The past month has seen the launch of new media platforms by two of Britain’s leading journalists: former Guardian columnist Marina Hyde and ex-BBC presenter Amol Rajan. While The Rest Is Entertainment co-host Hyde partnered with her Goalhanger family for her new outlet, Always On, Rajan set up The Amol Rajan Connection with the backing of major U.K. brands.
They represent a new subset of journalistic creators becoming prominent in the media landscape, with others in the mix including Piers Morgan, Taylor Lorenz and Casey Newton.
Joe Lamb, managing director of commercial for creator business management company Arcade, which famously manages YouTube sensation The Sidemen, observes that this transition is becoming a natural step for any enterprising journalist at the top of their game.
“When you get to a certain stage of your career as a journalist, and you’ve built up such a reputation and following, you want the freedom to control your own voice, distribution and audience,” he says.
With a steady drumbeat of media layoffs, including 100 job cuts at The Telegraph and 195 roles at People Inc. in the last week alone, going out on your own is a tantalising prospect, especially if you can build a significant enough following to match or even exceed your salaried position, while reporting or commentating on your own terms.
Yet as more journalists become creators, their journey raises new questions about the media landscape. How might they navigate working with brands, for instance, and what are the opportunities for TV producers to partner with them?
This week, Arcade’s Lamb, a LADbible and JOE Media alumnus, shares what news creators should consider as they grow, and how to put their IP at the forefront of all collaborations. Read on to learn about:
Why news creators must balance opinions with reporting-based content
How the algorithm favours evergreen content rather than time-sensitive pieces
Navigating brands while maintaining editorial integrity
How TV producers can elevate a creator’s IP
Facts vs. opinions
Journalism isn’t dying, it’s changing. The dawn of AI plays a crucial role in this evolution, and for news creators, it could be their point of differentiation.
“We’ve never had more access to data, but we have never been more sceptical of the source or sceptical of what’s right and wrong,” says Lamb.
This is where trusted reporters and columnists from legacy media operating in digital spaces become key contributors.
“What’s real? What’s not? Having real faces verifying that is going to be super important,” says Lamb, who notes there will always be a premium on getting to the truth of a story or issue.
“I’m more likely to listen to people who are actually educated in a particular topic or have experience in a particular field than a TikToker who’s just regurgitating the headlines and giving their opinion on them,” notes the exec.
But with so many news creators setting up shop, what happens when we reach critical mass? When there are so many independent voices that audiences are overwhelmed by choice?
“You go far enough right and you end up back left,” quips Lamb. “If we see all this fragmentation, it’s going to get to a point where there’s too much variety, and then there will be a period of consolidation.”
While it’s unclear what that may look like right now, the exec believes more legacy media outlets should encourage their staff to become creators for themselves and be the face of their media and ultimately support its distribution.
But currently, as we see more and more journalists go the independent route, Lamb suspects audiences will likely begin looking for more than just hot takes and opinions from news creators, and actively search for “the source of truth” and pure reporting.
Takeaways: with many news creators getting into the mix, consolidation could be on the horizon; consumers will begin favouring pure reporting over opinion-led content
Mind the algorithm
News creators also need to be mindful of the algorithm powering their newfound independence on various social platforms.
“The journalists that are leaving their [outlets] now, yes, they have a voice, and yes, they have a presence and an audience, but they’re going to be operating and living on platforms that are algorithmically driven and based on consumption habits, time watched, keywords and shares,” says Lamb. “All of that goes into someone being served a piece of content.”
Whereas early waves of creators had the advantage of building up followings by adhering to algorithms that recognised follower counts, that criteria is now moot for this generation, particularly on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
“Followers used to guarantee reach,” says Lamb. “But you are now at a point where that doesn’t mean anything anymore. Because it’s all algorithmically done based on interest, Amol Rajan might have 100,000 followers [Rajan has 13,500 on YouTube currently], but that doesn’t necessarily mean his 100,000 followers are going to see his content at a time when it’s posted.”
To combat this, content needs to be as close to evergreen as possible.
“Things that you’re talking about can’t be as time-sensitive as news,” says Lamb. Because if a creator posts a clip discussing a current news story, but it’s only served to a user five days later, it may already be irrelevant.
“Journalists will obviously have an understanding of the platforms they operate on, but they need a good team around them to make sure their content is optimised properly and isn’t too reliant on time sensitivity or a certain theme,” says Lamb.
Takeaways: the algorithm is more challenging for today’s creators, who are judged on interest, not followers; news creators need solid teams around them to help optimise their content
Brand sensitivities
The Amol Rajan Connection launched officially on Oct. 15, but in the lead-up, Rajan announced a production and distribution deal with Jane Featherstone’s Sister Group, and brand deals with Waitrose and NatWest, both of which became “founding partners” in his platform.
Lamb says it is promising to see brands investing in original content from journalists who haven’t necessarily played in the digital space previously. “Obviously, [journalists] have got that equity,” he says. “They built off the back of a newspaper or a news outlet or a platform that they can then leverage for their own gain eventually. That is really useful.”
Yet how do you maintain editorial integrity, which is paramount to a journalist, when brands are involved? The way Arcade works is by asking how brands become “additive characters” in that creator’s world.
“The Sidemen have the ear of a very large audience, and they’ll smell a rat and call your bluff if they think they’re being sold to in an inauthentic way,” says Lamb. “It’s the responsibility of the creator and their teams to find ways that are truly additive to the content that [their audiences] are used to consuming.”
Similarly, news creators should consider how to deliver a brand’s message in a way that’s authentic to them as a person, but is also relevant and additive to their audience. Lamb suggests having a laser focus on your audience and what really matters to them.
“What are the problems and challenges they’re facing, or the things they enjoy in their life? The things they’re worried about, or need to be educated on, that I’m there to provide a solution for?” says Lamb. “How can I work with a brand partner to help deliver or improve one of those things?”
Takeaways: news creators must deliver a brand’s message in a way that’s authentic to them, and additive to the content their audiences are used to
Where indies can help
The word “creator” could lose its meaning in a year’s time as more people experiment with brand-building and, suddenly, everyone is a creator. But at the heart of that experimentation will always be IP, and how you grow that tends to be the preserve of savvy TV producers.
If you’re a Marina Hyde-style news creator, you’re likely wondering how to scale your IP and keep adding value to your audience.
For indies, then, rather than coming up with an idea that needs to go through the old guard of TV commissioning, Lamb encourages producers to think of ways to help a creator take their ideas to the next level, whether that’s a series or an investigative documentary.
“And from a distribution point of view, that doesn’t have to live on the BBC or ITV,” says Lamb. It can live on a YouTube channel as the primary distribution point, while other channels such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts and Twitter can serve as the marketing funnel, particularly as a long-form piece can be cut up into multiple clips.
“Going back to the creator economy and the word ‘creator,’ we’re increasingly going into this world of original IP ownership, and then it’s all about how that IP mushrooms into live consumer products, paid memberships and special edition reads under the umbrella of that journalist or creator.”
Takeaways: producers can help take social video IP and transform it into a series or investigative piece that lives on YouTube; indies must consider the entire ‘flywheel’ of content that can be built from strong IP
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