BusinessThis combination of images shows, from left, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and Stephen Colbert. LateNighter, a website and newsletter that follows late-night television comedy, began in February. “I haven’t come to this project from a business perspective, so much so much as a passion,” says Rosenzweig, a veteran entertainment journalist based in Portland, Oregon. “I certainly want it to succeed, and I think it will. ...
His 13-year-old son Lem’s obsession with “Saturday Night Live” inspired LateNighter, Rosenzweig says. By television ratings alone, late-night isn't the force it used to be. The quartet of NBC's “Tonight Show,” CBS' “Late Show,” ABC's “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Daily Show” collectively averaged 10.5 million viewers a night a decade ago. Now, together they pull in 4.8 million people a night, the Nielsen company said. Ad revenue for the shows dropped by 70% between 2015 and 2023.
Besides, television ratings don't reflect the way many people follow late-night stars these days — through highlight clips posted online.In its short life, LateNighter has shown the potential to be a solid, creative news source. It wrote an oral history of aof late-night monologues — suggested by Kimmel, Rosenzweig says — that has proven so popular that some readers asked for an email alert when it is posted.Besides standard news and features, LateNighter crunches numbers looking for trends.