Dave Jorgenson Is Now Generating 2.5x More YouTube Views Than The Washington Post
In July, I asked Can The Washington Post Make It Without Their “TikTok Guy” Dave Jorgenson? In October, the data confirmed a pretty ugly picture — the Post’s YouTube performance cratered ~85% after Dave left.
Now there’s a new chapter, and it’s even more stark.
In January, Dave Jorgenson’s Local News International generated roughly 2.5x as many YouTube views as The Washington Post’s two YouTube channels combined. His former employer, a 148-year-old institution backed by near-infinite potential resources by way of Jeff Bezos, who laid off a huge percentage of their workforce last week.
Meanwhile, a four-person operation in the middle of the country is eating their lunch on YouTube, the platform that increasingly is video/television for anyone under 40. It looked like WaPo was putting up a fight in September and October… but that has not sustained, all while LNI has continued to grow.
LNI’s top 5 videos in January:
“After Venezuela raid, Trump threatens Greenland” — 6.1M views
“This 1943 U.S. Army film warned about fascism in America” — 2.4M views
“Why Trump is going after Fed chairman Jerome Powell” — 1.9M views
“Fact-checking the Alex Pretti shooting” — 1.8M views
“U.S. plans to ‘run’ Venezuela temporarily” — 1.6M views
In my very humble opinion, every publisher should be watching this data very, very closely.
📰🤖 is my personal Substack where I share information about news, media, and publishing that I find of interest. Data here sourced via RivalIQ.