Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Is it gone from YouTube?
Following last night’s enormous premiere for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, it makes sense viewers would be flocking to YouTube. Why wouldn’t they? Ever since the very beginning of the show’s run a decade ago, main segments were uploaded to the site the morning after the episodes aired. This was a way to further the discussion around them and, from our vantage point, dramatically increase the reach of the show and of the host’s message.
Given the subject matter of this past episode in particular (think the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas, and Oliver offering him $1 million a year if he steps down), we’re not surprised that the demand for the full segment online was higher than ever … but it’s not there. Not only that, but it won’t be there for a few days.
The good news for now is that Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is not leaving the platform. However, HBO is changing how they release this content. Here is what Oliver himself posted on the subject on Twitter:
“I know I usually share a link to our main story here on Mondays, but HBO has decided they’re going to wait until Thursday to post them to YouTube from now on … I hope they change their mind, but until then, you can see our piece about the Supreme Court on HBO, on Max, and on YouTube in a few days.”
A spokesperson for the network confirmed to THR that the decision here is (unsurprisingly) tied to them wanting more views on their particular platform:
“When Last Week Tonight with John Oliver premiered on HBO, the convenience of watching on Max did not exist, so YouTube allowed flexible viewing for the main story as well as promotional exposure … We are now delaying that availability and hope those fans choose to watch the entire show on Max.”
Is this a smart move? On the surface, we tend to side with John that the strategy may be somewhat of a mistake. HBO has never uploaded the entirety of the show to YouTube and with that, there’s always been an incentive to subscribe to either it or Max to watch. Doing this, meanwhile, may delay or even halt the show’s momentum. (Personally, we do prefer at times re-watching clips on YouTube than Max, as the UI is both faster and easier to navigate.)
Do you think that this move with Last Week Tonight with John Oliver will prove to be a huge mistake?
Be sure to share right now in the comments! Once you do just that, keep coming back for other updates.