Media industry pursues video content strategy again

Summarised from The Verge's report · Updated 8 Nov, 16:15 · Archive

The media industry is once again emphasizing video content on social platforms, a decade after a failed pivot that led to widespread layoffs.

The media industry is once more emphasising video content as social platforms reorganise their feeds to prioritise video, particularly following TikTok's massive growth during the pandemic.

This represents a second attempt at what became known as the 'pivot-to-video'. A decade ago, publications invested heavily in video efforts on platforms like Facebook, expecting to reach larger audiences and generate new revenue streams. However, the strategy largely failed when it emerged that Facebook had inflated video view metrics. Newsrooms that had cut writers and editors to fund video teams subsequently cut those video positions when the pivot did not deliver expected returns.

The media industry is now catching up with platform changes, though some outlets have been slow to incorporate vertical video into their websites, apps and social media stories. Getting individual reporters on camera to discuss their work requires significant coordination and planning.

Read the report

• There’s no slowing down media’s pivot-to-video 2.0This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the pressures of creating content for the internet, follow Mia Sato. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Almost exactly a decade […]The Verge · 8 Nov, 13:00

In this story: Facebook · TikTok · The Verge

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