Could Late Night Shows Have a Future on YouTube?

According to recent Digital i data, late-night U.S. talk shows chopping up their episodes and repackaging them as shorter clips for extra reach on YouTube is not a new idea. All the leading shows in the genre operate a channel, and some have even created segments with online appeal in mind. But with the recent announcement that "The Late Show" has been axed after 33 seasons (11 hosted by Stephen Colbert and 22 by David Letterman) the idea of this traditional network TV format making a wholesale move onto YouTube has come under discussion once again.

All these shows, bar the recently axed "After Midnight," already have millions of subscribers to their YouTube channels, which would give them a considerable base from which to further build their brand on the platform. But whether or not such a move is in the cards, Digital i looked into the numbers to see how these channels performed on the platform over the course of a year. These included the official channels for:
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The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon - 32.7 million subscribers
Jimmy Kimmel Live - 20.7 million subscribers
The Daily Show – 12.9 million subscribers
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert - 10.1 million subscribers
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - 9.95 million subscribers
Late Night with Seth Meyers – 5.07 million subscribers
After Midnight - 268,000 subscribers

From the start of June 2024 to the end of May 2025, "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon "channel was watched by more YouTube accounts than the other measured late night talk shows in both the U.S. and Western Europe (UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain), reaching 36.9 million and 15.1 million accounts, respectively. However, the channel’s reach did not translate into time spent viewing its content. The average U.S. account watched fewer minutes of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" than any of the other channels, at 29.9 minutes during the period. In Western Europe, the channel had an average of 17 minutes, behind all channels except "After Midnight."

It was "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" that received the highest average minutes watched per account during the period, with 374.8 minutes by accounts in the U.S. and 306.8 minutes in Western Europe.

While overall reach to these YouTube channels remained consistent throughout the measured 12-month period, there was a significant drop in streams during December, especially from viewers in the U.S. Digital i suggest that this is due to the late-night shows typically releasing less content around Thanksgiving and the Christmas period, as production on the main series slows or pauses.

The selected YouTube channels Digital i analysed all received a strong preference in viewing from accounts owned by older users. In the U.S., only 4% of views to the selected channels were from account holders aged 18-24, while the same age group made up 24% of all streams in that period. Meanwhile, account holders aged 45+ made up only 32% of total streams, but 57% of streams to the selected late night talk show YouTube channels. Outside of the U.S. was a similar story, with 18–24-year-olds accounting for 17% of all streams, but only 9% of streams to the selected channels. Account holders 45+ made up 35% of all streams, but 49% of streams to these channels.