The cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has sent shockwaves throughout the TV industry, as many have discussed what it indicates about the future of late night. On a more micro scale, many have expressed disapproval of CBS' decision to axe the long-running program. The network attributed the move to “financial” reasons and, since then, it’s been alleged that Colbert’s talk show has been losing millions of dollars a year. Now, Jimmy Kimmel is sharing his two cents about the monetary-related chatter.
Per sources, the purported financial problems that The Late Show has been experiencing are due to diminishing advertising revenue. It was reported by CNN that the late-night talk shows across all the major networks brought in $220 million, which is significantly less than the $439 million they reportedly earned in 2018. When it specifically comes to Stephen Colbert’s show, it’s been alleged that the production was losing the Eye network $40 million a year. (To be clear, CBS hasn’t released any concrete financial figures.)
Jimmy Kimmel evidently took issue with the notion that his late-night TV peer’s program had been losing so much cash. The longtime host discussed the matter with Variety while discussing his work and his recent 2025 Emmy nominations. When discussing the matter, Kimmel acknowledged the significance of ad revenue in the business. However, Kimmel also argued that the insiders sharing the reported numbers didn’t consider another variable:
I just want to say that the idea that Stephen Colbert’s show was losing $40 million a year is beyond nonsensical. These alleged insiders who supposedly analyze the budgets of the shows — I don’t know who they are, but I do know they don’t know what they’re talking about. They seem to only be focused on advertising revenue and have completely forgotten about affiliate fees, which number in the hundreds of millions — probably in total billions — and you must allocate a certain percentage of those fees to late-night shows.
Affiliate fees refer to money that TV providers must pay networks for carrying their respective channels. With the belief that those fees are still high, the Jimmy Kimmel Live host is arguing that The Late Show shouldn’t be hemorrhaging money as insinuated. Kimmel went on to share more thoughts, even mentioning his own personal experiences with his eponymous program:
It really is surprising how little the media seems to know about how the media works. There’s just not a snowball’s chance in hell that that’s anywhere near accurate. Even that — that’s all you need to know. Suddenly he’s losing $40 million a year? I will tell you, the first 10 years I did the show, they claimed we weren’t making any money — and we had five times as many viewers on ABC as we do now. Who knows what’s true? All I know is they keep paying us — and that’s kind of all you need to know.
There are those who continue to debate whether The Late Show’s cancellation was indeed due to money. Some are of the belief that it was politically motivated, as it came after CBS settled a $16 million lawsuit with U.S. President Donald Trump, which was a move Stephen Colbert openly criticized on air. That lawsuit was also said to have been the final element standing in the way of the merger between Paramount (CBS’ parent company) and Skydance.
Following all of that, Jimmy Kimmel was among those who spoke out negatively about the cancellation. Amid his Emmys campaign, Kimmel has also celebrated Stephen Colbert by renting a billboard of himself with the caption, “I’m voting for Stephen.” Others have since defended Colbert since the news broke, with The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart giving a heated rant on the matter. Meanwhile, Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver expressed disappointment, given Colbert hoped to pass the show off to another host someday.
Speculation regarding the specifics behind The Late Show’s axing will surely continue to be debated. However, something that many seem to agree upon, including Jimmy Kimmel, is the changing late-night landscape.
