How political creators are juggling platforms to find the three Rs: reach, revenue and rules
Digiday ·
Political and news creators are relied on now more than ever, but what platforms are working for them? Which ones aren't?
Political creators need platforms that can deliver reach, revenue and clear rules. But no single platform reliably provides all three: YouTube offers ad revenue, Instagram can deliver huge audiences without paying creators and TikTok’s moderation and engagement can be unpredictable.
“A good platform for a political creator does four things,” said Ryan Schram, executive director of the Center for the Creator Economy at Syracuse University. “It helps new audiences find your work, it pays you fairly for that work, it tells you clearly what the rules are, and it lets you keep your relationship with your audience if you leave. Most platforms do one or two of those well. Very few do all four.”
Schram said that political creators gravitate to where political conversations are already happening, noting a 2024 PEW Research study that found that 85 percent of the most-followed news influencers are on X, half are on Instagram, and 44 percent are on YouTube.
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