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Content platforms shine as news media giants like News Corp (NASDAQ: NWSA) face fragmenting media landscape

by
Nathan Crooks
Quantfury Team
news

Piers Morgan—the British tabloid journalist who rose to fame in the US first as a judge on “America’s Got Talent” before going on to win the 2008 edition of The Celebrity Apprentice—is ditching News Corp (NASDAQ: NWSA) and buying out his Uncensored YouTube channel to go it alone. It’s a daring move that should catch the attention of the so-called legacy media as a new generation of news personalities break free from their shackled pasts.

“We’ve all known each other for a very long time, but I didn’t want to be a hired hand any more,” Morgan told the Financial Times in an interview published earlier this month, speaking about his relationship with the Murdoch family that controls the storied media empire he’s now seeking freedom from. Morgan described the deal as “friendly” and noted that he’d continue to film from News Corp subsidiary News UK studios for now and share a decreasing amount of ad revenue over the next four years.

“There’s no reason at all that in five years’ time we can’t have a business worth a billion dollars up,” he continued. “It’s the first time I’ve been my own boss. I could have taken the easier route of just carrying on being an employee. But I would have been kicking myself.”

Shifting Landscape 

Morgan, noting the shifting media landscape, highlighted other top-tier news personalities having solo success on YouTube like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly; he didn’t mince words and predicted that legacy “network stuff” would be dead in ten years’ time, especially as younger viewers are preferring longer-form podcasts and video clips shared on social media. It’s a narrative that’s become popular as of late, especially with the rising influence of podcasters like Joe Rogan in the last US presidential election.

The numbers certainly speak for themselves. YouTube became the first streaming platform tracked by Nielsen to exceed more than a 10% share of daily TV viewership last year, surpassing streamers like Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and legacy players including Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) and NBC Universal (NASDAQ: CMCSA). Piers Morgan Uncensored, meanwhile, was one of the fastest-growing YouTube news channels over the past year, and with 3.6 million subscribers, the show falls behind only Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro and Philip DeFranco on a list of top news influencer accounts compiled by PressGazette.

“Everything is going away from legacy media to personal brand media,” Morgan said. “Some of the biggest stars in the world are not attached to any networks or newspapers like they used to be when I grew up.”

Established brands

That’s not to say there aren’t any headwinds for someone who wants to take the plunge into independence. The top ten legacy news publishers tracked by PressGazette currently have three times the YouTube subscribers as the top ten independent influencers, showing the power and reach enjoyed by traditional players. It’s also worth pointing out that many of the biggest solo news influencers—like Morgan himself—got their starts using big, established brands. YouTube may be surging as a delivery platform, but anyone starting from scratch and seeking influencer fame will likely face an uphill battle to find viewers at scale. 

Indeed, News Corp stock hit an all-time high last October amid surging profits, with its shares rising 14.6% over the past year. The caveat is that the S&P 500 rose 25% over the same period. Traditional media may still be making money, but the market just isn’t expecting as much growth that could come in more tech-heavy sectors. It’s a trend visible elsewhere: shares of YouTube-owner Alphabet (NYSE: GOOGL) have risen 36% over the past 12 months, while NBC-owner Comcast declined 15%.

The media landscape is fragmenting, and large legacy outlets and independent voices alike seem to be making strides to adapt to the changing times. The real winners may not be news makers themselves, however, but the platforms like YouTube and Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) that all creators are increasingly depending on.