CNBC just made its last call on “Last Call,” the outlet’s second attempt in recent months to offer business-news programming to evening audiences.
The NBCUniversal-backed cable network is canceling the 7 p.m. program, which launched in March of last year as part of a broader effort to keep business-news aficionados watching CNBC later into the evening. Executives have determined viewers aren’t interested enough in news at that time,and intend to replace the show with an hour of “Shark Tank,” a staple for CNBC in nighttime hours.
Anchor Brian Sulliivan is expected to stay with CNBC, according to a person familiar with the matter, and the network aims to find positions for the ten or so staffers who worked on the show. CNBC has recently placed new emphasis on developing distinct topic verticials, like sports, in which its viewers might have interest.
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The network’s decision was previously reported by New York Times reporter Ben Mullin on X.
After years of ceding its evening and primetime hours to docu-series and other programs adjacent to the network’s Wall Street core, CNBC has worked to launch new evening programing. In 2020, the network lured Shepard Smith, formerly a mainstay with Fox News Channel, to host “The News,” a general-interest news program that looked at both business topics and the broader cycle. Smith even led election-night coverage with a bespoke report for CNBC viewers. But the show failed to generate a significant enough crowd, and CNBC sounded a closing bell in 2022. The decision was abrupt enough that Smith opted not to finish out his remaining weeks as the program’s anchor.
CNBC has tried for years to devise original programming that will keep Wall Streeters rooted even after the market close. The network is best known for its hours of financial coverage, and on-air personnel ranging from Carl Quintanilla to Kelly Evans are, for investors and traders, sort of like “SportsCenter” anchors on ESPN. But executives have long puzzled over how to carry that interest over to evening hours. CNBC has, for the past several years, relied on unscripted competition programs such as “Shark Tank” or “The Profit” or “Jay Leno’s Garage.” But even those series have come under scrutiny as the economics of cable TV grow less certain amid viewers’ move to streaming.
In a different era, CNBC tried talk shows hosted by John McEnroe, Donny Deutsch and Dennis Miller.
Executives harbored big hopes they could crack the nighttime challenge. “I feel very committed” to 7 p.m., Dan Colarusso, senior vice president of CNBC Business News, told PvNew in 2023. “We want to be useful. We are valuable when we are useful If we can extend that usefulness to 7, that’s a big win for us.” Asked if he could envision CNBC’s news-side trying to program later hours, he replied, “I want to crack 7, and I think we are going to crack 7, and then we will see where we go from there.”
Viewers haven’t proven willing to go along with the effort. CNBC’s research shows 51% of its core daytime viewers don’t have their TV on at 7 p.m. CNBC’s primetime viewers, meanwhile, tend to watch entertainment or sports programming at that time.
