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How Sun became biggest UK newspaper on Youtube | Exclusive ranking of publishers on Youtube
And we examine the economics of publishing news on Youtube and reveal insider tips on how to grow audience and revenue on the platform
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Good morning and welcome to your Press Gazette Future of Media newsletter on Thursday, 16 January.
The rise of big tech “could pose real dangers for our country” warned US president Joe Biden yesterday in his parting message to the American people.
“Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power.”
One doesn’t have to spend long on X to see the dangers of the same happening in the UK.
The age of AI has made the need for tech guardrails particularly urgent otherwise commercially viable human-produced journalism could be gone in the blink of an eye. If machines are allowed to rewrite human reporting and pass it off as original work the incentive for publishers to invest in newsgathering will be gone and a new age of darkness will descend.
But on a brighter note… Google’s monopolistic tech empire has given publishers unprecedented opportunities to find new audiences.
There is no better example of this than Youtube, which has allowed news outlets of all stripes to enter the market for broadcast news.
A recent Reuters survey revealed that Youtube is the social media platform digital newsroom leaders plan to spend the most increased effort on this year.
Today we publish our latest ranking of top English-language publishers and news influencers on Youtube. Our ranking includes data on all the 115 English-language publisher Youtube channels we could find which have more than one million subscribers.
Collectively publishers have seen Youtube subscriber growth of around 20% since the last time Press Gazette tallied the data just over a year ago.
For The Sun, Youtube offers a new possible escape hatch from sinking with its print circulation (which is likely decreasing by around 10% per year).
The tabloid now has six million Youtube subscribers (more than it ever sold as a print newspaper).
Each time one of those followers watches a Sun Youtube video they deliver less than a penny in advertising revenue to the title – so making money out of video via Youtube’s ad-share model is hard yards.
On Press Gazette
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Biggest news publishers on Youtube: 100+ publishers have more than 1m subscribers
We estimate that 115 English-language publisher accounts have more than one million Youtube subscribers.
How The Sun became biggest UK newspaper on Youtube with 6 million subscribers
Sun digital director Will Payne said The Sun has made Youtube, and video in general, “really central to what we do” for the past approximately 18 months, adding that “our ambition for video is really, really significant”.
Youtube tips for publishers: Consistency, niche, SEO and community building
“We continually look at what is doing well and then super-serve the audience with more of that sort of content.”
This week on Press Gazette
Mirror journalists given individual online page-view targets
Online news subscriptions in UK stay level as print cover prices surge
CMA to investigate Google search dominance and impact on news publishers
London Live closes after ten years as broadcasting licence to change hands
Top 50 news websites in the world: December sees traffic dip post US election
Top 50 news websites in the US: New York Times extends its lead
How Swiss brand 20 Minuten put readers and editors first with new CMS (promoted)
How publishers can avoid affiliate marketing pitfalls and find new revenue (promoted)
Latest Press Gazette podcast
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Podcast 81: AI tipping point in 2025: What publishers need to know
Former digital development director of The Sun Paul Hood has just quit his job to study generative AI full time.
He explained why AI in the media is set to reach a tipping point in 2025 and start to fundamentally change the business. He also reveals some of the practical steps publishers should take to ensure they can capitalise on the opportunities AI presents and avoid some major pitfalls.
Sitting back and doing nothing is not an option, he says.