We’re well into the throes of the 2026 Fall TV season at this point, which means there are some tangible numbers in regards to what late night programs have been doing since Stephen Colbert said goodbye to audiences last spring. We know numbers had been up for the Jimmys – and particularly for Jimmy Kimmel – and that has remained true as fall TV returned. We also now know Colbert’s replacement is less popular than The Late Show. Unfortunately, it probably doesn’t matter. Let’s talk it out.
No Surprise, Jimmy Kimmel Is Crushing On Late Night
When Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel were both doing their thing in the late night sector, there was a lot of political conversation going on (and you can throw Seth Meyers into that mix, too). Once The Late Show was axed, Kimmel mainly took up the mantle for skewering President Donald Trump, and that has led to responses from the White House calling him “devoid of talent” and more.
This has actually led to an increase in ratings. According to September Nielsen reports, the late night series is averaging over 3 million total viewers an episode since its return to the schedule after Kimmel’s summer break. (Over the summer, Tiffany Haddish and others filled in. Things did not chill out.) He’s also up in the coveted 18-49 advertising demo 59%, which translates to about 336,000 viewers.
Fallon stayed relatively even, with about a 3% loss in viewers between August and September; however, he does significantly fewer viewers than Kimmel at this point, pulling in around 1.5 million total viewers an episode. His late night follow-up Seth Meyers was up a bunch last month after weeks of summer repeats, similar to Kimmel, though he also has a significantly smaller total viewership at a bit over a million an episode. Which brings me to CBS.
How Is Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen Doing In The Old Late Show Slot?
What’s going on at CBS is a completely different story than the traditional late night shows. We know the final episode of The Late Show drew 6.7 million total viewers. Of course, that was an outlier, but prior to its cancelation The Late Show was averaging about 2.7 million viewers in Live+ 7 Day ratings (as in the delayed viewing that occurs after the episode initially airs).
In September, Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen averaged 787,0000 viewers. This was a modest 3% increase in viewers, but it pales in comparison to what The Late Show was doing in the spring. You’d think CBS might be upset about the change, but there’s a big reason I doubt that’s true.
That reason is none other than the overhead. CBS considers Allen’s show to be a big $55 million win no matter what the numbers are. We’ve run down how this operation works before, but the gist is that Comics Unleashed is basically leasing the timeslot from the Eye Network for a cool $15 million and is also producing its own show and filling its own ad slots, so the overhead is theirs to deal with.
Meanwhile, CBS sees this as a win-win, because not only are they getting paid to put the show on the air, they no longer have the overhead from The Late Show (and its myriad staff and massive budget) to contend with. David Letterman has referred to this as the network not wanting to “spend any money.” Meanwhile, CBS has said Colbert’s show was losing them money, and now they are gaining money even in the face of losing relevance. They seemingly see this as a win-win.
I’d assume for Allen, as long as the show is recouping whatever budget they are putting in, and making a little bit of profit, it’s enough for now. Even if the show isn’t as popular as the traditional late night format, I think the goal would be for Comics Unleashed to make a little money (and maybe one day quite a bit of money) in its timeslot despite a lower budget and lessoned expectations. With hundreds of thousands of viewers, hopefully the show is achieving that goal. But that’s a story for different day.
