Given the explosive growth of ultra short-form video through social platforms over the past five years, news businesses which had already invested heavily in digital video have had to rethink their strategies. Publishers who were once able to drive millions of views for mid-length videos on YouTube have struggled to maintain that success, as eyeballs have drifted to shorter formats, and the tech platforms themselves have pushed users towards more short-form content.
For news publishers, mastering ultra-short form content has presented a whole new challenge. The predominant style on TikTok (which has carried over to other short-form platforms) is raw and unpolished, with videos typically filmed directly on a phone camera and edited in-app. This creates a more crowded marketplace. Since production values are less relevant and short-form algorithms don’t necessarily reward original journalism, independent news channels are able to compete with professional news organisations.
While several news organisations have poured significant resources into short-form video, it’s still relatively early days, and the industry is still figuring out what works. To get a sense of the different approaches taken by different news publishers, VideoWeek looked at how the UK’s most popular online news businesses are working across TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts – looking at how their output and success differed across a specific day (chosen at random during the last week of January), and how they’re experimenting with different formats.
BBC News
BBC News has built a strong social following across the three platforms, and no other UK news business has more followers on Instagram or YouTube. But while TikTok is the BBC’s smallest platform in terms of following, it’s BBC News’s biggest focus in terms of output. BBC News tends to release around 10-20 clips per day on TikTok, while putting out just a selection of these same videos on Reels and Shorts. Views-wise, Reels is BBC News’s best performer, though that’s likely due to the BBC having more than four times as many subscribers on Reels.
On the content front, BBC News uses a variety of formats. Some of it is licensed video relating to global news stories (press conference clips, on-the-ground footage from newsworthy events), or clips pulled from the BBC’s broader TV news reporting. It also posts made-for-social content, including explainers with bespoke graphics, BBC reporters talking through news stories, and on-the-ground reports and interviews filmed specifically for social.
On TikTok specifically, BBC News has also started running image-based stories using the carousel format, presenting a story headline and a relevant quote or two, overlaid on relevant images.
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail has been vocal about its ambitions on TikTok, and its investment has yielded results – it’s the biggest UK news publisher on the platform by a long way, with around three times as many followers as its next closest professional competitor (BBC News). Interestingly, over the period seen by VideoWeek, the Daily Mail posted the most content on YouTube Shorts, but it’s picking up the most views by far on TikTok.
A lot of the Mail’s posts are clips relating to current affairs and entertainment news, alongside some lighter viral clips, often with captions and voiceovers. Some (but not all) of these refer back to stories on the Daily Mail website, inviting viewers to visit the site to read more. And in some cases, this appears to be the primary focus of the video – with the video itself simply showing the headline over a few relevant images. The newspaper also runs some talking head explainers and interview snippets, as well as some carousel picture-based posts.
The Telegraph
The Telegraph’s output across short-form platforms is relatively low, as the newspaper tends to publish one or two videos on each platform each day. Despite having more subscribers on the other platforms, TikTok performed best for The Telegraph over the period measured by VideoWeek.
The newspaper is fairly unique in posting distinct content across the three platforms. On TikTok, The Telegraph’s output is primarily clips from newsworthy events with Telegraph branded captions, while it also occasionally posts made-for-social explainer videos with on on-screen reporters, and on-the-ground interviews. Reels is similar, though it also includes some longer celebrity interview clips which don’t make it over to TikTok. Shorts meanwhile hosts a lot of snippets from some of The Telegraph’s longer video content which is also hosted on YouTube
ITV News
ITV, like the Daily Mail, appears to have specifically targeted growth on TikTok, where it now has its largest follower count by a significant margin. And that’s translating across to views too, with ITV News’ clips getting significantly more views on TikTok compared with the other platforms.
One of the general advantages for news broadcasters like ITV when it comes to social video is that they already have plenty of video assets available to them, and ITV leverages this for short-form video. A lot of its videos, largely the same across the three platforms, are short snippets from ITV’s news broadcasts, edited down for social platforms.
ITV News does also post content specifically made for these platforms, including ‘The Rundown’, a format which briefly summarises headline stories with an on-screen reporter, as well as short reports and explainers on news stories.
The Guardian
The Guardian’s output on short-form platforms is pretty low, but that’s not to say it’s not invested in the platform. And despite the low output, its videos picked up a lot of views across all three platforms (though it’s worth noting that the Shorts figure was skewed by one video – relating to the California wildfires – picking up over one million views).
The newspaper posts a mix of syndicated or originally recorded news-relevant clips with captions, as well as interviews and explainers with in-house graphics. On TikTok specifically, The Guardian is leaning fairly heavily on the carousel format, using it to promote stories and features on The Guardian website. Carousel posts generally display the article headline and pick out a number of quotes and snippets from article text, imposed over relevant images.
Sky News
Sky News has built up a strong following across all three platforms, with its TikTok follower count close to catching up with its YouTube subscriber count. For the period seen by VideoWeek however it was Instagram Reels where Sky’s content performed best, despite Sky having fewer followers there compared with the other platforms.
Sky leverages clips from its TV news and digital video output across all three platforms, while also producing some content specifically made for social. These include clips filmed by on-the-ground Sky reporters, and made-for-social explainers.
The Times
The Times’s output is relatively low across the social platforms, and similar across all three, though it appears to get the most views on Reels (where it also has its highest follower count).
But like The Guardian, low output doesn’t mean low effort. On Reels and YouTube Shorts, most of The Times’s content appears specifically made for social video, with a mix of talking head explainers and reports based around licensed video covering current news and broader news-related topics. On TikTok, this same content is mixed in with clips of newsworthy events (such as presidential press conferences and parliamentary debates).
Channel 4 News
While Channel 4’s output is fairly similar across all three platforms and its strongest follower count is on YouTube, TikTok is by far its best performing channel for views on its short-form content, with TikTok picking up ten times as many views as Reels across the videos measured by VideoWeek.
Across all three platforms, Channel 4 posts a mix of snippets from its TV broadcast news show, alongside made-for-social short-form reports on current news stories, and captioned footage from press conferences and real-world events.
The Sun
While many other news businesses are putting out fairly similar quantities of content across the three platforms, The Sun appears to be putting much more emphasis on TikTok. And indeed that’s where it was picking up the most views – although Reels wasn’t too far behind on VideoWeek’s count, despite The Sun having a much lower follower count on that platform.
The Sun’s content is much more focussed on entertainment and pop culture news than other publishers listed above, though it does cover current affairs as well. Most videos on the Sun’s channels feature a voiceover from a Sun reporter talking through a story, overlaid on relevant video footage. The newspaper also runs short clips from video interviews, and snippets from some of its longer form video content.
Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror’s highest follower count is on TikTok, and that’s where it’s picking up the most views by a decent margin. Volume of output is fairly similar on TikTok and Reels, while the Mirror posts far less frequently on YouTube — though it has posted again since VideoWeek’s count. (It’s worth noting that the Mirror’s view count on YouTube was somewhat skewed by a clip of Elon Musk appearing to give a Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration, which picked up over 200,000 views).
On TikTok and Reels, the bulk of The Mirror’s posts are reports on news stories (whether that’s current affairs, entertainment, or lifestyle-type content), with an off-screen reporter talking through a story, and relevant videos or images playing in the background. The newspaper also posts a fair number of viral videos which are picking up traction on social media.
On Shorts however, The Mirror posts more clips from video interviews and other digital video content which the newspaper produces.
