Publishers understand what they’re up against. They’ve done the math. They know they need to engage audiences across social video, YouTube, audio platforms, and emerging AI interfaces, environments where discovery is driven by algorithms, not direct visits. Every day they work to balance maximizing short-term revenue while maintaining the user experience that builds and keeps an audience over time.

But execution is hard. And it’s getting harder.

To operate across more platforms and environments requires people and know-how that most publishers no longer have. Short-staffed teams can’t juggle dozens of disconnected tech vendors. Data doesn’t flow where it needs to flow. And the operational debt from years of patching together point solutions is making it harder to move fast.

Create. Transform. Distribute. Engage. Monetize.

To compete in a market now dominated by platforms, creators, and AI-driven discovery, publishers need to reorganize their operations around a clear set of functions: creating content, transforming it for different environments, distributing it effectively, driving engagement, and monetizing it across channels.

Create

Every successful content creator–from influencers to the best known media brands– has their secret sauce; their unique style or point of view. Many are rightly concerned that unconstrained use of AI will commoditize quality content, or that a torrent of AI slop will drown out the good stuff. This is why publishers have to be maniacal about quality and authenticity to create real consumer engagement. 

Transform

But how do you scale that quality content across today’s fragmented consumer landscape?  Here is where AI finds purpose. It turns out that AI is really good at taking content and adapting it to different environments and formats. With some expertise and guidance, it can maintain brand standards of quality, trust, and authenticity across many surfaces. 

Today, the words “publisher” and “website” cannot be synonymous. Content has to be created to meet the consumer where he/she lives. That includes the social platforms where the goal to drive traffic back to the publisher’s website is in opposition to the platforms’ imperative to keep the audience within their walled garden. The content then has to do double duty; yes drive traffic, but also maximize monetization programs that encourage customer engagement within even if the audience is experiencing your content outside of your site or app. 

Distribute

Once you’ve got content that’s tailored and transformed, the next problem is getting it everywhere it needs to be really fast. You cannot brute-force this. There aren’t enough hours in the day and there aren’t enough people on your team.

The market for consumer attention shifts constantly. The lifespan of a piece of content is finite: hours or days for news and longer for evergreen, explanatory, or enthusiast content. You need a real-time feedback loop telling you what’s still relevant, what’s gaining traction, and what’s already dead. Without that, you’re flying blind. And a piece of content that could have driven real revenue at hour two is worthless by hour six.

Speed isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the whole game.

Engage

The goal of distribution is to drive engagement, because engagement drives revenue. The challenge is that the best format to engage with you may not be the same as what’s needed to engage with me. Some in your audience will prefer long-form video, some will prefer audio, some still prefer reading, and others will opt for short-form video. Other consumers will respond to more interactive experiences, like community boards, polls, quizzes, and games. Getting that right, at scale, for each individual is the engagement opportunity. And the publishers who solve it  are rewarded with more content consumed, more time spent, and more frequent repeat visits. 

Monetize

Let’s be honest about something. The platforms were not designed to make publishers rich. They were designed to keep audiences inside their walls, and they’re very good at it. For years, the monetization math outside your owned-and-operated properties was ugly, and most publishers knew it.

But something has shifted. Not because the platforms suddenly became generous. But because the pressure on them to attract and retain quality professional content has forced them to open doors they used to keep firmly shut.

YouTube now offers monetization models that generate real revenue for creators who treat their channel like a full-scale media business, not an afterthought. Its dynamic ad insertion tools give serious content owners the ability to operate more like TV networks, swapping sponsored segments in and out, extending the lifespan of sponsorships, and unlocking new monetization opportunities within existing content. Last year, Facebook made meaningful changes to its creator program, and publishers who wrote it off are quietly revisiting that math.

None of this is a windfall. The platforms will always take their cut. But “the platforms take a cut” and “there’s real revenue to be captured” are not mutually exclusive statements. The publishers extracting value from these channels aren’t doing it because the platforms are benevolent. They’re doing it because they’ve built the operational infrastructure to move fast, transform content for each environment, and actually work the monetization programs available to them.

That’s the opportunity. 

Shifting Thinking

While most publishers know they need expertise to help them extract value from their content wherever it is experienced, most are looking at the current moment with a clear-eyed view to extract as much value as they can. They are adapting to the current circumstances and are seeking out new partners who help them succeed. The partners who can consolidate data flows, simplify workflows and harness AI to automate processes will be their best friends. 

The post The new publisher challenge appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Paramount Skydance plans to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery and align HBO Max with Paramount+. Executives there also plan to fold BET+ into Paramount+ this year to scale reach and streamline offerings. 

Meanwhile, Disney is deepening its Hulu integration by bringing its content into the Disney+ app. The company has signaled a move toward a single viewing destination with distinct brand hubs for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN. 

Across the industry, streamers are scaling up ad-supported tiers and lean harder into live sports as they compete for audience attention and ad dollars. Yet, even as services pour billions into original programming, viewers struggle to explain what truly differentiates one streaming brand from another. 

That gap between investment and perception sets the stage for new research from Hub Entertainment. Its study, Evolution of Video Branding, examines how TV and streaming brands shape viewer decision-making in an increasingly crowded marketplace. The findings show strong brand recognition but weak brand clarity. Roughly two-thirds of viewers say they feel confident explaining how a streamer differs from competitors. That figure shows no improvement from last year, suggesting that confidence outpaces actual clarity. 

Exclusive originals no longer drive streaming differentiation 

Many services attempt to stand out through exclusive original programming, but that strategy no longer delivers the impact it once did. Original series now appear across nearly every major platform, turning exclusivity into an expectation rather than a true differentiator. 

Hub’s research highlights the limits of that approach. Viewers still cite exclusive originals as a key differentiator for leading services. However, they struggle to identify meaningful differences in value, usability, or content focus. As a result, scripted content feels increasingly interchangeable across platforms, making it harder for viewers to associate any one service with a distinct genre or identity. 

Viewers cannot remember where to watch programming 

Confusion also extends to where shows live. In a crowded streaming environment, viewers frequently forget which platform carries which title. Less than half of viewers correctly identify where to watch signature series such as Landman on Paramount+, The Pitt on HBO Max, or High Potential on Hulu within Disney+. Awareness drops even further for newer buzz-driven titles. Barely one in 10 viewers correctly identifies HBO Max as the home of Heated Rivalry. 

That confusion carries real consequences. If viewers cannot remember where a show lives, that show fails to reinforce the brand behind it. Original programming loses power as a brand signal when it does not anchor clearly to a service in viewers’ minds. 

For streamers, sports still breaks through the noise 

Sports programming shows a greater ability to cut through the interchangeable scripted landscape in Hub’s research. Peacock’s February coverage of the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics drives stronger differentiation around sports. It underscores that live, culturally significant events can deliver clear brand signals. 

YouTube moves closer to a TV identity 

While traditional streamers wrestle with differentiation, YouTube continues to move deeper into the television conversation. Long viewed primarily as a social and creator driven platform, YouTube increasingly functions like a TV network in the eyes of many viewers. 

Hub’s research shows a near split between viewers who see YouTube as a creator platform and those who see it as a TV or streaming service. Younger audiences lead that shift. Thirty-two percent of viewers under the age of 35 consider YouTube more of a TV or streaming service, compared with 24% of viewers age 35 and older. The growth of long form content and living room viewing pushes YouTube further into traditional television territory. 

As consolidation accelerates and platforms bundle more content under fewer destinations, scale alone does not solve the branding problem facing streamers. Hub’s research shows that brand clarity comes less from the volume of originals and more from the consistency of what a service represents to viewers. Services that send clear signals around value, quality, genre focus, or viewing experience stand out more, even as individual programs blur together in viewers’ minds. 

The post As streaming consolidates, content no longer differentiates appeared first on Digital Content Next.

The main goal of our social media team is to bring people into The Wall Street Journal universe. And when we consider that 1 in 5 adults are now getting their news on TikTok according to a recent Pew Research survey, it’s a platform of significant importance.

For current subscribers, these videos reinforce the value of their subscription. For non-subscribers, we’re giving them a reason to build a relationship with us and, hopefully, a reason to subscribe.

By focusing on exclusivity, authenticity, and trust—principles that matter more than ever amid today’s ocean of AI-generated content—we sharpened and refined our editorial output. As a result, our audiences responded with sustained attention and deeper engagement. Here is the strategic playbook we used to achieve those results.

Each video has a purpose

Since 2022, we’ve experimented with a variety of styles, topics and formats. But the biggest lesson from our first 1,700 videos is that every piece of content must have a specific intent.

Some will be conversation starters, like our piece about how Italian pasta could be decimated by tariffs, or Billie Eilish’s message to billionaires at our WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards. 

Some will add to an existing conversation. This might be joining sports reporter Laine Higgins in a curling rink when the Winter Olympics made us all obsessed with curling, or explaining how Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance inspired fans to learn Spanish.

Others showcase our exclusive reporting or distinctive storytelling. This demonstrates our value by showing audiences something they can’t get anywhere else. For example, we asked why Americans traveling abroad love visiting Costco, and looked inside the Titan submersible with an interactive graphic. 

By laying out a purpose from the outset, we were able to focus our storytelling and publish each piece with a clear ‘why’, telling the viewer what’s in it for them.

Promote individuals, not just the brand

By launching the Talent Lab, a new team in our newsroom that trains and upskills journalists in audience-building, we’ve been able to expand our focus on the reporters themselves. On social media, audiences want to know the people behind the reporting, and we want our reporters’ expertise to help build the credibility and trust that people crave. 

In the ultimate example, Ryan Knutson, co-host of our daily podcast The Journal, went to a party for people named Ryan and took behind-the-scenes footage for our team to tell the story from the inside. It was a great case of lowering the barrier between the host and the audience, allowing us to connect them in a way that might be more difficult for a straightforward article.

We’ve seen similar success on LinkedIn. Ben Cohen’s video about the Ford engineer who created the dashboard arrow to show which side your gas tank is on was a simple idea expertly executed. We helped produce a piece for Ben that performed exceptionally well on his personal LinkedIn account, which we then amplified across our TikTok and Instagram pages.

The goal here is to move beyond relying solely on our institutional voice. By encouraging reporters to promote their journalism on their individual pages we bring the audience closer to the people who make the Journal what it is. In a media environment where audiences increasingly gravitate toward individual voices over institutional brands, investing in reporter-led audience development positions us to build trust and loyalty in ways that align with how people connect with journalism today.

Social video producers are key

Our social video producers act as strategic bridge-builders. Sometimes they are the faces on screen, such as Julia Munslow, and other times they are coaches, guiding reporters through the technical nitty-gritty of lighting, mic placement and self-filming. On complex pieces, their role shifts to translator—working one-on-one with reporters to turn their stories into a format that feels native to the platform.

While some reporters gravitate toward the camera naturally, some may prefer to keep their focus on reporting and writing. Our social producers are the “village” that ensures their expertise gets the visual treatment it deserves.

Looking toward the next million

Surpassing 1 million followers is a milestone, but the real work is maintaining momentum. We are currently honing our short-form video strategy on LinkedIn, X and Instagram Reels, as well as our own WSJ app. Design updates to our platforms allow us to showcase this format in a way that matches how audiences consume content in 2026.

The goal of our social team is to share our journalism with the widest possible audience by meeting people exactly where they are. We’ve proven that a legacy media organization can be authentic in its social presence: by showing the world the reporters behind our stories, we aren’t just gaining followers, we’re building the next generation of The Wall Street Journal’s audience.

The post How The Wall Street Journal is reaching the next generation on TikTok appeared first on Digital Content Next.

That makes sense: the platform has grown over the last two decades into a service that’s  too big to ignore. Last year it reportedly generated $60bn in revenue, indicative of its might. Even the most reticent broadcaster has experimented with dropping short highlights onto the service. It has also proven to be an excellent place to host video podcasts, with the visual element acting as a multiplying factor in terms of views.

Most importantly, however, YouTube has been consistent in delivering views to its biggest channels.

That consistency will be a welcome respite for publishers. With AI-powered search results reportedly cutting traffic to news sites’ by up to 79%, it’s understandable that they would look to increase their presence on a platform that is, at least, reliable in at least one way. 

To that end we have seen a number of news sites recruiting for YouTube-specialist video producers, suggesting that the platform is climbing publishers’ priority lists in 2026. The Reuters Institute’s ‘Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2026’ found that “in terms of off-platform strategies, YouTube will be the main focus for publishers this year with a net score of +74, up substantially on last year”.

In the UK, for example, Reach Plc’s CFO Darren Fisher noted that Facebook and YouTube “are increasingly rewarding, engaging content”, in the face of falling digital revenue elsewhere. 

Where before the platform might have been seen as a source of supplementary ad revenue, it is now being factored into audience acquisition strategies more directly, as legacy media seeks ways to turn off-platform engagement into a viable audience development strategy.

In the UK the platform is the second most-watched service in the UK, behind the BBC and ahead of the commercial-powered ITV. That provides media businesses with a reliable opportunity to scoop up new fans, who can either be monetized through ads on the platform or converted to paying subscribers on the business’ own site.

YouTube personalities

Typically, the channels that succeed on YouTube have a recurring team of creators and on-camera talent, which is consistent with video consumption trends and preferences. This format, aping the traditional television content alongside which YouTube increasingly competes on CTV, is increasingly personality-driven. There are YouTube news stars whose fame eclipses that of traditional television.

That presents a big shift for some media businesses who typically put the brand front and center over individual journalists.

Chris Gallipeau, director of video and audio strategy at Canada-based Postmedia notes that, indeed, the team has found personality-led content – or at least videos with consistent hosts – has worked especially well across its brands/ “We’ve also found that having a consistent host or voice makes a big impact on engagement, he said. “Videos with a familiar, regular personality often see viewership double compared to those without. 

“The best performing voices or faces are often well-known contributors and popular names from our opinion and commentary sections of the newspapers where audiences already have a strong connection to their perspectives.”

Similarly, The Sun’s Director of Video Jon Lloyd explains that works well on YouTube, with its reliance on thumbnails that prominently feature the hosts:

“We have found through hosts, shows are more likely to become appointment viewing  with viewers. Our viewers for Tactics Exposed love Dean Scoggins and Will Pugh’s football expertise – and let us know in the comments. They come back to it weekly as they know they’re going to have a clearer understanding of the game. They might stay through any dips if they recognize and trust the person speaking, which leads to longer listening sessions and higher completion rates.”

As an example, the group’s Vancouver Sun editor-in-chief Harold Munro is a frequent face on the paper’s channel, speaking with various members of the team in explainer style shortform videos. Some publications have a leg up on that approach, having monetized their personality-led podcasts on the platform for years. 

Chris Stone, executive producer of podcasts and video at the New Statesman, says: “That video extends our audience reach on YouTube but also on social platforms. The purpose of that is to grow the top of our funnel. Having video helps to expand your reach on socials, that’s certainly what’s happening with us… and the easiest way to produce that is from our podcasts.”

Consistency and growth

Gallipeau explains that, even if the form of the journalism has necessarily changed, the group’s editorial strategy is an extension of its coverage elsewhere: “Postmedia has found success in both long and short-form video content on YouTube especially for our major news brands. 

“What seems to really drive success is the topic. For brands like National Post and The Toronto Sun, there is a big appetite for federal and provincial political content. When we produce videos on those subjects, regardless of length, it generally outperforms the average video.”

That lines up with research about the news consumption habits of US adults. Per a Pew Research Center study, 35% of US adults self-report that they ‘regularly’ get news from YouTube channels.

The big question is the extent to which YouTube will remain consistent and prioritize that sort of news-led content within its algorithm. Writing for Nieman Lab, Joon Lee argues that, as it gets squeezed by Netflix, YouTube has recognized the need for legitimacy of the sort that legacy media can confer. 

As Lee puts it, “YouTube doesn’t need journalism to boost ad revenue. It needs journalism to anchor its reputational power in the same way newspapers once anchored civic life.”

Shorts and resources

While YouTube might want legacy content to increase its legitimacy, publishers do have to tailor their content to each platform if they want to succeed. 

Charlie Carmichael, Head of Audience at talkSPORT, states that the brand has seen some significant uptick in subscribers as a result of taking advantage of the subchannel option on YouTube. “This platform-first mindset helped us grow our YouTube revenue by 30% YoY in 2025,” he said. “In addition to diversifying our audience and reducing the talkSPORT main channel’s share of views from 81% to 67%. It’s also unlocked new partnership opportunities, and we’ve increasingly experimented with live-streaming non-traditional rights.”

However, despite a media brand’s popularity on shelves or screens, there is plenty more competition on the video site. As a result there are examples of best practice that even the biggest news brands have to adhere to, particularly with regards to recurring personalities and recognizable series.

Gallipeau explains: “On some of our larger brands, we work to apply YouTube best practices to help our video content stand out. We’ve also found great success in using formats like YouTube Shorts to raise awareness and drive traffic to our channels. This has a significant impact on subscriber and viewership growth.”

The benefit of committing to the Shorts format is that – while tweaking is still required – it allows media business’ YouTube efforts to bear fruit elsewhere. 

At the New York Times, for example, the video team is investing heavily in vertical video of the sort that can sit on YouTube Shorts in addition to TikTok and Instagram. The paper’s video director Solana Pyne told The Hollywood Reporter that “our videos live both on our own platform and on a whole range of social platforms, Instagram, TikTok, also YouTube. We don’t make video that would live only or thrive only on one platform.”

Unsurprisingly, many other newspapers are making their video content work harder on the platform. 

The Guardian, for example, repurposes sections of its longform explainers for the Shorts section. It acts as both a trailer for the ‘main’ video and an antennae that reaches the subsection of the YouTube audience that primarily consumes Shorts.

As YouTube climbs publisher and broadcasters’ priority lists in the face of uncertainty elsewhere, they are to some extent dancing to the platform’s tune in terms of video format Personality-led videos and the parasocial relationships they create with an audience are the order of the day, and Shorts are practically mandatory for discovery.

Alex Rothwell, Head of Video for The Times and The Sunday Times, notes that the team has identified that different forms of video on the platform work towards different ends. He said, “We have different approaches to our multiple YouTube channels to serve specific goals; revenue, audience growth, or a combination of the two.”

He does note, though, that maintaining a consistent identity across those channels is key: “Across all of our YouTube output, we maintain a consistent visual identity by using The Times thumbnail branding. We’ve also developed repeatable formats – such as Explains, Investigates, and Documentaries – which help build a loyal audience over time by establishing a clear and recognisable editorial identity.”

YouTube, then, presents legacy publishers with an opportunity to widen the top of the funnel when it comes to acquiring audiences. It is, though, still a platform over which publishers and broadcasters have next to no control; the trick is in gaming its ability to concentrate audiences around a news channel while increasing investment with the brand itself.

The post Publishers rethink YouTube strategy as search traffic erodes appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Despite progress, there remains cultural challenges that could stymie their growth outside of the Far East. As Tom Harrington, Head of TV at Enders Analysis points out, “People have been trying to make drama more snackable in the West for a long time and it has never really taken.” 

Jen Cooper, a vertical drama critic and journalist, sees a change though, with experimentation and interest growing. “America is beginning to tip … people are aware of them and willing to kind of talk about it now. I know from friends in New York that [say they] see people on the subway watching vertical dramas.” However, “America is nine to 12 months ahead of both Europe and the UK,” she says. 

The primary audience is “women aged about 25 to 65 who were looking for romance,” according to Cooper. Henry Soong, founder of US-based microdrama company, Watch Club, notes that many in this category have disposable income to be spent on those microtransactions. 

While several apps have sprung up, there are currently two major players in the field – China-backed Reel Short and Singapore-based Dramabox. According to Sensor Tower’s State of Mobile 2026 report, downloads of Reel Short increased 115% year-on-year in 2025, with the researchers finding there were 2.3 billion downloads of Short Drama apps over the 12-month period.  

Unsurprisingly, the global media industry has started to take notice.  

Making mega money from Microdramas 

Microdramas are generally monetized via microtransactions; viewers are lured in with free episodes before being asked to cough up cash. Big name brands such as Shein and Crocs are starting to take interest though and back projects, according to Cooper 

Research from Omdia back in October estimated that microdramas would bringing n $11billion globally last year. They said: “60% of global microdrama revenue comes from subscription or transactional payments, often following a free introductory model.” At that time, China accounted for 83% of total revenue. 

The basic monetization model involves making the first seven to 10 episodes of a show available for free. The companies producing the shows then ask for “about 50 cents per minute long episode, or they charge you a weekly subscription, which could bring in $17 USD per week,” explains Soong. Some also provide the option to purchase digital coins or watch an advert in-app.  

The audience hook 

The shows find their audience through heavy marketing on social media, drawing viewers back to the platform on which the show is based. That is how Cooper, a bookseller before becoming an expert in the medium, discovered them.  

Marketing spend is around nine times the production costs. “It’s all about really aggressive customer acquisition, working around the clock with social media ads, pushing them out, seeing what takes off, experimenting,” she says. 

“Spreading on social media is the key. “You want the show to go viral,” says Dan Lowenstein, a director on a many vertical dramas 

Crucial to turning people from casual viewers brought in by social media into paying customers is the hook – the episode at which people are required to pay. This is not just a responsibility of the business team, but the creatives too. Lowenstein says it is “part of…my job to make that hook a reality. So, you can play with that a lot. And that’s the that’s the kind of good part of this format is that there’s room to play and room to experiment.” 

Cooper outlines that a show has production costs of $100,000 to $200,000. That number is ridiculously low compared to traditional film budgets. 

Costs are kept down by very quick shoot times. “The whole thing is that you have these six, seven days to shoot basically a feature film,” explains Lowenstein. “The business plan is about smaller budgets, less risk… you’re shooting on average 12 to 13 pages a day.” That is considerably more than on traditional TVs or movies. The vertical nature of the output helps with this. “You’re not seeing as much you can shoot faster, says Lowenstein. 

Another key element of the revenue strategy is making a huge amount of content, possible due to those low shoot costs. “There’s been a race to just put out more and more,” says Cooper. There is an element of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. Cooper believes that “it does feel with some of the apps it’s kind of quantity over quality.” 

Niche content ripe for growth

The truth is, many of these shows are schlocky and low grade, with an emphasis on romance. Some even veer towards the pornographic. (There is a BDSM tag on Reel Short, for instance.) The acting and story lines are basic and hammy. The range of subject matter and quality may need to mature for the format to gain wider traction.

“I would categorize all of these shows on Reel Short and Drama Box as romance” says Soong. “And the reason why people are willing to pay per episode is because it fills a similar emotional need as OnlyFans does.” I’m sure various show creators and actors would dispute this, but the comment is largely a fair one.  

Platforms like Reel Short and Drama Box have a huge amount of power and, to access their particular shows, you must have their app. Of course, these firms, which, as Cooper explained, are essentially media ventures back by massive tech companies, can further exploit the IP they create. At a smaller scale, Soong is hoping his firm can build a social network around the vertical dramas, again keeping viewers on the platform. 

The content is certainly addictive. I began watching one show when researching this piece and found myself increasingly intrigued as to what would happen next. I later realized I’d watch 26 episodes of a certain show over a couple of different sittings, including navigating adverts to keep going. It wasn’t exactly HBO-style prestige TV, but I had been reeled in.  

While the recent growth of microdrama’s is certainly exciting, one high-profile failure looms large in media memory: Quibi. The app, launched by Jeffrey Katzenberg and led by Meg Whitman, which garnered $1.75B and folded six months after launch, was meant to bring shortform streaming to the US.   

Maybe it was just bad timing, as we headed into the pandemic and people were at home on big TVs, not swiping on the go on their phones.  Maybe the West was not yet ready to consume content in this way, before audiences became acclimated to TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts.  

Vertical dramas have been popular in China for a while now. Though it’s not yet clear whether their growth elsewhere will be a fad or a genuine shift in consumption habits, however the future plays out, there is currently enough interest in microdramas that the format is worth a look. There is a real sense that this is an area for creativity and a way to capitalize on the audience appeal of social vertical video.

The post How microdramas hook viewers and drive revenue appeared first on Digital Content Next.

HUB Entertainment Research’s new report finds that viewers no longer treat social video as separate from television. They integrate it directly into their TV experience, with social and creator video increasingly becoming part of the living room screen. Among viewers ages 13 to 24, 54% say watching short clips on TV feels just as fun as watching longer shows or movies. Among those aged 25 to 34, that number rises to 63%. Even 39% of viewers aged 35 and older agree. In practice, the distinction between television and social video holds less meaning for many audiences. 

HUB’s findings align with DCN’s research, Decoding Video Content Engagement: Gen Z & Gen Y in Focus. Short form and social video are no longer peripheral channels. They function as core components of the media ecosystem and drive engagement, discovery, and loyalty. A video strategy that overlooks these platforms ignores how audiences actually consume content. 

Viewers treat YouTube as television 

YouTube plays a major role in how audiences watch video on television screens. Viewers increasingly treat YouTube as television rather than a separate category. When content appears on the TV screen, it feels intentional and immersive. It gains focus and legitimacy. It no longer feels disposable, even when the content runs only a few minutes. 

According to HUB, self-reported time spent watching social and creator videos remain steady since 2022. During the same period, time spent watching TV shows and movies declines by roughly two hours per week. This pattern shows how attention fragments across formats and moments. Social video fills time that once defaulted to linear viewing because it fits more easily into daily routines. 

Younger viewers feel conflicted but committed 

More than half of younger viewers say they spend too much time watching social video. At the same time, they describe it as easy, fun, and culturally relevant. That contradiction defines how many young audiences relate to media today. They recognize habit driven behavior but continue to value what social video delivers. Personality, authenticity, and immediacy keep social content appealing. These traits matter more than polish or production scale. 

Viewers who are 35 and older spend fewer hours watching social videos than younger groups. However, their usage grows faster than any other age segment. Social video no longer belongs only to youth culture. It increasingly attracts mainstream audiences, especially when viewed on television screens. For media companies, this broadens the opportunity to reach older viewers through creator driven formats. 

Creators shape discovery across platforms 

HUB finds that official trailers on social platforms influence nearly half of viewers when choosing new shows or movies. Short clips, recaps, and behind the scenes videos also play an important role in discovery. 

Discovery no longer starts with network promos or streaming homepages. It begins in feeds where audiences already spend time. Creators and algorithms play a central role in shaping audience attention. Viewers increasingly rely on feeds rather than schedules or homepages. They rarely start with the question of where to watch. Algorithms surface clips based on past behavior, social signals, and cultural momentum. What appears next often determines what they watch at all. 

Creators act as filters in this environment. Their reactions, edits, and commentary help audiences decide what content deserves time. A clip from a trusted creator often carries more weight than a traditional promotion.  

Social and creator video no longer sit outside the TV ecosystem. They influence how audiences spend time, discover content, and define value. Ignoring them means misunderstanding modern viewing behavior.  

Media companies are responding by partnering with creators, licensing social formats, and experimenting with distribution. These strategies reflect audience reality, not trend chasing. Winning attention means meeting audiences on the screens and platforms where they spend their time. 

The post Today’s TV is more than a mindset. It’s a strategic shift appeared first on Digital Content Next.

These fundamental infrastructure realities are is already changing how Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) operators think about programming, production, and discovery. Here are practical lessons this reality is forcing FAST operators to address:

Discovery is still driven by people, platforms, and the guide

One of the most consistent drivers of viewership we’ve seen is still the simplest: When athletes tell their social followers to tune in, viewership spikes. Across every sport Swerve has worked with — from boxing and MMA to volleyball, basketball, and football — athlete promotion reliably moves audiences. In a crowded FAST environment, social influence remains a key discovery engine. Leagues and rights holders that understand how to activate athletes have a meaningful advantage.

Platform promotion matters too, and it often favors live events. Swerve streams more than 300 live events per year on average, and there’s tremendous opportunity for expansion in live events on FAST. But one of the more important realities we’ve observed is that live isn’t always the top performer. Across many types of sports, replays often outperform live events. A major reason is straightforward: Viewers are discovering content by browsing the on-screen guide. That behavior underscores the importance of detailed, accurate, informative metadata and the UI decisions that determine whether content is findable in the first place. FAST may be delivered through streaming, but discovery often functions like linear television: What’s visible wins.

Libraries and replays are doing more work than we expected

Because guide browsing is such a powerful driver, FAST can create unexpected opportunities for content that already exists. For new and existing leagues benefiting from investment and momentum right now, FAST provides another shot at reaching a wider audience, especially for rights holders with video libraries of competitions they haven’t showcased because they’ve had other priorities. Replays and libraries don’t just fill hours; they create more entry points for discovery, and more chances for viewers to stumble into a sport or league they didn’t know they’d care about. The fundamentals are there, but channels and rights holders need to package that depth in a way that supports browsing behavior.

Audience appetite is broader than legacy assumptions

With two quarters of data, we’re seeing clear patterns in what performs, while we continue to test and refine programming. Some of the results have been surprising. STIHL Timbersports events, featuring competitive wood-chopping with chainsaws and axes, defy geographic boundaries, with competitions from Benelux countries performing as well as competitions from the U.S. and Canada. Other top-performing standouts include Women’s Football Alliance and Athletes Unlimited basketball and volleyball.

The range of competitions that can perform well — from trampoline to poker to pool — also reflects research Swerve conducted in 2025 showing younger audiences’ willingness and interest in following more than a handful of sports. We’ve leaned into that insight through our partnership with Rebel Girls, launching a weekly family program featuring outstanding women athletes in a Saturday-morning time slot. The point isn’t that every niche will break out. It’s that FAST audiences appear more open than many operators assume. Channels that program with curiosity, consistency, and clear packaging can unlock demand that looks invisible in other distribution environments.

Production investment is a key threshold for success

Another key lesson for new and evolving sports leagues is the importance of production. This is true for long-form live matches, but it’s also true (and increasingly urgent) for short-form video, particularly for anyone trying to capture attention among younger audiences. For newer and smaller leagues seeking to build fandom, production can make or break their ability to develop relationships with fans who are used to established norms.

Production investment also allows rights holders to control their IP, which matters for developing leagues where image and storytelling are inseparable from growth. Not every league has the financial capability to shoot with more than one camera, and some struggle to finance production for an entire season. But technology can help: from AI captioning to cloud production, newer, lower-cost tools have lowered the barrier to entry. What hasn’t changed is the underlying reality that production quality shapes trust and trust shapes retention.

Infrastructure is a barrier to FAST growth

FAST is in a convergence moment, with platform growth, live content appetite, and expanding libraries colliding with a persistent lack of standardization and robust infrastructure. Tracking analytics across different platforms remains challenging. The lack of third-party metrics is maddening. And the industry’s unwillingness to agree to and adhere to common standards creates friction for creators, platforms, and audiences alike.

The live events and libraries are there. The athletes are there. The audience appetite is there. What we’ve learned so far is that the constraint is less about supply and more about infrastructure: standardization, data sharing, and discoverability. FAST’s next phase of growth will depend on whether those systems evolve fast enough to match the pace of the market.

Putting Swerve’s FAST lessons Into practice

Swerve’s early experience on FAST has reinforced that growth alone isn’t the differentiator. Planning full seasons, pairing live events with replays, and making content easy to find has mattered as much as launching more programming. As FAST continues to scale, the operators who win will be those who understand that programming, production, and discovery function as one system and build accordingly.

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YouTube rewards speed over polish, feedback over control, and consistency over campaigns. Results aren’t simply about reach, but something harder to manufacture later: audience trust and habitual viewing. For organizations accustomed to control and predictability, capitalizing on the true value of YouTube has been challenging to say the least.

These dynamics came into sharp focus during a panel I moderated at the Content London conference in December on the Secrets of YouTube Success. The panelists were Patrick Walker, Senior Advisor at Electrify Video Partner and founder of Nowherian, Luke Hyams, co-founder of Pangaea and former Head of Originals at YouTube, James Loveridge, Co-Managing Director of Little Dot Studios, and Sam Glynne, Head of EMEA, Entertainment and Culture Marketing at UTA. Between them, they represent some of the deepest institutional memory the platform has, people who were there before YouTube knew what it was going to become.

The topic of our discussion was straightforward: What lessons from YouTube’s evolution can be applied today to build audience loyalty, sustainable monetization, and long-term relevance in a rapidly shifting video landscape? For executives, it’s not just about understanding history; it’s about recognizing the behaviors, relationships, and creative choices that will determine who thrives on the platform in the next few years. Many media companies and brands still treat YouTube as a bolt-on distribution channel rather than what it actually is, a direct and ongoing relationship with audiences.

Media leaders have seen this movie before

I first encountered YouTube professionally in 2007, when I was Global Head of Digital at Fremantle. At the time, the idea that a user-generated platform could be a serious commercial partner was controversial, if not seditious. Despite that skepticism, we signed one of YouTube’s earliest global partnerships, which went on to generate tens of millions of dollars for the group. Not because the content was radically different from what we were already making, but because the relationship with the audience was.

Later, as Managing Director of ChannelFlip (one of the early YouTube creator studios), I saw the same pattern repeat. Creators who understood their audiences deeply, published consistently, and responded to feedback in real time routinely outperformed far better resourced traditional media brands. The lesson then, as now, was simple: YouTube rewards those who treat viewers as participants, not recipients.

From distribution to relationship

Early in our panel, it became clear that the industry took years to understand what YouTube truly was. For many companies, success was initially measured in uploads and views rather than in loyalty or trust. Creators, by contrast, quickly learned that the real value was in return visits. They read comments, adjusted formats, experimented publicly and often failed in full view of their audiences. That feedback loop made them faster, sharper, and more relevant than traditional media teams working behind layers of approval.

For executives used to broadcast scheduling, YouTube requires a rethink of what drives loyalty and revenue. While formats, devices, and business models have evolved, the principle of building habitual viewing and trust remains as true today as it was in 2007.

The algorithm is not the villain

YouTube is often described as unforgiving. That’s true. However, it is not arbitrary. Luke Hyams, former Head of Originals at YouTube, reminded the audience that many creators learned early to “post first and apologise later,” experimenting quickly and learning from audience feedback. Thumbnails, titles, and pacing are not optional marketing add-ons; they are part of the storytelling. Optimisation, as James Loveridge noted, is a creative act, not just a technical exercise. Patrick Walker framed the challenge another way, describing a “post-algorithm world” where sustainable businesses build audience ownership rather than relying solely on platform mechanics.

Over-reliance on algorithmic growth is a trap. Formats age, platform dynamics shift, and businesses built entirely on rented reach are fragile. Companies that succeed are those that use the algorithm to find audiences, then work deliberately to keep them. Audience ownership, not algorithmic dependence, is where long-term business value lies.

Why brands still struggle

Brand success on YouTube remains uneven, not because audiences reject brands, but because brands struggle with the loss of control. Content cannot be quietly taken down or endlessly revised. Comments accumulate. Audiences talk back. Trust, once broken, is visible.

Sam Glynne highlighted that brands often attempt to behave like creators but underestimate how quickly audiences notice inauthenticity. Our panel agreed that brands perform best when they treat YouTube as a studio, not a campaign channel. This means investing in talent relationships over time, respecting the audience’s expectations, and accepting that authenticity cannot be reverse-engineered. Creators have always understood this instinctively; organizations are still learning it.

Connected TV and the return of long-form

Another strategic opportunity is the growth of long-form viewing on YouTube via connected TV. Audiences may be leaning back, but they still expect creator-led storytelling, direct address, and a sense of intimacy. Companies that assume connected TV automatically validates old commissioning models will struggle. Those that design long-form formats specifically for creator ecosystems will find growth.

YouTube strategy now cuts across content, brand, product, and distribution. It cannot sit in a social media silo. This is an urgent operational and strategic issue for executives responsible for long-term growth and engagement.

Key takeaways for media executives

For media and advertising leaders, the lessons are practical and immediate:

• Stop treating YouTube as a distribution endpoint; treat it as a relationship platform.
• Optimization is part of creativity; packaging and format matter as much as content quality.
• Views without loyalty are not a business; retention and habitual engagement matter more than scale.
• Brands succeed when they behave like studios, not advertisers, investing in long-term talent relationships.
• Long-term value comes from audience ownership, not algorithmic favor.

YouTube is no longer the future of television. It is part of today’s media infrastructure. Leaders who invest in audience-first thinking, treat creators and talent as strategic partners, and prioritize trust and habitual engagement will find sustainable growth and loyalty. Those who cling to legacy approaches risk irrelevance.

About the author

Claire Tavernier is a media and technology adviser and board chair. She was previously Global Head of Digital at Fremantle and Managing Director of ChannelFlip.

The post From reach to relationship: unlocking value on YouTube appeared first on Digital Content Next.

New research from Kapwing, an online video editing platform, documents the global rise of what many creators and technologists refer to as AI slop. Rather than defining this content by topic or format, the report focuses on how it is produced and distributed. AI slop is created quickly, published at high volume, and optimized to trigger engagement metrics that recommendation systems use to rank and surface content.

Kapwing’s analysis places AI slop within the mechanics of platform distribution, helping clarify what drives visibility. Across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, algorithmic systems prioritize scalable engagement signals rather than editorial attributes. Understanding those incentives is essential for publishers to assess where they remain exposed to algorithmic churn and where alternative approaches to audience growth can still exert leverage.

Share of AI slop in recommended video feeds

Kapwing’s analysis of YouTube recommendations finds that a substantial portion of videos shown to new users qualifies as low-quality AI-generated content. In recommendation feeds generated for accounts with limited viewing history, AI slop appears repeatedly rather than as isolated suggestions.

The research identifies entire channels devoted exclusively to producing AI-generated videos at scale. These channels rely on automated workflows to generate visuals, narration, and scripts, often publishing multiple videos per day. Some achieve significant reach and generate revenue through standard platform advertising programs.

Kapwing’s findings suggest that this visibility reflects how recommendation systems function when personalization data is limited. For new accounts, platforms rely more heavily on generalized engagement signals to populate feeds. AI slop frequently meets these criteria, increasing the likelihood that it will be surfaced early and often.

The content itself commonly features recycled visuals, synthetic voiceovers, loosely assembled scripts, and broad or ambiguous topics. Kapwing emphasizes that AI slop is not defined by the use of artificial intelligence alone. Instead, it reflects a production approach designed to maximize engagement metrics such as watch time, posting frequency, and volume.

The earmarks of AI slop

The report distinguishes AI slop from other uses of AI in media production. Many publishers and creators use AI tools to support editing, translation, accessibility, or workflow efficiency. AI slop, by contrast, involves minimal editorial intervention and relies on automation to scale output rapidly.

The defining characteristic of slop is not automation itself, but the absence of editorial oversight. Content decisions are driven primarily by performance data rather than by subject expertise, reporting, or narrative intent. This distinction allows Kapwing to identify slop based on observable production and publishing behaviors.

Signals prioritized by recommendation systems

This research highlights the role of engagement signals in determining content distribution. Across algorithmically curated platforms, recommendation systems rely on metrics that are easy to measure and compare at scale. These include watch time, retention, posting frequency, and consistency.

Editorial attributes such as accuracy, sourcing, originality, and narrative structure do not directly factor into these systems. Their exclusion reflects platform design choices about which signals are incorporated into ranking models.

AI slop is produced to generate high watch time, frequent posting, and consistent engagement. These are the same signals recommendation systems to rank and surface content. High posting frequency increases the likelihood of repeated exposure, particularly in feed-based environments.

Global distribution patterns

Kapwing’s findings show that AI slop is not limited to a single market or language. The report identifies similar patterns across regions and content categories. Channels producing AI slop appear in multiple countries and serve audiences in diverse linguistic contexts.

This distribution reflects shared platform systems rather than localized editorial practices. Where algorithmic recommendation governs visibility, similar outcomes emerge regardless of geography.

From this perspective, AI slop is not an anomaly or a fringe category. It represents a production strategy that performs well within existing algorithmic distribution systems. The research clarifies the distribution dynamics that allow AI slop to scale. This content’s prevalence across platforms, regions, and formats reflects shared incentive structures rather than changes in audience demand.

For media executives, the spread of AI slop underscores a hard truth about today’s distribution economics: platform visibility is driven by scalable engagement signals, not by editorial judgment or quality. When scale and engagement signals drive distribution, automated content gains structural advantages. Publishers must continue to reduce reliance on feed-driven discovery by strengthening direct, first-party audience relationships and prioritizing formats that build habitual, intentional consumption.

The post Where AI slop fits into algorithmic visibility appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Live streaming is also propelling CTV forward. With streaming platforms placing greater emphasis on live content – and the Winter Olympics and men’s football World Cup due to take place in 2026 – CTV is primed for sustained momentum. But what are the trends that are powering the current CTV boom, and how can stakeholders take full advantage of its success?  

Streaming’s popularity is fueling CTV’s growth 

The popularity of streaming services is a key factor behind the growth of the CTV opportunity. According to Nielsen data, the first half of 2025 saw streaming’s highest share of digital and TV viewership in the US at 46%. Over the same period, premium video ad view growth on streaming platforms across the US and Europe combined was up 27% year-on-year, the 1H Video Marketplace Report from FreeWheel shows.   

And connected TV devices are where the vast majority of streaming ads are being seen. In the US, 85% of streaming ad views are on CTV, compared to 9% on mobile or 3.5% on desktop. In Europe, where STB VOD is more common – particularly with France’s large IPTV sector – CTV still leads the way, accounting for 48% of ad views, compared to 21% on mobile or STB VOD. Overall, the number of ad views in 2025 on CTV devices grew significantly year-over-year (YOY), rising by 8% in the US and 31% in Europe.  

It’s clear that by offering audiences a high-quality viewing experience and a diverse range of content through streaming platforms, CTV has firmly established itself as the primary device for ad consumption in the premium video category. Media owners that want to further build on their streaming offering should make CTV a strategic priority. 

CTV boosts inventory value 

For streaming platforms, CTV offers some distinct advantages not least a large screen experience providing a highly immersive environment for advertising. But its ability to boost inventory value is critically important in a crowded digital advertising space. This is realized at different levels.  

1. Audience insight: With viewers often needing to log in on their devices, streaming apps know where and who their audience is, and can utilize various consented data points to help advertisers refine their targeting, increasing the value of their inventory. 
2. Measurement: CTV gives buyers visibility into actual outcomes beyond impressions and reach, from engagement to brand lift and conversions; making it easier for content providers to ensure the campaign reaches the intended audience, which further boosts inventory appeal.  
3. Targeting: CTV’s robust content foundation enables smarter, privacy-safe contextual targeting. By aligning ad creative with the content viewers are already engaged in, CTV boosts relevance, resonance, and results. Research from our FreeWheel Viewer Experience Lab found that viewers report twice the engagement when ads are relevant, and brand recall significantly increases with contextual alignment. 

In particular, the benefits of contextual alignment can go further. By tagging keywords using a standardized taxonomy, such as the IAB Content Taxonomy, publishers can achieve scalability and simplified ad execution. When combined with programmatic, this approach can further transform contextual advertising into a seamless targeting solution, noticeably increasing content’s value for advertisers. 

Programmatic opens up premium inventory to new advertisers 

An increasingly big part of the appeal of CTV for advertisers is the ability to deliver ads programmatically to streaming viewers. The Video Marketplace Report shows that there has been a major rise in programmatic ad views, growing 44% YOY in Europe and by 29% YOY in the US. Overall, programmatic now represents 30% of ad delivery in the premium video ecosystem in the US, while in Europe it stands at 19%.  

The significance of programmatic’s expanding influence in streaming is that it is opening up premium video to a new cohort of advertisers, including SMEs. While in the past, TV advertising was seen largely as a way to build brand awareness (and required big budgets) today brands looking to drive performance-based outcomes are increasingly utilizing programmatic delivery to reach specific CTV audiences.  

Data shows a 14% YOY rise in the number of unique advertisers leveraging automated delivery; and they are reaping the rewards, with new-to-programmatic advertisers achieving 29% more ad views than those who entered the market in the first half of 2024. This highlights a compelling reason for publishers to tap into this increased demand for programmatic; in turn, they can increase their pool of advertisers, lessening the risk of ad fatigue for audiences from repetitive ads and improving the viewing experience.   

The importance of live environments 

Programmatic is also transforming ad delivery for live content. In the US, the majority (56%) of ad views happen in live environments due to the popularity of live sports coverage and FAST (Free, Ad-supported Streaming TV) channels. In Europe, more than three-quarters (76%) of premium video ad views are in VOD content, though growing distribution between direct-to-consumer (DTC) and FAST channels has seen the share of live environment ad views grow. Particularly in the UK, FAST is rapidly growing as audiences increasingly enjoy the familiar, ‘live’ experience of linear TV through digital devices.  

With tentpole live events on the agenda in 2026, including the men’s football World Cup, the Winter Olympics, the Super Bowl and more, there’s a major opportunity for publishers to tap into live programming and continue to open up access to their inventory and audiences through programmatic. 

Now, to truly take advantage of the opportunities that CTV brings, streamers need to ensure the buying process is as simple as possible. Traditionally, buying for TV has been a complex undertaking. For buyers used to digital channels such as social and display, straightforward and efficient access to addressable media is key. In turn, this will increase efficiency for publishers.  

With advertisers, particularly new-to-programmatic ones, seeing results from their spend in this area, platforms must focus on unlocking more content in this way to diversify their strategies and put themselves at the forefront of innovation in CTV. While publishers’ investments in monetization and technology are paying off, there’s still plenty of room to further extend automated delivery across VOD and live inventories. And with a wider pool of advertisers and support for diversified and innovative ad formats, the viewing experience can be greatly enhanced too.  

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