In the Next Gen News 2 report by FT Strategies and Knight Lab that I wrote about in my last blog, more than 65% of young respondents said they would prefer an in-depth story to a summary.

They don’t want shorter. They want denser. They want depth in a format and tone that respects how they consume information.

One of the best examples of what this looks like in practice comes from The Economist.

When I sat down with Liv Moloney, head of social video, for the inaugural Young Audiences Initiative Webinar (now also available as the first episode of our podcast No One’s Reading This), she walked me through how The Economist built a vertical video strategy that doesn’t compromise on substance.

Rich content wins on social

The thing that struck me most: When The Economist brought vertical video into their subscriber app, they deliberately made the content richer — slightly longer, more layered.

“We did not want to patronise our subscribers and explain the stuff they already know,” Liv told me. 

And here’s the counterintuitive part: When they posted this richer content on their social channels too, it performed even better there. So much for the idea that social audiences only want snackable content.

I know the discussion in many newsrooms all too well: What’s produced for social media is dismissed as “not journalistic enough” for the main product. 

The Economist’s experience tells a different story. When they brought their editorial standards to social, the content performed better. When they brought social storytelling back into their app, subscribers engaged more. It’s not about one elevating the other. It’s about both learning from each other.

What our community wanted to know 

During and after the Webinar, our community had a lot of follow-up questions for Liv. She took the time to answer them and here’s what came up:

Do you publish on your own platforms first or on social? 

The Economist publishes on its app and Website first. “We chose the topic and framing based on what we think our subscribers will find most interesting,” Liv said. But, she noted, they don’t intentionally leave a long delay between platforms; that wouldn’t work for newsy stories. It’s subscriber-first, not social-never. “Of course, in style and tone we take inspiration from social media platforms, so our videos feel modern and get picked up by algorithms.”

Does video cannibalise your articles? 

No. The Economist often creates videos based on articles or inspired by them, and Liv said they don’t find one cannibalises the other. “I assume this is because people choose the format they’d prefer to consume content in. And because we differentiate the video from the article, even if the base material is the same, and bring the story to life in a new way.” That’s a crucial insight for anyone worried that investing in video means undermining their written journalism. It doesn’t. It expands the audience for the same work.

Do you use AI in video production? 

Yes, but in a very specific way. The Economist uses ElevenLabs for small voiceover pickups — always with the journalist’s permission — because it recreates the audio environment better than re-recording in a different room or on a different day. Their motion graphics team also uses AI for animating existing assets, cutting out people from photos, and filling space for parallax animations. Not AI-generated journalism. AI as a production tool that helps a lean team move faster.

If you missed the conversation with Liv, you can listen to the full episode here on Spotify or on on Apple Podcasts.

If you’d like to subscribe to my bi-weekly newsletter, INMA members can do so here.

Banner photo: Adobe Stock By Jose Calsina.

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