This article originally appeared in Forbes.
In an interview with Billboard Magazine earlier this month, Grammy host James Corden got candid about his paycheck. “Oh, I can tell you something I envy about all of them: their salary. That’s the only thing I envy,” the comedian and host of The Late Late Show said of his fellow late-night hosts.
No one does this for money. He’s not in the first tier in terms of name recognition, so to get his face in front of people who may not be familiar with is very extremely valuable,” says Seth Shapiro, a consultant at New Amsterdam Media and professor at the University of Southern California. Plus, Shapiro adds, when your boss is Les Moonves and he asks you to host the Grammys, “It’s kind of an offer you can’t refuse.”
If Corden makes an impression as a host, he may win over new viewers or those who currently watch his competitor, Seth Meyers. Consistently higher viewership and ratings mean that advertisers will be willing to shell out more money for spots during his show, making him more valuable to the network—and making it easier to renegotiate a higher contract.
“The Grammys are an extremely highly penetrated social media event, and so a guy adept at doing short form has a great chance of breaking out,” says Shapiro. “The more buzz he gets, the more of an opportunity it is to get new people into his franchise,” Shapiro says.
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