The heroes of media have changed.

The era of Mr. Jones — who reported on the hidden Ukrainian famine in the British press in the 1930’s — is over. We are now in the era of MrBeast, a YouTuber who makes most of his fortune — an estimated US$400 million last year — not from content, but from selling chocolate.

“This is a media business, this is a successful entrepreneur,” said Greg Piechota, lead of INMA’s Readers First Initiative, in the final session of the INMA Subscriptions Summit 2025 in Amsterdam.

Perhaps news publishers need to learn from “the world of media creators,” said Piechota, who organised the summit, INMA’s eighth. YouTube is the future of television, and news outlets are being left behind in this transition: 92% of all YouTube views go to individual creators, while news organisations capture just 6%.

Watching audio, listening to text

If we agree that the medium of communication influences content, formatting, and the audience’s reaction, then what is the medium of this new era?

But this era is especially complex. “We are in an era of liquid content,” Mika Rahkonen, head of strategy at YLE Finland, said on the study tour during INMA’s Media Innovation Week last September. People watch podcasts on YouTube, listen to text on auto-play, and read video transcripts. The boundaries between media formats are dissolving.

This mirrors how audiences are engaging with news content, Piechota said: During an average 13-hour day, U.S. adults spend 41% of their media time watching content, 22% listening, and only 11% reading.

However, audiences still prefer text for breaking news online. This suggests that “the future is slightly going to be more video-driven” for news communication, he said.

Piechota offered The New York Times’ approach to multi-media content that blends formats as a unique and engaging approach, suiting this new era of liquid content.

Understanding young audiences

At news companies navigate this era, they should not believe rumors that young people won’t pay for news, Piechota said. Research from the Reuters Institute shows young people do pay for content — just not from legacy news sources. They subscribe to YouTubers, support podcasters, and buy directly from influencers.

But media organisations should expand into this arena gradually. The best approach, Piechota said, is to “grow beyond the core without abandoning the roots.” If the average news subscriber is 50, don’t aim for a product targeting 20-year-olds.

And representation matters. If readers see themselves in the content, they engage. If they engage, they buy. Young readers want the same big news stories but with minor shifts in framing to reflect their perspectives.

“What we need to create is a sense of proximity,” Piechota said. “People need to feel like news is also for them.”

The power law of the creator economy

The economic structure of the creator economy is brutal:  few make millions, while most struggle to make a living. On Spotify, the world’s most generous creator platform, only 200 artists made more than US$5 million last year, while the vast majority earned under US$6,000.

Creators are now using social media platforms as mere ad channels to sell physical products. Their key to survival is owning a direct revenue stream. MrBeast sells chocolate; news organisations must find their equivalent. This means focusing on drawing subscribers from platforms to their site through social media rather than making high-value content for social media that draws little revenue in return.

Strategising social media for news

Piechota outlined four approaches to social media that news organisations can take.

Firstly, outlets could prioritise distributed content, using social media to engage younger audiences. For example, Spain’s Relevo focuses on social-first content aimed at young female sports fans, although how this can be sustainably financed remains uncertain.

A co-opetition approach involves publishers “flirting” with platforms while maintaining control over their. Finnish outlet Iltalehti builds its brand and raises awareness among new audiences on social media, mastered formats for those platforms, and then attracted new subscribers based on the social media presence. Instead of optimising for platforms, they optimise content for their own audiences.

The most sustainable approach is “content marketing,” that is, treating social media as an advertising tool, not a distribution method. The Financial Times uses social media to promote their new mobile product aimed at price-sensitive readers who prefer in-depth articles over breaking news.

Finally, some publishers focus on experimentation. The Washington Post created a dedicated team, a “third newsroom” of sorts, to test new audience strategies and revenue streams. It enables “dual transformation,” Piechota said, as “one team can go faster while the other team will be going more slowly.”

Creator- or brand-first approach?

Should media brands build recognition through their institution or through individual personalities? On platforms like TikTok, some outlets rely on reporters as recognisable figures to drive engagement. Others maintain a brand-first approach.

Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner thinks that “maybe in the future, the newsroom will actually look like a record label.” In this model, traditional reporting teams, trusted experts, and a growing pool of freelance creators will work side by side, with editors acting more like talent managers.

Whatever the approach you choose, it is clear the creator economy has rewritten the rules of engagement, Piechota said. News publishers need to embrace the shift in both content formats and business models to survive.

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