Fans of John Oliver’s weekly comedy news program “Last Week Tonight” will have to wait a bit longer to get their fix, unless they’re willing to pay for the privilege of watching the show.
Officials at Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) this week confirmed they stop posting clips from Oliver’s HBO program to YouTube within hours of its debut on television, and will instead post clips on Thursdays.
The move is intended to convince fans of the show to purchase a subscription to streaming service Max, where the entire program is available to watch about an hour after it airs on HBO. Streamers can also purchase a subscription to HBO on YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV and other cable-like services if they want to watch the show as it airs on the network.
For much of the show’s 11-year history, the video essay portion of Oliver’s program were made available to stream for free on YouTube. Those clips often exceed 15 minutes, and can sometimes comprise the entire length of the show. The comedian’s opening monologue — which takes a humorous look at several different news stories — and comedy bits in-between segments were typically not offered on YouTube.
The YouTube clips often drew millions of viewers and served as a promotional platform for “Last Week Tonight” and HBO, as well as the various incarnations of HBO’s direct-to-consumer streaming product that have existed over the years. They were also made available in order to help Oliver’s unique brand of journalism reach a wider audience, at a time when Max wasn’t a “thing,” officials said.
“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,” a spokesperson for HBO said in a statement. “We are now delaying that availability and hope those fans choose to watch the entire show on Max.”
Oliver himself seems less than pleased by the idea that WBD is delaying his video essays in pursuit of more subscriptions to Max.
“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,” Oliver said in a statement posted to his X (formerly Twitter) account. “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.”
Fans who can’t wait for Oliver’s video essays to hit YouTube can purchase a subscription to Max for $10 per month if they’re willing to sit through commercials, or $16 per month for ad-free access.
