Univision announced on Friday that Don Francisco’s Sábado Gigante is officially being canceled, putting an end to the beloved Spanish variety show’s impressive 53-year run. While the network has not yet revealed the reasoning behind their decision, recent Nielsen reports reveal that the show’s reach has been slipping and that Francisco has struggled in recent years to acquire the target demographic for advertisers.

Don Francisco, whose real name is Mario Kreutzberger, launched Sábado Gigante in Chile in 1962, and only ever missed one episode in 53 years due to the death of his mother. His three-hour Saturday broadcast featured a mixture of skits, jokes, musical performances, and interviews with various U.S. and Latin America political figures. The variety show really took off in 1986, when Univision president Joaquin Blaya brought it to Miami and used the show to appeal to the emerging community of Hispanics in the U.S.

“I was looking for the Ed Sullivan show for Hispanics. It was important to build Hispanic product in America — that is what made Univision. It grew with the Hispanic community, but it also helped the growth, the self-respect of the Hispanic community,” said Blaya, adding that Francisco is a “unique” talent who works with an unparalleled level of intensity and passion.

The Guiness Book of Records says Sábado Gigante is the longest-running variety show on TV, airing continuously for 2,600 weeks, but despite its past success, the show has struggled to maintain its viewership in recent years. Nielsen reports claim that 2 million viewers tune in to the current season, a large decrease from the show’s 2.9 million average viewership in 2012. Of the current viewers, only 359,000 are the advertisement target audience of adults aged 18 to 34. Univision’s decision to cancel the show might also be because the show is expensive to produce, and the network is trying to trim expenses to appear more profitable and attractive to potential buyers.

In their press announcement Friday, Univision revealed that the show’s final broadcast will be on Sept. 19. They added that Don Francisco will continue to host specials and charity campaigns for the network, even after Sábado Gigante is off the air.