Legacy Media Wants In on TikTok

Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst has his routine down when reporting from Tel Aviv, or Kyiv, or Beirut: He clears his throat, looks into the camera and records a segment for the news network. Then he reaches for his phone and records another for TikTok. 

FNC's Trey Yingst

“By using social media, I’m able to connect with a younger audience that may not traditionally be watching cable news and get them interested in the stories that we’re telling,” said Yingst, who is 31.

The Wall Street Journal reports Fox’s TV audience has a median age of 69. Yingst is mainly targeting those viewers’ children and grandchildren with his short selfie-style videos. He has more than 852,000 TikTok followers, nearly half as many as the cable network’s account. 

Legacy media companies are facing a tough reality: 39% of adults under 30 say they regularly get their news on TikTok, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. Some of the biggest news outlets are trying to follow this audience onto the platform—and other social-media spots with large young followings—but can struggle to gain traction through their main branded accounts. TikTok users are drawn to engaging individuals, regardless of who employs them, or even whether they work for a news organization. 

In October and November, 88 of the top 150 political TikTok accounts in the U.S. were content creators, according to data from CredoIQ, a social-media research firm. Fifty-one were publishers like the New York Times, MSNBC, Fox and CNN, while the rest were associated with candidates or political parties.  

Fox News joined TikTok in June and is tapping talent like Yingst, “Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt and senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy to reach young people there. 

NBC News' Steve Kornacki

One clip of Doocy asking the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to assess how awkward things were between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris after the vice president’s election loss garnered 2.4 million views. 

Media companies are making bets on TikTok at a time when the future of the platform itself is in question. A federal appeals court earlier this month said Congress does have the power to shut down the Chinese-backed app, though that decision is likely to be appealed. 

The platform doesn’t generate much ad revenue for publishers or news networks, but executives say it’s worth investing in as a longer-term play. Even if young adults aren’t signing up for TV packages or news services now, the companies believe they can cultivate them as future customers by engaging on TikTok.  

NBCUniversal’s brands lean into personalities like NBC News national political correspondent Steve Kornacki, and “Today” co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager, who have gained a following for lighthearted celebrity interviews. An NBC News TikTok of Kornacki breaking down why Donald Trump won in Wisconsin while the state elected a Democrat as senator garnered 1.2 million views.