NEWS UK is to invest millions of pounds in original video content across its title portfolio. The publisher will create thousands of videos each year across The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and The Sun on Sunday websites.
In a statement announcing the move, News UK said that as well as recorded video, it will also experiment with live video output creating more than 100 videos per month including Facebook Live.
The investment is driven by the rise in mobile usage across News UK’s sites, with 80% of traffic to The Sun and 35% of The Times’ now coming from mobile devices.
The investment was announced at the Cannes Lions festival as the company increases its work with brands on video content, including deals with Doritos, Morrisons and Activision.
‘This is a significant moment in the UK news industry – marking the point where video becomes one of our major output formats,’ said News UK head of video Derek Brown
‘Video has become the most evocative way of telling stories and our titles have always excelled at storytelling – it’s the perfect match.’
Chief commercial officer Dominic Carter added: ‘This is a huge opportunity for brands to reach our engaged audiences in the context of fantastic, original video content.
‘We’ve already enjoyed significant success in campaigns for the likes of Morrisons and Doritos and, with this new investment in video content, we expect to see many more advertising partners joining us on this journey.’
