Is CBS Lying – Or Just Incompetent?

 

 

Ok, explain this to me. I didn’t watch it, but the CBS Late, Late Show with James Corden went broke. The television network announced the late-night franchise format is dead.   

I do not understand how or why.  

You film a show that takes an hour with commercials. It is in a studio that the network presumably owns. You have some staff and one host. No special effects. A chair, a desk, a mic — and a parade of free celebrity guests. How is it not profitable?  

The network publicly cried it had over $65 million in expenses. For 138 new episodes a year? That is almost half a million for 48 minutes of joke-telling. Say what?  

According to reports, Corden's salary for hosting The Late, Late Show was around $6 million per year. This figure obviously doesn't include any additional income he's earned from other ventures, such as acting, producing, or endorsing products. How did CBS burn through the other $59 million?  

I also don’t understand that it only had $45 million in revenue. That would mean they only take in less than $200,000 per night (includes re-runs). One 30-second spot must fetch at least that, no? There is at least 12 minutes of commercial time in that hour. That is 24 commercials. They get less than $8,900 per commercial? I don’t think so.  

Now, granted the show gets lousy ratings, averaging 800,000 viewers a night. But advertisers should be paying more than a penny per viewer, no?  

By contrast, Super Bowl ads cost $7M a spot for 100,000,000 viewers, or seven cents per viewer. That rate is seven times higher than what The Late, Late Show got.   

Is the network lying?  

If not, it is just plain incompetent.   

And apparently the show’s striking writers don’t make shit, so what is going on here?  

Charge more for ads; reduce fluff expenses; cut the host’s salary — and get your act together.   

Folks, sorry that I have no answers, but there is some Hollywood math going on here — and there are two groups that suffer as s result: fans/viewers and the writers.  It is just pathetic.

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.