Conan O'Brien says Hot Ones, a YouTube show about celebrities eating spicy wings that costs roughly $600 per episode, draws audiences rivaling network TV broadcasts. The viral format proves traditional late-night television's massive budgets are no longer necessary to compete for viewers.
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Conan says $600 YouTube show shows late night's future. Conan O'Brien says the success of a simple show on YouTube convinced him that traditional late night television may be nearing the end of its dominance. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, O'Brien pointed to the viral interview series Hot Ones, where celebrities answer questions while eating increasingly Spicy Chicken Wings. After appearing on the show, O'Brien said he realized how dramatically the economics of media have changed. That was the moment the scales fell from my eyes, O'Brien said. If a guy can do World Series numbers with overhead that looked to me to be about $600, and you have every big star lining up to do this show, that's when I profoundly understood that late-night shows are in trouble. In an era of on-demand viewing and viral clips, O'Brien says internet-first formats may now outcompete the traditional nightly television model. So Conan O'Brien, you know, he suffered this with his ouster from late-night TV. Let's not feel too sorry for Conan. I mean, at age 30, being an unknown, he got his own late-night TV show. He was able to replace David Letterman. He was briefly the host of The Tonight Show too, pushed out but then had a long run on TBS. Now he's on HBO. His clips are everywhere. He has on-demand channels. He's fabulously wealthy, respected, winner of the Mark Twain Award for Comedy. So he's had a fantastic career. But he is an astute observer of the industry. And I think he's put his finger on it. When you can attract a huge audience for no budget, why does a CBS need to spend $200 million on a budget? Or $100 million budget for a show for a year. Now, he's exaggerating slightly. The budget for the hot wings show he was referencing is more than $600, but still dramatically. I can't imagine it's even 1% of the budget of The Tonight Show or a CBS Evening News show. They're able to attract audience because it's compelling, it's dramatic. You see these celebrities eating incredibly spicy chicken wings. They're getting hot, they're getting sweaty, and they do funny things. There's no doubt about it. I'm not a regular watcher of the show, but I certainly respect the producers and the host for creating something that's compelling video that attracts celebrities, that has an emotional arc to it, is compelling, and makes a lot of money and places a lot of people and entertains a lot of people and does it all without the traditional big band, big studio audience, all the things we're taught you had to have to make a TV show big and successful, but really aren't that important. I think we're going to see a lot more of these hot wing style shows because it doesn't cost that much to try. If it doesn't work out, what have you lost? If it does work out, you can be hugely successful. Now, that's my message to you, is you don't have to try to be an entertainment show. You don't have to try to book celebrities, but figure out what you do and share it with the world, whether it's with a podcast, a video show, a YouTube show, or both. Share some bit of expertise or entertainment or way of looking at the world with others, and you never know what might take off.
