- The suspension of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!' exemplifies the fragile state of late-night TV.
- Late-night hosts have come under increasing pressure from Trump and his allies in government.
- Networks are grappling with declining ratings and local broadcast stations wielding their power.
The lights are dimming on late-night TV, and Jimmy Kimmel's suspension by ABC is the latest reminder of a fading era.
Once the crown jewel of network television, the format faces pressure on multiple fronts. Hosts have become the target of Trump and his allies, who don't find their satirical jokes funny and want them off the air. At the same time, late-night shows are grappling with declining ratings and ad revenue as audiences shift away from linear TV viewing to streaming and social media.
On Wednesday, Disney's ABC said it had pulled "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" off the air indefinitely. The suspension came following comments Kimmel made on Monday's show about Charlie Kirk's assassination and President Donald Trump's reaction to his death.
The mocking monologue drew a backlash from the Federal Communications Commission and partner companies that own ABC affiliate stations. Brendan Carr, Trump's appointee as chair of the FCC, condemned Kimmel's comments as "the sickest conduct possible" and warned that ABC's affiliate licenses could come under review. Nexstar and Sinclair said they would yank the show from the ABC affiliate stations they own. These stations carry ABC programming under contract — and pay ABC lucrative fees — but aren't owned by the network itself.
Kimmel's suspension marks the latest flash point for network television's after-dark lineup. In July, CBS said "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" would be canceled after next year, a decision it said was financial. Multiple outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, reported the show was losing about $40 million a year.
"That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC," Trump wrote on Truth Social late Wednesday, referring to NBC late-night show hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, in a post cheering Kimmel's suspension. "Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!"
Network executives must make complex calculations regarding late-night programming in order to serve several constituents at once: audiences, advertisers, local station groups, and the government.
"It's a really difficult position to be in," said Jason Damata, CEO of Fabric Media, a marketing and communications consultancy. "It's easy for people to go, 'Disney is bending to the will,' but it's operating in a really complex business environment."
Going forward, the big question for media conglomerates like Disney and NBCUniversal — which own properties ranging from streaming services to theme parks — is whether keeping late-night shows around is worth the heat.
Late-night numbers are looking sleepy
At their peak, shows like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," which came off-air in the 1990s, and "The Late Show with David Letterman," which aired its final episode in 2015, could pull in audiences of more than 10 million viewers. In the second quarter of this year, Colbert averaged around 2.42 million viewers and Kimmel 1.77 million, according to Nielsen.
As audiences have decreased across late-night, so have the ad dollars.
Advertiser spending on late-night shows on linear broadcasts across ABC, CBS, and NBC dropped to $221 million in 2024, down from $439 million in 2018, according to Guideline, an analytics firm that aggregates data from the world's largest media-buying agencies.
Madison and Wall media analyst Brian Wieser estimates that news and current affairs programming, which includes late-night, represents a "low double-digit share of ad revenue" for the industry, somewhere in the mid-single digit billions of dollars. The situation could soon get worse as the US government plans to step up its enforcement of pharmaceutical ads on TV, a key constituent for TV news advertising.
"Having a highly paid star with falling ratings and a questionable ad appeal is never a good mix," said Ian Whittaker, an independent media analyst.
Despite the dwindling numbers, late-night shows like Kimmel's maintained cultural appeal and still served as branding vehicles for networks and advertisers alike. Kimmel, a four-time host of the Oscars, which air on ABC, is also a key figure for Disney beyond his eponymous talk show.
According to the TV measurement firm iSpot, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" delivered ads for more than 200 brands, generating ABC just under $70 million in revenue year-to-date. Top-spenders on the show included major brands such as Allstate, McDonald's, and Starbucks. ABC also used 12% of its Kimmel ad inventory to advertise its other shows, per iSpot.
While late-night shows might not lead the network ratings, clips of snarky monologues and comedy sketches often go viral across social media, marketing that the networks hope will entice people to sign up for their digital subscription services.
The heavy hand of politics
When weighing the pros and cons of late-night in 2025, politics has clearly been the major shift in the calculation.
Unlike cable TV or streaming, broadcast channels are subject to FCC regulation. That's particularly relevant in an era of media consolidation, since the FCC needs to sign off on deals involving broadcast stations.
Nexstar, the owner of ABC affiliate stations, certainly wants to avoid being in the government's crosshairs. It's seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion deal to acquire Tegna, a combination that would make Nexstar the biggest local TV station owner in the US.
And what Nexstar says matters to ABC.
"The station groups have consolidated enough to have a real voice," Damata said.
The political environment leaves late-night and broader current affairs and news programming in a tight spot, where the risks to media giants could outweigh their benefits.
"The late-night format as we've known it was certainly at risk prior to this year, and those risks are certainly more existential in the current environment," said Wieser, the Madison and Wall analyst.
As to the future of late-night shows, some are hoping streamers like Netflix will be saviors.
"Netflix, call me, I'm available in June," Colbert quipped in one of his "Late Show" broadcasts in August. "I will also entertain offers from Amazon."
