Jimmy Kimmel has criticized the reports that claimed The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was losing money before its cancellation.
Following the shocking announcement that CBS has canceled Stephen Colbert's late-night talk show, reports alleged that a financial decision was the main reason why the network decided to pull the plug on The Late Show. It was reportedly losing around $40 million a year, and it was no longer feasible for the show to extend its run beyond next year.
What Does Jimmy Kimmel Think of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's Alleged Financial Trouble?
In an interview with Variety, Kimmel hit back at the reports that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was losing money and explained how the late-night business works contrary to what was being alleged.
"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," he said.
"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. It really is surprising how little the media seems to know about how the media works."
The host added, "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."
Kimmel also revealed that he is voting for Colbert's show at the Emmys despite being rivals in the same category.
"He’s not just a sweet man. He is very moral — he’s a very ethical person. He is the salt of the earth. He is a humble person and an extremely smart person. I hope that whatever he does next is even more powerful than what he’d been doing. And I think that’s very possible," he said.
Does Jimmy Kimmel Think That the Late-Night TV Business is Dead Soon?
Kimmel also weighed in on the narrative that the late-night television business is nearing its demise.
While he acknowledged that the network television business has declined, he is not sold on the idea that the late-night business is dead.
"More people are watching late-night television than ever before — and I include Johnny Carson in that. People may find that shocking. When Carson was at his peak, he was getting around 9 million viewers a night. That’s huge," the host explained.
"Of course, the lead-in shows were getting 30 and 40 million, which was a big part of it. But people are still watching late-night — just in different places. Our monologues get between 2 and 5 million views, sometimes more, every night."
Kimmel emphasized that "the idea that late-night is dead is simply untrue" and "if you really look at how people are watching these shows [on streaming], and the numbers, it’s right up there with the top shows on Netflix and Hulu."
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