NEWSKelly Clarkson's Final Show Hits a Shrinking Daytime TV Landscape
Kelly Clarkson ended her daytime show as rising costs and declining ratings reshaped television.
Sept. 5 2026, Published 11:34 a.m. ET
Kelly Clarkson ended her daytime run the way she built it: with a song.
For the final Kellyoke at the last taping of The Kelly Clarkson Show, Clarkson performed “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters with My Band Y’all, taking on the show’s most-requested cover of all time.
Kelly Clarkson ended ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ after seven seasons with a final Kellyoke performance of ‘Golden’ from KPop ‘Demon Hunters’.
The episode, themed Kelly Clarkson by Request, also included fan-selected performances of her own hits, including “Since U Been Gone,” “Sober” and “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).”
But Clarkson’s exit after seven seasons also arrives as daytime TV keeps getting smaller, more expensive and harder for big personalities to sustain.
The Cost of Daytime
Kelly Clarkson also performed fan-selected hits including ‘Since U Been Gone,’ ‘Sober,’ and ‘Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).’
“It starts with the decline of TV viewership, which then comes down to where advertisers want to put their money,” said Lauren Cobello, bestselling author and CEO of Leverage with Media PR.
“Declining ratings mean networks can no longer charge premium rates for daytime commercial slots. Then weigh the production costs of a daytime show versus your own show or a podcast,” she explained.
“I was a regular on the Rachael Ray Show and the Today show for 10 years,” she added.
“While on set, I saw the budgets decreasing over time,” she continued.
One show, she said, “used to cook us a full meal at every segment, fly us in and put us up in a hotel.”
By the end of her time on the show, “we were not provided any food and we had to provide our own flight and transportation.”She said the same shift happened on other programs.
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Why Hosts Walk Away
Kelly Clarkson and NBCUniversal announced in February that the daytime show would end after its current season.
Clarkson and NBCUniversal announced in February that her show would end after its current season, with episodes airing through the fall.
She later told Today the decision was “hard,” but tied to changing family dynamics and wanting to see life as “precious.”
Cobello said those personal pressures often meet industry ones, especially when hosts are “overworked” and their “voices are often controlled by what the stations say they can and cannot say.”
“I could tell she was tired and ready for a change,” Cobello said of one popular TV host.
“She was doing three shows per day for three months at a time.”
Where the Format Goes Next
Lauren Cobello said declining ratings, lower budgets and rising production pressures were making daytime television harder to sustain.
Clarkson closed her final show with gratitude for the format she is leaving behind.
“I loved being in your homes each day,” she told the audience. “This has been an incredible opportunity.”
Cobello acknowledged that daytime audiences haven’t entirely disappeared, and TV “still holds credibility for certain stations,” but argued the model is moving.
“Many daytime hosts and TV personalities are opting for podcast deals once they leave the broadcast TV stage,” she noted.
“Why? Because they have more creative control and own their own content and there is more income opportunity,” she added.
