Following the departure of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Comics Unleashed host Byron Allen Entertainment is positioning his show as the network’s next late-night solution. Allen, a comedian-turned-media-mogul, spoke with Puck Media about how he feels his approach will be a worthy competitor for a late night audience.
What We Know: Comics Unleashed has been on the air since September. Despite its relative youth, the show is reportedly already outperforming veteran competition. According to Allen, Nielsen data shows the program beats Seth Meyers on NBC in 43 of 56 markets. Meyers, notably, has been on air for more than a decade with NBC. Furthermore, Allen stated that Comics Unleashed boasts a 97% commercial break retention rate. A figure that stands well above the industry norm for comparable talk shows.
What They Said: Byron Allen on the approach to Comics Unleashed: “I said to the comedians, ‘I don’t want any political humor. I don’t want any racist humor, homophobic humor, antisemitic humor, sexist humor. Just do good, clean comedy that’s relatable and makes everybody feel included.’ Comedy built everything that has been built in media. Who gave us streaming? Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler. Comedy builds everything.”
Byron Allen on why his program works for the current status of late night television: “Late night is about a $500 million to $600 million-a-year business. Now we are two-thirds of that business. What you can’t do is spend $110 million to $120 million on Colbert. Then $30 million to $40 million on After Midnight. It doesn’t work if you’re spending $150 million to $170 million on content and promotion. So let me pay you millions of dollars. Let me deliver you two shows that we already know are doing well.”
What Remains Unclear: While Allen states he’s seeing success in a number of markets, his program did follow Colbert’s program on CBS. Colbert, as the highest rated late night host, did provide a proven lead in. That’s compared to now with local news as the lead in. The agreement with CBS and Allen also has not been officially revealed in terms or financial.
What It Means: It will be interesting to see how the Late Show audience gravitates to Allen’s program at first. While late night programming is becoming less of a destination for the live product, it will be interesting to see if digitally it can grow as well. There is also the political impact of this. If a no politics approach to late night comedy works, could the other shows take notice? Could they adapt for changing viewer appetite. Consequently, if CBS is looking to cut costs without sacrificing performance, Allen’s argument is difficult to ignore based on his own figures.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
