How the end of ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ could impact WBZ-TV and other local stations - The Boston Globe

The end of the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which will air its final episode on Thursday, is expected to bring in a large audience for CBS to cap off his recent run as the most watched late night program.

But the loss of the long-running show — which is being replaced by media executive Byron Allen’s comedy program “Comics Unleashed” — could also put a dent in the audience and revenue of WBZ-TV (Channel 4) and the network’s other owned local news stations and affiliates, that have relied on “The Late Show” to support viewership for their nightly newscasts.

Of course, the traditional broadcast audience has been declining for years, and even a programming change as large as the end of “Late Show” won’t have a seismic impact in an era of social media and streaming. But viewers still tune into the traditional broadcast, which generates advertising revenue for stations, and WBZ will be among the local outlets that will have to navigate a future without a popular late night show.

“Given the media environment, the bigger question is what this will do to the overall brand when viewers spend less time with the station at any time,” said Bill Fine, a former president and general manager for WCVB-TV (Channel 5). “Over time, that can weaken connection to the brand.”

A spokesperson for CBS and WBZ-TV declined to comment.

CBS announced last July that it would cancel “Late Show,” which premiered in 1993 with host David Letterman. The network has undergone considerable changes under new owner David Ellison, whose media company Skydance bought CBS parent company Paramount last year.

In addition to canceling “The Late Show,” Paramount acquired the digital news site The Free Press and named its founder, Bari Weiss — who had never worked in television news — as the editor-in-chief of CBS News. Paramount also has a deal in place to buy Warner Brothers, whose shareholders approved the merger last month. That move still needs regulatory approval.

Critics have viewed many of the changes at Paramount, including the decision to cancel frequent Donald Trump critic Colbert’s late night program, as part of a strategy to curry favor with Trump and federal regulators. CBS justified the decision last summer as “a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

While late night audiences have been declining, there are no signs that the other big network late night shows such as “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” are going anywhere.

That could hurt WBZ, but given that viewers consume TV programming in all sorts of ways, the effect may not be immediate.

“The impact is going to be more gradual and incremental than it would have been” in a different era, Fine said.

Late night shows have traditionally relied on local newscasts to keep viewers up and watching. But the relationship works both ways; talk show fans often tune in early to catch some of the news.

For years, the late night shows have started at 11:35 p.m. — giving the local stations a chance to eke out five extra minutes of news programming to also catch additional viewers tuning into the shows.

CBS is filling Colbert’s slot with episodes of “Comics Unleashed,” with Allen paying for the time slot. But it’s unlikely that it will attract the same viewership of “The Late Show.” Bill Carter — a former New York Times media reporter who is now editor-at-large of the digital news outlet Latenighter, which covers late night programming — reported that local affiliates can continue to sell ads during “Comics Unleashed,” but “those spots will be less valuable” because fewer viewers are expected to tune in.

“Head to head, CBS affiliates will not be able to get the premium for late night that they historically had with Letterman and now Colbert,” said Fine, referring to advertisement buys.

The loss of “The Late Show” could provide an opportunity for WBZ, said T.J. Winick, a former reporter and anchor for WBZ-TV and ABC News.

“They’re really going to be on their own,” said Winick. “Now is the time to take some risk in order to hold onto as many viewers as you can.”

Despite the decline in late night audiences for local news — a Pew Research Center study found that it declined 7 percent between 2021 and 2023 — the “the 11 p.m. newscast is here to stay for a while,” Winick said.

“Can WBZ create some must-see TV?” he said. “Can they create a reason for people to stick around for the entire newscast?”

Aidan Ryan can be reached at aidan.ryan@globe.com. Follow him @aidanfitzryan.