Mapping news creators and influencers in social and video networks

Report

This report looks at the impact of news creators and influencers across 24 countries as they become an increasingly important source of news. Using an audience-based approach we identify countries where influencers are having the biggest (and smallest) impact as well as some of the most important individuals. We also provide an emerging typology or categorisation of news creators. The report finds that the vast majority (85%) of top news creators are men, especially those that are engaged in political commentary. Some mostly younger creators are engaged in explaining or decoding the news with YouTube, TikTok and Instagram the main channels. News creators tend to have most impact in large countries where social media and video use is high. These include India, Brazil, Nigeria, the United States, and Indonesia. By contrast attention paid to news creators and influencers is more limited in smaller Northern European countries and also in Japan.

Authors: Newman, N; Ross Arguedas, A; Mukherjee, M; Fletcher, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Publisher: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
• Place of publication: Oxford
• Publication date: 2025-10-28
• DOI: 10.60625/risj-44pf-1k13
• ISBN: 9781914566257
• Language: English
• Keywords: news creators; influencers; social media; YouTube; creator economy; journalism