Her Creatorverse readers,
It’s a bittersweet time to be a late night comedy fan. As Stephen Colbert leaves the space, two creators — Ben Glieb and Julian Shapiro-Barnum — are attempting to become the new late night hosts of the internet age.
Last week, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” came to an end with its highest-rated episode ever and in the middle of an overall ratings boom for the genre. Late night ratings for the first quarter of 2026 were 20% higher than they were last year, according to Nielsen. But that boost, which was driven by widespread audience support for both Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, doesn’t change the fact that linear ratings and ad spend for late night have decreased overall. And when ad dollars leave late night, they’re now more likely to go to YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, according to data insights company Guideline.
So it’s weirdly fitting that a week after Colbert’s finale, Gleib is launching his own late night show on YouTube. “Good Night” stars the comedian and is showrun by former “Daily Show” producer Stewart Bailey. The series will have all the staples of a “traditional” late night show — a monologue, a house band, guests — but it will also let viewers digitally interact with with the show before episodes are posted on YouTube.
That will be followed a few weeks later by Julian Shapiro-Barnum’s “Outside Tonight,” which launches on YouTube June 17. Shapiro-Barnum told me that creators have been especially great at perfecting the individual elements you’d find on late night shows — guest interviews, man-on-the-street interviews and pretaped segments. The new show from the host of “Recess Therapy” and “Celebrity Substitute” will bring together these elements from other creators in one show. It’s a curated collection of creators from Shapiro-Barnum and his team presented to audiences every week.
It’s not surprising that Glieb and Shapiro-Barnum would be embarking on this journey. Creators have already been taking over the cultural space late night used to dominate. Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy,” for example, has a monthly YouTube average that’s greater than “The Tonight Show” and that rivals “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” A huge reason for that cultural upset has to do with how flexible creators are able to be compared to their traditional TV counterparts.
“Every day I get to wake up and decide what the next episode needs to be. Not what a network wants. Not filling a time slot. What actually matters now,” Alex Cooper, CEO and founder of Unwell, told me. “The second you lock the format in, you’ve already started losing.” Check out our full deep dive on how creators have been changing the late night landscape.
Now onto the rest.
Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter
kayla.cobb@thewrap.com
What’s New
Video episodes of Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” are coming to Spotify and Netflix as part of a multiyear deal
Spotify and Netflix will soon be the home to video episodes of Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose,” the creator’s wellness podcast that centers on mental health. “On Purpose,” which was Spotify’s ninth most listened to podcast globally in 2025, will be available on the two services starting July 13 as part of the multiyear deal.
That’s not the only podcasting change Netflix has up its sleeve. Charlamagne Tha God, DJ Envy and Jess Hilarious’“The Breakfast Club” will soon be livestreamed on Netflix every weekday starting on June 1. It’s the latest example of Netflix leaning on podcasters to fill the roles traditionally occupied by daytime and late night hosts.
TikTok and Universal Music Group extend their partnership
TikTok and Universal Music Group, the label behind artists like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, have entered into a multiyear licensing agreement. The new deal is an extension of the 2024 agreement between the two companies, which gave TikTok’s global community access to UMG’s recorded music and publishing catalogs. This new agreement expands the TikTok marketing and advertising campaigns for UMG’s artists and songwriters and gives artists more access to the platform’s tools. Both companies also stated they will work to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from TikTok.
Creator-led media company Spy Ninjas Entertainment announce a $25 million investment
Spy Ninjas Entertainment, the company from YouTubers Chad Wild Clay and Vy Qwaint, announced on Tuesday a $25 million investment. This money will be used to expand and scale the YouTube channel, which currently has over 15.8 million subscribers. To do that, Clay and Qwaint plan to hire 50 employees this year and increase production. Former Jubilee Media executive Shelly Soriano was hired last summer to serve as the President of Spy Ninja Studios.
The AI Revolution
YouTube and LinkedIn crack down on AI
Both YouTube and AI are cracking down on AI-generated posts. YouTube will start to automatically label both longform and shortform videos that use a significant amount of AI.
As for LinkedIn, the professional development social media site plans to target and remove low-quality AI posts from the platform, so sorry to all the long-winded, low-effort corporate gurus out there. To be clear, neither company is completely eliminating AI from its platform, especially not YouTube. Google has invested too much in Gemini to do that. But the days of AI slop may be numbered.
CapCut editing tools are coming to the Google Gemini app
CapCut users are getting a makeover. The editing software from ByteDance will soon be integrated into the Google Gemini app, meaning that users will be able to edit AI-generated videos and images using CapCut directly in the Gemini app. CapCut remains one of the most popular free mobile video editing tools around with over 730 million monthly active users, so this partnership is a big deal.
Spotify will start rolling out AI-generated personalized podcasts
Spotify will start rolling out Personal Podcasts, an option that lets listeners use AI to generate and schedule short, private audio episodes tailored to their interests and habits. These will appear directly in users’ Spotify feeds, and the beta mode will soon launch in the U.S. As part of its investor day, Spotify also announced memberships, a new way for on-platform creators to offer subscriptions to their fans.
Movers and Shakers
Donut Media brings “HiLow” to Tubi
Donut Media, the automotive digital content brand, brought its “HiLow” YouTube series to Tubi. The six-episode new season titled “HiLow: $5K Civic vs. $50K Civic” will be available to watch on to the Fox-owned streamer. This continues Tubi’s ongoing investment in creator-led content.
Webtoon series “unOrdinary” celebrates its 10-year anniversary with over 1.76 billion global views
Superhero Webtoon series “unOrdinary” celebrated 10 years of serialization on Sunday. Over that decade, Chelsey Han’s comic has secured over 1.76 billion global views. The rising popularity of web comics is one of the most interesting and under-covered stories happening right now. Warner Bros. Animation has partnered with Webtoon to adapt several creator-made comics with loyal fan bases into TV shows, and Lion Forge Entertainment is working with the production division of the company to turn the zombie horror-comedy “ShootAround” into a live-action young adult movie.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is a Twitch streamer now
On the more political side of the creator ecosystem, New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani launched a chat show on Twitch called “Talk with the People.” Mamdani plans to use the channel to do exactly what its title says — talk to and answer questions from regular New Yorkers. Mamdani’s aggressive social media focus and accessibility helped lead to his election last fall.
@orderofthevoid today Asha Ward steps into the void (voice of the void: @Longfellow ♬ original sound – the void
Who to Watch
The Void
Cutting Michael Longfellow (214,000 TikTok followers) — a deeply sarcastic comedian with a style reminiscent of the late Norm Macdonald — was one of the biggest mistakes “Saturday Night Live” has made in years. But the silver lining is that Longfellow is alive and well on TikTok. Created in partnership with Longfellow and Carlo Malis, aka The Sun King (4.7 million followers), each episode of “The Void” (11,900 TikTok followers) spotlights a different guest as they’re dropped into the void and confronted by either Longfellow or Malis as a massive floating head. Each time, they’re asked to reveal something they’ve never told anyone before. And every time that ominous framing breaks down within seconds, devolving into a chat about everything from hating on PDA in movie theaters to cheating on the ACTs and still failing. It’s silly fun wrapped up in existential terror.
Bonus Content
- YouTube Is Crawling with Pirated Audiobooks Made Using A.I. (via The New York Times)
- Is Everyone Using AI Better Than Me? (via GQ)
- Political Money Is Flowing to Influencers. But From Whom? (via The New York Times)
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This report provides a weekly deep dive into the creator economy. It highlights key trends, political and technological developments, data points and industry leaders all with the goal of making you smarter about this constantly evolving space.