The $600 Show That’s Shaking Traditional TV

12 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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Conan O'Brien tells The Hollywood Reporter that a YouTube series costing $600 per episode, where celebrities answer questions while eating spicy chicken wings, is outperforming traditional TV. Major stars want to appear, and the show's viral success suggests low-cost digital content could replace expensive late-night television.

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Conan says $600 YouTube shows 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 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. A guy can do World Series numbers with overhead that looked to me to be about $600. You have every big star lining up to do this show. That's when I profoundly understood 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 traditional nightly television models.