The recent kerfuffle around late-night comedy can be summarized as follows. Man fails so badly at his job that the company shuts down the product line he was responsible for.
Man gets mad and throws tantrums. Passers-by join in the cacophony, just because.
The drama soon gets drowned out as if it was just a joke. Because it was.
Late night comedy on television has a ballyhooed history. At its heyday, Johnny Carson is reported to have commanded 10-15 million viewers nightly.
NBC's "The Tonight Show" is said to have accounted for 17% of revenues of the parent company. In 2002 Jay Leno, as host of The Tonight Show, commanded over five million viewers and even in 2010 top late-night comedy shows each made over $100 million in ad revenues.
Then the tide turned.
Revenue for late night comedy offerings on network TV dropped 50% in six years, viewership is far below what was.
In the last three reported months, "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on CBS maintained its lead at 2.42 million viewers, the next highest came at about 20% lower.
It has been reported that "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" costs CBS $ 100 million to make annually, with 200 employees, with an ad revenue of $ 60 million, resulting in a loss of $ 40 million a year. Less than 10% of the show’s viewers are in the critical 18-49-year-old segment, partly explaining the revenue shortfall.
If I ran a company losing $40 million a year, and revenues dropping by 50% in six years, I will seriously consider folding shop.
That’s exactly what CBS did on behalf of Stephen Colbert.
Rational observers will attribute the segment’s fall from grace to decades-long shifts spanning many key drivers. In its heyday, late night comedy shows united the nation with a light-hearted, irreverent, self-deprecating yet insightful look at ourselves.
With few other options they defined a monoculture of sorts. No longer.
The U.S. has come far from that one-size-fits-all mindset.
Technology played a subversive role, repeatedly. Network TV lost viewership, Cable TV picked some of it, before they too fell victim to ruptures caused by social media and video streaming.
Sitting in front of a big screen at length was replaced by short-form videos consumed, or not, by millions on their phones, tablets and computers.
Juggernauts fell.
Late-night comedians jumped in headfirst with political commentary chasing easy likes and eyeballs, becoming hyper partisan.
It was a double-edged sword, as they scored higher on social media algorithms, they lost TV viewers and advertisement revenue.
The top shows occupied the same corner skewering the same usual suspects.
They ridiculed U.S. allies, especially leaders of India and Israel, just because they did not fit the mold of a liberal left leader of a major country.
Nothing they, or President Trump, could do to warrant a benign, but not abrasive, rubbing.
Shows became me-too satirical escape-cum-resistance for some, reneging on their contract with the general population who watched the funnies at the end of a long day because they did not want to be reminded of drudgeries and idiocies around them.
The fivE month strike by Writers Guild of America and COVID-19 sounded the death knell.
Networks made do with their stable of scripted shows during the strike; comedy shows did not have that luxury. When the strike ended the audience realized they did not miss comedy much.
During COVID-19 no-frill shows aired from whatever setup the host may have mustered at home, with support from family members.
They had none of the thrills of a mega-budget choreographed live audience show, but they had authenticity.
That had the networks thinking.
Is it necessary to lose $ 40 million a year for a scripted show that is losing audience?
CBS clearly made that determination in the negative, others are close.
CBS parent Paramount’s deal with Skydance possibly played a role.
Conceivably Paramount needed to jettison deadweights as Skydance would not want a public relations nightmare for having canceled Stephen Colbert as one of its first actions.
In sum, firing Colbert was most certainly a business decision as CBS clarified.
That did not stop the cries of outrage. "Canceled" because of the host’s beef with the White House was a tiresome rant. President Trump, perennial butt of jokes Colbert relished in dishing out, did not hesitate to claim credit, in jest.
What galls me is the left’s refusal to accept market verdict as rational, logical, and final. Comedians aimed to preach, and proselytize upon our sorrows, and it backfired. The joke is on us for letting things fester thus far. The joke is on them for not having room to maneuver anymore. That said, comedy's trail of tears is no joke.
Late night television is forever changed. Stay tuned.
All opinions are of the Author alone, and do not necessarily represent that of any organization he may be part of. The author alone is responsible for any error or omission.
Partha Chakraborty, Ph.D., CFA is an economist, statistician, and a financial analyst by training. Currently he's an entrepreneur in the field of water access, AI/ML, and wealth management in the U.S. and India. Dr. Chakraborty resides in Southern California. Read Partha Chakraborty's Reports — More Here.