The media’s presence, video formats and production strategy in YouTube: case study of 'El País'

Abstract

The media’s presence on social media and the growing amount of audiovisual content are two matters that affect journalism. YouTube is the leading video platform and the most popular website (EGM, 2018). In 2016, the company launched its Player for Publishers service that enables media outlets to redistribute their videos and expand their reach at a lower cost. The Spanish newspaper El País is one of the entities that adopted this technology. The aim of this article is to describe the newspaper’s presence on the platform and to evaluate the videos posted along with the production strategy. The case study was done through content analysis and an in-depth interview with the Digital Development Director at El País. The results show that the newspaper’s videos adapt to new formats and that there is an existence of genre hybridization. However, there does not seem to be an appropriate strategy for the channel in question and that focuses on the target audience, primarily young people.