How Big Was The Late Late Show with James Corden's Budget Per Episode?
The figures will blow your mind!
Late-night shows are among the pillars of American television. In fact, they are so prevalent that people often take them for granted, rarely considering the financial investment required for their production.
The Late Late Show with James Corden, which ended on 27 April, was one of the biggest late-night shows on American television.
The most recent set of episodes was the fourth and final instalment of The Late Late Show, created by David Letterman and first aired on CBS in 1995. Over the years, it featured four hosts: Tom Snyder, Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson, and James Corden, who took over in 2015 and hosted nearly 1,200 of the show's 5,300-plus episodes. Here's a look at the financial impact on CBS.
According to anonymous executive producers of The Late Late Show with James Corden, who spoke with Los Angeles Magazine, the programme had been a financial flop for years. The unnamed sources revealed that the Corden-led Late Late Show cost the network $60-65 million a year to produce, while revenues were only around $45 million. But how much did that amount to per episode?
The Late Late Show with James Corden had varying numbers of episodes over its nearly eight-year run. The maximum in a single year was 153 episodes in the 2021 season.
For simplicity, let's round that down to 150. Taking the financial cap of $65 million a year and dividing it by 150 gives us an average of approximately $434 thousand per episode. Can you imagine that a single episode of the show, which aired Monday through Friday, cost nearly half a million dollars to produce?
Given this, it's no surprise the network pulled the plug on The Late Late Show. CBS struggled to keep up with the costs, as the $15 million gap between production costs and revenue was challenging to close.
Nevertheless, the show that brought us Carpool Karaoke has now come to an end and will not be returning. Fortunately, there are still plenty of other late-night shows for insomniacs to enjoy.
Source: Los Angeles Magazine.