COMICS UNHEARD

How Colbert’s Replacement Is Helping Tank the Rest of CBS

Byron Allen said he’s not trying to replace Colbert, but when it comes to ratings, other hosts on the network may wish he was.

Lower ratings in the CBS time slot formerly occupied by Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show could harm the network’s other programming, media experts say.

After Colbert’s cancellation, CBS brought in comedian and business executive Byron Allen to host Comics Unleashed, for which Allen Media covers all production costs. But Nielsen data viewed by Status also reveal lower ratings than Colbert generated toward the end of his run. Specifically, ratings for the comedy panel show fell 64 percent.

That may have broader implications across the network.

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“Within the television industry, it was figured out quite quickly that a popular late-night program would provide a lift to a morning show,” University of Maine communications and journalism professor Michael Socolow told Status. “Early audience studies revealed that people habitually left their TVs tuned to a channel, and they wouldn’t switch channels the next time they turned on the TV unless they did not like what they were watching.”

Additionally, late local news programs could suffer.

“People who wanted to watch Colbert, a lot of them probably watch late local news,” said Bill Carter, the New York Times media reporter who has written several books on late-night television. In canceling Colbert, he added, CBS “diminished itself.”

When reached for comment, a CBS spokesperson told the Daily Beast in a statement: “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. 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."

A CBS insider also told Status that the idea of cross-time slot rewards was a bit antiquated in the streaming era. Also, live sports continue to provide an indirect draw, they said.

Unfortunately for CBS, the NBA Finals, which began on June 3, are on ABC, and this year’s series is so far the most-watched since 1998. The Stanley Cup Final is also on ABC.

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Allen, 65, predicted lower ratings upon taking over the 11:35 p.m. time slot.

“At the end of the day, I’m not trying to replace Colbert,” Allen told NPR last month. “I am not trying to hold on to his audience because Comics Unleashed has been around 20 years and has its own audience."

“Not everybody’s gonna love me. Not everyone’s going to love the fact that I’m not being racist or antisemitic or sexist,” he added. “But there is that 1 or 2 percent that would be like ‘Hell yeah, I’m rolling with you,’ and I learned that at an early age, and by the way, that simple lesson made me a billionaire.”

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William VaillancourtReporter

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