Video is becoming a vital part of news media, from showcasing live events to providing in-depth interviews. But how do the different types of videos impact what news consumers are looking for?
To answer that question, we analyzed 377 YouTube channels that frequently cover news and current affairs, using a recommendation analysis to select the most popular ones. Each of these was examined by human coders who looked for topic, tone and other features. We also analyzed the top 100 channels that are most often viewed by people who regularly watch video news.
We found that the typical news organization channel produced 33 videos in December 2019, with a median video length of just over five minutes. These are typically short segments about a specific news story, and they tend to be repackaged from a higher-level source, such as a TV news outlet or a network/national satellite feed.
On the other hand, independent channels – those that aren’t affiliated with any news organization – produce far fewer videos (15 on average) and have a much longer median video length (about 12 minutes). They were also more likely to focus on conspiracy theories than channels associated with news organizations.
Lastly, these independent channels were also more likely to seek donations directly from their viewers. They did so through several different services, though Patreon was the most common (66% of them use it). The bottom line is that these different types of channels each have a distinct role to play in the media. The challenge for news organizations is to ensure that they’re delivering their content in the way that their audience wants to consume it, both online and on television.