NBC late-night host Seth Meyers had some fun at the expense of David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance.
Meyers put Paramount on blast on Monday during NBCUniversal’s annual presentation to advertisers, taking shots at Paramount+, CBS, and the father-son duo of Larry and David Ellison. Larry Ellison, the billionaire Oracle founder, helped backstop Paramount’s deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
“After over a decade, we have taken down CBS. Well, the Ellisons did, but I like to think we helped,” Meyers joked, referencing NBC’s industry-leading viewership for the 2025-2026 season by a key Nielsen metric.
The late-night host also had a slew of barbs for Paramount-owned CBS, which he joked is “so in the pocket for Trump” that the next season of hit reality show “Survivor” will be “in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Meyers joked that CBS isn’t hosting an “upfront” event — where media companies pitch advertisers to commit to spending for the year ahead — because “upfront” at CBS describes “how they paid Trump to drop the lawsuit.” Paramount paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit against CBS’s “60 Minutes” brought by President Donald Trump. (Instead of a traditional upfront event, Paramount and CBS hosted advertisers at a series of dinners in recent weeks.)
Paramount’s flagship streamer also came under fire from Meyers. The “Late Night with Seth Meyers” host noted that Paramount plans to combine its streamer with HBO Max as part of its planned WBD acquisition.
“Now you’ll get all your favorites in one place, plus Paramount+,” Meyers joked.
Paramount has invested heavily in its namesake streamer, which has nearly 80 million subscribers. The service recently added short-form video and is planning to add shopping features, Business Insider has reported.
Paramount+ is far bigger than NBCU’s Peacock, which has 46 million subscribers but only operates in the US.
Meyers also took jabs at other competitors, including Netflix and the NBCU spin-off Versant.
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