Taxpayer-funded ads and a Paxton swipe carry Seth Meyers' Closer Look past a million

The Thursday segment drew its crowd on a night that also brought Dakota Johnson and Mike Tomlin to the couch, and both interviews ran well ahead of a normal day too.

Channel: Late Night with Seth MeyersStory of October 3, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 1,322,017 views a day, 41 times a normal first day on this channel (32,332).

Trump Slammed for Taxpayer-Funded Campaign Ads, Ken Paxton Disses Trump as GOP Panics: A Closer Look

For the second day in a row, A Closer Look is the clip doing the heavy lifting. As we reported here, the previous installment, on the Jack Smith hearing, neared two million views within a day. The new one, "Trump Slammed for Taxpayer-Funded Campaign Ads, Ken Paxton Disses Trump as GOP Panics: A Closer Look," passed a million inside its first day.

The description sets out two threads. The first is the backlash Trump faces from members of his own party over campaign ads paid for with taxpayer money. The second is Ken Paxton, whom the description calls Trump's handpicked Senate candidate in Texas, taking a swipe at him. In the comments, Paxton is the main subject, and several of the most discussed replies come from viewers who say they live in Texas. Going by the comments, the segment also touches on a claim about a natural gas pipeline and prices at the pump, and several viewers point out that natural gas and gasoline are not the same thing.

The full Thursday monologue, which opens with Trump's Hispanic Heritage Month event at the White House and runs straight into the same Closer Look, came in second. Even it was far busier than a typical new upload.

The guests had a good night as well. Dakota Johnson talked about hosting SNL on her birthday, filming Verity and appearing in Taylor Swift's "Patient Zero" video. Mike Tomlin, now an analyst on NBC's Football Night in America, explained the Minecraft city he built, which went viral, and said Steelers fans still share their opinions with him.

Published on Trari

Read next

More from Late Night with Seth MeyersVideo taking off 65x its usual first daySeth Meyers' Closer Look at the Jack Smith hearing nears two million in a dayThe same episode's monologue and a Florence Pugh interview also ran well past a usual first day, though neither came close to the hearing segment.Channel: Late Night with Seth Meyers · Story of October 2, 2026

Is this your channel?

Share the story with your audience: in a community post, in your channel's description or on your socials. The text and the badge are ready.

Taxpayer-funded ads and a Paxton swipe carry Seth Meyers' Closer Look past a million The full story on Trari: https://trari.com/en/story/latenightseth-3271/?from=kit

Copy the text

You may use the picture, the badge, and link it to this story.

The numbers

Taken together, these videos lifted the whole channel's day to roughly fifteen times its usual pace.

the video's first day

usual first day here

32,332

this video

1,322,017

subscribers

5,310,000

no significant change in the last 7 days

total views

4,217,498,627

views per day

5,931,580

typical day: 401,151

the video

views

1,457,708

likes

31,528

comments

1,766

days online

1

compared with similar channels (subscribers)

The Graham Norton Show

5,730,000

Good Morning America

5,510,000

Late Night with Seth Meye…

5,310,000

TODAY

5,110,000

CBS Mornings

3,320,000

The Onion

3,280,000

As of October 3, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.

Where next?

Also in Talk shows and late nightVideo taking off 16x its usual first dayGuillermo arrives as Mister Softee, and Yankees fans try kindness, on Kimmel's fourth Brooklyn nightThe monologue took on a billion-dollar ballroom and Pete Hegseth's speech at Quantico, and an interview with John Oliver and Seth Meyers drew a big crowd the s…Channel: Jimmy Kimmel Live · Story of October 3, 2026 A different discovery todayVideo taking off 118x its usual first daySteve Chapman's 'ridiculous talk about a pointless project' turns out to be about lost catsThe artist's TEDxRoyal Tunbridge Wells talk sets out to do something only because it could, and ends up asking what makes us human.Channel: TEDx Talks · Story of October 3, 2026