Business
Trump’s threats against late-night TV could spell more trouble for advertisers
A sign is displayed outside the El Capitan Entertainment Centre in Hollywood where the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show will be recorded on the first night the show will return to the ABC lineup on September 23, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Late-night television has come under fire in recent months. That could leave advertisers and media companies, already clinging to what’s left on live TV, with an even smaller pool of options.
The recent upheaval in late-night programming — namely the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and the temporary suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” — has shown a spotlight on ratings and revenue for late-night standouts and spurred questions of political influence.
President Donald Trump, aggressively vocal about both Colbert’s and Kimmel’s bad fortune, has called for late-night shows on NBC hosted by Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers to be next on the chopping block.
The result is not just uncertainty for viewers, TV executives and show staffs, but a pall over an advertising category that’s long been a staple of live TV.
“Reaching a lot of people who are engaged because it’s live TV — or live-to-tape — is really important, and when you think about it from the media company’s perspective … the live moments are live sports on most given nights, the nightly news and late-night talk shows. That’s all you have,” said Kevin Krim, CEO of ad data firm EDO.
“To the people who think late night doesn’t matter, they’re not thinking about the economics and the goals and the incentives of both the advertisers and the media companies. They’re ignoring some of the strategic value of the ecosystem,” he added.
When Disney’s ABC pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air in September, it was unclear for days if or when the program would return. While Disney reinstated Kimmel less than a week later, more than 20% of the country still couldn’t watch the show for three additional days as two major broadcast station owners preempted the content.
Colbert’s show will end next year after CBS parent Paramount announced in July it wouldn’t renew the program, citing financial considerations. The company has yet to reveal plans to fill the timeslot or give it back to the affiliate network owner.
The fervor around Colbert’s upcoming cancellation caused a temporary ratings surge, and Kimmel’s suspension led the show to rake in millions of viewers upon its return — way above the average and a missed opportunity for advertisers in the markets where Kimmel was preempted.
Late-night draw
Traditional TV viewership has decreased as the audience opts for streaming. But live content still garners the biggest ratings, which includes late-night talk shows.
As a result, late-night shows remain a valuable time slot for advertisers, especially for a younger demographic.
“Late-night may not draw the same mass audiences it once did, but the viewers who tune in are highly intentional. For advertisers, that makes the space less about sheer scale and more about reaching a consistent, engaged community,” said Julie Clark, longtime ad industry executive and current senior vice president of media and entertainment at TransUnion.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was considered among the top 10 of ABC’s best vehicles for advertising reach, with the show delivering 2.5% of the network’s total ad exposures, or 11.8 billion national TV impressions, according to ad measurement firm iSpot.
According to EDO, in order to generate as much ad impact as one ad in the late-night comedy broadcast programs — that’s Kimmel, Fallon, Meyers and Colbert — advertisers would need to air, on average, about four spots across competitive late-night programming this year. In this case, competitive late-night programming means everything aired on broadcast and cable TV, excluding the late-night hosts, during these time slots.
Brands launching new products still get their best success from live TV commercials, according to ad industry executives.
But advertisers have begun to cut back on ad spending in the face of macroeconomic headwinds and trade uncertainty. Recently, eMarketer and the Interactive Advertising Bureau each released reports projecting a pullback in ad spending, not just for TV but also digital and streaming, due to higher costs for companies brought on by tariffs.
As advertisers trim spend and Trump puts late night in his crosshairs, the costs of these TV programs are coming under the microscope.
Weighing the costs
Media companies’ priorities have shifted to building out their streaming platforms in a push for profits. Pay TV networks still make the majority of the profits, but that number is shrinking.
“Generally speaking, viewership of late night talk shows has been low compared to what they once were, but it’s less about a specific host or show and more about the shift in how people consume television,” said Vicky Chang, vice president of media at Tatari, a TV ad platform.
Paramount said in July its move to end Colbert was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” Kimmel’s show will face another test when his contract comes up in 2026.
“Late-night TV and daytime morning shows used to be two of the most profitable areas of TV, more so than sports because of the big sports rights fees. Networks typically made a huge amount of money,” said Jonathan Miller, longtime senior media industry executive who serves as CEO of Integrated Media. “Initially late-night shows weren’t very expensive, but the costs have gone up. But ratings have declined so it’s less profitable – and hosts still want a lot of money.”
The focus for media companies is increasingly on content that guarantees big live audiences — by and large, live sports. This has led to hefty spending on sports rights over other kinds of content.
Weeks after Colbert said this season would be his final, the newly merged Paramount Skydance announced a $7.7 billion media rights deal with UFC. ABC parent Disney and NBCUniversal last year signed a new media rights deal with the NBA worth $77 billion over 11 years.
Media companies are also facing the daunting cost of rising political pressure.
Trump and Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr have ramped up scrutiny of media companies during the president’s second term in office.
Last year ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library to settle a lawsuit over comments by TV anchor George Stephanopoulos that Trump called defamatory. And this summer Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit over the editing of a CBS “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Weeks after that settlement, Paramount and Skydance won federal approval for their long-awaited merger.
Colbert later referred to Paramount’s settlement as a “big fat bribe” during one of his show’s opening monologues. Soon after, the company announced the future end date of the late-night show.
Disney’s suspension of Kimmel came on the heels of comments by the FCC’s Carr that suggested affiliate ABC stations could lose their broadcast licenses if they aired content that was against the “public interest.” Trump made a similar threat regarding the broadcast networks that he said are “against” him.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.
Business
UPI transaction in September slip below 2 billlion but daily average up – The Times of India
MUMBAI: UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transactions in September 2025 continued to show strong momentum, with growth evident in both daily transaction counts and values. While the total number of transactions for the month dipped slightly compared to August, the average daily data—adjusted for the shorter 30-day September—indicates a clear upward trend in activity on the platform.UPI processed 19.63 billion transactions in September, marginally lower than the 20.01 billion recorded in August. In value terms, the platform saw Rs 24.90 lakh crore transacted, almost flat compared to Rs 24.85 lakh crore in August. On a month-on-month basis, this translated into a 1.9% decline in volume but a 0.2% increase in value. The fall in aggregate numbers was largely due to September having one fewer day than August, making the daily averages more representative of underlying growth.On an average daily basis, UPI handled 654 million transactions worth Rs 83,000 crore each day in September. This marked a 1.37% increase in daily transaction count compared to August’s 645 million and a sharper 3.54% rise in daily value from Rs 80,160 crore. The stronger rise in value relative to volume indicates a growth in average ticket size, with users transacting higher amounts per payment in September. July’s daily averages were lower at 628 million transactions and Rs 80,900 crore, showing a clear three-month progression.The year-on-year picture remains more robust. September’s total transaction volume was 31% higher than the same month last year, while August had posted 34% growth. In value terms, both August and September registered 21% growth over their respective 2024 levels. These double-digit gains underscore the platform’s continued expansion and deepening integration into everyday payments.
Last Updated:
RBI launches continuous clearing and settlement for CTS-enabled cheques from October 04, enabling same-day clearance nationwide.
rom Tomorrow, Cheques Won’t Take 1–2 Days—Funds to Reflect in Hours
In a major overhaul, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is going away from the existing batch-processing model (which takes up to two working days). A new framework known as a continuous clearing and settlement on realization framework will become effective from tomorrow, October 04. It is Phase 2 of the major overhaul of the cheque clearing system across the country, which is divided in 2 phases.
The Continuous Clearing and Settlement on Realisation will ensure cheque clearance within a few hours, reduce settlement risks and improve efficiency and customer experience.
Instead of fixed-batch cycles, the cheques will be scanned, presented and cleared in real-time processing during business hours (10:00 Am to 4:00 PM).
This will help customers to get funds through cheques on the same day, typically within hours, reducing the typical 1–2 day wait. Note that this applies to all CTS-enabled cheques across India. There are no changes to physical cheque issuance rules.
Process Flow:
- Presenting banks scan and send cheque images/MICR data to the clearing house immediately upon receipt.
- The clearing house forwards these to drawee banks (the paying bank) in real-time.
- Drawee banks provide positive (honour) or negative (dishonour) confirmation.
- Settlements occur hourly until the end of the confirmation session (7:00 PM).
- Once settled, presenting banks must credit funds to customers’ accounts within one hour, subject to standard safeguards.
Phase 2 To Bring T+3 Settlement
Phase 2, which is expected to be implemented from January 03, 2026 onwards, will expedite the process faster. Phase 2 will introduce T+3 clearance hours (item expiry time), which means cheques presented 10:00–11:00 AM must be confirmed by 2:00 PM; unconfirmed ones are deemed approved at expiry.
This mechanism sets a strict timeline for drawee banks (the bank on which the cheque is drawn) to confirm whether a cheque is honoured or dishonoured, ensuring faster cheque clearance within hours on the same day.
T+3 refers to a time-bound process where a cheque presented to the clearing house must be confirmed (either honoured or dishonoured) by the drawee bank within three hours from the time of its presentation.
Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst…Read More
Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst… Read More
October 03, 2025, 14:42 IST
Read More
Business
‘Pawn in trade negotiation’: China refuses to buy US soybeans; Donald Trump admin plans support for farmers – The Times of India
American farmers are looking at losing billions of dollars as Chinese importers have refused to buy US soybeans due to tensions between the two nations. To ease the blow, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent announced that the government will be rolling out new support measures for the farming sector.Bessent told CNBC that the federal government stands behind the farming community, which backed President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. “We’ve got their backs,” he said.“It’s unfortunate that Chinese leadership has decided to use the American farmers, soybean farmers in particular, as a hostage or pawn in the trade negotiations,” Bessent told Reuters.Trump on Wednesday said that soybeans would be a major topic of discussion when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in four weeks.Bessent explained that buying American farm products is part of nearly every recent US trade deal. “So we’re going to see other countries substitute for China,” he said. However, despite efforts by the administration and the soybean industry, no other markets have come close to matching China’s usual purchase volumes. A record harvest has also added pressure on prices.Bessent said he met Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in the Oval Office on Wednesday. He asked farmers to expect “substantial support” to be announced on Tuesday, particularly for soybean growers. “On Tuesday, you’re going to see substantial support for the farmers, and we’re also going to be working with the Farm Credit Bureau to make sure that the farmers have what they need for next planting season,” he said.He added that an in-person meeting between Trump and Xi would help set the direction for future trade.“I think with President Trump’s leadership and his relationship – the respect party chair Xi has for him – that this round, which would be our fifth round of talks, should show a pretty big breakthrough,” Bessent said.
Only 14% of Americans use AI shoppers despite growing awareness: Study
Yamal back for Spain after club vs. country row
ASEAN manufacturing hits 14-month high in September
-
Tech1 week agoI’ve Reviewed Robot Vacuums for 8 Years. These Ones Actually Work
-
Tech1 week agoSave $50 on Our Favorite Budget Graphics Card
-
Tech1 week agoMicrosoft offers no-cost Windows 10 lifeline
-
Tech1 week agoTop Groupon Promo Codes For September 2025
-
Tech1 week agoCompact camera uses 25 color channels for high-speed, high-definition hyperspectral video
-
Fashion1 week agoChristian Louboutin appoints Jaden Smith as men’s creative director
-
Sports1 week agoCubs’ Matt Shaw has epic game after Mets announcers criticize him for attending Charlie Kirk memorial
-
Tech1 week agoXiaomi’s New Phone One-Ups Apple’s iPhone Redesign With a Second Screen