Paramount’s new president, Jeff Shell, has highlighted a “huge problem” with the current late-night talk show format following the controversial decision to cancel The Late Show franchise just ahead of the Skydance merger.
Speaking at a press conference with other top Paramount executives on Wednesday, Shell said that while he was not part of the decision to scrap the show currently hosted by Stephen Colbert, he does support the decision.
“Late-night has a huge problem right now,” Shell said, according to Deadline.
He noted Colbert’s show is popular and has viewing figures on par with predecessor David Letterman’s iconic stint as host. However, he said the late-night format is suffering from changing viewing habits and declining ad revenue compared to previous years.
“The problem is that 80 percent of the viewership and growing is on YouTube,” Shell said. He explained that since YouTube pays “45 cents on the dollar,” television companies cannot “make it work economically anymore.”
The Late Show cancellation has sparked major backlash, especially since it came shortly after Colbert criticized CBS News for buckling to President Donald Trump and agreeing to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit over the president’s complaints about the editing of 60 Minutes’ interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election.
In a July monologue, Colbert said Trump’s lawsuit was “completely without merit” and suggested the $16 million was “a big fat bribe” as Paramount’s owners needed the Trump administration to approve the sale of CBS to Skydance.
He also warned Trump and his administration that the “gloves are off” until the show officially ends in May 2026.
Last week, George Cheeks, chair of TV media at CBS, also said the decision to cancel Colbert was purely economic.
“The challenge in late night is that the advertising marketplace is in significant secular decline,” Cheeks said following Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount Global. “We are huge fans of Colbert, we love the show, unfortunately the economics made it a challenge for us to keep going.”
Puck and the New York Post reported The Late Show lost around $40 million a year and cost more than $100 million annually to produce, including Colbert’s reported $15–$20 million salary per season.
