Some news influencers have already lost ad revenue as TikTok ban approaches

In the 2010s, journalists and the traditional media outlets that employed them turned to video on digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter. In 2020, they turned to TikTok. While the world was in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the platform saw its audience skyrocket. And these new viewers proved particularly hungry for information – a hunger that news organizations and independent journalists were willing to feed.

But this feast seems ready to give way to famine. On January 19, TikTok will likely go dark due to a bipartisan law passed by Congress mandating its sale to Chinese company ByteDance. The Supreme Court issued a ruling on Friday enforce this law, which effectively bans TikTok in the United States

Although news organizations themselves will likely respond to the loss of TikTok by simply finding the next social media platform to share their content, the impact of the ban will be keenly felt among writers and journalists who have integrated the platform – and its audience – in their storytelling. TVNewser spoke with three journalists about how they used TikTok to grow their audiences and how they’re preparing for a post-TikTok media landscape.

Dave Jorgenson, senior video reporter for The Washington Post

As the Washington Post’s self-proclaimed “Tik Tok Guy” (a label he proudly includes in his Bluesky bio), Dave Jorgensen remembers when he had to almost forcefully persuade his editorial colleagues to join him on camera in 2020. “They had no idea what TikTok was,” he recalls with a laugh. “Maybe their reference was their nephew, but that was it.”

But today, he receives more reservation requests than he can process. “I can’t say yes to everyone,” he sighs, adding that he is the go-to person for Post journalists who want to experiment with social video themselves. “I do my best while sleeping!”

Being an early adopter of TikTok has helped Jorgenson build a devoted audience who listen to his humorous news updates, as well as his running jokes and storylines involving expense reports and his resemblance to the vice president-elect J.D. Vance. (For the record, he is not the author of Hillbilly Elegy.) As overseer of what’s called “The Washington Post’s TikTok Cinematic Universe,” Jorgenson has seen his own TikTok account grow to more than 52,000 followers, while The Washington Post has 1.8 million.

Now, as he waits to see what Jan. 19 might bring, Jorgenson says he’s “at peace” with the idea that all those supporters might disperse if the ban stands. “It’s completely out of my control. But I’m excited, as a journalist, to talk about it – it’s actually been one of our busiest weeks ever.

Jorgenson and his video team at the post had already been releasing their content to other platforms long before the TikTok ban became a tangible reality. In fact, YouTube Shorts has become a more reliable performer for posting than TikTok over the past few months. But Jorgenson says they’re playing to a different audience on this platform.

“In terms of age group, it’s similar,” he notes, referring to the younger audiences news organizations want to reach. “But if a story takes off on TikTok, it becomes its own thing, whereas YouTube doesn’t necessarily have that kind of culture.”

Another thing that reassures Jorgenson is that even if TikTok disappears, the era of vertical video in journalism is here to stay, at least for now. “There are options and other apps that desperately want to be the next TikTok. My main concern is where the audience is going, because I don’t want to miss out on the fun.

Heather Gardner, HeatherGTV and The American Resolution podcast

As a freelance journalist who relies on a steady source of income from TikTok, Heather Gardner has already felt the impact of TikTok’s impending ban on his bank account.

“I received my first paid ad from a client this week for $6,000,” she says candidly. “But then they came back before we signed the contract and said, ‘Oh, wait, TikTok is banned, we can offer $3,000.’ This has already affected my results.

Gardner built her TikTok news business from the ground up in 2020 after stints at traditional media brands such as Entertainment Weekly and HuffPost, where she co-created and hosted the ICYMI video series. Her own brand of independent digital journalism is hard-hitting, passionate and informed – a recipe that works well on TikTok, where she has nearly 400,000 followers following her. when she attended the Democratic National Convention last summer.

For the record, HeatherGTV is also on Instagram, YouTube, and X, and Gardner asked her TikTok audience to follow those accounts after January 19. So far, however, the metrics don’t suggest that viewers are listening.

“I had a lot of trouble pushing people around,” she admits, adding that Instagram, where she has 113,000 subscribers, is her favorite platform. “The algorithms are also very different. If it was the same on all platforms, I would have the same audience on each platform.

Being hostage to an algorithm or an act of Congress – and the financial pressure that entails – is one of the reasons why Gardner is making it a priority in 2025 to create her own news platform that she will be able to monetize. This would free it from relying on platforms owned by self-interested billionaires or international corporations that could lose favor with the administration that currently occupies the Oval Office.

“One of my big goals this year is to grow my podcast, get my content off social media, and do more in-person events,” she says. “Basically, I just want to become CNN, but in a very small way! This is what we content creators in the news industry are trying to build.

V Spehar, Below the office news

To borrow a line from ABC News, more and more TikTok-enabled Americans are getting their news from V Spehar than from any other source. The Under the Desk News founder has amassed an audience of 3.3 million followers since joining the platform in 2020, and he’s sure to be a familiar face to anyone with a feed. active Instagram or YouTube news. (Spehar identifies as non-binary and uses those pronouns.)

Their success has provided them with the resources needed to expand the Under the Desk News team in recent months. “I started creating long-form YouTube content, so I invested in an editor and better video editing equipment,” says Spehar, noting that the video editing app Capcut, owned by Bytedance, favored by TikTokers, could also be banned. “I understood that to survive this, you had to be stronger. »

At the same time, they admit to being pessimistic about the fact that Instagram or YouTube will compensate for the potential loss of TikTok, both financially and in terms of audience.

“YouTube is a whole new skill to learn in terms of navigation: the algorithm doesn’t adapt to your preferences as quickly as TikTok’s,” says Spehar. “We are essentially taking away people’s means of communication and their economic opportunities. And that’s what’s choking me.

Spehar initially launched Under the Desk News, hoping to “professionalize” what a citizen journalist can accomplish in the age of digital media. Their coverage includes both national and international news, as well as local stories that might otherwise slip through the cracks. And they pride themselves on being a reliable source of information for viewers who don’t have the time or means to follow the news through traditional media, cable or print.

Spehar worries where those viewers will go — and who they’ll listen to — if TikTok goes dark on January 19. “Facebook just got rid of all its fact checkers,” they note. “X has not been a reliable narrator for several years. TikTok gave them the news they needed.

Not for nothing, but traditional media may also miss TikTok. “They also rely on the platform for trends, stories and first-person narratives,” says Spehar. “I hope this helps them recognize that we need each other.”