Social-only briefs now drive 30% of DMG Media's New Media revenue

Social-only briefs — campaigns sold without DMG's print or digital products — now account for 30% of revenue at DMG Media's year-old New Media division, according to director Nathan Aspell. That revenue stream "wasn't available" before the social-publishing division launched a year ago, he said. This month, DMG signed a cross-platform campaign spanning social, print and online; the social component alone was worth seven figures.

DMG Media does not break out New Media revenue. The wider group reported £1.92 billion ($2.56 billion) in revenue in 2025, per the company.

New Media employs more than 100 staff across 11 brands, including Daily Mail, Mail Sport, Gen Z personal finance title This Is Money, and lifestyle and shopping brand Eliza. Salaried, in-house creators work alongside editorial teams and production staff to make social-first content. Aspell, promoted to director in August, said the strategy draws on two sources: established editorial ideas reworked for social, and formats built specifically for the platforms.

What is driving the shift?

The move reflects pressure on referral traffic. Publishers are no longer using social mainly to send audiences to their own sites. Instead, they build formats people watch in-feed and sell sponsorships around them.

Abi Watson, head of publishing at Enders Analysis, said the last year has seen "an acceleration in the recognition and professionalisation of the creator industry, coinciding with the decline in referral traffic." The growth in social-only briefs at DMG suggests advertisers increasingly see these formats as "destinations in their own right," rather than extensions of existing publishing brands, she added.

Since launch, the division's content has generated a total of 3 billion monthly views and publishes an average of 2,000 pieces per month — a mix of video and static or carousel posts — on Instagram and TikTok, per the company. "There might be an 18-year-old who's never picked up the newspaper, but now is very much aware of the Daily Mail through its social content," Aspell said.

How do creators fit the model?

The team includes 25 salaried creators who work with producers, videographers and editors. Creators feature in 90% of branded content, and integrating them lifts engagement across the network by 50%, Aspell said. "That shows a huge appetite for individual and creator-first content," he added.

Creators shape the work rather than simply appear in it. "A creator in our world is someone who's sitting with the videographer and talking about how they're going to shoot it," Aspell said. DMG owns the IP they develop.

Aspell also changed output strategy. Before he joined, a breaking story could generate around 50 posts in two hours — huge reach, but engagement divided across many pieces. He pushed for fewer, higher-quality posts. Engagement has risen month over month in the past year, while the portfolio still reaches billions of people monthly. "That is a testament to us doing quality content, not just quantity," he said.

Creator scouting follows the same logic. Aspell looks beyond follower counts: someone with only 2,000 followers but a real passion for news might fit the Daily Mail platform and grow there, he explained.

Which formats point forward?

Aspell wants more IP built around in-house creators, citing Goalhanger's work with Guardian columnist Marina Hyde as a model: an established personality paired with production and social support. DMG has taken early steps. "PM for a Day," launched in August, features creator-journalist Mikey Olympitis asking people what they would do as prime minister for a day. Metro's "Rush Hour Crush" reworks the newspaper's dating feature as a social show, with creator Erica Figueiredo trying to connect people in London.

He pointed to "Subway Takes" — a show where people give hot takes on a subway train — as the kind of distinct, personality-led format he wants. The division currently runs four to five show formats per brand across its 11 brands. Watch time matters: sports format "Now You Know" averages 30 seconds, and some bespoke short-form videos average more than 30 seconds.

How does the money work?

Beyond branded content, DMG earns through platform monetization, including revenue-sharing arrangements with Meta, Aspell said. That creates a balancing act. "You get money from the posts you're doing, but then you're also trying to drive people to websites," he said. The team mixes video, static posts and links so the formats complement rather than cannibalize one another.

The next test is whether DMG can keep converting that in-feed attention into repeatable, host-led show IP that brands want to buy against.