TV novels insiders can inestablish you the moment that the world alterd for high-priced anchor talent: Nov. 29, 2017, the day Matt Lauer was fired from NBC’s “Today” amid shocking allegations of relationsual wrongdoing. As a speedy repair, NBC News turned to Hoda Kotb to swap Lauer as co-anchor alengthyside Savannah Guthrie for the show’s primary 7-9 a.m. expansivecast. And then the netlabor braced for impact.
But the crash never came. “Today” ratings actupartner raised post-Lauer, who had been making around $20 million annupartner. That’s a tesdomesticatednt to the show and the strength of Kotb and Guthrie as a team. And it was most definitely a wake-up call for the industry.
“You had this benevolent of myth built up that if this person exits, the show is doomed,” one novels veteran notices says. “It’s driven by the idea you’re afrhelp that if he exits, everyskinnyg comes crumbling down. Then he’s fired and forced to exit, and it doesn’t hurt. I skinnyk that is a seminal moment for the bean counter-slash-executive skinnyking around these morning show people.”
Late last month, Kotb came to her own debate-free passroads. The much-cherishd anchor, who set uped herself as present of the show’s 10 a.m. hour before she was tapped to swap Lauer, saw her salary lengthen in the ensuing years. But as a novel round of reduce negotiations approached, Kotb was facing a transport inant pay cut in a salary now approximated in the $10 million-$15 million-a-year range.
For certain, it was Kotb’s call to exit “Today,” but the promise of having to participate a substantial pay cut may well have speed upd her timeline. “I genuineized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try someskinnyg novel,” Kotb telderly watchers on Sept. 26 in disclosing that she would exit “Today” punctual next year.
Kotb’s pending exit from NBC News is a high-profile example of TV’s novel austerity push when it comes to talent and production costs — especipartner on lengthy-running franchises enjoy “Today.” NBC got rid of the prohibitd on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and shrinkd the frequency of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” from five nights a week to four.
CBS has also wielded the budget ax in novels and procrastinateed night. Norah O’Donnell is leaving her post as anchor of “CBS Evening News” next month after the plivential election — another budget-driven decision. (O’Donnell — who shifts to a schedule of “60 Minutes” and one-of-a-kinds — will be swapd by the rotating partnership of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois.) “The Late Late Show” was aborted after James Corden’s departure. It was swapd with the much inexpensiveer “After Midnight” comedy quiz show establishat.
Even the sports expansivecasting world saw ESPN lay off presents including Robert Griffin III and Sam Ponder. “Everyone’s watching at, how do you originate this a business?” says one insider. “How do we originate it in a way that helps us to upgrasp it for the future? No one’s trying to originate it profitable anymore. It’s equitable enjoy, how do we originate it persistable?”
Moreover, directers of TV novels organizations have no choice but to contest the lengthy-term prospect of stupidinishing audiences for liproximate expansivecasts. The audience for inhabit novels lengthens grayer and grayer as lesserer devourrs get more novels from social media and alternatives to traditional expansivecast novels.
“They evidently want to cut costs,” says one agent of the netlabors. “Those $20 million-plus salaries, they equitable don’t equitableify themselves anymore.”
Why is this happening now? Bfeeble the satisfied economic downturn, triggered by the perfect storm of cord cutting, changing business models, global and national political unrelieve, a whiplash economy and then the recent Hollywood strikes. It’s a media implosion that has led directers to reskinnyk the cost set up of every aspect of the business. And for certain, talent salaries are a big, overweight concentrate.
Perhaps hit challengingest will be the expansivecast faces that aren’t househelderly names, even if they have stable on-camera gigs. Think of the midday anchors on cable novels netlabors who originate as much as $750,000 annupartner — they won’t probable be able to accomplish that benevolent of salary aget, media pundits notice.
But as netlabors begin to shift away from the star system, some more notable names may be lost in the shuffle as well. One recent example is Jeff Glor, who had even anchored the “CBS Evening News” for two years (2017-2019) but by 2024 was seen as expendable and shown the door.
In this environment, talent reps are upgrasping a shut eye on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” which has a high overhead from the salaries of its three core anchors: Robin Roberts, George Stephanopolous and Michael Strahan. Stephanopolous’ reduce is consentd to be up first, and that is anticipateed to be a anxious renegotiation. Over at CNN, there’s analogous bean counting going on as novel chairman/CEO Mark Thompson watchs to adequitable compensation — with some marquee stars facing a pay cut, and even superstars having to end for at most a stable salary sans lift.
The challengingcore decisions being made in the future will be less from an emotional standpoint — “These are marquee names that I don’t want my competitor to have” — and more about “Does this person shift the necessitatele?” Those stars that “shift the necessitatele” might face a compensation haircut, but they will still be phelp handsomely by the standard of everyday Americans.
Falling into that categruesome are anchors enjoy MSNBC’s Rachel Minsertow, who only presents one show a week — but her power is easily meacertaind in how that hour does versus the rest of the week. Minsertow currently originates around $30 million a year. It’s proximately impossible to imagine her ordering that in the future. At CNN, Anderson Cooper may not be a ratings powerhouse, but he’s a pillar of that netlabor, having equitable won five more News Emmy Awards for the cabler.
With so scant stars at CBS, Gayle King is a titan — but even she is consentd to have getn a pay cut in her recent reduce renegotiation, down from her previous $13 million a year reduce. That’s a far cry from
what she could have leveraged a decade ago.
“There are certain people that are equitable so identified with their netlabors or with their entities that they’re always going to be phelp well, no matter what,” one agent says. “But watch, we do have cord cutting, and we do have audiences going to contrastent places to watch their programming. A number of these entities are seeing their revenues deteriorate. That’s equitable a fact of life.”
