YouTube kicking ass! Late night TV?

YouTube part of the Google fine family of Death Star members.

You are what you watch

Chart R

Should the $83 billion deal course its way through the Paramount- and regulator-shaped obstacles it now faces, the Netflix-Warner Bros. takeover could completely overhaul our media landscape. For now, though, we’re all doing a fine job of upending things on our own, as traditional formats struggle and social media blurs the lines between video and TV.

According to Nielsen, YouTube, the new home of the Oscars, took a bigger chunk of US TV watchtime than any other platform in October... which was also the case in every month of 2025 except January, in a clear sign that the content we’re watching on our bigger screens — probably while scrolling on our smaller screens — is shifting rapidly.

Perhaps in part the result of YouTube’s rise (opening monologues, viral video reactions, and chat and game segments make as much sense clipped up online as anywhere else), the fun but formulaic golden age of TV talk shows appears to have faded, as some of the biggest shows shed millions of viewers.

At the box office, a few of the older tricks are still working, luckily for movie theaters. America’s youngest generations keep showing up, with knockout kids’ movie hits like “A Minecraft Movie”, “Lilo and Stitch”, and “Zootopia 2” helping to prop up cinemas this year. But it’s really been a breakout year for horror as audiences seek out big scares on the silver screen, with the genre taking a record share of the box office in 2025 thanks to hits like “Sinners” and “Weapons.”