This is also a way for the press to show its role in guiding information for young people, helping them detect false or harmful information. The way some press and media agencies around the world are creating and distributing news on TikTok shows part of this new direction.
TikTok is now one of the world's fastest-growing social networks, with an addictive algorithm that shows an endless stream of short, entertaining videos. Changes to the platform that allow longer videos and live-streamed ads have also made TikTok more appealing to news outlets looking to attract younger audiences.
What does the press world think about TikTok?
TikTok’s rise comes at a time when newspapers are looking to attract younger readers, particularly those under 25, who are more likely to use TikTok and less likely to visit news sites.
“We think we should be on TikTok, even if there is no direct business model right now,” said Fabrizio Barbato, CFO of Ciaopeople.
Other publishers note that recent changes to the platform, such as live-streaming ads and longer video lengths, have made the platform more favorable to news publishers. “TikTok has a huge reach,” said Alan Strange, content editor at Sky News.
Sky News recently had 16 million views for its live broadcast of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral and tens of millions of views for a video from a Ukrainian reporter about the situation there. It now counts TikTok as one of its most important platforms, along with YouTube and its official website.
German publisher ARD was one of the first to set up a TikTok account in November 2019. “We are on a mission to transform our brand towards a younger audience,” said Patrick Weinhold, Head of Social Media at Tagesschau.
“We wanted to make our brand more natural, more interactive, and more comfortable for our readers. Our image up to now has been traditional studio TV broadcasts. We wanted to reinvent ourselves.”
But TikTok is not a preferred option for everyone. Some public broadcasters such as BBC News have shunned the platform and focused on other social networks such as Instagram.
Other public broadcasters, including Norway's NRK, Japan's NHK, Denmark's DR and Finland's Yle, have also been hesitant to join TikTok, partly due to concerns that serious political news is not suitable for the platform, and partly because of concerns about information security.
Some TikTok videos from the Washington Post. Photo: AW
Many subscription-focused publishers, such as the New York Times, have also opted out of TikTok, fearing it could erode their revenue streams. And for those who have embraced TikTok, their approach to reporting is very different, but it’s a way for some news organizations to win back their readers before they can move on.
The Washington Post: Collaboration with TikTok, funny and quality
While the Washington Post has had some success distributing news through its user-based pay models, it hasn’t overlooked the younger audience on TikTok. Columnist Dave Jorgenson was hired by the Post to create light-hearted videos for YouTube, but ended up finding more success on TikTok after experimenting in 2019.
Much of the initial approach was to try to combine the freshness of TikTok with the values of the 144-year-old newspaper. The main aim was to appeal to people who don't regularly read the news, but with a light and humorous tone.
For example, they did an office chat about Thanksgiving, discussing the impact of bird flu while dressed as a turkey. “Humor is part of TikTok. And I don’t want to ignore that,” Jorgenson said. “But we’ve established our position. So even if we’re less funny, people will still listen to our content.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Jorgenson said, The Washington Post’s videos have become “more serious.” The team has found itself able to do more serious stories, such as explaining the significance of the U.S. midterm elections, and at longer lengths than it has in the past.
The Los Angeles Times: Everything is an experiment
The Sheep Reporter newsletter is one of the LA Times’s most successful. Angie Jaime, who runs the group, also holds the title of Chief Creative Officer, a position unheard of at a traditional newspaper. She has assembled a team of artists, filmmakers, cartoonists, journalists, and even a puppeteer to “invent new experimental content,” primarily for TikTok and Instagram.
The videos the team has created include puppet-narrated climate change reports, mini-documentaries, or explainer videos dedicated to Los Angeles life, cultural news, and trends. These approaches, which often address difficult topics with irony and satire, naturally resonate with GenZ audiences.
The paper has no immediate plans to monetize TikTok. “Every single piece of content is an experiment to see what might work, and whether it actually delivers to a more diverse audience. That’s what we’re testing,” she added.
Kleine Zeitung: Leave Facebook for TikTok
Austria’s largest publication, with an older readership, is slowly transitioning to digital. Over the past year, the paper has stopped posting links to Facebook, where traffic has been falling, and is rebuilding its social media team. “I’m only 28 and I already feel like I’m too old for Gen Z,” said Larissa Eberhardt, the paper’s head of social media.
The new team is responsible for creating content on TikTok and other social platforms to make the paper feel relevant to the new generation. Every day, the team looks at data from the paper’s news website to see what stories resonate with 18–34 year olds, and then adapts those stories for TikTok by telling them differently. They focus on local news rather than national or breaking news.
The team has had success with topics that appeal to younger audiences, such as vaping in schools, which has sparked a huge debate on TikTok. “But enriching content isn’t always easy. The attention span of readers is super, super short. Sometimes we struggle with the fact that it’s hard to enrich content because the content is so short on TikTok,” she shared.
TNM: By the young, for the young
The News Movement (TNM) is a social media startup founded by former BBC and Wall Street Journal executives that launched in October 2022 after nearly a year in beta mode. Their mission is to provide unbiased fact-based news, conduct investigations, and explain complex stories through TikTok and other social platforms.
All of the video creators are young, and they bring an inside understanding of the platform and topics that are likely to appeal to Gen Z audiences. Clodagh Griffin, a creator for TNM, says the nature of the platform is to attract attention.
“The first three seconds on TikTok are really the most important. It’s like telling the viewer why they should watch my video,” she said. The pace of the videos is extremely fast, much faster than traditional news reporting, because young audiences can absorb information much faster.
TNM is still learning what works, but it’s focused on young, empathetic, and individual creators. “That’s why TikTok allows creators and emerging news organizations to make their own noise,” says creative director Valentina Park. “Credibility is based on the personal reputation of the journalists, not necessarily the reputation of a newspaper.”
Ac2ality: Get in early, get out early
Another startup founded in 2020 by four Spaniards is Ac2ality, which publishes a simple, fact-based news service specifically for TikTok. Their main format is a “5 important things you need to know today” newsletter that is packed into 1 minute.
Four Spaniards founded Ac2ality. Photo: RTVE
Today, they publish around six video stories a day in Spanish to their 3.9 million followers, and have also expanded into English videos. The group attributes their success to the lack of competition at the time, strong visuals, and use of simple language.
Le Monde: Creativity and experimentation
France's leading daily newspaper started TikTok in 2020 with the mission of explaining the news. Most of its TikTok posts are made specifically for the platform. They say the content needs to be tailored to a younger audience.
The creative team itself ranges in age from 24 to 32, and regularly varies its content and news format. Le Monde has also experimented with live broadcasts on topics such as “the rise of comics in France” and “why superheroes are so important.”
Sky News: TikTok is a TV channel
The London-based broadcaster sees TikTok as another channel where it can deliver trustworthy news to its readers. “I’m very keen that we don’t fall into the trap that many publishers fall into, which is trying to be something new and then losing sight of what we are,” said Alan Strange, Sky’s head of content. “We do journalism. And we deliver news across multiple platforms. TikTok is like a television channel.”
Mr Strange argues that at its core, TikTok is a relatively simple video platform where good visuals matter. “If you have reporters on the ground, it’s better to use them than a young creator,” he says. Two of Sky News’ most-watched TikToks came from senior correspondent Stuart Ramsay, who reported from Italy at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and then from his on-the-ground reporting from Ukraine.
Sky News’ TikTok content strategy is built on four pillars: key person interviews; breaking news; explainers; and live broadcasts. In the early days of the pandemic, Sky News generated millions of views live streaming government press conferences, largely thanks to TikTok’s messaging to users.
Vice World News: Real Experience
The digital news site launched a TikTok channel in late 2021, focusing on short explainer videos about international news.
Real-world experience is what makes Vice news site successful. Photo: TikTok
“We had a reporter on the ground in Ukraine. He was just walking through Kiev with sirens in the background. He was living the moment with the viewers,” said Matthew Champion, the paper’s editor-in-chief. “Matthew Cassel’s reporting was viewed 21.6 million times. It wasn’t much different than a traditional news broadcast, just less heavy and more real.”
Vice’s content strategy combines explainers, live reporting, and list formats. “Every other social platform is creating a mini version of TikTok, so if you create something that goes viral on TikTok, chances are it will do well on other platforms,” he adds.
The Economist: Individual and different
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the flagship magazine takes a story-based approach rather than a creator-based one. “Our brand has its own personality. The way we tell stories is unique,” says Liv Moloney, head of social media.
Videos with impressive designs and a strong writing style have brought success to The Economist. Photo: TikTok
The Economist’s strategy is also to focus on quality over quantity, and to be able to talk about “nonsense” topics without damaging the brand. For example, a video about why chickens are so big has attracted millions of views. Ms Moloney argues that The Economist’s mission is to explain geopolitical and economic situations, and this fits the interests of a younger audience.
The Economist’s videos have high production values, in stark contrast to the quick, cutaways typically produced by creators, but they still seem to work well. “We’re never going to be the first to tell you something happened, but we might be the first to explain it to you, or explain it better than anyone else,” Moloney stresses.
Hoang Viet
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