Last Week Tonight With John Oliver kicked off its new season Sunday on HBO and Max. To fans’ surprise and delight, the episode also was made available on YouTube the same night.
This is a reversal of the release pattern HBO implemented last season, pushing the release of each new Sunday night episode’s main story on YouTube from the following Monday to the following Thursday in an effort to drive up subscribers to the Max streaming service. The move triggered backlash among fans and was called “massively frustrating” by Oliver.
HBO made an exception for Last Week Tonight‘s pre-election episode last November. That episode’s main segment, in which Oliver spoke of “the damage of a second Trump term,” urging everyone to vote for Kamala Harris, was released on YouTube shortly after the show had aired on the linear HBO network on the West Coast.
At the time, HBO insiders stressed that the quick YouTube release was a one-off. It is now once again becoming the norm. The reversal decision, which Oliver had been advocating for, was made after data analysis didn’t reveal a significant increase in Max viewership after implementing the delay, sources said.
As it’s always been the case, only Last Week Tonight episodes’ main story will be released on YouTube. Last night’s episode was an exception as Oliver devoted the entire show to Donald Trump’s first month in office and the actions of Elon Musk, whom he called “a parasitic freak,” and his DOGE team.
As a result, the full episode was released on YouTube Sunday night.
