Byron Allen, Stephen Colbert’s CBS replacement, responded to the Daily Beast’s report that his new show was a “ratings disaster” for the network.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Monday, Allen, 65, was reportedly “not fazed” by his show’s 85% decline in viewership following Colbert’s historic exit in May.
The final episode of The Late Show attracted 6.7 million viewers—its highest-ever weeknight viewership—and the next night at 11:35 pm, Allen’s Comics Unleashed garnered just 995,000 viewers. On June 1, the first day when rival late-night hosts aired new episodes following Colbert’s exit, Comics Unleashed dropped to only 628,000 viewers.
Defending the numbers, Allen claimed that his show was more comparable to Colbert’s prior to his “post-cancellation victory lap.” However, The Late Show averaged more than double the viewers of Comics Unleashed last May, according to Nielsen data obtained by LateNighter.
Allen also declared that his show “bested the competition” in key TV markets, referencing a cherry-picked chart he published after his CBS debut. Despite his claims, The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and even Late Night with Seth Meyers consistently outperform in the same timeslot.
Above all else, however, Allen believes his show is a win for the network purely on financial grounds.
“CBS has won big-time because they have zero production costs and now they are saving $55 million a year,” he told the L.A. Times.
Through a unique ‘time-buy’ agreement, Allen leases the 11:35 timeslot from CBS for $15 million, allowing him to sell his show directly to advertisers for his own profit. The media mogul also leases the subsequent 12:35 timeslot, but “declined to reveal how much he paid for that airtime.”
The network, too, whose ousting of Colbert, 62, was a “purely financial decision,” has touted the money-making partnership with Allen, in which the billionaire media mogul leases the time slot from CBS.
“We’re proud to partner with Byron Allen on a new business and programming model for late night that proactively addresses a network daypart that was cost-prohibitive to continue,” CBS said in a statement last week. “With this ‘time buy’ model, we have shifted an hour that was losing roughly $40 million annually to $15 million in profit—a $55 million swing."
Allen, whose panel show features a laugh track, has been panned for its low-budget, inoffensive brand of comedy, and even mocked by Last Week Tonight Host John Oliver, remains steadfast in his media prowess.
“I like to say I’m a 65-year-old overnight success,” he quipped, declaring he is on his way to “building the world’s biggest media company.”
