Let’s be honest about the challenge: Young audiences are shifting to new platforms as their primary sources of information. The idea they will eventually “grow into” traditional news consumption — and then magically start paying for digital subscriptions — is naïve. 

Equally naïve? The belief that text is still king. Articles are simply not enough anymore. If you want to engage with younger audiences you will also need video content, visually attractive explainers, and content that is more personality-driven.

Young audiences are getting their information from TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and, increasingly, from individual creators rather than news organisations. We’re not just competing with other news organisations anymore. We’re competing with every creator who can explain the news in 90 seconds with a higher production value than most newsrooms can muster.

This isn’t a problem we can ignore. It’s the new reality we need to navigate — and there are concrete ways forward:

1. Meet them where they are

You must reach users on the platforms where they actually spend time. That means a smart strategy for social media and vertical video isn’t just nice to have — it’s essential. 

I still got asked regularly in my career if “the whole social media thing” was really worth the work and money. I really hope you don’t have to have these discussions anymore in your company. But at the same time, there is an important question we need to tackle: How can these new strategies be monetised?

Traditional digital subscription models don’t translate well to platform-native content. So what does? We’ll explore revenue models including subscriptions, memberships, direct payments, and creator-style monetisation within this initiative. But we’ll also look at what legacy media can do to build connections with new audiences — and how a strong third-party platform strategy can indeed pay off.

2. Invest in relationships, not just content

That brings us to the next point. Young audiences don’t just consume news; they trust voices, join communities, follow creators. As INMA President Gert Ysebaert said in a recent conversation with our CEO Earl Wilkinson about building relationships that eventually lead young users back to owned platforms: “It’s not about being found. It’s about being chosen.” 

He’s absolutely right. If you don’t invest in the relationships with your users, they won’t have a reason to engage with you.

That choice isn’t made based on your homepage design or your investigative journalism awards. It’s based on relationships. Do you respond to comments? Do you ask questions and genuinely listen to the answers? Do you create space for your audience to participate, not just consume?

This requires new kinds of storytelling and a new weighting of stories in your product. It means taking risks as a brand at a time when financial pressure is already extremely high. I know this pressure very well, and I’m convinced it’s important to name it. 

It’s easy to say you just need to do everything differently and younger — but the reality is the extremely complicated workflows in newsrooms often don’t allow for quick change. That’s the source of enormous frustration for many of my colleagues.

But here’s the thing: The cost of not changing is higher than the cost of experimentation. 

3. Voices count more than brands

Crucial to building up these relationships are voices. An increasing number of news consumers prefer to engage with individual personalities rather than traditional brands. 

This isn’t a fleeting trend. It’s a fundamental shift in how trust is built and maintained.

This shift is also generational: Younger audiences didn’t grow up reading newspapers at the breakfast table or waiting for the evening news. They came of age in a world where individual voices on platforms were already the primary source of information and community — long before they ever encountered traditional news brands.

Any newsroom or media company that understands how important voices are to younger audiences is already on the right track. What I repeatedly hear in conversations, however, is a deep-seated fear that content creators are somehow “not real journalists” — and that collaborating with them could put journalistic integrity at risk.

It is important to talk about journalistic standards, about data, sources, and tonality. While not all creators are journalists, many journalists are also creators. They do not just produce journalistic content, they also engage with their audience and build relationships based on connection, authenticity and trust. And here they’re one step ahead of many large legacy media houses.

If you think you want to partner up with an external creator and you want to profit from their way of doing things, it is crucial to remember that. You’re working with that creator because their voice has value. You should not try to “edit” or change that voice to make it fit traditional newsroom standards. That does not mean that you can not have a conversation about your journalistic standards. It means being respectful of their work.

Important note: These voices don’t have to be found outside your newsroom, which brings us to the next point:

4. The culture change nobody wants to talk about

I often hear the question: How can we best collaborate with creators? My counter-question is usually: Why do you need external voices? Aren’t there voices within your own ranks that you could promote?

Engaging with younger audiences requires you to examine your own organisational culture. In my experience, there’s still enormous arrogance within the industry when it comes to playing on new channels. Younger colleagues who work in social media teams, for example, are taken less seriously. More established editors ask: News on TikTok? What does that mean? Do we have to dance the news now?!

This dismissive attitude doesn’t just alienate young journalists — it signals to young audiences that you don’t take their platforms seriously. And if you don’t respect where they get their information, why should they respect your journalism?

Fact is: Many teams would greatly benefit from putting their own talent front and center, investing in them, and helping them to build a personal brand. Your social media team probably has someone who already understands platform-native storytelling better than anyone in the C-suite. Are you giving them the time, resources, and support they need to develop that skill?

And this is important to me: Personal brands don’t only work for young journalists. I’ve repeatedly seen colleagues from very different age groups express interest in creating their own content. In many cases, these ideas failed simply because they were never given the time or space to develop. A 55-year-old reporter with deep expertise and a compelling voice can be just as effective on social platforms as a 25-year-old — if we give them the support to try. 

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