Stephen Colbert’s finale drew 6.7 million viewers, the most-watched weeknight episode in the show’s eleven-year history. Two weeks later, his replacement pulled in 628,000 viewers, creating a gap that was difficult to ignore and setting the tone for what followed.
The slide began almost immediately. Comics Unleashed, Byron Allen’s comedy panel show, took over Colbert’s 11:35 p.m. slot on May 22 and attracted 995,000 viewers during its first broadcast, an 85% drop from Colbert’s farewell episode.
The numbers became even more challenging by June 1, when Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon returned with new episodes. CBS fell to third place with 628,000 total viewers, marking a 65% decline from the same time slot a year earlier. In the important 18 to 49 demographic, the audience fell to just 82,000 viewers.
Across the street, things looked considerably healthier. Jimmy Kimmel Live drew 2.185 million viewers on June 1, a 53% increase from the same period last year, while attracting 295,000 viewers in the 18 to 49 group, a jump of 178%. Fallon landed in second place with 1.301 million viewers.
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One detail made the comparison even tougher for CBS to overlook. Kimmel’s June 1 episode was a rerun.
Ahead of the launch, Byron Allen told NPR he was not trying to replace Colbert or hold onto his audience. “At the end of the day, I’m not trying to replace Colbert,” Allen said.
So far, the audience appears to have had other plans. Allen Media Group pointed to strong local market results and noted that Comics Unleashed outperformed Fallon and Kimmel in more than two dozen individual markets during its debut. The broader national picture, however, has moved in a very different direction.
CBS also seems comfortable with the arrangement because the business model no longer depends on traditional late-night ratings. Under the time buy structure, Allen purchased the 11:35 p.m. slot and assumed production costs while handling advertising sales himself.
“We’re proud to partner with Byron Allen on a new business and programming model for late night that proactively addresses a network daypart that was cost-prohibitive to continue,” CBS said in a statement. “With this ‘time buy’ model, we have shifted an hour that was losing roughly $40 million annually to $15 million in profit — a $55 million swing.”
That arrangement leaves ratings and revenue operating on separate tracks. The audience numbers belong to Allen, while the profit picture belongs to CBS.
David Letterman, whose franchise Colbert inherited in 2015, has made it clear that he views the situation very differently. “Colbert was dumped because the people selling the network to Skydance said, ‘Oh no, there’s not going to be any trouble with that guy. We’re going to take care of the show. We’re just going to throw that into the deal. When will the ink on the check dry?'” Letterman told the New York Times.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
