Is Late-Night TV Dying? Josh Peck and Ben Soffer Weigh In on Why No One’s Watching Anymore

When’s the last time you actually watched late-night TV? Like, genuinely sat down at 11:30 p.m. to watch Jimmy Fallon interview someone promoting a movie you’ll never see? If you’re under 35, the answer is probably “literally never” or “when I was staying at my parents’ house and they still had cable.” While boomers argue about whether hosts get “too political,” the real issue is way simpler—late-night TV is just broken, and everyone’s been too polite to say it out loud.

On Good Guys, hosts Josh Peck and Ben Soffer break down exactly why the late-night model is dead—and why nobody’s really mourning it.

Josh Peck and Ben Soffer Say Late-Night TV Is Dying

It’s not politics, it’s the paychecks

Every time a late-night host leaves or gets cut, the internet explodes with hot takes about whether they’re “too political.” But as Peck points out, that’s missing the point. “It has very little to do with that,” he says. What actually matters is the dough. Networks are paying late-night hosts massive salaries, and in today’s media landscape, those price tags just don’t add up.

Soffer agrees. “It’s all about money,” he says, pointing out that if a show is profitable, it stays—politics aside. “If you are woke and you make the network money, they’re going to pour money at you.” 

The receipts back them up. Stephen Colbert’s Late Show—the last late-night program to consistently pull more than two million viewers—was canceled this year despite being number one in its category. CBS pulled James Corden’s slot entirely, replacing it with After Midnight, which also just got axed after one season. Meanwhile, Fallon and Kimmel are both pulling under 1.5 million viewers a night, a fraction of what late-night used to deliver.

It’s not just TV. Howard Stern has reportedly been raking in about $100 million a year at SiriusXM for nearly two decades—that’s close to $2 billion total. But rumors are swirling that his contract won’t be renewed. Peck spells it out: It’s not about politics or reputation, it’s about profitability. “If Alex Cooper is making more money than Howard Stern and Alex Cooper is being paid less money than Howard Stern, then the smart thing for SiriusXM today would be to pay Alex Cooper and not pay Howard Stern,” Soffer adds. 

Nobody’s watching anymore

Money’s only half the story. Even if networks wanted to keep writing those massive checks, the audience just isn’t there anymore. “I’m not turning on Late Night at night,” says Soffer. “I’m scrolling TikTok for a half hour…and going to sleep. Or I’m watching a TV show on Netflix. I’m not watching Late Night.”

That’s not just his vibe—it’s a whole generational shift. According to Axios, ad revenue for major late-night TV has dropped more than 50 percent since 2014, and more than 60 percent from its 2016 peak, economic proof that fewer people are tuning in. As for why? Soffer suggests the core late-night audience is literally aging out. “The people who like to watch late night are also dying,” he says, pointing out that the format still relies on boomers who grew up with Johnny Carson and David Letterman.

And while late-night bleeds viewers, podcasts are exploding, now pulling in over 120 million listeners each month in the U.S., as streaming and social platforms eat up the cultural conversation late-night used to own.

So what actually works now?

The answer is pretty obvious if you look at where celebrities go to promote their projects these days. “These A-listers are going on podcasts. They respect podcasts just as much as they respect Fallon,” Soffer points out. “Like when McConaughey was promoting his new book, he went on Two Bears One Cave. Like it’s Matthew McConaughey. If he’s going on podcasts, that means that he values podcasts just as much as he values Late Night.”

And why wouldn’t they? Podcasts solve every problem that makes late-night TV unwatchable. Instead of seven rushed minutes of canned promotional material, podcasters can have actual conversations. “The problem is that podcasting, and now that it’s video, it’s just a better format,” Peck explains. “We know that the seven minutes that Anne Hathaway or Meryl Streep gets is going to be this canned prepared conversation because they don’t have time to deviate.”

The economics make more sense too. Podcasts don’t need massive studios, house bands, or writing staffs. They just need interesting conversations that people actually want to consume, which explains why podcast listenership keeps growing while late-night viewership keeps shrinking.

As Soffer asks: “What is late night doing for you that we’re not doing for you?” It’s a question networks still can’t answer convincingly, which is exactly why late-night TV isn’t just dying—it’s already dead. The rest of the industry is just catching up to what audiences figured out years ago.

Listen to the full breakdown on Good Guys, streaming now on all podcast platforms.

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