour.
“In every scenario that we’re discussing right now, both ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ and ‘Late Night With Seth Meyers’ remain on NBC,” the network said in a statement.
Some executives have concluded that the cost to produce some late-night shows, particularly at 12:30 a.m., is no longer feasible in an era of sinking ratings.
Revenue has fallen for the late-night shows. Through the first six months of 2021, the four late-night shows on network television took in a total of $301 million in advertising revenue, according to Kantar. Through the first six months of this year, that figure fell 16 percent, to $253.6 million. Mr. Meyers’s show generated $24.6 million in advertising revenue through the first six months of 2021, compared with $19 million in the first six months of 2022, Kantar said.
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The obvious (mentioned in paragraph 20 something):
Indeed, ratings for the late-night shows have been falling so much that the political comedy show “Gutfeld!” on Fox News at 11 p.m. frequently draws more viewers than any of the longstanding network late-night franchises.
