Social video offers increased opportunities for media companies in 2025
This article originally appeared on INMA.org.
In a recent survey of media leaders from around the world, two findings really stood out:
- 74% of media executives are concerned about potential declines in search engine referral traffic, primarily due to AI’s increasing role in answering search queries.
- After AI, publishers plan to put the most resources into video-first platforms like YouTube and TikTok (at the expense of platforms like Facebook and X).
At Chartbeat and Tubular Labs, we think about these topics every day, and it’s clear that many in the industry feel this year will be a turning point for both. With the rate at which AI has already entered and disrupted the industry, it’s right to be wary of impending changes to search.
However, according to our referral traffic data from the last year, there’s no sign of a decrease as of yet. In fact, some services like Google Discover actually increased in 2024.
Whether or not the first prediction comes to fruition, now is definitely the time to invest in social video. This is to protect against any decrease of audience elsewhere but also to meet your audience where they’re already spending time and start cultivating real relationships there.
As more news publishers invest in these platforms, it’s important to do so strategically and based on what your own data is telling you. Here are a few insights to help you get started.
Dial in on your audience in your region
Short-form content, including YouTube Shorts, has dominated social platforms in recent years. However, as social media audiences move away from traditional television and seek longer, more meaningful content on social media, lengthier content has also seen an increase in uploads and viewership.
How do you know which format is best for you? Dial in on your audience in your region.
While a recent global study from Tubular found longer videos (30 seconds to one minute) had the most engagements and views per video across the world, when we zoomed in on YouTube in Latin America during a recent presentation in the region, we found the opposite to be true.
News publishers primarily post longer videos in this region, uploading more than 45,000 videos in the one- to two-minute range in the fourth quarter of 2024. But as you can see in the graph above, uploads of this length far outpace the views per video, indicating that publishers here should divert more resources to shorter videos in the zero- to 30-second range, which get more views.
Identify emerging categories
The most popular category on TikTok for most of last year was People and Lifestyles, topping 1 trillion views. Other categories that saw increased viewership from the year before include Beauty (22%), Music (30%), and Business and Finance (73%).
While the popularity of these categories is clear in hindsight, evaluating the velocity of social video content in real time to see what’s gaining or losing steam as trends emerge can give you an advantage in becoming a trusted source for content before it’s trending.
Gauge the potential of each platform
As tempting as it is to repost popular content from TikTok on YouTube or vice versa, different social platforms offer different value to their users. This means they also offer different value to publishers. As such, content strategies must be differentiated from platform to platform.
Another finding from our social video analysis in Latin America showed an increase in views per video on TikTok last year. While this offers a helpful clue of where publishers in this region could invest resources, it doesn’t mean the same opportunity is available in other regions or even on other platforms in this region.
You may find your content gets more attention on one platform and starts more conversations on another. You may find one topic’s lifecycle is longer on one platform than another.
There’s no one way to conquer social video, but the best way to find the right combination is through experimentation across a wide range of formats and platforms.
Recapping the social video starter guide
Success in the evolving media landscape requires data-driven strategies, platform diversity, and a keen understanding of audience engagement. For news publishers looking to expand their reach this year, social video represents not just a trend, but a critical pathway to audience growth and digital relevance.
To do this, it’s important to:
• Experiment with different video lengths to find the opportunity zone in your region.
• Identify emerging categories before they’re trending to inspire new content and build trust with growing audiences.
• Differentiate your strategy by platform to ensure you’re meeting the expectations of each audience and continually verifying your assumptions with data.
