As late-night television declines, The Tonight Show host is preparing for tomorrow by building an entertainment empire based on his irrepressible joy. With the launch of his new marketing competition show, On Brand, Jimmy Fallon’s getting down to business.
In his 11 years as host of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon has always been an idea machine—constantly dreaming up new comedy segments, new products, even entirely new programs. He once pitched NBC a drama about a murderous priest who takes his own confession, thus absolving his soul of sin. “They didn’t like that,” Fallon says, with a characteristic giggle. “So off-brand for me, but you got to take those swings, man.”
The 51-year-old comedian’s own personal brand—hotwiring an encyclopedic love of pop culture with his hyper-enthusiastic positivity—has defined his late-night talk show, and in recent years, become an even more natural fit on game shows he has produced such as Password and That’s My Jam. It’s a collection of jobs for which NBC has made him one of the highest-paid hosts on TV, with a contract that Forbes estimates at $16 million annually.
That doesn’t mean Fallon is immune to the pressures of television’s structural decline. While Johnny Carson was the undisputed King of Late Night as the Tonight Show host for nearly 30 years, Fallon ranks third in viewership in his time slot (behind Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel), averaging 1.2 million viewers per night, and the show’s ad revenue is down 35% from 2022 to 2024, according to ad data provider iSpot TV. The abrupt cancellation in July of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert—which CBS claimed was losing $40 million per year—prompted many to declare the imminent demise of late night, adding a level of urgency to Fallon’s side hustles.
Into this turbulent landscape he is launching On Brand with Jimmy Fallon on September 30, a new NBC reality competition show in the mold of Shark Tank and The Apprentice in which contestants with no marketing experience pitch campaigns for major brands such as Pillsbury, Dunkin’ and Southwest Airlines. The winning ad campaigns will appear in real life the day after an episode airs, creating what Fallon hopes is a symbiotic relationship with brands that makes the show a profit center. “It’s a new type of show,” he says, “and I think it’s a new type of business model, too.”
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