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News outlets renew investment in social video as audiences embrace the format
News outlets are investing again in social video as audiences increasingly turn to platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram for news and entertainment. The renewed push follows a costly mid-2010s “pivot to video”, when publishers expanded video teams based on Facebook view figures that were later found to be inflated, prompting cuts and job losses.
Video is now central to social platforms, and making it is cheaper and easier: a smartphone can be enough to produce informal, personality-led clips. Nielsen estimates YouTube accounts for nearly 16 per cent of television viewing, while Pew found that 20 per cent of Americans regularly get news from TikTok, rising to 39 per cent among 18- to 29-year-olds. The article says news organisations risk losing audiences to individual creators if they fail to adapt, while noting that some publishers are experimenting with popular short-form formats.
In short
- Publishers are investing in social video again.
- Past video expansion ended in cuts after Facebook inflated view figures.
- 39 per cent of US adults aged 18 to 29 regularly get news from TikTok.
Read the full article at the source →
Originally published by The Verge as “There’s no slowing down media’s pivot-to-video 2.0”.