News UK Investing Millions in Original Video

News UK The Sun & TimesNews UK is has announced plans to invest millions of pounds in original video content across its Sun and Times websites at the Cannes Lions festival, which the publisher says will make it the industrys foremost player in original video content.

It plans to create over 100 videos per month across its platforms – a number that will include at least some livestreamed video content on Facebook Live.

Naturally, part of this video push will be sponsored content. Among the brands already signed up are Doritos, Morrisons and Activision.

 

According to News UK, the decision is driven by a rise in mobile usage across its portfolio. 35 per cent of traffic to The Times website comes from mobile devices – a figure that is dwarfed by The Suns site, where 80 per cent of traffic is now mobile.

“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. Its the perfect match.”