This year’s Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024 showed that the use of social video platforms for news is changing.
YouTube is the highest growth area in the UK (up 3 per cent in news use) and is breathing down the neck of X (formerly Twitter) which has been through turmoil in the Elon Musk era. TikTok is also on the rise amongst the under 25s (up four per cent).
As the report lead author Nic Newman noted at last week’s Newsrewired conference (27 November), this has quite a few implications for newsrooms. Not least the fact they are being outgunned by young creators like Dylan Page (10m followers) and Vitus Spehar (3m followers), offering a social-native take on news content.
The most mentioned journalists on social media are highly politicised commentators, like James O’Brien, Robert Peston, Joe Rogan, Piers Morgan and Owen Jones. These are also all white males, rising concern for the diversity of voices.
It matters to be present on these platforms though, as three quarters of 18-24s are frequent users. Young people say they enjoy these platforms as they garner transparency and trust, are convenient to use, and offer new perspectives. So how do news outlets compete against creators?
Different platforms, different approaches
The Telegraph commissions stories with multi-platform distribution in mind. Head of video news, Kate Chaplin, explained that her team is making content go much further, by adapting it to 20-second homepage clips, then to 5-minute YouTube horizontal videos and then to 60-second vertical videos.
A good example comes from an original piece on using drones for assassinations, showing in a lighter way for social video an experiment to assassinate a cardboard cut-out of the team’s editor, Paul Nuki.
The Telegraph, as a subscription business, looks at platforms more as a marketing funnel to bring viewers back to the website and convert them to paid subscribers.
Jack Kennedy is head of strategy at News Broadcasting Digital (NBD), looking after big name brands like Piers Morgan Uncensored, talkSPORT and Virgin.
talkSPORT has a similar multi-platform approach, repurposing radio content for YouTube, while Instagram and vertical video is more about fan engagement, such as talking to fans in stadiums and getting live reactions on the latest results.
On-platform monetisation is more the end goal here, as NBD’s suite of large channels can be a considerable money spinner both in terms of advertising revenue and commercial brand deals.
Social-first media start-up The News Movement takes even more platform-specific approach. Editor and editorial director Rebecca Hutson says that TikTok and YouTube Shorts demand quick, attention-grabbing “dopamine hit” content, while Instagram favours more human-centric storytelling.
It so happened that a viral clip in the run-up to the UK election met both needs. Hutson interviewed MP and would-be chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones and put him on the spot to perform a saxophone solo for its lighter interview series, the Takeaway.
“Our audience are news adjacent,” explains Hutson, in other words not tuning into traditional news content, but are interested in what is going on in the world around them.
“We really wanted to bring the UK election to life, and we set ourselves the challenge of [rethinking] the political interview format with people who will have a big say in how young people experience their lives.
“And so we came up with this format called The Takeaway – it’s not inspired by Chicken Shop Date whatsoever. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she jokes. (Chicken Shop Date is an internet celebrity interview series popularised by Amelia Dimoldenberg.)
The News Movement is less optimistic about monetisation of content – operating “on the assumption that the platforms won’t bring us more than pocket money” – and instead is securing deals with commercial partners, like Amazon, to make bespoke social content for them.
AI on the horizon
A big theme of Newsrewired is how to embrace AI and to what extent it dictates newsroom strategy.
Hutson was very cautious about the use of AI, insisting that much of her team’s work is done manually to maintain control and oversight. “The team is desperate to use it, so we treat it a bit like watching an episode of Peppa Pig – they can use it every once in a while.”
But Kennedy is far more open to AI at News Broadcasting Digital, as translation technology offers a whole new world of potential. Translating large channels to new languages could be seismic, not just in terms of audience growth but also monetisation.
The Spanish-speaking market is one he hopes to enter with this technology, as Kennedy claims it is sophisticated enough to mimic distinctive accents, like talkSPORT presenter Jim White’s thick Scottish accent. So it could be perfectly convincing the presenter was broadcasting in Spanish.
There is only one caveat with the AI translation though, big names like Piers Morgan loathe to lend their voices to the technology, fearing it could be misleading or manipulated.
Chasing algorithms
Piers Morgan Uncensored has exploded, amassing 3.5m subscribers since its launch on YouTube two years ago. By comparison, this is more than The Times (890k),TalkTV (1.15m), Times Radio and talkSPORT (both 1.6m). Only The Sun has more at nearly 6m subscribers.
Piers’ growth is a result of bringing in many big names like Jordan Peterson, Donald Trump, Andrew Tate and Cristiano Ronaldo. But also the strong views and shouting matches.
“Piers Morgan [will] shout at someone about any topic, but people are there for Piers Morgan. He’s such a big brand, he’s a transatlantic name, they come for that,” says Kennedy.
Platforms like Youtube are optimised for keeping audiences hooked and wanting to watch ‘one more video’.
What news organisations find when trying to run a news channel is certain topics over-perform consistently, incentivising them to overproduce on those topics and chase those views.
At The Telegraph, that is the Ukraine War. At News Broadcasting Digital, that topic has been the British Royal Family, and out of that, sub-channels have been born to take advantage of the traction.
“The algorithm doesn’t like you doing lots of different topics. You have to specialise and focus in different ways, essentially,” says Chaplin.
But when asked whether the social video approach is ultimately good for journalism, the panelists remained optimistic. Hutson summarised it well: “More people that can access good quality journalism is good for the world.”