• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 3, 2026

Amid controversy over late-night TV, viewer sentiment has generally increased over the last 12 months -- at least when it comes to YouTube viewers.

CBS’ “Late Show With Stephen Colbert” witnessed a 30% increase in unique viewers in April 2026 versus the same period a year earlier to around 6.5 million, according to Tubular Labs.

This came in connection with the announcement in July 2025 that Paramount Skydance would be ending Colbert’s 11-year run on the show, because of what it said were “purely” financial reasons.

In addition, the show’s watch-time on YouTube was up 20% nearing his final episodes with big-name guests weighing in on his show, ending with video content featuring former host David Letterman throwing some of the show’s furniture off the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater.

ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” also grew to 18 million unique viewership in September 2025 following his week-long suspension and reinstatement. Although “Jimmy Kimmel Live” slowly declined in April 2026 (around 11.7 million), it is still up 18% from year-ago levels.

As of April 2026, NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” had the strongest results (15.2 million uniques) -- up 45% versus the year before.

Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” was just behind at 14.8 million uniques -- 13% higher than the previous year.

In terms of minutes viewed on YouTube, “The Daily Show” performed the best at around 500 million minutes watched in April, followed by “Jimmy Kimmel Live” at 350 million; and Colbert at 250 million.