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<\/a><\/p>\nWe calculate that\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Late Show with Stephen Colbert\u201d generated just under $60 million in streaming subscriber revenue for Paramount+ in the US and Canada from Q1 2021\u00a0(when\u00a0Paramount+ launched) to Q1 2025. That number is significantly lower than what other major late-night franchises delivered for their respective platforms during the same period:\u00a0\u201cLast\u00a0Week Tonight with John Oliver\u201d brought in $184 million for HBO Max, and\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon\u201d drove $122 million across Hulu and Peacock during the same time.<\/p>\n
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This gap highlights a key challenge for Paramount+. While\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Late Show\u201d drew a loyal and sizable linear audience, the platform struggled to translate that attention into meaningful streaming revenue. Streaming is just one part of a late-night show\u2019s value equation\u00a0(advertising,\u00a0licensing and brand partnerships still matter), but in today\u2019s media landscape, the ability to drive subscription revenue has become a top priority for platforms.<\/p>\n
This is not to fault Colbert\u2019s show, which is still hugely popular and not just with linear audiences.\u00a0In the first half of this year,\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Late Show\u201d was the third most in-demand late-night series in the US, with nearly 36 times the average series demand.\u00a0This is pretty much on equal footing with demand for other top late-night shows.<\/p>\n
This disconnect between audience demand and streaming revenue points to platform-specific monetization limitations. Paramount+ may not have had the scale, marketing efficiency, or content bundling strategies necessary to fully capture the value of\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Late Show\u2019s\u201d fandom. That raises a broader question for the industry: How should legacy media companies evolve their content strategies when even high-demand IP struggles to perform on their own platforms?<\/p>\n
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Figuring out how to make a traditional format like late night work is a problem mainly facing legacy entertainment companies. Newer players, such as Netflix and Prime Video, haven\u2019t really explored the genre extensively.\u00a0Still, it is an interesting thought experiment to think about whether a platform with the reach of Netflix or Prime Video could have realized more value from Colbert than Paramount+ was able to.<\/p>\n
In an era where every content decision is increasingly judged through a streaming ROI lens,\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Late Show with Stephen Colbert\u201d could be a casualty of misaligned monetization, not declining relevance. The show still has cultural weight and consistent viewer interest, but in the streaming-first future, that\u2019s not always enough.<\/p>\n
While many have questioned the relevance of the late-night talk show format today, this data does offer a glimmer of hope.\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Late Show\u201d lagged its peers in terms of its streaming revenue performance on Paramount+.\u00a0Other titles, such as \u201cLast Week Tonight,\u201d have generated multiple times more revenue than\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Late Show.\u201d\u00a0Adapting the late-night format to the new streaming-first reality can help the genre survive.<\/p>\n
The post Colbert\u2019s \u2018Late Show\u2019 Generated $60 Million in Streaming Revenue Since 2021, Less Than Kimmel, Fallon and Meyers | Charts<\/a> appeared first on TheWrap<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CBS announced on July 17 that\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Late Show with Stephen Colbert\u201d is being cancelled and \u201cThe Late Show\u201d will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[35415,88,4208,10674,16522],"class_list":["post-44526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-christopher-smith","tag-entertainment","tag-paramount","tag-stephen-colbert","tag-the-late-show"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}