That's a shame...
By Alienating Republican Viewers, Colbert Falls to 3rd Place
Colbert has successfully alienated self-described Republicans
November 21, 2015
Daniel Greenfield
The only funny thing about Colbert may be how badly he's failing on CBS. CBS got used to being in 2nd place with Letterman. They assumed Colbert would keep them in 2nd place. Instead he's down to 3rd.
Over the first six weeks since launching, Colbert beat Kimmel by an impressive 40 percent in the demo. But the week of October 19-23 saw Kimmel win the week over Colbert during his now-annual trek to Brooklyn, pushing the CBS host down to third place. The following week, Colbert beat Kimmel, but only by seven percent (“only” because the margin was once 40 percent a few weeks ago). And in the first week on November (2nd-6th), Kimmel won again over Colbert, besting him by 5% in both adults in the key 18-49 rating (0.60 vs. 0.57) and total viewers (2.626 million vs. 2.492 million). That’s a 45-point swing… a disturbing trend for CBS that won’t likely suddenly change now that the Late Show has settled in.
Joe Concha's take at Mediate is that Colbert alienated Republicans.
Consequently, according to a Hollywood Reporter poll just released, Colbert has successfully alienated self-described Republicans who see what’s being offered on a nightly basis and exploring or staying with other options. And with the country as polarized as it is, the host is thereby saying goodbye to half his potential audience, which can’t be a sound business model.
Per The Hollywood Reporter‘s survey of 1000 late-night viewers aged 18-65, only 17 percent of those identified themselves as Republican watch Colbert, while attracting 47 percent of those who identify as Democrats, a 30-point gap. But more liberals watch late-night TV than stuffy, old conservatives, right? Guess again. In Kimmel’s case, the split is 34 percent Democrats, 33 percent Republicans. In Fallon’s case, it’s 36-31 Democrats.
Why so even-keeled? Because Kimmel and Fallon go through great lengths to be apolitical. To equally mock or simply find other props and topics to use for comedy outside of political humor...
Kind of a problem. Especially when fighting over an audience this small. And it is a very small audience.
...
To some degree, Colbert faces the same problems as Obama or Bernie Sanders. Narrow passionate audiences made them national figures at the expense of more talented people. But they never learned to play at that level. And smugness only takes you so far. Without that same lefty base propping him up, Colbert collapsed. It's why Obama doesn't even try to go mainstream, but sticks to pandering to the nutroots. If he tried to pull a Bill Clinton, he would have completely imploded long ago without the support of the media and the left to protect him from his disasters.
By Alienating Republican Viewers, Colbert Falls to 3rd Place
By Alienating Republican Viewers, Colbert Falls to 3rd Place
Colbert has successfully alienated self-described Republicans
November 21, 2015
Daniel Greenfield
The only funny thing about Colbert may be how badly he's failing on CBS. CBS got used to being in 2nd place with Letterman. They assumed Colbert would keep them in 2nd place. Instead he's down to 3rd.
Over the first six weeks since launching, Colbert beat Kimmel by an impressive 40 percent in the demo. But the week of October 19-23 saw Kimmel win the week over Colbert during his now-annual trek to Brooklyn, pushing the CBS host down to third place. The following week, Colbert beat Kimmel, but only by seven percent (“only” because the margin was once 40 percent a few weeks ago). And in the first week on November (2nd-6th), Kimmel won again over Colbert, besting him by 5% in both adults in the key 18-49 rating (0.60 vs. 0.57) and total viewers (2.626 million vs. 2.492 million). That’s a 45-point swing… a disturbing trend for CBS that won’t likely suddenly change now that the Late Show has settled in.
Joe Concha's take at Mediate is that Colbert alienated Republicans.
Consequently, according to a Hollywood Reporter poll just released, Colbert has successfully alienated self-described Republicans who see what’s being offered on a nightly basis and exploring or staying with other options. And with the country as polarized as it is, the host is thereby saying goodbye to half his potential audience, which can’t be a sound business model.
Per The Hollywood Reporter‘s survey of 1000 late-night viewers aged 18-65, only 17 percent of those identified themselves as Republican watch Colbert, while attracting 47 percent of those who identify as Democrats, a 30-point gap. But more liberals watch late-night TV than stuffy, old conservatives, right? Guess again. In Kimmel’s case, the split is 34 percent Democrats, 33 percent Republicans. In Fallon’s case, it’s 36-31 Democrats.
Why so even-keeled? Because Kimmel and Fallon go through great lengths to be apolitical. To equally mock or simply find other props and topics to use for comedy outside of political humor...
Kind of a problem. Especially when fighting over an audience this small. And it is a very small audience.
...
To some degree, Colbert faces the same problems as Obama or Bernie Sanders. Narrow passionate audiences made them national figures at the expense of more talented people. But they never learned to play at that level. And smugness only takes you so far. Without that same lefty base propping him up, Colbert collapsed. It's why Obama doesn't even try to go mainstream, but sticks to pandering to the nutroots. If he tried to pull a Bill Clinton, he would have completely imploded long ago without the support of the media and the left to protect him from his disasters.
By Alienating Republican Viewers, Colbert Falls to 3rd Place
