CBS Ratings Sink 87% After Byron Allen's Comics Unleashed Replaces Colbert

10 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 29

CBS's late-night audience has now fallen 87% since Byron Allen's "Comics Unleashed" took over Stephen Colbert's former 11:35 p.m. slot, worsening from the roughly 85% drop reported after its debut.
995,000 viewers watched the first half-hour premiere, with 116,000 in adults 18-49, leaving the show behind NBC's "The Tonight Show" at 1.5 million and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" at 1.6 million.
Allen has said he is not trying to replace Colbert or keep his audience; under the CBS arrangement, he keeps most ad revenue while effectively renting the slot and making few creative changes to the long-running syndicated format.
The replacement followed Colbert's exit from a show that had dominated ratings, turning the programming shift into a test of whether CBS prioritized merger politics and cost structure over late-night audience retention.

Is Byron Allen's profitable but low-rated show a bold new future for late-night, or just a temporary fix for CBS?

With dismal national ratings, can claimed local market success prove Allen's revolutionary TV model is the real winner?