While some analysts have questioned the ongoing economic viability of broacast-TV late night shows amid ongoing declines in linear viewing, new data from Tubular Labs suggests that these shows are still thriving on social media and that their future may lie in adopting a “social media-first” strategy.

Tubular reported that since the start of 2025, late-night broadcast shows like “Saturday Night Live,“ “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” have combined for more than 17 billion views across social video platforms. Fifty-six different videos from late-night TV had at least 25 million views.

Declines in late night TV audiences has been cited as a major factor in the cancellation of CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” after published reports citing anonymous sources claimed the show was losing $40 million or more a year.

Tubular’s data seems to offer a counter-narrative to that view. It shows audiences are gravitating towards on-demand monologues and viral segments they can consume and share on their own time, instead of staying up late to watch live.

Of the most-watched social videos from these shows, Tubular reported, several were uploaded in October, including this Jimmy Fallon clip that racked up 51.6 million views on TikTok in just a few days after its release.

"SNL", despite questions of relevance over the last decade as streaming comedy grows, accounts for 14 videos of 25 million-plus views on its own. That included the top late-night video of the year: a skit featuring Pete Davidson and Timothée Chalamet that racked up over 63 million views, the researchers reported.

That might indicate these shows should be adopting a social-media first strategy for their future, given that these videos have massive reach, and even better opportunities for audience targeting than traditional TV, Tubular Labs reported.

The researchers also stressed that when “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” returned to the air in September, much was made about its TV ratings. Yet, as YouTube itself pointed out in the immediate aftermath, the bigger number was actually around Kimmel’s return monologue video on the platform. That clip has 22.7 million views, and is Kimmel’s most-seen video of 2025.

NEW YORK & SAN JOSE, Calif.—NBCUniversal and Roku have announced that popular short-form video clips from “Saturday Night Live,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” are now available on Roku and will appear regularly after airing on NBC. Clips from NBC Sports will be launching in the coming weeks. 

Roku users can find the latest short-form clips from these shows on The Roku Channel and promoted across the Roku platform. Viewers can also access each show’s regularly updated library of clips via specific landing pages, discoverable through the Roku Home Screen and Roku Search.

“Roku is an important partner, bringing our leading entertainment and information to tens of millions of homes and broadening our footprint for our audiences and partners,” said Matt Schnaars, president, Content Distribution, NBCUniversal. “With this launch, together we will be able to deliver even more of the content that people want with can’t-miss short-form clips, all from the top talent and brands within the NBCUniversal family.” 

“When everyone's talking about that surprise guest on Weekend Update or last night's hilarious late-night monologue, Roku users will be able to pull up the clip in no time and press play,” said Gil Fuchsberg, senior vice president, subscriptions, partnerships and corporate development, Roku. “We’re thrilled to expand NBCUniversal’s offering on Roku to include this continuously popular content, for our diverse audience approaching nearly half of U.S. broadband households.” 

Current and newly launched NBCUniversal apps and services on Roku include: Peacock, TV Everywhere apps for NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, SYFY, Telemundo, USA, NBC Sports, NBC News, and CNBC and a host of FAST channels (FAST Channels: NBC News NOW, Dateline 24/7, TODAY All Day, LX, NBC and Telemundo local owned stations, The Rotten Tomatoes Channel, Saved by The Bell, American Crimes, Bravo Vault, E! Keeping Up, GolfPass, Historias de Amor, Lassie, Made in Chelsea, Million Dollar Listing Vault, NBC Sports, Oxygen True Crime Archives, Real Housewives Vault, SkyNews, SNL Vault, The Long Ranger, Top Chef Vault, Murder, She Wrote, Alfred  Hitchcock, Little House On The Prairie, Bad Girls Club, TNBC,  Universal Action, Universal Crime, Universal Monsters, and Universal Westerns.

NEW YORK—While it won’t be what we’re used to when we hear “Live from New York,” “Saturday Night Live” is scheduled to return to NBC this week in its usual 11:30 p.m. time slot with a new, remotely produced episode.

“SNL” has been on a forced hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic since its last episode on March 7, just one of many television productions that have been forced to shut down. But, like many late-night talk shows and the upcoming episode of CBS’ “All Rise,” the sketch comedy show will return in a new format that adheres to social distancing practices.

The show is expected to feature its popular “Weekend Update” segment, as well as other original content from “SNL” cast members. No host or musical guest is scheduled. It is not clear from NBC’s announcement if the show will actually be live or the sketches will be pre-recorded.

Beyond having production shutdown for a month, “SNL” has been impacted by the coronavirus as its longtime producer Hal Willner passed away from coronavirus complications on April 7.

There was no indication if this episode of “SNL” would be a one-off or if it will return with additional, remotely-produced episodes.

NEW YORK –NBCUniversal has teamed up with Google to produce virtual reality (VR) versions of select NBCUniversal shows. The VR projects include original content from “Saturday Night Live,” Bravo Media’s “Vanderpump Rules” and SYFY WIRE, with more NBCUniversal networks, channels and shows to follow in the coming months, including projects from E!, NBC, NBC News, NBC Sports, SYFY, Telemundo and USA Network. They’ll be made available on YouTube, and can be viewed on the web or using any mobile phone. For the most immersive experience, viewers can watch in VR using Google Cardboard or Daydream View.

NBCUniversal and Google will collaborate on at least 10 multi-episode VR productions that will place fans inside scenes via 360-degree views. The experiences are being produced using Jump, Google’s platform for VR video capture that combines high-quality VR cameras and automated stitching. Future select VR experiences will also be available in VR180, a new VR format providing 4K, three-dimensional video.

[Read: NBC Olympics To Deliver 50 Hours Of Winter Olympics VR Coverage]

“We are constantly looking for opportunities to bring consumers new ways to experience content from across the NBCUniversal portfolio,” said Ron Lamprecht, Executive Vice President, NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises. “This partnership combines the creative expertise of NBCUniversal with Google’s VR capabilities to create these engaging experiences. We look forward to working with Google and YouTube on more collaborations like this in the future.”

"NBCUniversal’s networks and shows have a proven track record of high-quality storytelling that audiences can’t get enough of. Bringing them to VR lets fans connect with that content in a whole new way,” said Amit Singh, VP of Business & Operations for VR & AR at Google. “NBCU's teams were able to easily capture engaging VR content using the latest VR Jump cameras. And with YouTube, audiences can experience it on any device, bringing them closer to their favorite series.”

As part of this partnership, Bravo and Google have launched two 360 VR experiences featuring Lisa Vanderpump and the cast of “Vanderpump Rules,” with more to launch in the coming weeks. They include:

·Vanderpump Dogs

· Bonus clip from season finale of Vanderpump Rules

To date, projects have included virtual reality, 360-degree videos featuring “Saturday Night Live” guest hosts Kevin Hart, Will Ferrell and Natalie Portman. 

SyFy Wire created 360 and 180 videos for Emerald City Comic Con, including interactive games such as Sidekick Search, Hide and Go Geek, and Three Questions. 

The existing SNL and SyFy Wire videos, and future content from other shows and networks, are available on YouTube and best viewed using a VR headset, like Google Cardboard or Daydream