Why we made this report

The numbers tell us that video is becoming more important. They tell us where audiences are moving, which formats newsrooms are investing in and how rapidly platforms are reshaping news consumption.

For the first time, social media and video networks have overtaken both television and publishers’ own websites and apps as sources of news. Online news video itself has become mainstream: 77% of people watch it every week, and in most markets more people now watch news video online than watch news on broadcast television.

Newsrooms are responding. FT Strategies’ Future Newsroom Study 2026, based on responses from 448 newsroom leaders across 86 countries, identifies short-form video as the number-one format priority, with 79% of newsrooms planning to invest in it. Looking towards 2027, 91% say video will be an area of focus.

But these numbers tell us much less about what building a video strategy actually looks like inside a newsroom.

What goals are publishers trying to achieve with video? How is production organised? Which formats work for which stories and platforms? How do newsrooms evaluate success? How do they balance reach with revenue? And how do they produce enough video without compromising quality or putting unrealistic demands on journalists?

That is where we wanted to start.

For this report, we invited Heads of Video and other newsroom leaders responsible for video from news organisations across Europe and other markets to tell us where they are today: what they are producing, how their teams work, where video sits within the wider newsroom, what they have learned through experimentation, and which questions they still haven't solved.

Rather than looking only for the biggest success stories or trying to identify a single model to follow, we wanted to capture an industry in transition.

Some of the newsrooms we spoke to have been investing in video for years and operate dedicated teams producing content across multiple platforms. Others are still building their workflows, testing formats and working out where and how much to invest. Some see short-form video primarily as a way to reach younger audiences. Others connect it closely with long-form video, subscriptions, monetization or their wider brand. Some have journalists who are already becoming recognizable on-screen personalities; elsewhere, getting reporters comfortable in front of a camera remains a challenge.

That diversity is precisely the point.

Our original intention was to make this a report specifically about short-form news video. But as the interviews progressed, it became increasingly difficult - and not particularly useful - to talk about short-form in isolation.

For many publishers, short and long video are parts of the same ecosystem. A longer interview or programme can generate multiple clips for social platforms. A successful short video can introduce a new audience to a publisher, journalist or longer format. YouTube, in particular, increasingly accommodates both behaviours, from Shorts to explainers, interviews and hour-long programmes.

We also discovered that newsrooms do not necessarily use the same language to describe their video output. Some distinguish primarily between short-form and long-form video. Others think in terms of vertical and horizontal video - a distinction that often says more about the intended platform, production process and viewing behaviour than duration alone.

And long-form matters. While short video is often central to reach, discovery and younger audiences, longer formats can play a different role in building loyalty, developing recognisable journalistic personalities and creating monetisation opportunities.

So, while short-form remained our starting point, the scope of our conversations naturally expanded. This report looks at short-form within the broader video ecosystem: how different formats connect, how publishers organise production around them, where they distribute them, and what role each can play in the wider editorial and business strategy.