Reuters reached a record high of over 90 million video views on Twitter in January, marking a significant 80% year-over-year increase in audience engagement across all Reuters accounts including the main Reuters handle as well as verticals for Japan, LATAM, Biz and India. Reuters also saw video completion rates double from the year prior on the platform in January.
The record-breaking month was due in part to Reuters leading real-time news coverage of the some of the most significant events at the start of 2020.
-Reuters led the global coverage of the coronavirus crisis, with contributions from bureaux worldwide providing real-time updates from 35 different countries and territories. News of the first virus-related death in Japan and a video about the virus’s ability to spread were highly viewed on Twitter.
-Reuters was first with news of the killing of Iranian General Soleimani. Readers turned to a thread combining video, graphics, and text for real-time coverage of the attack on a U.S. airbase in Iraq following Soleimani’s death. A video of missiles being fired into the sky was broadcast on Iranian TV and published by Reuters and an earlier video of President Trump commenting on the rising tensions between the countries received high engagement with the Reuters audience on Twitter. Collectively, coverage of Iran garnered more than 6 million views during January.
-Coverage of the Australian bushfires also resonated, with one video of red skies on New Year’s Eve reaching 5.8 million views. Other videos that contributed to exceptionally high views in January included footage of the pope defending himself from a woman in a Vatican City crowd and a look at the Mayan palace unearthed by archaeologists.
-Reuters coverage at the World Economic Forum in Davos received a total of 1.2 million views across our @Reuters and @ReutersBiz Twitter handles. Our Davos Today morning show, a video of Swedish climate activist Thunberg meeting Britain’s Prince Charles and a video of the feud between Thunberg and President Trump contributed to the high engagement.
Reuters is consistently delivering fast and first across multiple news moments on the biggest stories of 2020 thus far. For more of Reuters coverage, follow us at www.twitter.com/reuters.
[Reuters PR blog post]
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