26 replies to this topic

[todd]

"6.74 million viewers on CBS, according to Nielsen preliminarily numbers": https://www.thewrap....atings-viewers/

Nielsen ratings don't include YouTube other than live YouTube TV. Another 5.1 million for his opening monologue not aired live, so far to date on YouTube.

[dasmo]

The latest Mr. Beast YouTube video has 10x those views. With 1/10 the production costs. Times have changed. His style of clowning belongs in politics. That’s where he will end up most likely.

[Victoria Watcher]

CBS says that it now expects to turn a $15 million profit on late night, thanks to Byron Allen‘s time buy of the former Late Show timeslot.

 

In a statement late Thursday, a CBS spokesperson said that late night had become “cost prohibitive” to continue programming on its own, which ultimately led to the decision to cancel Stephen Colbert’s Late Show.

 

“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,” the CBS spokesperson said. “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.”

 

https://www.hollywoo...how-1236608390/

 

The comments come as Allen’s Comics Unleashed debuted to about 1.1 million viewers, a significant decline from the Late Show, which averaged 2.7 million in its final season. The time buy model, however, means that Allen’s company is covering all the production costs, and paying CBS for the privilege of running in the time period, effectively making it instantly profitable for the network. Allen’s company sells advertising for the timeslot, which can help it recoup those costs.

 

Allen had told The Hollywood Reporter of his talks with CBS, “I have a show called Comics Unleashed, it’s been in syndication on the air for 20 years. We’re celebrating our 20th anniversary. I said, ‘Let me put that show there and let me buy the time period. I can save you $30 million-$40 million.’ They said, ‘Brilliant idea, let’s do it.’”

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 May 2026 - 08:58 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Comics Unleashed is a half-hour late-night comedy panel show produced by the Entertainment Studios production company and hosted by Byron Allen, with John Cramer as announcer and DJ Cobra or sometimes DJ A1 providing music support. It originally ran from 2006 to 2016 in syndication, and also ran on CBS from mid-September 2023 to mid-January 2024 to fill the former time slot of The Late Late Show with James Corden until its permanent replacement After Midnight could begin.

It returned to the same time slot on CBS, starting late night September 22, 2025 (early morning September 23), due to After Midnight being canceled.^[2]

Effective May 22, 2026, Comics Unleashed moved to the 11:35 PM time slot vacated by the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. CBS sold the time slot to Byron Allen's Allen Media Group via a time buy agreement. The 12:37 AM slot, was taken by another Allen Media property, the game show Funny You Should Ask, hosted by Jon Kelley.

 

https://en.wikipedia...omics_Unleashed

[Victoria Watcher]

Robot:

 

 

Byron Allen's net worth is estimated at approximately \(\$1 \text{ billion}\), according to major industry trackers like Celebrity Net Worth, though other financial publications like Bloomberg have historically placed his liquid valuation closer to \(\$735 \text{ million}\)

 

Allen Media Group: Founded in 1993 as Entertainment Studios, the conglomerate owns hundreds of local broadcast affiliates, multiple cable networks, and The Weather Channel (which he acquired for \(\$300 \text{ million}\) in 2018).

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 May 2026 - 09:01 PM.

[Mike K.]

I don’t know if anyone under 55 knows what any of this means.

[todd]

Isn't this called "paid programming"? Like the ShamWow.

Edited by todd, 29 May 2026 - 03:45 AM.