• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 8 hours ago

If late-night broadcast TV comedy shows go away, what could pick up the slack -- in terms of viewership and brand advertising buying that content?

Other than the announcement that CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is ending next year because of what parent Paramount Skydance said about financial losses at the show, right now we don’t have much insight into other future late-night shows on broadcast TV.

CBS has not disclosed replacement plans for the “The Late Show” -- yet.

This puts some attention on NBC’s “Tonight with Jimmy Fallon” and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” -- with the likely guess that these shows could be in a similar financial situation. And possibly take a similar path.

Kimmel was suspended for a week following remarks in a monologue about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

But unlike what happened with Colbert, Kimmel returned to his spot on the schedule. Still, this doesn’t mean ABC would not -- perhaps in a few weeks -- announce that it would be pulling the plug anyway.

Financial issues aside for these programs, the positive is that from an advertising perspective, networks get premium pricing for brands due to shows’ live or live-to-tape nature.

In addition, these shows also skew to a highly desired, but hard-to-get younger audience -- something young-focused advertisers desire.

So what replaces these shows -- either on the schedule, or when it comes to boosting live TV programming in other spots on the schedule?

Naturally, much attention goes to sports. But increasingly, networks are considering somewhat lower-interest sports programming than the NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball variety.

For example, soon after the announced cancellation of “The Late Show,” Paramount Skydance announced a long-term $7.7 billion media rights deal for programmer UFC. 

Even modest-sized TV broadcast networks continue to add what many might assume are fringe sports programs. Adding to its list of college-based and other sports, The CW just announced a deal with the Professional Bowlers Association.

So what else? Anything non-sports related -- like those late-night shows? 

News content can be live and highly rated. Fox News Channel and other cable TV network networks would attest to that. 

What about entertainment award shows? CBS, for the first time, recently aired “The 2025 MTV Video Music Awards” (along with MTV) -- a show that had been airing on MTV exclusively or with other sister Paramount cable TV networks.

Looking at other non-sports content, networks have done live season finales of shows like “The Voice” and “American Idol.” In recent years, networks also aired live onstage Broadway shows.

But all this doesn’t currently seem to provide enough live, linear advertising inventory for those brands that would be willing to step up and pay for the premium content.

Even then, some of this live content has moved to streaming platforms.

So, are broadcasters looking for live non-sports TV content out of ideas? 

YouTube-style podcasts, anyone?