Entertainment remains one of the most resilient categories in household spending, even as many Americans look for ways to cut back. From concerts and travel to dining out and streaming subscriptions, people continue to seek out experiences that bring joy, escape, and connection.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, consumer spending on recreation services, including streaming, live events, and travel, grew by over 7% year-over-year in Q1 2025. This growth outpaced the overall increase in personal consumption, signaling strong demand for experience-based activities.
But strength in entertainment spending doesn’t mean consumers aren’t anxious. Inflation, recession fears, and rising prices are still top of mind. So, where do consumers draw the line, and what entertainment is worth the cost when budgets are tight?
New findings from Hub Entertainment Research show a notable increase in anxiety among consumers since late 2024, particularly about inflation and the risk of recession. This economic unease is prompting many viewers to reassess their spending on entertainment. Yet, unlike concerts, theme parks, and other one-time events, TV and streaming subscriptions appear relatively resistant to budget cuts and cancellations. Streaming’s staying power comes down to perceived value. Aside from vacations, TV and movie streaming rank above all other entertainment alternatives.
Price sensitivity for streaming subscriptions
Nearly nine in 10 viewers now say subscription prices are increasing more frequently. This sensitivity is prompting some to rethink their spending and consider switching to lower-cost, ad-supported tiers. More than half are willing to spend more on streaming if it allows them to reduce other discretionary entertainment costs.
Ad-supported models are generally becoming more appealing. The share of viewers who say they “can’t tolerate ads” continues to decline, dropping to just 11%, from 17% four years ago. Even among this ad-intolerant group, more are now saying they would prefer to save $4–5 per month by accepting ads, rather than pay for an ad-free experience.
Service aggregators play a key role in keeping subscribers engaged. Platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Roku, YouTube, and Apple TV help users manage their growing number of subscriptions. Half of all viewers now use an aggregator, and among 18- to 34-year-olds, that number jumps to 60%. Those who use aggregators are more likely to hold six or more subscriptions, while those without typically have just three or fewer.
Insert aggregator subscriptions chart
YouTube’s multiple products
YouTube is also an increasingly vital part of the media and entertainment ecosystem. Although many users still watch YouTube content on mobile devices, half of them now stream it regularly on television screens. YouTube’s suite of offerings, including its free, ad-supported content, outperforms both subscription and other free services in perceived value.
Despite its strong position, streaming is not immune to viewer pushback. While consumers rank it as one of the last things they’d cut, that sentiment hinges on continued value delivery. If prices rise too often or too steeply, even loyal subscribers may begin to reconsider.
Mark Loughney, Senior Consultant at Hub, notes that while consumers remain anxious about the economy, video subscriptions are among the last things they’re willing to cut. However, that’s only if streaming services don’t push prices too far.
In short, the data highlight a clear takeaway for both consumers and the industry: streaming remains a cornerstone of American entertainment spending. Its blend of variety, convenience, and value continues to resonate even in a tighter economic climate. Providers that keep prices in check, lean into flexible ad-supported tiers, and make discovery effortless stand to deepen that loyalty. With people’s concerns about the economy continuing to rise, the winners will be services that repeatedly prove one simple equation to viewers: more content, less friction, best value.
For media executives, streaming used to be a thorn in the side of linear TV. Not anymore. With consumers continuing to cut the cord and major players like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+ finally adding ad-supported tiers to their offerings, streaming has become the new front line of not just TV programming, but TV advertising too.
I was in Cannes a few weeks ago to meet with clients and understand their priorities for the year ahead. We had just come out with a new report on the rise of streaming TV and shared some impressive top numbers with the industry. But, unsurprisingly, they wanted to know where growth was most likely to come from for them.
It’s all well and good that auto, retail, finance, and pharma companies are spending over $1 billion on streaming platforms, they said, but which of those (and a dozen other) industries should they appeal to first? What types of advertisers within those industries might be most likely to respond? And for our media clients with both linear and streaming properties, how should they balance their media sales efforts between streaming and traditional TV?
To kick start the conversation, we decided to use our MediaRadar data to compare what brands have been spending on streaming platforms over the past few years to what they’ve been spending on linear TV. Mind you, not just linear TV but what most consider the bastion of linear TV: NFL broadcasts. The early results are remarkable and might affect how you think about your next media sales pitch.
Why NFL advertisers?
NFL games — and live sports in general — are tentpole events keeping traditional TV alive. However, streaming sports deals are multiplying and starting to lift media companies beyond major broadcasters too. Most football advertisers are in it for the reach and are well entrenched in linear TV advertising. However, many others are starting to recognize streaming as a natural extension of their traditional TV investments and a way to take their targeting capabilities to new heights. We thought that the intersection of those two advertising universes — streaming TV on one hand, and NFL games on linear TV on the other — would offer interesting contrasts and actionable insights for streaming media executives at a crucial time in their platforms’ development.
Another reason why this comparison is interesting is that advertisers spend about as much on NFL linear TV broadcasts ($8.5 billion during the 2024-25 season) as they do across all programs on streaming platforms ($7 billion during those same six months). So we’re not talking about two wildly different media channels with very unique advertising patterns and dynamics. It’s not streaming against the whole of linear TV and its $60 billion advertising market, for instance.
The overlap here is substantial. Figure 1 shows that between early August 2024 and early February 2025 (from the NFL pre-season to Super Bowl LIX), 23% of all the brands in our analysis advertised both on streaming platforms and during an NFL game on linear TV.
Figure 1: Overlap between streaming and linear TV advertisers during the 2024-25 NFL season Source: MediaRadar
Football TV advertisers make clutch streaming partners
Of all the brands that advertised on streaming platforms in that six-month period, roughly half aired commercials during NFL games on linear TV as well. That’s been a fairly consistent picture over the years, as Figure 2 illustrates. The share of brands that advertise exclusively on linear TV has also been shrinking every year.
Figure 2: Share of the number of streaming and linear TV advertisers during the last four NFL seasons Source: MediaRadar
There’s still a long way to go to convince all of those brands to give streaming a chance. However, those that have made the jump already contribute the lion’s share of streaming TV revenues. Figure 3 shows that they represented 23% of all advertisers during the 2024-25 NFL season butaccounted for 64% of all media spend in our analysis (and 87% of all streaming media spend).
Figure 3: Share of streaming and NFL media spend on linear TV during the last four NFL seasons Source: MediaRadar
Move up the chains
What type of brand should your media sales team pursue first? On average, beer & wine brands spent $1.2 million on all streaming platforms from Aug ‘24 to Feb ‘25, but they spent nearly $7.4 million during NFL games on linear TV. There’s plenty of room to grow. During that same period, telecom advertisers spent $2.7 million on streaming and $6.5 million on NFL TV broadcasts. Car manufacturers: $4.5 million and $11.7 million. Figure 4 shows the current gap in media spend for a typical brand in a number of sports-friendly industries.
Figure 4: Average media spend per advertiser during the 2024-25 NFL season (million dollars) Source: MediaRadar
In some sectors like restaurants, pharma, or insurance, streaming budgets are already on par with football budgets on linear TV, but they’re well behind in many other popular sectors. As more NFL games and other sports franchises transition to streaming, there’s a clear opportunity for media sales teams to bring those budgets closer together.
That doesn’t mean that streaming growth will always come at the expense of linear TV, of course. Between Aug ‘24 and Feb ‘25, Modelo tripled its streaming budget (from $4.4 million to $14.5 million) while also increasing its NFL linear TV budget by 20% (from $39.4 million to $47.2 million). But if you want to move the chains for your digital platform, you could do a lot worse than sports advertisers new to streaming and used to spending a lot on TV.
With the 2025-26 NFL season right around the corner, it’s time to study the field and draw up a winning playbook.
Note: MediaRadar’s streaming tracking expanded to include Netflix during H2 2022 and Disney+ during H1 2023. Insignificant variance to the number of streaming advertisers. Analysis not adjusted and reflective of current conditions.
But, unlike a number of other legacy social networks, the platform continues to go from strength to strength. Back in 2022, I argued on these pages that media companies need a dedicated YouTube strategy, a sentiment that remains equally relevant three years on.
Here are six reasons why many media companies need to reconsider the value they attach to YouTube, and six proven tactics to help maximize their impact and approach to the platform.
YouTube enjoys huge reach and engagement
According to the Business of Apps website, YouTube has more than 2.7 billion monthly active users. Over 238 million of these users are in the U.S., the StatsUp site notes. In terms of reach, that makes it either the biggest, or second largest, social network in the world, depending on your source. Either way, it’s a huge audience.
Lastly, engagement dwarves other social networks. “YouTube takes the lion’s share of … social media time,” commentsSimon Kemp, the Chief Analyst at DataReportal. “The world spends almost twice as much time using YouTube as it spends using the platform’s next nearest rival, TikTok.”
Despite this, many publishers continue to treat YouTube as an afterthought compared to shinier, newer, visual-oriented platforms like the aforementioned TikTok or Instagram.
Esra Dogramaci, a digital news executive and YouTube specialist, who has worked for international broadcasters including Al Jazeera, BBC, DW, and others, agrees. “News organizations [and] publishers should have always been paying attention to YouTube,” she told me. “We often forget that YouTube is the second biggest search engine, and [the] world’s largest video platform.”
It’s a core platform for reaching Gen Z and Gen Alpha
Efforts to more effectively engage younger audiences is a key goal for many media companies. It’s no surprise that YouTube can be a pivotal plank in these strategies. Afterall, as Rande Price, VP, Research at Digital Content Next, recently reflected, “prioritizing video formats that are concise, authentic, and visually native to social platforms is essential to reaching Gen Z.”
Data published at the end of last year found that more than seven in 10 Gen Z consumers (71%) discover new media content (such as music, podcasts, and TV series) through YouTube, only just behind social media as a whole (72%).
Moreover, 73% of U.S. teens aged 13-17 (a mix of Generation Z and Generation Alpha, a demographic born after 2010) say they use YouTube every day. According to insights from the Pew Research Center, that means YouTube is “the most widely used and visited platform” among this age group. That includes 15% who said that their use of the platform is “almost constant.”
Short-form video is growing in popularity
There are multiple ways to harness YouTube to attract younger audiences. As Price points out, “tone, pace, and relevance” are intrinsic to this. Those sentiments are applicable to all content on the platform, including YouTube Shorts, an area seeing considerable growth. Last month, Neal Mohan, YouTube’s CEO, revealed that “YouTube Shorts are now averaging over 200 billion daily views!”
That audience isn’t just Gen Z, although they are a significant share of Shorts consumers.
Publisher’s short video strategies therefore should encompass YouTube, as well as TikTok, and Reels on Facebook and Instagram. These formats can also encourage consumption of long-form video, as well as acting as their own, standalone, genre.
“YouTube Shorts is… the ‘take away’ version prior to the ‘dine in’ experience,” contends Dogramaci. She argues that Shorts can serve as a gateway to your main channel especially if it is fully optimized. (For tips on how to do this, read to the end of the article!)
“It appeals to younger audiences with short-form content,” she says, “provided that you’ve done all the housekeeping in terms of channel and video optimization.”
According to Edison, YouTube is the most popular service for listening to podcasts in the United States, ahead of Spotify and Apple. So, if content creators aren’t distributing their podcasts on YouTube, they are potentially missing out.
Furthermore, “YouTube is often the first place people go when looking for a new podcast,” the platform’s blog claimed earlier this year. To aid with this discovery, in May, the company began releasing a weekly chart of YouTube’s Top 100 podcast shows in the U.S.
And as the differentiation between video and audio content continues to blur, Gen Z is driving much of this trend, Edison found. Their research stated that this age group feels that “video provides a better understanding of context/tone through facial expressions and gestures,” and it also enables consumers to feel “more connected to the podcaster(s).”
It’s big on screens of all sizes
Although the smaller screen garners a considerable amount of YouTube consumption, the growth of connected TV’s (CTV) has also been pivotal in YouTube’s continued growth.
That said, the platform is at pains to point out that this isn’t the same as “the ‘old’ television,” pointing to Shorts (which are popular on TV, just ask my kids), live streams, podcasts, sports, and full shows, as part of the platform’s content mix.
Given these findings, in an age of investment in FAST channels (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television) it’s a reminder that brands and media companies still need to factor YouTube into their video strategies. Its TV audience is simply too big to ignore.
YouTube matters to news consumers
The variety of content on YouTube, and its reputation as a source for entertainment, influencers, and User Generated Content (UGC) can mask its popularity as a platform for news and information. New data from the Digital News Report 2025 emphasizes this. Around a third of their global sample uses YouTube (30%) for news each week, just behind Facebook (36%). Given that weekly usage of YouTube for any purpose stood at 63% this is a high percentage of global digital news consumers using the platform for news.
Source: Slide 15 of Esra Dogramaci’s presentation (see below)
In major markets such as India, the use of YouTube for news stands at more than 50%, an important consideration for international news brands seeking to gain a foothold in the world’s most populous nation. Large news audiences on the platform can also be found in other major emerging markets such as Nigeria, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Brazil.
Making inroads into these markets won’t necessarily be easy for traditional media brands, however, as much of the consumption is centered around what the Report authors refer to as “alternative media voices.” This category includes online influencers and personalities, independent journalists, as well as politicians who can go direct to audiences, by-passing traditional media gatekeepers.
Nevertheless, given concerns about misinformation on YouTube – and other social networks – there are opportunities for trusted news and media brands to meet user needs for news and information. And they are in a position to do so in a manner that also offers the credibility that audiences desire.
Conclusion
YouTube’s reach, variety of content offerings, and resonance with younger and news audiences mean that it is an essential distribution platform for publishers in 2025. Of course, it’s not without its challenges. Around 70% of content is algorithmically recommended, meaning that YouTube’s recommendation engine can divert viewers away from publisher channels to other creators. It can also be very difficult to drive traffic from the site back to your own properties.
Yet, YouTube’s size, versatility, and reach – especially with Gen Z and teens – make it hard to overlook. Whether your goal is audience growth, revenue diversification, or brand-building, a dedicated YouTube strategy will be a must for many content creators. Publishers who invest in understanding and leveraging YouTube’s evolving ecosystem will be best positioned to thrive in the digital content landscape; and the pivotal role YouTube plays in this space.
Bringing it all together: 6 essential tips to successfully implement a YouTube strategy
Esra Dogramaci has been leading teams innovating on YouTube for more than a decade. Her experience includes leading the BBC World Service YouTube channels, through to receiving a YouTube Innovation Grant in 2023. The grant enabled her to develop and iterate on YouTube Shorts, while working as the Managing Editor at SBS, one of Australia’s public broadcasters.
In June 2025, Esra presented a session on YouTube for Changer on behalf of the Google Digital News Initiative on YouTube for busy newsrooms. The presentation is here.
Based on that presentation and our conversation, here are six practical recommendations that will enable media companies to nail their presence on YouTube.
Ditch the “Archive” Mindset: Stop treating YouTube as a mere “archive or simple video upload mechanism,” she says. Many media companies with a broadcast arm fall into the trap of “cutting and pasting TV content onto YouTube.” This material “regularly fail[s] to perform because the audiences are different.”
Meet User Needs: Success on YouTube is “less about volume, and more about understanding your audience and curating an offering that will resonate with them,” Dogramaci advises.
She highlights how former Vox producers Cleo Abram and Johnny Harris use YouTube to illustrate this. They “upload once or a few times a month and their videos will typically perform better” because “they know their audience, so they can engineer their content to perform.”
Presented in a style that “is a far cry from the buttoned down presenter reading your evening TV news bulletin,” their work remains substantial and substantive. It’s not dumbed down and connects with audiences by explaining “why this matters,” or “why you should know,” or “why this affects you.”
Prioritizing the Right Metrics: Don’t get fixated on views alone. “A view can be one second, it can be 10 minutes, it can be the same person watching a clip over and over again.” Instead, Dogramaci advises that the most important performance indicators on YouTube are watch time, subscribers, and active subscribers.
Watch time, representing the “actual amount of content consumed,” is crucial; “the more the better,” as it signals resonance and makes your video more likely to be surfaced.” Think of subscribers as your “loyal fans,” she suggests.
Engineer Every Video for Peak Performance: This means obsessing over the thumbnail, a “shop window” that must entice viewers. Your headline must be catchy, and accurate, supported by keywords, tags, and accurate video descriptions. A great banner, custom URL, and content organized into playlists, are also vital for success.
Embrace Niche and New Formats: The “best performing channels are those that know their audience and don’t try to be everything to everyone.” Even big broadcasters might see that their best-performing content is focused on niches. This content, like Deutsche Welle’s “dress code” series, can be evergreen. In contrast to broadcast, “YouTube content [often] has a much longer shelf life,” Dogramaci says.
Implement Continuous Improvement Don’t just upload and forget. Dogramaci recommends bringing different YouTube teams and channels together to learn from each other. By sharing best practices, Dogramaci helped oversee growth at 20 BBC YouTube channels, akin to “the biggest growth of any off-platform product in those years (300% in watch time and 550% in subscribers).”
In applying these principles, media leaders should avoid simply piling more work onto busy teams. “The bottom line is… always about doing less, just doing it better,” she says.
July 31, 2022 is a historic date for soccer fans in England. It’s the date on which they saw their women’s team win the Euros on home soil, becoming the first senior England side to triumph in a major tournament since the men won the 1966 World Cup. The Lionesses achieved this in front of a global audience of 50 million. Some 365 million people watched some part of the tournament according to UEFA figures, which are the sum of “TV, out-of-home viewing and streaming.”
Three years on, the Lionesses are set to defend their crown in Switzerland next month, and the appetite for women’s sport has never been greater. Whether you’re a broadcast, digital or print outlet, female athletes, the stories around them and the competitions they participate in provide the opportunity to attract new viewers. Revenue can take time to build, but the appetite is there. And, by failing to invest and get involved in the coverage now, there is the real risk of being left out of a crucial growth area that serves as a cost-effective way to get into showing live sports.
Expansion drive in women’s sports
On Tuesday, the Women’s Super League, the top female domestic league in England, announced that it is expanding from 12 to 14 teams for the 2026/2027 season. In the U.S., a peak of 2.8 million tuned in to watch Caitlin Clark return from injury on Saturday as she helped the Indiana Fever beat the New York Liberty. American tennis star Coco Gauff’s win over Roland Garros was watched by 1.4 million, a 94% increase over the previous year.
Francois Goddard, an analyst at Enders Analysis, noted that women’s football received a bump from the 2022 tournament. It looks like the same thing could happen again at the end of this summer too. With this in mind, the moment for companies to strike is now, according to The Athletic’s women’s football writer Megan Feringa. “If anyone is looking at the summer and hasn’t already assembled at least a one-person team, but ideally, more than that, I think they’re going to get to mid-July and think, oh shoot, we are so late on this,” she told Digital Content Next.
There are lots of reasons why women’s sports provide such an exciting opportunity for media companies. To start, while there is some crossover, women’s sports tend to attract a different type of audience from men’s sports, which lends them a family-friendly reputation. “I think we do see that in general women’s sports competitions, fans over index for having children in their households,” says Danni Moore, Senior Analyst at Ampere’s Analysis. This means streamers and TV could bring in the wider family audiences to their service by investing in women’s sports. (And this also offers a fresh and appealing audience for advertisers.)
Rights heat up
Another sign that moving into women’s athletics now makes sense is that the cost of female sports rights is already starting to go up. “The WSL, I think the women’s Bundesliga and the Spanish Liga F, they’ve all gone up,” according to Moore. However, they are still low-cost relative to their male equivalents, which provides a great entry point for streamers looking to get into the live sports game. “Now it’s a good time to get in because they are cheaper,” she says, “but if the prices do go up in the future, [media companies would] be missing that opportunity.”
This all helps explain why Disney+ has become the home of Women’s Champions League soccer in Europe. It has taken the rights previously owned by Dazn for an unknown prize in a five-year deal. ESPN, Disney’s multiplatform sports brand, will produce all live matches for Disney+ with commentary offered in multiple languages, alongside pre- and post-game programming. The broadcasts are set to launch in October, with no additional subscription cost for viewers to access the games.
It’s a good move for Disney, according to Goddard, because the company “needs more content in Europe, more local content and more regular content.”
The pan-European tournament ticks all those boxes. It also allows a platform that has not shown live sport in a mass way before to dip its toe into the water without splashing out huge amounts of cash.
The excitement around women’s sports goes beyond soccer and basketball though. “What if we look at women’s hockey,” says Feringa. “What if we look at women’s softball, cricket, rugby? You’ve got Ilona Maher, who has sort of exploded the rugby scene,” she adds. “It seems inconceivable that people don’t want to jump into this space. It just feels like an obvious win”
Adland’s interest increases
Advertisers are increasingly interested in women’s sport too. In the age of subscriptions and streaming, live sports are still a popular placement for advertising. “This makes it even more attractive as an option for local, regular content,” says Goddard. As with the price of the rights, the cost of advertising against women’s sport is understood to be less than in men’s sports, providing marketers and brands with a way to make their money go further in the sports space.
Rihanna’s brand Fenty Beauty has signed a sponsorship deal with the New York Liberty, the first time it has moved into marketing withing sports and Feringa notes:
“The [National Women’s Soccer League] NWSL and the WNBA have done such a fantastic job in terms of sort of aligning themselves with brands, and vice versa, brands aligning themselves with different sports and different teams.”
With the WNBA continuing to dominate the headlines, the women’s Euro’s set to bring some of the best in the world together. And there’s so much more to come in this booming space. Thus, media companies of all kinds need to think about how they are going to show up for female athletics to capture engaged audiences and advertisers seeking family-friendly fare.
Already, we’re seeing a growing number of media brands introduce targeted coverage for women’s sports – including Associated Press, USA Today, Roku and CNBC. Audiences and advertisers are showing up in growing numbers. But there are still plenty of opportunities out there. For media companies still sitting on the sidelines, now’s the time to get into the women’s sports game or risk being left behind.
The reality of digital publishing means that audiences are exposed to a wider variety of voices. Newspapers compete for attention with Tumblr, Facebook, individuals’ newsletters and countless other sources of information. This requires media companies to periodically reassess their appeal. They must also consider how they can best use new platforms to build audience and revenue.
This has been especially true for broadcasters. Where once their competition for video content might have been a handful of terrestrial channels, they now compete for time and attention with digital video platforms. That has led to concern among commercial broadcasters, as advertisers seek to reach those younger audiences – often at the expense of ad spend on traditional broadcast channels.
Globally, media buyers GroupM predict that linear television revenue will decrease by 3.4% over the course of 2025 as ad spend shifts over to streaming television. And, while linear TV still accounts for a significant portion of viewing, streaming is nearly equal. Millennials and Gen Z viewers are driving the move toward streaming and social video platforms, favoring the flexibility to watch content on-demand and across devices. These factors put pressure on traditional broadcasters to accelerate the shift to digital-first strategies that will satisfy audiences and advertisers alike.
Programs and priorities
The form of video content audiences choose to watch has been altered by new platforms. Short-form video has become the standard for many viewers, particularly those who are spending increasing amounts of time on platforms like TikTok. That’s especially true for younger viewers: fewer than half of Gen Z viewers in the UK watch broadcast television. The 48% that do spend roughly three times as much time watching video on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. In the US the trends are similar: TikTok has roughly ten million more users than linear TV in the Gen Z demographic.
In particular, YouTube is too big for broadcasters looking to recoup those audience and revenue shifts to ignore. When it comes to competition, the video-sharing platform is now literally encroaching on traditional broadcasters’ territory: as of earlier this year more time is spent watching YouTube on TVs as on users’ phones.
That has led to radical shifts in production and distribution strategy. So, how are major broadcasters keeping up with those changing audience habits – and using their expertise to stay ahead of the pack when it comes to taking advantage of new platforms – YouTube in particular?
YouTube: A channel for video discovery
Ashley Hovey is Chief Digital Officer for the CW Network. She explains that YouTube is a priority for the company as it seeks to create new means by which audiences can discover its programs: “YouTube is a part of the broader fragmented media ecosystem, which plays a role in driving audiences that can complement our [owned and operated] platforms. YouTube is a great place for discovery and sampling, while owned properties can drive deeper engagement and brand advocacy.”
That speaks to the need for broadcasters to approach YouTube in a way that does not cannibalize existing video audiences or ad revenue. Despite the headlines, traditional broadcasting still attracts a vast amount of ad spend overall. Thus, it is vital to protect that revenue as broadcasters experiment with new platforms.
A Channel 4 spokesperson affirms that the strategy is to find complementary audiences on the platform, rather than migrating existing audiences over: “The audiences on YouTube are additive. So, it is a great way to direct people to content that we think they’ll enjoy and engage a larger, younger-skewing audience.
“We experiment heavily with the great data that YouTube generates. It is at the heart of everything we do. On YouTube, video distribution and views are as reliant on algorithm science as they are an entertaining format.”
As a result, that discovery flows both ways: through the use of YouTube’s tools – designed specifically for digital distribution – broadcasters are able to find out more about their audiences online. That informs not just ad sales, but commissioning strategy as well.
BBC Studios is the commercial subsidiary of the UK’s first public broadcaster. Its Digital Commercial & Partnerships Director Anaïs González Espinosa explains: “Through the YouTube Content ID tool, we’ve also been able to only not protect our content, which is very important for us, but also use the data as a demonstrator of consumer demand to inform our content pipeline and some of the choices we make.”
Space to experiment
For many broadcasters, YouTube is also a staging ground for new formats. That can range from content specifically created with digital video in mind – such as Channel 4’s upcoming “social-first short-form channel focused on cooking and food.” It also offers an opportunity to repurpose existing content.
Some broadcasters, for instance, upload entire episodes of their stock of programming to YouTube. That can be entire season, series, or “taster” episodes designed to entice viewers to seek out the rest of a season on their owned-and-operated channels. Others, meanwhile, create short highlight videos with the same goal in mind, but geared towards short-form social sharing.
The Channel 4 spokesperson shared that “One area we saw go from strength-to-strength in 2024 was full-episodes on YouTube, with an increase of 331% for UK views in the first nine months of 2024. Key titles that pulled in audiences were entertainment series… and documentaries including Click for Murder and 60 Days on the Estates, plus made for YouTube shows such as Minor Issues and Tapped Out.”
Compared with broadcast television, in which audiences were largely separate, watching from their own sofas, YouTube and other digital video platforms allow more opportunities for viewer interaction. Taking cues from livestreaming specialist platforms like Twitch, YouTube has prioritized live audience chat alongside much of its content. Espinosa says: “We use posts and community tabs to engage with our fandoms, enhancing their experiences with our content on the platform. Views are important but engagement on YouTube is key to success.”
Hovey confirms that the CW Network is also set to experiment with those “live” features soon, as a result of the increased engagement it can deliver.
However, she also notes that the platforms’ other creator-led features allow for experimentation with distribution: “The CW tests out new YouTube features depending on the content type. For example, we use the Thumbnail Test & Compare feature for our sports clips. This allows us to test different thumbnail designs for WWE matches and NASCAR races and helps optimize overall watch time for both.”
With YouTube’s increased focus on AI to translate its content to other languages, and further changes to memberships on the platform on the horizon, there is plenty of scope for broadcasters to continue experimenting. And thy have the added advantage of not needing to invest in those tools themselves.
Considered and careful
Traditional broadcasters, then, are approaching YouTube with both commercial and audience considerations in mind. The platform itself is too big to ignore. In fact, there would be an opportunity cost to not at least have a presence on it.
However, what is especially apparent in 2025 is that broadcasters are being highly considered when it comes to YouTube. It is a competitor for ad revenue, but also a collaborator when it comes to discovering new audiences and new opportunities for engagement.
As a result, broadcasters are constantly reappraising their strategy for publishing to the platform, as ad spend continues to shift and new tools and formats emerge. With the rise of features such as content locked behind memberships and in-app merch stores on the platform, broadcasters have access to new revenue and engagement models via YouTube – and are finding ways to do so without diminishing their opportunities on more traditional platforms.
At some point in 2020, accelerated by the pandemic and the kids using endless hours of TikTok scrolling as a coping mechanism, short-form video surged into a major part of modern media consumption. Even for those of us who grew up on cable TV and later binged on Netflix, Gen Z is reshaping how we discover, consume, and engage with video content. Younger audiences have turned scrollable, snackable video into something so much more satisfying than a Quibi; it’s now a cultural mainstay.
That’s the wake-up call from our latest DCN research, Decoding Video Content Engagement: Gen Z & Gen Y in Focus, a two-part study conducted with Magid. We launched the project last year with in-depth, hour-long qualitative interviews to get a baseline on the latest language and media mindset of younger audiences. We then took a quantitative dive into what we now see as a landmark report for DCN and its member companies. To be clear: the numbers don’t just hint at a subtle shift. They chart a generational rewrite of what video means and what audiences expect it to do.
The headline? They don’t watch. They participate.
Simply put, video is no longer a passive experience characterized by a surge of short-form experiences on social platforms. Our research shows that 92% of Gen Z interacts with video on social platforms at least once a week – liking, commenting, remixing and sharing. But even more striking, nearly two-thirds (64%) of teens aged 13–17 create and post original video content weekly. Notably, this statistic drops materially to 40% for ages 18-22 (the back half of Gen Z). That’s a clarion call for those seeking to understand the expectations of the next wave of digital natives and why we labeled them “The Creator Generation” in this report.
For the youngest Gen Z users, “watching” isn’t a lean back experience. It’s a ticket to creative expression. Video isn’t something they just watch. It’s something they do. This dynamic is upending the traditional hierarchies of content and control. The line between viewer and creator is fading and with it, many of the historic relationships between storytelling, advertising, and brands.
Creators are the new gatekeepers
In the past, a media brand’s value lived in logo recognition and distribution demand. Today, particularly with the youngest audiences, it’s more likely to live in the hands of creators with cultural credibility and fluency. These individual creators are now the benchmark: remarkably they beat out all other creator types in being perceived as more creative, entertaining, interesting, and informative.
These creators are not the typical influencers posting their user-generated content to make a paycheck. They are micro media empires of all backgrounds. And they’re setting the tone for what today’s audience deems engaging, real, and worth watching. All of this accumulates in more trust.
And that trust gap is telling. While 88% of younger audiences trust friends, family, and creators, traditional brands fall significantly behind even though they’re visible. Yes, 93% of Gen Z still says they often see brand content. But awareness isn’t the same as engagement. And in a world where users can scroll past your video in a second (with a paltry three seconds being the magical sweet spot for nearly half of the young users in the research), that difference can be everything.
Authenticity isn’t a bonus – it’s the baseline
If you’re still investing in glossy, highly produced videos that feel like they came from a corporate studio instead of an actual human being – stop. The bar has moved. Individual creators are not major media brands. Think about it: People are flawed. In a world where the individual creator is more trusted, entertaining and engaging, a perfectly pressed and buttoned up production will not resonate like a rumpled shirt and bit of bedhead.
Authenticity is the baseline. When asked what they value most in video content, Gen Z chose originality, honesty, and authenticity far ahead of production value or polish. This generation can smell marketing a mile away and they’ll scroll right past it – teaching the algorithm you aren’t worth their precious time.
Instead, they want content that reflects them: unfiltered, participatory, and emotionally resonant. Think behind-the-scenes looks, first-person storytelling, raw filming, and creator collaborations that feel like a natural fit rather than transactional development deal.
So, what should media companies do?
We know the stakes are high. Premium publishers – many of whom DCN proudly represents – are once again navigating a digital ecosystem shaped by generational shifts, platform upheaval, and algorithmic opacity described to our researchers innocently as “TikTok magic.” However, this moment is also an opportunity.
Here’s how media brands can strategically respond:
1. Design for engagement, not impressions
Simply showing up isn’t enough anymore. Content needs to invite participation. Whether it’s Q&As, remixable challenges, or comment-driven formats, the most successful brands treat viewers like collaborators, not consumers.
2. Co-create with cultural insiders
Want to build trust and relevance? Partner with the creators your audience already respects. Not as brand spokespeople, but as co-storytellers. This isn’t about inserting your brand into youth culture. It’s about amplifying voices that already move your audience.
3. Reimagine platform strategy
TikTok is not YouTube. Instagram is certainly not Facebook (even if it’s the same parent company). And your content shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all proposition. Create native video strategies that reflect the tone, pacing, and expectations of each platform. If you can’t do it everywhere at once in ways that resonate on each platform then pick your platform(s) of choice based on your content, audience and opportunity.
4. Lead with values – and humanity
Gen Z and Gen Y want entertainment. But they also care about who is behind the content. Our research confirms that younger users reward brands that are transparent, socially aware, and human. If your brand voice on social sounds like it was built by a committee, it’s time to revisit the script.
5. Build with the “SHARES” formula
If you want engagement, your video content should tap at least one of the six drivers identified by our DCN research team. Our SHARES formula – which includes Storytelling, Humor, Authenticity, Raw, Engagement, and Surprise – isn’t merely a checklist. It’s a roadmap for emotional connection and engagement.
The future Is participatory
The question isn’t whether Gen Z and Gen Y will continue to redefine video. They already have. The question is whether the larger media industry will listen.
At DCN, we believe that high-quality, trusted content is more important than ever to the future. But trust now resides in how and where you show up, not just what you say. If media brands want to stay relevant, we must not only reflect the values of these generations. We must also create space for them to shape the stories themselves.
Premium media brands like our DCN members have a powerful edge: credibility, creativity, and a direct relationship with their audiences. But competing in this new era of short-form video requires humility, agility, and a willingness to let go of legacy thinking.
Gen Z and Gen Y aren’t just watching video content—they’re rewriting the rules of engagement. That’s the big wake-up call from DCN’s latest exclusive study for our members, Decoding Video Content Engagement: Gen Z & Gen Y in Focus.
Focused on how younger audiences interact with video across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and X, the research reveals a seismic shift in behavior. “They don’t just watch — they engage,” the report states. This highlights how younger generations like, comment, and co-create instead of being content to passively consume. For media brands, the report offers essential intelligence that profoundly impacts the future of video strategy and audience growth.
Key research findings
DCN’s study delivers a detailed breakdown of how Gen Z and Gen Y engage across platforms, what content and creators they connect with, and how media brands can build relevance in a fragmented, fast-paced digital landscape. Among the key findings:
Younger audiences scroll fast, but they stay for authenticity. The three-second rule rules everything: Bold visuals, compelling storytelling, and authenticity are essential from frame one.
Creators are brands. Independent creators aren’t just influencers—they’re media ecosystems.
YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram lead the pack. While Facebook maintains its hold on older millennials, TikTok has Gen Z’s full attention. YouTube is the universal middle ground, but each platform demands a unique approach and longer-form content.
New rules of engagement
This research unpacks the new rules of engagement in the video landscape, analyzing everything from platform behavior to creator trust and brand perception.
Viewing behavior redefined
Gen Z and Gen Y don’t passively “watch.” They like, comment, remix, and participate. Brands that encourage interaction win their attention.
Creators are the new kingmakers
Independent creators aren’t just more trusted than traditional media, they’re setting the bar for what’s entertaining, authentic, and engaging.
Platform wars
TikTok dominates Gen Z, while Gen Y still lingers on Facebook. YouTube offers depth; Instagram delivers instant hits. Understanding this split is critical.
Vertical video power
Whether it’s News, Sports, Lifestyle, or Entertainment, content verticals play out differently across platforms and generations.
Strategic framework for media brands
“The research shows the mission hasn’t changed: build trust through quality media. But the playbook? It’s being blown up and rewritten by Gen Z,” observes DCN CEO Jason Kint. He points out that “This generation doesn’t just expect content to be authentic and human, they demand it as a price of entry or will scroll right by you. If your video strategy still feels like it was made for TV, you’re already losing. Brands will need to catch up or get left behind.”
To that end, DCN’s research report goes beyond the “what” and delivers the “how.” It identifies clear, actionable strategies for media companies to thrive:
Lead with interactivity
Brands must create video content with participation in mind—think remixable content, Q&As, duets, and challenges.
Prioritize authenticity
In a world where the raw and real outperform the overly produced, brands must sound human and feel genuine to build trust.
Embrace co-creation
Younger audiences want to participate in the content, not just watch it. Partner with creators who have cultural currency and credibility.
Use the right platform for the right story
A one-size-fits-all video strategy is no longer viable. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook all deliver value differently—and DCN’s data shows how to play to each strength.
For this generation, video isn’t just something to watch, it’s something to do. Engagement, co-creation, and alignment with values like authenticity and cultural fluency are increasingly central to how content is received and shared.
The full research report is available to DCN members only. Register to or login to download (on desktop see top right corner of page, on mobile the top center). Download buttons will appear at the top and bottom of the page.
Hulu and Netflix’s streaming services turn 18 this year. This marks a symbolic coming of age for two pioneers that took two very different paths but nevertheless freed us from appointment TV and — let’s not hold back — reinvented television in the process.
The coming of age is not only symbolic. If you’ve been in the TV business for a while, like I have, you must have felt a wind of change over the past year with the rapid rise and adoption of ad-supported streaming. In meetings with advertisers, agencies and media companies leading up to the TV upfronts this year, I’ve been struck by how much streaming was now on everyone’s minds. Not as a distraction, or even an add-on, but as a central component in upfront negotiations. Streaming has matured into a strong, accountable media channel old enough to vote, get married, and bring its own fireworks to the negotiating table.
The numbers back it up. At MediaRadar, we’re monitoring ad spend and campaign creatives across all major media channels 24/7. We’re seeing three big signs of streaming’s coming of age: in how growth is spread across most platforms, not just one or two; in the number of industries embracing it; and in the diversity of companies signing on as advertisers.
We just released The 2025 MediaWatch® Streaming TV Report to quantify recent US trends and help advertisers make data-informed decisions about their streaming plans. Let me sum up what we found in those three key growth areas.
Streaming advertising spend is growing across virtually all platforms
It’s going to take some time to see this year’s upfront deals reflected in the data. However, a full-year analysis of streaming budgets over the past couple of years shows clearly what trendline we’re on. We measured ad revenue for nine top streaming platforms over that period and found that it increased 17% in 2024 to reach $12.9 billion.
Hulu led the way with close to $4.5 billion in ad revenue last year, nearly 3X as much as second-place Peacock TV — a clear reflection of its first-mover advantage and experience in ad sales. With a growth of 15% year-over-year, the OG ad-supported platform isn’t resting on its laurels either, but Peacock TV and Max are growing a clip faster (+19% and +20% respectively), while Tubi TV (+27%) and Paramount+ (+31%) are racing to close the gap.
As for Netflix, its comparatively low growth rate in 2024 (+8%) had more to do with the company’s cautious rollout so far. (It has more to lose by cannibalizing its considerable SVOD base) than its full potential as an advertising platform. But it’s turning up the heat in 2025: Despite a challenging economic outlook, Netflix is aiming to double its ad revenue this year.
A wide cross-section of industries are embracing streaming
Advertising on streaming platforms has gotten a lot more polished in the past 12 months. Targeting, creativity, and frequency control have improved dramatically — even though I’m seeing a lot of State Farm ads featuring Jason Bateman these days. But then again, I like Jason Bateman and I’m due for an insurance quote, so they might be onto something.
Speaking of insurance, finance & insurance firms topped the advertisers list on streaming TV last year with nearly $1.7 billion in media spend, followed by retail ($1.2 billion) and pharma ($1.1 billion). Among the leading industries, pharma, restaurants, professional services, and non-prescription remedies are all growing at a YOY rate of at least 20%.
Can you guess what brand spent the most on streaming TV in 2024? That was Pfizer, with a budget of $140 million (+11%) and at a time the company was slashing costs. But even more telling is the fact that 29 brands spent more than $50 million on streaming last year, and they came from eight different industries. Streaming already represents 25% of total TV spend for auto manufacturers, 26% for retailers, and 31% for travel companies. It’s definitely not a niche channel anymore.
Streaming appeals to brands of all sizes
The third and final sign of maturity I want to point out is how much streaming has become an appealing option not just for big brands, but for smaller brands too.
While the number of big spenders—those with streaming budgets of at least $50 million—rose 16% last year, the total number of streaming advertisers, both large and small, jumped 29% to nearly 14,000 individual companies. The vast majority of these advertisers—81%—didn’t spend a dime on traditional TV.
To gauge the health of a new medium, we often focus on big news coming from big-name brands signing nine-figure deals. But it’s good to remember how crucial it can be to appeal to the long tail. While the leading brands are using streaming to expand their existing TV strategy, SMBs without the same marketing resources are taking advantage of self-service programmatic tools to experiment with TV advertising, many of them for the first time. Thanks to streaming, thousands of new advertisers are adding TV to their media mix.
Can streaming fend off tariffs and economic uncertainty?
Will streaming continue to grow at the same rate in 2025? Probably not. From consumer confidence to supply chains, pricing, and budgeting pressures, the current economic environment is too uncertain to invite confidence. In fact, most industry analysts have already revised their advertising estimates for the year. Jerome Powell’s remarks at the most recent Fed meeting — “I don’t think we can say which way this will shake out” — weren’t exactly encouraging.
But the fundamentals are finally in place for streaming: strong platforms, near-universal industry support, and high relevance to brands of all sizes. In fact, if advertisers are going to bet on one channel this year, they need to bet on streaming TV, says eMarketer. That’s because CPMs are coming down, streaming ads are successfully threading the needle between digital and traditional advertising, and yes, they’re measurable too.
Founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1801, The New York Post prides itself on being America’s oldest newspaper. These days, it boasts 871k daily print readers. However, in its more than two centuries of existence, the outlet has grown to be far more than a scrappy New York tabloid. It has developed into a true multi-format media brand by respecting audience needs across the networks where it operates and by making full use of its IP. It has also deployed other techniques worth exploring.
Warren Cohen, Vice-President and Head of Video and Audio at New York Post Digital Network, jokes that despite the age of the publication, his team is the “youngest video department” in the country. This underscores how relatively-new the brand’s cross-platform approach is. (Cohen has had his role for just under a decade.) Yet, The Post’s multi-platform strategy is a mature one that seeks to maximize the various tools at the team’s disposal.
A video strategy means YouTube (and more)
Central to any brand’s video approach is, of course, YouTube, where The Post has 1.86 million subscribers. Its content focuses on news, entertainment and sports and the channel features both timely clips and original series. There is plenty of video at NYPost.com too. However, Cohen explains that “we want to offer our audience things that they can’t get anywhere else on site.” He adds that the brand also wants “engagement throughout our owned and operated platforms, our open web product, our mobile app.”
This neatly sums up how Cohen and his team are doing things. Respecting the platforms they use is central to the strategy. Not everything is intended to be part of a funnel leading people to the outlet’s website or the print product. While doing so would be possible in an ideal world, Cohen is realistic. “I just don’t think that’s user behavior,” he says.
Cohen also notes that the audience on places like YouTube “tends to, in general, be younger. They also “spend most of their lives in the social networks and not necessarily websites.” This all means “we are trying to tweak the way we approach the off-platform audience” The takeaway is that trials and testing is crucial.
Beyond YouTube, The New York Post has built up a significant presence on the video-based social platforms. It has 2.2 million followers on TikTok and 1.6 million on Instagram. The Post also has a separate NY Post Sports Instagram account with over 41,000 followers. Cohen believes that “social really excels with short duration views… It’s the joke, the quick hit, the reaction.” Meanwhile, he observes that YouTube videos are increasing in length.
Cross-platform monetization strategy
As the video work is not primarily a funnel to subscriptions, it has to be monetized separately. This is done through a mix of programmatic advertising and sponsorships. For instance, a tri-state Cadillac dealership sponsors “24 Hours”, as series the publication makes with reality stars. Cohen is looking to develop more such deals in the future.
The determination to fully cash-in on IP goes beyond sponsorship. Cohen reveals that “we’ve had a good upsell to kind of the television and broadcast markets, and that’s always been really organic.”
He has a word of warning for others in the industry: “I think a lot of rivals might have been overly invested in studio and development operations.” While The Postwants to use the best technology and infrastructure it can, and its infamous Page Six column launched a video studio in January 2024 “we really try to let the content speak for itself, and then see where can use it to adapt.”
He also says that others “have added a lot of staff and infrastructure, hoping for big payoff.” In part he notes that this is impart because of consolidation the TV markets, and because “selling the networks is not as lucrative as it once was.”
Success stories from The Post’s approach include “Bronx Zoo ‘90”, a show about the 1990 New York Yankees which was turned from a newspaper series into a TV series by Peacock. There is also “Smothered”, a digital video series that was upsold to TLC and ran for several years. Of the strategy, Cohen says, “we’re really trying to leverage and ‘video-ify’ the best of the newsroom.”
Despite being a New York institution, The Post has been sure to have connections in Los Angeles. Troy Searer, president of New York Post Entertainment, serves as the company’s ambassador to Tinseltown and Cohen works closely with him “to make sure that no IP is left behind”.
An adaptable audio strategy
On the audio side, The Post’s podcast strategy is to offer deeper context for its audience. “They’re the number one product for engagement,” says Cohen. Sports is a particularly important player in the company’s podcasting roster. It has separate shows for almost every New York-based team. Turns out, Giants fans don’t want to listen to podcasts that are discussing the Jets, or, as Cohen puts it: “It would be hard to have a football podcast overseas and have it feature Manchester United and Manchester City, right?”. Quite so!
“Podcasting is a giant area for us to … use our expertise in a different way,” he adds.
There is more to come on the podcasting front. The New York Post has struck a deal with Red Seat Ventures, an independent podcast production firm that was bought by Fox, to develop a flagship podcast. Cohen describes the creation of such a show as “long overdue.”
He and his team try and maximize the value they get from every piece of podcast content. “We get a lot of breakout clips,” from a 30 to 45-minute podcast, reveals Cohen. “We get a lot of moments.” He says that The New York Post wants to “micro chunk the content in a way that the audience can consume it however they want.”
Don’t fear cannibalization
The big worry many publishers have when they start making content on platforms outside of their own website is cannibalization. While they might be helping YouTube get an audience, they may not necessarily be doing so for their own outlet. This is not a concern for Cohen. “We don’t see any cannibalization of audience” he says. “We see audience that we might not have otherwise reached.”
During the recent New York Knicks NBA playoff game against the Detroit Pistons, The Post held a watch party from which it shared clips. “We’re creating content that we do distribute through all our platforms,” says Cohen.
Ultimately, Cohen says that the work he and his team is doing is “a meaningful contributor [to] revenues for the company at this point.” It shows that investing in a dedicated multi-format approach that adapts each piece of content specifically for the it is on can pay off.
The world of news is changing – and the pace of transformation isn’t slowing anytime soon. As social media commands ever-increasing attention and content creators continue to gain traction, it’s no surprise that audiences are switching from broadcast news or reading an article to hearing a 30-second news synopsis on TikTok. In fact, companies like Influencer Journalism are already actively working to connect legacy media with influencers, while others like NBCUniversal have announced mobile-first news initiatives.
To keep up with evolving preferences, it’s vital that legacy media adapts, and news executives remain tuned into to audience expectations. That means learning from those who have found success from social media. News influencers, who are content creators that post about current events and happenings, are already popular with young audiences. And their preferences will undoubtedly shape the future of news.
Here are five tips from three successful, TikTok news influencers that media organizations can learn from, and put to work, as they build their audience growth strategies.
1. More fun, less complicated
News influencer @SmallTownIndiana, 48, who is located in Indianapolis – and refrains from using his real name to protect his privacy – has garnered about 179,500 followers on TikTok. He posts videos about local happenings and breaking news in Indiana.
He says that when it comes to viewer engagement, legacy media should focus on being a little less serious and a lot more comprehensible.
In fact, SmallTownIndiana says that after the January TikTok ban, his news stories no longer perform best on his account; it’s those like his series about finding the state’s best pork tenderloin sandwich that do better. The serious news topic that does perform is related to the high-profile Delphi murders, involving two teenage girls, which he also has a series about. Videos related to both of these topics have garnered over 100,000 views.
Although incorporating fun isn’t possible for every news story, especially those that are sensitive, it is important to balance serious topics with lighter ones, or perhaps create social content that is centered on lighter material or approaches. And for almost any topic, simplifying subjects and making them accessible will help engage broader audiences.
2. Short form news delivery
Another point that SmallTownIndiana cited was that traditional media organizations have the tendency to give people information in large doses and deep dives. For example, broadcast news requires people to sit through a 30-minute to one-hour long newscast to see what they are interested in. Yet, many news consumers want their information delivered conveniently and quickly.
“TikTok, to me, it has landed at a time where people are always on the go,” he said.
SmallTownIndiana said that his TikTok page gets a lot of traction because he relays information about what’s happening in his city or state in less than two minutes. As a result, he said, many viewers have told him that they come to his page first if a newsworthy event is happening. This is evident in his view count, which consistently sits in the thousands range.
His big takeaway is to think about ways in which audiences can find what they are interested in easily and consume it in a quick, easily digestible way.
3. Prioritize authenticity
Twenty-seven-year-old news influencer @_imjustzander, who has nearly 224,000 followers on TikTok, advises legacy media to appeal to Generation Z and Millennials in a respectful, yet authentic way. “People are smart, especially Gen Z,” said Zander (who prefers to use only his first name for privacy reasons). “They know when companies are trying too hard.”
Zander, who is located in Georgia, has been creating content since 2020 and makes videos primarily focused on political and global news. His experience growing an audience has shown him that authenticity is key.
His videos are quick-hitting and timely. He posts about six to eight times a day, while working a full-time job. He says his legal background has helped him succeed when talking to an audience on social media – and that news companies need to hone their communication style to resonate with their values, especially in the digital age.
“The pendulum is always swinging when it comes to social media,” he said. “And right now the pendulum has swung to where people just crave authenticity. People are so done with influencers; people are so done with just all of this over-professionalism.”
For legacy media, Zander believes that means leaning less into trends, which come and go quickly. Instead, they should focus on topics that are important to younger generations and do so in a way that respects their perspective.
4. Allow reporters to be real people
Fortesa Laitifi – @hifortesa – is a 31-year-old Los Angeles based news influencer who posts videos about politics, abortion rights, and the lives of child influencers. Given her background in journalism, which she received a master’s degree in, and her success in garnering an audience of about 42,500 followers on TikTok, she advises legacy media to have their reporters post on social media.
“Legacy media needs to meet people where they are,” said Latifi. “Either you want people to consume your stories or you don’t.” And to do that, they need to be present on social media not hidden behind a masthead.
Latifi cited The New York Times as an example, as the publication has seen success on TikTok and received hundreds of thousands of views by having its reporters explain their stories.
Another way for legacy media to accomplish this, she said, could be by having a designated TikTok person who posts videos. Dave Jorgenson from The Washington Post was one of the first and remains one of the best. With his presence on TikTok, the newspaper has amassed 1.8 million followers. “That really changed the way people think about TikTok and news,” she said.
Beyond simply building a younger audience, Latifi says that misinformation is an important reason journalists need to be on TikTok. In a time where it is easy for fake news to run rampant, she points out that is crucial for people to have reliable sources of news, no matter where they consume it.
5. Consistency is key
Given the impact of algorithms and virality, an important component is posting consistently on social media. According to Latifi, it is crucial to spend a lot of time on TikTok to get to know the platform and figure out which videos perform well.
As with other social platforms, posting consistently is essential to build a relationship with an audience and build a habit, where they are looking for the content on a regular basis. It is also critical to engage and learn from comments to cater to audience needs.
“People might think it’s a lot of effort and it is a lot of effort, but young people, we know from the data, are getting their news from places like TikTok, from places like Instagram,” she said.
Additionally, finding a niche or area of expertise can be beneficial. Latifi, for example, gets tagged in videos related to family vlogging because of her content about them, which receive thousands of views.
Ultimately, she says, it’s in the hands of legacy media to meet their audiences where they are. “We can grunt and groan about how the kids aren’t reading newspapers, or whatever. The important thing is that they do want to hear the news,” said Latifi.
See the big picture
News in this era is a delicate balance of finding new ways to attract audiences while also staying true to impartiality and delivering truthful, fact-based information. While social media connections are heavily reliant on authenticity and being personable, traditional journalists must simultaneously focus on maintaining professionalism and accuracy in their reporting.
Despite changes in news consumption habits, long-form content is still going strong, given its ability to tell in-depth, meaningful stories. But that doesn’t mean that short-form content shouldn’t be leveraged as a means of getting people there.
The 2025 DCN Next Summit kicked off in Miami April 22 with an energizing atmosphere as senior media executives from DCN’s member companies came together to discuss the biggest issues and opportunities impacting the future of media.
In his welcome, DCN CEO Jason Kint highlighted the challenging environment the media finds itself in. “Let’s be honest, the last 12 months have been volatile,” Kint said, “And the volatility isn’t just economic, it’s institutional. The forces testing our economy are also now testing our democratic norms, including a free and plural press itself. [We face] a direct challenge to the independence of the press and the principle that journalists, not governments, get to determine the language of truth.”
This, Kint said, is the new normal: accelerated pressure, relentless power grabs and heightened scrutiny all at once. “It’s messy, it’s uncomfortable, and it’s redefining the rules that we all play by.”
In the midst of this, Kint highlighted premium content still matters but what defines it is changing. “Growth is harder, but it is possible, especially as you strengthen your direct relationships with your audience and customers. Trust… is everything. It’s foundational and it must be defended. And, in times of vulnerability is when you build on it.”
While the topics of discussion both on stage and off were wide-ranging, three significant themes emerged: the importance and evolution of trust, the value of direct audience relationships, and new influencer dynamics impacting media brands.
Trust in a fragmented world
In an era where audience attention is fragmented across numerous platforms, trust is the core value exchange between a media brand and its audience. Katherine Maher, president and CEO of NPR, emphasized the importance of maintaining editorial independence and impartiality as essential components of trust.
Katherine Maher, president and CEO of NPR
She said, “Our editorial independence is paramount. People listen to NPR and they care about public media because they trust it and they know that it is independent. To my mind, if we cannot maintain that editorial integrity, we cannot serve our audiences the way we need to be served.”
This foundational trust faces new challenges. New research from DCN and Magid on Gen Z’s video consumption reveals a significant difference in trust levels between individual creators and brands, with individual creators generally being perceived as more trustworthy. The study, called “Decoding Video Content Engagement,” talked to 1,000 young people aged 13-40, to understand how they saw media brands. The results (available to DCN members) suggests that Gen Z’s understanding of what is trustworthy is evolving based on where they spend their time and energy.
“When you talk to Gen Z, it’s the individual that’s most valued. It’s the influencers, it’s the streamers,” Andrew Hare, SVP, head of quantitative research at Frank N. Magid Associates explained to attendees. Media companies face a significant challenge in building trust with Gen Z and Gen Y, and being seen as trustworthy, authentic and interesting, compared to individual creators, who are overwhelmingly trusted more by these generations.
Hare mentioned an opportunity for digital media companies to “collaborate and co-create with creators themselves to maybe even add some trust back to the brands.” He noted that digital media companies must focus on humanizing their brands, fostering direct relationships with audiences, and finding ways to be real and relatable while upholding their journalistic standards.
The evolving role of creators
Discussions at the summit frequently touched upon the evolving role of journalists in today’s media landscape and the rise of individual creators/influencers as a force in news. According to a November 2024 study by the Pew Research Center, 21% of U.S. adults now regularly get news from influencers. This figure rises to 37% among those under 30—an age group that is increasingly difficult for traditional outlets to reach.
Tiffany Sam Chow, SVP, strategy and business development at NBCU News
Tiffany Sam Chow, SVP, strategy and business development at NBCU News Group, pointed out that news anchors are becoming personalities on platforms like TikTok, which allows them to build individual connections with audiences. This shift changes the role of anchors from authoritative figures to relatable personalities, she explained.
Chow cites the example of Savannah Sellers on TikTok. “She does these behind the scenes where people can understand her as a person,” Chow explained. “People start following her on social as a person and then start following her on social as a news anchor.” As people engage with the on-air talent on a personal level, they begin following them as journalists, and in turn, engage with the NBC News and Today Show handles, Chow said.
Sam Felix, SVP, Strategic Partnerships & Business Development, at CNN echoed this shift. She noted CNN has also been thinking about how to drive that relationship between their on-air talent and audiences. “Part of our superpower is our ability to produce video at scale and this amazing talent. We have the right ingredients to engage with this audience. But we have to figure out (how) to pull back the curtain, get them sort of like closer, one-on-one, with this audience in a way that they seek us.”
In addition to their shows, CNN personalities produce multiple vertical videos per day, published on social channels and on CNN’s platform, Felix said. “Over the next several months, as you see the kind of next phase of CNN come out into the world, you’ll see that same type of production format be at the center of the content and our products, because it is resonating.”
MLB’s VP, Social Media and Innovation Cameron Gidari noted that some baseball creators are as popular, if not more so, than baseball players “kids are recognizing them!” Thus, their strategy involves empowering these creators. “We have a really robust crop of up and coming baseball creators,” Cameron. “They’re non-traditional media for a new age.”
MLB’s creator strategy involves helping empower creators, to help them grow, giving them access to events and sharing their content. “We went to help them grow because we know that they’re Baseball Tonight for the next generation, right?”
Building deeper connections with direct relationships
Publishers have long held direct relationships with audiences, built on trust and high-quality content. These relationships allow media companies to understand and anticipate audience needs. Strategic insights also inform monetization strategies like subscriptions, events and advertising.
In 2025, strengthening direct relationships with audiences has never been more critical. As media companies expand beyond traditional advertising into licensing and other D2C strategies, deepening audience connections is essential for sustainable growth.
Daniel Alegre, CEO, TelevisaUnivision
CEO Daniel Alegre credits his company’s success to TelevisaUnivision’s vast Spanish-language content catalog, built over 80 years, which helps nurture a direct, multi-platform relationship with audiences. TelevisaUnivision integrated its operations and created a single content strategy that serves linear TV in both the U.S. and Mexico and ViX, its streaming platform.
Alegre noted that the company continues to innovate in video content to engage new audiences. They are developing one-minute “micro telenovelas” specifically designed for mobile consumption. “These are essentially made for the phone, and can create new commercialization opportunities for subscription and advertising … We can also work on microtransactions,” he said.
At the Athletic, Publisher David Perpich explained that the company is exploring partnerships to leverage its content and audience, including a partnership with MGM which integrated betting coverage, and Stubhub which allowed users to purchase tickets within The Athletic’s content.
And in a move that is certain to be a fan favorite, MLB formed a “partnership with eBay where we have a collectibles vertical and you can buy on eBay,” he said. The focus of these initiatives is on “how do we create content that consumers would love but then let’s figure out the right business model on the other side to take advantage of it.”
Relationships are also changing between media companies, brands and advertisers, with a greater emphasis on direct relationships and mission alignment.
Shannon Watkins, CMO, Fiserv
Shannon Watkins, chief marketing officer at Fiserv, explained that Fiserv increasingly bypasses media agencies, instead partnering directly with media companies, viewing them as extensions of their own marketing team. This direct model allows Fiserv to keep strategy development in-house while collaborating with media partners to execute.
“It’s less about the dollars and cents and more about that symbiosis that you can have with your partner media or otherwise, where it is a true mission alignment because then the conversation moves beyond placements and dollars, but how can we grow together? And that’s what we’re looking for,” she said.
Persevering and pushing forward
As digital media companies grapple with the challenge of maintaining trust amid increased scrutiny and competition from more personalized, often more relatable creators, the importance of direct, authentic relationships with audiences has never been clearer. Media are learning to adapt to this shifting landscape, where collaboration with creators can help rebuild trust while still maintaining journalistic integrity.
Media companies must evolve to stay relevant. However, they must also safeguard the foundational values that have long underpinned their role in society, including press freedom. This Summit highlighted how they are persisting through challenges. As Kint pointed out, “We must keep pushing for fair value, for IP protection, for a level playing field, in equal competition. And above all we must defend the role of a free and plural press at a moment when institutions are being tested from every angle, even at the highest office in the land.”
Differences in international and generational media preferences inform evolving technology and industry patterns and continue to keep things interesting in 2025. Conventional media categories are becoming more fluid, inviting new opportunities. A new report by Nielsen Media Analytics, the 2025 Global Media Planning Guide, provides actionable insights.
Overall, an accelerating trend is the convergence of multiple platforms – from streaming services to social media. This presents significant challenges:
Adapting to current generational media preferences. Different age groups engage with media uniquely across various markets, calling for customized strategies.
Understanding international users’ media habits. Media trends and the pace of transition differ across countries, requiring flexible approaches.
Harmonizing traditional and digital media. It’s essential to allocate investments effectively across established and emerging platforms.
Streaming audiences vary internationally
According to Nielson’s data, traditional TV remains the dominant choice among older U.S. audiences and some countries outside of the U.S., while U.S. residents in general, and younger audiences around the world, are gravitating increasingly towards digital media. Connected TV (CTV) reach has steadily surpassed live and time-shifted TV reach over the past few years, but total use of the television has remained steady since the first quarter of 2022, demonstrating its resilience.
The specifics vary significantly across global markets, however. Take Poland versus the U.S., for example. In the U.S., CTV devices and streaming services have become the dominant viewing method. Whereas, in Poland, traditional TV remains the primary viewing platform. Only about 8% of total viewing time in Poland was spent on streaming in the first half of 2024, according to the Nielson data. In the U.S., streaming accounted for around 40% of TV viewership during the same period.
Americans spent about half of their TV viewership on broadcast and cable combined. In Poland, the combination of satellite and cable amounted to almost two-thirds of viewing time. U.S. audiences spent 38% of their time on streaming- significantly more than Polish viewers at 22%. The data emphasizes the need for flexible global media strategies, with traditional and digital platforms coexisting to meet diverse audience preferences.
Streaming audiences vary across generations
As younger audiences worldwide gravitate toward digital media, older generations retain their preference for traditional television. In the U.S., individuals aged 2-34 spend more than 60% of their TV viewing time on streaming platforms. Those ages 50-64 spent well over half of their time on broadcast and cable TV as opposed to streaming, while those 65+ spent fully 75% of their viewing time on broadcast and cable TV combined, and less than a quarter on streaming media.
In Thailand, a similar pattern prevails, with adults over 40 preferring TV to social media or video streaming platforms. Gen Z shows the lowest preference for traditional TV viewership of all age groups in Thailand (47%), favoring digital alternatives, whereas the 55+ demographic exhibits the highest linear TV viewership (62%), according to Nielson’s data.
However, it’s important to note that older viewers generally watch significantly more total TV compared to younger audiences. This holds true in the U.S. as well as Thailand, where all types of media have a greater reach among older audiences. According to a recent Deloitte report, Boomers spent an average of 3.5 hours per day watching TV shows and movies on streaming video services, cable, or live-streaming TV, while Gen Z audiences spent about 2.1 hours per day on those activities.
This dynamic has implications not only for how content is consumed but also how it is created, delivered, and marketed. As digital natives grow up, they are driving a new era of on-demand streaming, mobile media consumption, and personalized content algorithms. Meanwhile, the media industry must continue to accommodate older people, who remain loyal to traditional formats and are often heavy consumers of media. For example, older generations are more likely to keep their cable or satellite TV subscriptions long-term, while Generation Z and millennial cable subscribers are more than twice as likely to indicate that they plan to terminate their subscriptions within the year, according to Deloitte’s 2025 Digital Media Trends report.
Why some audiences still prefer linear TV
Linear TV retains some advantages in addition to the loyalty of older and international audiences, as pointed out by Vijya Amirtham on VPlayed. It is conducive to live events, such as sports, games, and award shows, which have massive appeal to large audiences. Linear TV also enables targeting by advertisers based on channel, genre, and airtime. Viewers tend to find TV ads more credible, especially on trusted channels, and are conditioned to expect ads when watching linear TV. Amirtham also asserts linear TV audiences “are predominantly associated with affluent groups.”
Boundaries between traditional TV and digital media are blurring with the evolution of Cloud TV and Over-the-Top-Television (OTT)- traditional TV content such as series and movies watched over the internet. These technologies are enticing viewers by combining the benefits of linear TV and more fluid digital mediums that offer on-demand viewing and are sometimes free of traditional ads. Amirtham recommends developing a linear TV app as one method for media leaders to expand and enhance audience engagement.
Maintaining and growing audiences
As DCN previously reported, younger generations are gravitating towards streaming services and social platforms and away from traditional TV. However, while media companies keep a keen eye on Gen Z trend-shapers, it is also wise to accommodate mature and international audiences, who are loyal and heavy consumers of traditional media formats.
For media leaders, it’s still too soon to abandon linear—if the goal is to reach the widest audience possible. Instead, deliver integrated solutions that merge linear TV and streaming assets, while working to enhance cross-platform integration. Effective strategies across age groups, international markets, and media platforms will depend on accurate measurement, outreach, and partnerships. The growing convergence of platforms invites opportunities to cultivate deeper connections with viewers around the world.
