Signs will appear outside the Elpitan Entertainment Centre in Hollywood. There, the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show will be recorded on September 23, 2025, on the first night of returning to the ABC lineup in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Late-night television has been attacked in recent months. This could lead advertisers and media companies to stick to what remains of live television.
Recent upheavals in late-night programming – that is, cancelling the temporary pauses of “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” – It spurred the issue of political influence by highlighting late-night ratings and revenue.
President Donald Trump has been active in both Colbert and Kimmel’s misfortune, calling for Chopping Block’s late-night show hosted by Jimmy Fallon and Seth Myers:
As a result, it not only has uncertainty for viewers, television executives and show staff, but also poles the advertising category that has long been a staple of live television.
“It’s really important to reach the many people involved in being live television, or to be live-tap, and when you think about it from a media company’s perspective… Live moments are live sports for most nights, nightly news, late-night talk shows.
“For those who think late-night isn’t important, they don’t think about the economics, goals and incentives of both advertisers and media companies. They ignore some of the strategic values of the ecosystem,” he added.
when Disney ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” aired in September, it was unclear whether or when the program would return. Disney revived Kimmel within a week, but more than 20% of the country couldn’t watch the show for another three days as two major broadcaster owners preempted the content.
Colbert’s show ends after CBS parents next year Paramount The announcement in July cites financial considerations and will not update the program. The company has yet to disclose plans to fill time slots or return them to affiliate network owners.
The enthusiasm around Colbert’s upcoming cancellations sparked a temporary surge in ratings, and Kimmel’s suspension cried out millions of viewers on its return.
Late night draw
As audiences chose to stream, traditional television audiences have declined. However, live content has earned the highest ratings, including late-night talk shows.
As a result, late-night shows remain a valuable time slot for advertisers, especially for the younger demographics.
“Late night may not portray the same large audience once, but the tuned audience is very intentional. For advertisers, it increases the space for reaching a consistent, enthusiastic community.”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” According to ISPOT, the ad measuring company, the show provided 2.5% of the network’s total ad exposure, or 2.5% of the 11.8 billion national television impressions, and was considered one of the top 10 best vehicles in ABC’s ad reach.
According to EDO, to generate as many ad impact as one ad with a late-night comedy broadcast program (Kimmel, Fallon, Myers and Colbert), advertisers will need to air around four spots across competitive late-night programming this year. In this case, competitive late-night programming means everything that was broadcast and cable television during these time slots except for late-night hosts.
Brands launching new products still have the highest success from live television commercials, according to advertising industry executives.
However, advertisers are beginning to cut their advertising spending in the face of macroeconomic headwinds and trade uncertainties. Recently, Emarketer and the Interactive Advertising Bureau have each released reports projecting ad spending pullbacks for television as well as digital and streaming, due to the high corporate costs brought by tariffs.
The costs of these TV shows are under the microscope as advertisers trim their spending and Trump places the night on his cross.
The weight of the cost
Media companies’ priorities have shifted to building streaming platforms for profit. Pay TV networks continue to make up a large portion of their profits, but their numbers are shrinking.
“Generally speaking, late-night talk shows viewers were lower than those they used to, but fewer for certain hosts and shows, and less about the change in the way people consume television.”
Paramount said the move to end Colbert in July was a “pure financial decision against the challenging late-night background.” Kimmel’s show will face another test when his contract is signed in 2026.
“Late-night TV and daytime morning shows were once two of the most profitable areas of television, but more so than sports because of the big sports rights fees. Networks usually made huge amounts of money.” “Initially, late-night shows weren’t that expensive, but costs are rising. But the valuations are declining, which means less profitable. Hosts still want a lot of money.”
The focus of media companies is generally increasingly on content that guarantees large-scale live sports. This led to more spending on sports rights than other types of content.
A few weeks after Colbert said it would be his last of this season, the newly merged Paramount Skydance announced a $7.7 billion media rights deal with the UFC. ABC Parent Disney and NBCuniversal signed a new media rights agreement with the NBA worth $77 billion over 11 years last year.
Media companies also face the difficult costs of rising political pressures.
Trump and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Kerr stepped up scrutiny of media companies during his second term of office.
Last year, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s Presidential Library to resolve a lawsuit over comments by television anchor George Stephanopulos, which Trump called honorary. And this summer, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to resolve a lawsuit over compiling a CBS “60 Minutes” interview with then-President Kamala Harris.
A few weeks after that settlement, Paramount and Skydance received federal approval for the much-anticipated merger.
Colbert later called Paramount’s settlement “a big fat bribe” in one of his show’s opening monologues. Soon after that, the company announced the future end date for the late-night show.
Disney’s Kimmel suspension came shortly after comments by FCC Carr suggesting that affiliate ABC stations could lose their broadcast license if ABC stations air content that is in opposition to the “public interest.” Trump poses a similar threat to the broadcasting network he said was “opposed.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCuniversal, which owns CNBC. Bersant will become CNBC’s new parent company with the Bersant spin-off planned by Comcast.
